by Annie Seaton
He nodded. ‘That would be me, and I think I owe you an apology.’
Chapter Four
Ginny stood, one hand on the windowsill, and the other clutching the business card of the man standing in the middle of the room. Greg Tindall, if he was who the card said he was.
‘Perhaps you do. But I can understand why you challenged me. It is a strange time for me to be doing a house visit.’
‘A house visit?’ His voice was deep and strong, and matched the masculinity that oozed from him. It was his size and his strength that had frightened her more than anything when he’d burst into the room.
Ginny nodded slowly and gestured to the clothes on the floor and the bed. ‘Sally offered me first look at the clothes for my shop. Shabby-Chic is a retro shop.’
‘Retro?’ His face was screwed up in a frown.
‘Vintage. You know, old clothes and accessories. My shop is at Paddington, and it’s the only time I could come and look at what she had. Friday afternoons are a quiet time.’
‘Ah. I see. And I guess Sally isn’t really upstairs?’
She nodded. ‘No, but I wasn’t prepared to let a loud hulking stranger know that.’
His face flushed and that surprised her.
‘Hulking. Hmm. I really am sorry. I was a bit over the top, but I’ve had some bad experiences with squatters on some of my other sites.’ He looked at her sheepishly. ‘And as soon as you said Sally Brown was upstairs, I knew that wasn’t true, because she’s currently at a meeting with my solicitor. In fact, if all’s gone well, contracts may have been exchanged already, and I could actually be the owner.’
Ginny nodded again. ‘She had to rush away. You have a key then? She said she was going to lock the door.’
Greg shook his head. ‘No, it was unlocked and open actually.’
‘She must have forgotten to lock it.’
‘Or it could have blown off the latch. It was cold downstairs.’
There was an awkward silence for a moment, and Ginny clasped her hands in front of her.
‘I guess I had better put all this away, and head home,’ she said finally. ‘I didn’t realise how late it was.’ She looked at him curiously. ‘Why were you here anyway?’
‘I had to measure the width of the driveway, and I looked up and saw the light on. Then I made the wrong assumption. I’m really sorry I frightened you barging in like I did.’ He cleared his throat, and she sensed that he was out of his comfort zone, as he stared at her and then dropped his gaze and fumbled with the business card before he looked up and continued. ‘Maybe I could take you out for dinner to say sorry.’
She stared at him, and a dark flush tinged his cheeks, and then he rushed on before she could decline politely.
‘That is, if there’s no one waiting for you at home, or if you already have plans.’
He ran a hand through his already tousled, sun-tipped brown hair. ‘Of course, you will have plans. I’m sorry. Once again, let me apologise for my rudeness. Now, let me help you with this lot.’ He was babbling, and Ginny sensed he was embarrassed.
Not that she’d had much to do with the opposite sex over the past few years and was certainly no expert in reading moods or sub-text.
She glanced down at his hands and shook her head ‘Thank you, but no. I can’t afford to damage this fabric. I don’t have any gloves on myself and I was being super careful.’
‘Okay, fair enough. But I’ll wait here with you, and then walk you to your car.’
She looked at him surprised again by this thoughtfulness. It appeared that the belligerent man had all been an act. ‘Thank you, that would be very kind of you.’
She reached down and picked up the dresses and laid them on the bed one by one as Greg crossed to the window and looked outside. He turned to her after a few minutes. ‘I use a few old stores to source old building materials for my renovations, so I guess that’s a similar field to what you’re in. You know, windows and stuff like that.’
He sounded as though he was trying to be friendly and make an effort, but even though his words were friendly enough his tone was awkward.
‘It is. I don’t chase windows’—she smiled for the first time— ‘but I probably know some of those places you use. I keep in touch with a few of them if I see something that is suitable for them, and they do the same for me.’
She spoke quietly as she picked up the ruby red dress and laid it out carefully on the bed. ‘When I moved to Sydney a few people told me what a cold and unfriendly place it was, but I haven’t found that.’
“How long have you had your shop?’
Ginny reached across and picked up her bag. ‘Ten months.’
‘And it’s going okay?’
‘It is. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had access to some fabulous estates, and this—’ she spread her arms wide— ‘is an exciting find. This will actually get me into the black before the end of the financial year, I hope.’
The look he gave her was curious, but before Greg could answer, there was a loud bang from above. He frowned. ‘Have you been upstairs this afternoon? There must be a window open up there, making a door bang.’
Ginny shook her head with a frown. ‘No, I haven’t, but there were some noises before and Sally said it is just the usual noises of the old house.’
‘Settling timbers don’t make a huge bang like that. I’ll go up and check.’ As he passed her to walk to the door, Greg stopped and looked at her curiously. ‘I forgot to ask. Who was with you when I first came in?’
‘Nobody. Why?’ Ginny looked back at him with a frown. ‘I was here by myself after Sally left.’
