Shadow of Suspicion (Haunted by the Past)

by Danielle Rose-West

  Shadow of Suspicion

  Haunted by the Past Book 2

  By

  Danielle Rose-West

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Shadow of Suspicion

  Copyright © 2014 by Danielle Rose-West

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Publishing History: First Edition

  Kindle Edition

  Cover Design by Danielle Rose-West

  Books by Danielle Rose-West

  The Fairy Tale Match Series

  Wild Fire (book 1)

  Forever You (book 2)

  Coming Soon

  Phoenix Rising (book 3)

  Haunted by the Past Series

  Hidden in Shadows (book1)

  Shadow of Suspicion (book 2)

  Book 3 Coming Soon

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Author’s Note

  Hidden in Shadows – Excerpt

  Wild Fire – Excerpt

  Forever You – Excerpt

  Chapter One

  “So, what are you going to do about it?”

  Callie stared at the letter in her hand; the words blurred together into one unintelligible mess. She glanced across the kitchen table to glimpse the worried frown marring her flatmate’s face.

  “I really don’t know. This is so completely unexpected, Jade.” She shook her head. “It’s been five years. How can it have taken this long for her to respond?”

  “If you ask me, I think you should forget about it. Dump the thing in the bin and have done with it.” Jade bit into her toast, her expressive green eyes glinting with anger. Her cheek puffed out on one side as she chewed and talked at the same time. “If the woman can’t even be bothered to answer you when you first wrote to her, why should you bother with her now?”

  Callie pushed her own breakfast plate away from her. Her appetite had deserted her the minute she’d opened the post and saw the correspondence she’d long thought would never come. She sighed and stuck her head in her hands. Curling her fingers into her hair, Callie regarded her friend.

  “It’s not as simple as that and you know it.” She ignored Jade’s derisive snort. “She’s my real mother. I can’t just leave this.”

  “She’s not your mother. She’s simply the woman that gave birth to you and then gave you up for adoption before you were even an hour old.” Jade flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder and scowled. “Why would you want to have contact with her?”

  “I can’t believe you’re asking me that. Sandra can give me answers that nobody else can.” Callie waved the letter in Jade’s direction. “I thought you of all people would understand my need for answers.”

  Jade flicked her gaze away from Callie, her expression darkening. She dropped her half eaten toast onto her plate and licked the crumbs from her fingers, not once lifting her gaze from the table. Callie’s heart squeezed.

  “I’m sorry,” she said tentatively. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just with your own circumstances, I thought you’d understand my need to fill in the blanks.”

  “It’s hardly the same thing.” Jade’s voice was so low, Callie had to strain to hear her.

  “I know it’s not the same, but still if you had the chance wouldn’t you reach out to find your missing past?”

  “No, I’m not sure that I would.” Jade finally met Callie’s gaze, her eyes burning with torment. “I was found wandering along the road, covered with blood and completely alone. Nobody came to claim me, no incident could be found that explained the state I was in, and I can’t remember a thing about my life before the age of fourteen. I’m not sure under those circumstances that I ever want to know what happened.”

  “I don’t believe that’s true. If it was, why do you still wear this?” Callie leaned over the table and gently tapped the necklace hanging around her friend’s throat. “Surely it’s because it’s a link to your past. Something in you must need to know what happened and who you really are.”

  Jade fingered the pendant, her eyes distant. “I guess I wear it because if it wasn’t for the engraving on it, I wouldn’t even know my first name.” Her lips twisted into a bitter half smile. “But that doesn’t mean I want to know anything else.”

  Callie lifted the letter and scanned the words once more. She wished she hadn’t brought the subject up. She should have known better than to raise Jade’s lack of a past.

  “I guess that’s fair enough,” she said awkwardly. “We are all different. Unlike you, I can’t stand the unanswered questions. I need to know the things only she can tell me.”

  “You know you’re setting yourself up for a fall, don’t you? This woman didn’t want you. She didn’t even bother to answer your letter for over five years. Surely that tells you something?” Jade snapped open her handheld vanity mirror and applied a soft pink lipstick, her eyebrows raised at Callie to emphasise her point.

  Callie closed her eyes, seeing the words scrawled across the page in her hand as if they’d been imprinted on the back of her eyelids. An invitation to travel to Devon and meet the mother she’d never even seen. After all this time, she had the chance to find out why her mother had given her up for adoption and the identity of her father. Had he known her mother was pregnant? Had he been in on the decision to give her up? So many holes left unfilled. She had to go. There really was no choice.

  “I hear what you’re saying, but it’s not like I see her as my mother,” Callie assured her friend. “My parents are and always will be Hilary and Peter Price. If I keep that in mind, what harm can she do?”

