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Steph glanced up as the young man appeared at their table. ‘Il conto, grazie.’ Suddenly she was looking worried. ‘He still loves you, you know.’ She turned back to Jess.
‘Not any more.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because I was horrible to him. Because I thought he had done something.’ She paused. ‘It doesn’t matter why, Steph. Just take my word for it.’
‘Do you still like him at all, Jess?’
They stood up, leaving the tip on the table. The hovering waiter scooped it into the pocket of his long black apron with a wink. Strolling slowly towards the Corso Vittorio Emanuele Steph glanced sideways at her sister. ‘You didn’t answer,’ she persisted. ‘Do you still like him?’
Jess shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think we could ever be an item again, if that’s what you mean. Too much water under the bridge.’
Steph swung her tote bag over her shoulder. The sun was reflecting off the pavement in a dazzling glare of pale stone. Car fumes hung in a haze over the crossroads ahead. The roar of traffic made it almost impossible to make themselves heard. Instinctively they crossed over to the shady side of the street and turned off the main road up a narrow alley, strolling more slowly still towards the Piazza Navona.
‘But you wouldn’t mind if you saw him again?’ Steph went on doggedly.
‘I suppose not.’ Jess paused. ‘Though I doubt if he would want to see me.’ She pulled off her dark glasses, narrowing her eyes. ‘Why are you asking me all this, Steph?’
‘Because he’s on his way. I’m sorry. I should have asked you first. I’m an idiot. But last time I spoke to him he told me how much he still loved you. Well, almost. And I thought … Well, he was up at Ty Bran, wasn’t he and after you rang to say you were on your way, I rang him.’ Steph heaved a great shrug. ‘I should have told you last night. It was sort of Kim’s idea too. She has so much room and we thought it would be fun, and Carmella said you had found love again –’
‘Carmella!’ Jess turned to face her angrily. ‘Who is this woman who seems to have such an influence over you? She doesn’t know anything about me! I don’t want Will here! I came here for some peace!’
‘I’m so sorry.’
Jess exhaled hard through her teeth. ‘OK. I suppose it’s not the end of the world. But I am not back with him. I am not wanting to be back with him, and that must be made clear. By you, Steph! I don’t want to be put in the embarrassing position of him arriving and thinking I am going to fall at his feet. Or into his bed. Or have his bags delivered to my bedroom for God’s sake!’ She rammed her sunglasses back on. ‘I have come here to do some research. I shall be out most of the time.’
‘Sorry.’ Steph shook her head again. ‘So sorry.’ There was a moment’s silence. They had drifted to a standstill as they reached the piazza and around them people divided and passed them by on the busy pavement. They were surrounded by the smell of food from the restaurants all round them; the sound of water from the three great fountains filled the air.
‘When is he coming?’ Jess said, after a pause.
‘Today.’
‘Today?’
Steph nodded. ‘Otherwise I could have rung him and told him not to come. He was very keen. He said you and he had had words and he was really sorry and he wanted to make up. Sorry.’
‘Stop saying sorry!’ Jess suddenly felt like crying. All the complications were coming back. Those wonderful moments of peace and happiness in her bedroom as she woke to a feeling of complete safety were gone. The wave of betrayal and devastation was swiftly replaced by anger. ‘As I said, I shan’t be there much.’
‘How are you going to do all this research, Jess?’ Steph said softly. ‘When you don’t speak Italian.’
Jess glared at her. ‘I’ll find a way. There are lots of websites. Besides, I shan’t need Italian to walk around the ruins.’
Will arrived at about six p.m. He dropped his bags on the floor of the hallway and greeted Kim and Steph with a kiss on the cheek. Then he turned to Jess. He smiled.
‘How are you?’ He sounded wary.
‘Better than last time we met. I’m sorry if I was rude.’
‘Why don’t you go into the salotto, you two.’ Kim, forewarned by Steph that Jess wasn’t quite as pleased by the arrival of the new guest as they had expected, ushered them into the large cool reception room off the entrance hall. ‘Clear the air, then come and have a drink. We’ll be in the kitchen.’
Will closed the door behind them and stood, his back to it, looking at Jess. He waited unsmiling for her to speak first.
‘I’m sorry. I know I was awful to you.’ Jess shrugged. ‘I understand if you never want to speak to me again. Steph and Kim didn’t realise. There was a reason I behaved the way I did.’ She saw the sceptically raised eyebrow and plunged on. ‘Can I explain?’
‘I think you’d better.’ He still hadn’t smiled at her, she realised. He had made no move in her direction at all.
‘When you came to see me in Wales I thought you had –’ She floundered to a standstill.
‘When I came to Wales you said all sorts of crazy things to me, Jess; you treated me as though I was a serial killer!’ he filled in for her.