  Jade pulled away the tissue she’d placed between her lips to blot any excess lipstick. She snorted rather loudly. “Families can be the most damaging things in existence. Haven’t you ever watched Jeremy Kyle?”

  Callie rolled her eyes. Jade’s penchant for watching daytime TV never ceased to amaze her. She was forever telling Callie about some strange or horrifying thing she’d heard about. Callie was sure it was down to the missing fourteen years of Jade’s life. She was endlessly fascinated with families and their intricacies, probably because she didn’t have a family of her own that she could remember.

  “No, I leave that to you,” Callie said drily. Jade pulled a face and Callie laughed. She drew her laptop closer to her and opened it. She pressed the on switch and waited for it to boot up.

  “So
, you’re really going to go?” Jade thrust her chin towards the letter. Callie nodded and tapped her password into her computer. “How long for?” Her friend sounded worried.

  “I don’t know. It’s hard to say how long something like this will take.” Callie shrugged and sipped at her coffee. She grimaced and shuddered as she realised she’d let it grow cold. She placed the mug next to her forgotten breakfast.

  “What about work?” Jade rose from the table and slipped her feet into her high heeled shoes.

  “I have a client that’s been requesting my services for a large bed and breakfast in Devon. It’s actually on the outskirts of the village where Sandra lives. It seems like fate really. I am going to email him to let him know I am taking the project on.” Callie clicked onto the internet and glanced up at Jade.

  “That means you’ll be gone a while, doesn’t it.” Jade grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. Her face had turned a nasty shade of grey. “Your interior design projects are never short.” She slipped the jacket on. Guilt tugged at Callie’s heart at the misery she could see on Jade’s face.

  She scrambled to her feet and wrapped Jade’s stiff body in her arms. She knew Jade found physical touch difficult, but she really felt her friend needed the hug right now. Callie and Jade had been friends for the past four years. In many ways, they were like sisters. Callie had never had any siblings and Jade had no family at all, so they fulfilled a role for each other that would otherwise be missing. They understood what made the other tick. Callie knew it would be hard for her friend to be without her for a while.

  She pulled back and blinked away the tears that blurred her vision. “I’ll call you every day,” she promised, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Jade’s ear. She squeezed her arm. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Jade shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve got a strange feeling about all this. Like things are going to change dramatically for us if you go.” She sniffed and pulled a tissue from her pocket. “I can’t help feeling our lives are undergoing a huge change and neither of us are in control of it.”

  Jade dabbed delicately at the corners of her eyes. Callie’s heart sank in her chest like a stone at her friend’s words. Now she felt bleak!

  “I have to do this. Please understand that I really don’t feel I have a choice in this,” Callie implored.

  “I do understand. I just hope this turns out the way you want it to.” Jade smiled grimly, her lips trembled ever so slightly. Callie knew that was the only sign Jade would give to her inner turmoil. “I have to get going or I’ll be late. We’ll talk later?”

  “Sure.” Callie lifted her hand in farewell as Jade hurried out of their apartment door and left for work.

  She sighed and collapsed back onto her chair with one foot hooked behind the other. Accessing her emails, she quickly typed out a letter to her client, accepting the job for the B&B in Devon. She would wait for Mr Cunningham to advise her of a start date before she contacted Sandra Fuller.

  Her stomach twisted, the enormity of what she was about to embark on hit her full force. Her hands shook as she clicked the send button and watched as her email disappeared from the screen of her computer. It was done. There was no turning back.

  She lifted the letter once more and re-read it for what felt like the hundredth time. Her brow wrinkled. Why now? Why after five years had her mother decided to write back to her? What had changed? Anxiety gnawed at her insides and she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

  “I guess I’ll soon find out,” she whispered as she folded the letter and stuffed it back into its envelope.

  Chapter Two

  “I don’t believe it!” Lucinda glared at Jason as if he was personally responsible for the interruption. Her short dark hair sprang up around her head, even more spikey than usual. It made her appear like an angry hedgehog with its quills raised. Jason sighed and sat up. He pulled his t-shirt over his head as the doorbell rang through the small flat for the second time.

  “What’s the betting it’s your sister………….again!” Lucinda continued to rant. She hit the bed with her fists. Her large breasts bounced with her ire.

  Jason ignored the shrill note in her voice and pulled on his trousers. He couldn’t be bothered to respond when she was in this frame of mind. Lucinda could be petulant or manipulative when she didn’t get her way. Sure enough, she rose off the bed and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a coy smile.

  “Can’t you just ignore it? She’ll go away,” she purred. “I’ll make it worth your while.” She wiggled her hips into his groin.

  Jason untangled her arms and pushed her away with a small pat to her bare behind. “If it is Fay, there is no way I’m ignoring it. You know she needs a firm hand right now. I can’t trust my father to be the one to do it. Now, put your clothes on.”

  He picked up her clothes and threw them to her. They slapped her chest and landed in a pool on her lap. A low growl emitted from her throat and her eyes narrowed into slits.

  Jason quickly left the bedroom before she could start a new tirade. He shut the door behind him to afford her some privacy while she dressed. He crossed the living room and opened the front door just as the bell rang again.

  “You took your time!” A small figure stomped in. Her black boots thumped across the floor, sounding like a herd of elephants had just invaded the flat. She flung the coat draped across her arm at his head. Jason caught the garment in mid-air.

  “Nice to see you too, Fay,” Jason remarked drily.

  Fay ignored him. He hung her black leather jacket on one of the hooks he had up on the wall by the front door. Not for the first time, he wished his sister wouldn’t wear the gothic style she was apparently so fond of. She was such a pretty girl, it was a shame to spoil herself with the heavy dark make-up and piercings she favoured so much. Jason continuously told her that looking as if she’d been punched in both eyes was not really attractive to most guys. Fay simply laughed and ignored him.

  “Well, what can I do for you?” Jason eyed her with misgivings. Usually when Fay turned up, it meant trouble wasn’t far behind.

  His sister stood in the middle of the living room with her hands planted on her hips. Her small freckled nose wrinkled up as she drew in a deep breath.

  “Oh, no. She’s here, isn’t she? I can smell that stench she calls perfume!” Fay rolled her eyes, disgust written all over her face.

  “I’m not happy to see you either, sweetheart.” Lucinda swept out of the bedroom and sent a withering glare at Fay. Jason closed his eyes briefly and silently prayed for deliverance. He hated it when the two of them were in the same vicinity. They always brought out the worst in each other’s nature.

  “Don’t start, either of you.” Jason cut his hand through the air, but he may as well have been talking to the wall. Neither one paid him the slightest bit of notice.

  “If you don’t mind, I would like to talk to my brother alone.” Fay pointed at the door she’d just breezed through.

  “Don’t think I’m leaving just because you order it, you stuck up little minx!” Lucinda’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “Well, I need to speak to Jason about an urgent family matter. It doesn’t concern you, so I think it’s best that you go.” Fay turned pleading big brown eyes in his direction. “I wouldn’t have come over if it wasn’t important.”

  Jason sighed and braced himself for what came next. He turned to Lucinda. “I’d better hear this. We’ll catch up tomorrow?”

  “What!” Her screech hurt his ears. “You’re not seriously asking me to leave? Don’t you want to carry on what we started before we were rudely interrupted by an annoying, unwanted visitor?”

  “Ewww, too much information!” Fay pulled a face and plopped down onto the sofa with all the grace of a sumo wrestler. “It would seem you owe me big time, brother. I’m saving you from a fate worse than death.”

  Jason stepped quickly forward to intercept Lucinda’s charge at his sister. Fay smirked and stuck
her tongue out. Lucinda’s face turned an unbecoming shade of red and her fingers curled into fists.

  “Why don’t you take that little madam to task?” she hissed at Jason. “She needs a good slap! Then maybe she’ll be more respectful to others.”

  “Oh, I am respectful………….to those that deserve it.” Fay leaned forward in her seat, her little face grim. “And I’d really love for you to try and slap me. Just see what you’ll get if you do.”

  “Nobody is hitting anyone.” Jason manoeuvred Lucinda to the door. He grabbed her bag and shoes, and pushed them into her protesting arms. “I’ll call you.”

  He shut the door in her angry, disbelieving face. He could hear her sputtering in the corridor. A loud thump echoed around the room and the door shook violently. Boy, was he going to pay for this.

  “You’d better be here with something important, shrimp.” He glared at Fay, but she smiled at him cockily.

  He might have known she wouldn’t take him seriously. A full ten years younger than him, Fay knew she could wrap him around her little finger. All his attempts to be stern with her generally fell on deaf ears. At the end of the day, she knew he was a soft touch when it came to her.

  Jason sank onto the sofa next to her and balanced one foot on the opposite knee. He propped his elbow on his leg and tucked his chin in his hand. “Well, what is it?”

  “I just wanted to get away.” She stared down at her hands and twisted one of the numerous rings on her fingers in a continuous circuit. “Dad and Sandra are having a major fight right now and I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of it. It’s awkward.”

  Jason stared hard at her face. If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he would have missed the small, satisfied little smile that twitched on the corners of her mouth.

  “What have you done?” He glared at her sternly. She glanced up at him, all innocence.

  “Why do you always think every fight they have is down to me?” She clasped a hand to her chest with a wounded expression.