Shaking her head sadly she hesitated before going on. ‘Almost. As you know, I thought,’ she paused again. ‘I thought you had done something. Broken into my flat.’ She struggled to meet his eye. ‘I know I was wrong. I want to apologise. I want to make it all right again.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Just like that.’ She bit her lip.
‘And did you find out who had broken into your flat?’ He held her gaze.
She shook her head.
‘Did they take anything?’
Only my self-respect. My peace of mind. Maybe a bit of my sanity. She didn’t say it.
‘Why did you think it was me?’
‘Because –’ She sighed. ‘Because someone told me it was you and like a fool I believed them.’
‘Dan?’
She was startled. ‘How did you know that?’
‘He’s been saying some odd things lately. Tell me, if he thought I had broken into your flat, why did he suggest I come and see you in Wales?’
Jess shrugged miserably. ‘He was setting you up. He knew you hadn’t done it.’
His eyes narrowed angrily. ‘He must have known you would throw me out.’
Dear God! She couldn’t tell him the truth. If she did he would probably kill Dan. Everyone would find out what had happened. She would never be free of the horror and the scandal. ‘He was protecting someone else. Look, Will, it doesn’t matter why –’
‘It most certainly does!’ He strode away from the door towards the large circular table that stood in the middle of the floor. He ran a finger across the intricate marquetry. The room was dim, lit by the faint lines of sunlight which strayed in around the closed shutters. It smelled of beeswax polish and dust. ‘Who was he protecting?’
She could feel the anger coming off him and it scared her. ‘It was Ash,’ she said hurriedly. ‘He thought Ash had done it. He didn’t,’ she added quickly as Will’s lips tightened. ‘It was all a silly misunderstanding. That’s why I wanted to explain to you why I had been so horrid.’ She floundered to a halt miserably.
‘A misunderstanding! And why did he think it was Ash who had done it? Because the boy’s black, so he must be a thief?’ Will’s anger seemed to condense in the air around them.
‘No! No, of course not. Dan saw Ash walking home with me after the school disco and assumed –’ She faltered. ‘Look, it wasn’t Ash. And it wasn’t you. And I’m so, so sorry for thinking that it was!’
‘And you arranged to have me come all this way so you could apologise to me? May I ask why you didn’t just telephone?’ he asked acidly.
‘I didn’t know Kim and Steph had asked you. I didn’t know you were coming till this afternoon.’ She walked over and stood beside him. ‘But I’m glad you have. It’s given me the chance to explain. To apologise.’
‘Well, I suppose I should be relieved all that venom wasn’t for me after all,’ he said with a sigh. There was a pause. ‘What the hell are you doing in Rome anyway? I thought you were going to spend the summer painting in Wales.’
She forced a smile. ‘I am researching a ghost, if you really want to know.’ She gave him what she hoped was a disarming grin. How could she ever tell him the truth?
I’m here because I am scared Dan wants to kill me.
I am on the run.
I am not sure what I am going to do or how long I’m going to stay here or what is going to happen next.
At the moment I am not sure I shall ever dare go back to England!
No, she was hardly going to say all that.
He turned to face her. ‘You know, I don’t understand you any more at all! A ghost! What else? Why didn’t I think of that!’ He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead before she could step back. ‘Friends, but that’s all, right? Do I read the message correctly now?’
She bit her lip and nodded.
‘Fair enough.’ He turned away. ‘Where are the others? In the kitchen?’ He strode away from her towards the door. Then as he reached for the ornate gilt handle he swung back. ‘And you really don’t know who broke into your flat?’
She shook her head.
‘Did you call the police?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘It was too late. No evidence.’
‘And they didn’t take anything?’
She shook her head. Nothing tangible.
He shrugged and pulling open the door, disappeared into the corridor.
Jess didn’t move.
10 (#u90907c20-6df2-52a2-a1c6-6b23225d6a1e)
Someone had mended the broken window. Dan stood on the terrace looking at the clean pane of glass glittering in the afternoon sun. There was a small smear of putty in one corner. He scratched at it thoughtfully with a fingernail then turned to stare out across the garden. A slow tour of the entire property made it clear that she had gone. There was no sign of the car and his careful scrutiny of the rooms through the windows showed the house tidy; empty. He could sense the emptiness all around him.
He retraced his steps grimly to the front door and felt in his pocket for the keys; the spare set of keys he had found hanging on the hook in the kitchen before he left to face the wrath of his wife.
‘For God’s sake, you might have told me you were going to be away all night!’ Natalie’s voice replayed in his head yet again and he frowned in irritation. ‘I was imagining all sorts of things. You might have been in an accident!’ Then she had paused. Her eyes had narrowed. ‘I suppose you’re going to tell me you were book shopping again. But you weren’t, were you! You spent the night with her, didn’t you! You bastard! I might have known. You weren’t book shopping, you were shagging the English teacher!’
He had denied it of course, again and again and eventually, he thought, she had believed him. But he had to make sure Jess didn’t rock the boat. A bead of sweat appeared on his upper lip. He could not afford to wreck his marriage. Not now, not with his career poised to take off. Not ever.
Standing at the foot of the stairs he glanced up towards the landing. A stray beam of sunlight illuminated the ceiling, and spotlit the painting on the wall, an ink and wash scene of jumbled stones and yew trees not unlike the scene he could see from the window as he walked slowly upstairs.
The bedroom door was open. He walked across and stared in. She had left no personal belongings there. The cupboards and drawers were empty, the chest of drawers had no clutter to show where her combs and cosmetics had lain. He went over to the bed, neatly made with an immaculately smooth patchwork quilt and with a sudden rush of anger bent to tear off the covers. He fell to his knees and pressed his face into the sheets, inhaling the faint scent of her body, almost masked by the odour of whatever laundry rinse had been used in Steph’s washing machine. Digging his clawed fingers into the pillows he groaned. The silence of the room seemed to thicken as he knelt there and he shivered. And after a moment or two he looked up.
Where are you? Can we come out now?
The child’s voice was very faint.
He clenched his fists into the sheets.
Where are you?
‘No!’ His face a rictus of fear and anger, he staggered to his feet. Hurling the pillow across the room, he threw himself at the door and out onto the landing.
In the kitchen he paused, trying to calm himself. Imagination. That’s all. Stupid imagination. A reaction to Jess’s insane behaviour. For a moment he had felt as though some alien force had gripped him. An anger like nothing he had ever experienced. He walked over to the sink and bent over it, splashing some cold water onto his face. He had to get out of there. Fast. And get back to Shrewsbury before Natalie became suspicious again.
As he headed for the door his fingers brushed against the bunch of keys in his pocket and he drew them out. Jess had gone for good. That much was obvious. He was not going to need them again. Better to hang them back where they were on the hook. Leave no sign that he had been here. He walked over to the notice-board and stood staring at it. Someone had left a note there he hadn’t noticed before. KIM ‘S NUMBER, it said. Followed by a string of figures. Kim. He smiled grimly. Was that where Jess had gone? It was obvious when he thought about it. She thought she could run away from him. Hide. Tell her sister a pack of lies about him. She had forgotten he had known Kim almost as long as she had; that Kim had even fancied him once, long ago, when they were all at college together. He scowled and reaching for the phone put it to his ear. The dialling tone confirmed that it had been reconnected. Only one way to tell where Jess was now and how much she had told them. Slowly he began to punch in the numbers. If she could get an invitation to Rome, so perhaps could he. He looked down at the keys, still in his hand. Perhaps he would keep them after all. Who knew when he might need them again.
‘So, where do you suggest I start my research?’ Jess directed her question at Kim as the four of them sat down to eat that evening. She helped herself to a chunk of focaccia from the bread basket.
Kim shrugged. ‘How on earth would I know? Have you looked on the net? Libraries? Museums? Roman remains?’ She reached into the oven with her padded gloves and produced a bubbling dish of cheesy pasta. ‘We do all those in spades in Rome.’ She slid the dish onto the table and chucked the gloves onto the worktop behind her. ‘OK. Eat, bambini!’
‘Have you heard your ghostly voice since you’ve been here?’ Will asked thoughtfully.
Jess glanced at him suspiciously. ‘No. Or, only in a dream.’
‘So, she hasn’t followed you.’
Jess shook her head. ‘Ghosts don’t do that, do they? Aren’t they tied to specific places?’
They all shrugged.
‘We need an expert on ghosts,’ Steph said with a smile.
‘Carmella!’ Kim exclaimed. ‘She knows all about this sort of thing. We could have a séance. Ask your little girl what she would like you to do.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Jess shook her head. ‘Aren’t séances supposed to be dangerous?’
‘It might be fun,’ Will put in. He grinned. ‘You must have done table turning and stuff when you were students. “Is there anybody there?” sort of thing. We scared ourselves witless a few times if I remember.’
‘We don’t want to scare ourselves witless, Will,’ Steph retorted. She was watching Jess’s face. ‘This is serious. And rather tragic. And I suspect it could be dangerous, yes. The little girl who haunts my studio is not above breaking a few things from time to time.’
Jess dropped her fork. She stared at her sister, stunned. ‘So you do know more about her than you let on! It has happened to you! I thought I was going mad! She broke some figures in your studio and I blamed myself. I blamed a bird or a draught or something. Then she came into the house after me. She tore up my paintings and smashed a bottle of wine.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Kim stared at her. ‘No wonder you didn’t want to stay there on your own.’
‘I thought you said she didn’t frighten you,’ Steph put in quietly. ‘That all sounds a bit frightening to me.’