‘But someone ran past me when my back was turned and slammed the door shut. I saw their shadow on the wall, and then the door slammed before I could turn around.’
She shook her head. ‘No. There was no one with me. I thought you slammed the door. That’s why I was so scared of you for a minute.’
Greg looked from Ginny to the shut door. ‘I could have sworn there was someone here. Strange.’ He headed across the room to the door and paused. ‘Come on, we’ll go and check upstairs, and then after I lock up I’ll walk you to your car.’
Ginny swallowed. ‘Um, about what you said before.’
‘What I said before?’
Nerves rushed through her and her fingers tingled. ‘About dinner. Um, I have to eat and um—’ oh for goodness sake, you’re a city woman now, act like one—‘and there’s no one waiting, so dinner would be nice. Thank you.’ She expelled a deep breath, entirely out of her comfort zone and wondering why she had said that at all.
The smile that lit up Greg’s face reassured her. ‘Sweet! Come on. Let’s get out of here.’ He paused and looked down at his work clothes. ‘Jeez, look at me, about the only place I’ll get into is a pub, and you look far too nice for that.’
‘A pub would be fine,’ she reassured him. ‘But just a quick meal, I do have to be home as soon as I can because I open my shop early on Saturdays and Sundays to catch everyone going past to the markets.’
‘Sounds good to me. I have a big day planned too.’
Greg waited until she crossed the room to the door beside him before he reached for the door knob. She watched as he tried to turn the old brass knob, but it didn’t budge.
‘Looks like the mechanism jammed when it slammed shut.’ Greg put both hands to the knob and wrenched it to the left, and then to the right, but it didn’t move. ‘It’s stuck fast.’
‘There’s another door to the hall.’ Ginny looked around and pointed to the door on the other the side of the bed. ‘There’s an interconnecting door there, that leads to another bedroom. I noticed a door from that room out to the hall when I first went in there. Might be easier than fiddling with this lock.’
‘Good, come on then, we’ll go out that way. I’ll leave the light on in here and try and come back from the hall side to turn it off.’
Ginny followed Greg around the bed and to the interconnecting door. He turned the knob and jigg
led it, but the door didn’t open.
‘This is the door you went through before?’
‘Yes, it goes to the next bedroom and a small bathroom.’ Ginny frowned as Greg jiggled the knob and was pleased when the door opened, and he chuckled.
‘That’s a relief. I was starting to think I was going to have to climb out the window.’
Another loud thud reverberated from the floor above them.
‘It does sound like there is somebody up there, doesn’t it?’ Ginny rubbed her arms as goose bumps lifted on her arms, despite the warmth of the room.
‘It’s a door banging. But I want to lock up and close any windows before we go.’
She followed him into the smaller room, relieved when he switched the light on and the shadowy corners disappeared.
‘Bloody hell.’ Greg cursed as he tried to turn the knob of the door to the hall. ‘You’re not going to believe this, but this one is jammed too.’
‘It can’t be. Here let me try. Maybe it needs a light touch. I saw Sally open the other one and she did jiggle that one a little bit.’
Greg stepped back as Ginny grasped the door knob with both hands and tried to turn it. The brass knob was cold beneath her fingers, but he was right, it was jammed tight and didn’t move.
‘That’s really strange. Unless they’ve been key locked?’
Greg put his hand over hers, and tried to move it, but again it didn’t budge. ‘Come on, we’ll go back to the other room. At least we know that one’s not locked. We both came in that way.’
The first quiver of unease twanged in Ginny’s tummy and she swallowed. Right on cue, her stomach gave out a loud grumble, but it broke the tension when Greg laughed. ‘I’m a bit the same. It’s been a long time since lunch.’
They tried the door knob for a full five minutes, each of them having a go at trying to open it.
‘Well, it looks like we’re going to have to call for help.’ Greg scratched his head. ‘It’s going to have to be the owners, or someone with a key because I locked the front door behind me. Do you have Sally’s number? I don’t have it in my phone. My solicitor has been our method of communication.’
‘I do.’ Ginny crossed to the bed and sat down and opened her handbag before sliding out her iPhone. She pushed the button to wake it, but the screen didn’t light up. With a frown, she pressed it again, but it stayed stubbornly black.
She wrinkled her nose as she looked up at Greg. ‘That’s strange. My phone’s gone flat. It was fully charged when I got out of the car. I charged it on the way over.’
‘Try turning it off, and then on again. My iPhone plays up like that occasionally.’
Ginny did as he instructed but shook her head again. ‘Nope, dead as a doornail.’
‘It’s okay. I’ll ring my solicitor and get Sally’s number.’
‘It’s late. Will he still be there?’
‘I’ve got his mobile number. He was at the office when I arrived here. With a bit of luck Sally might still be there too.’
‘Maybe, but I think she was heading straight back to Peat’s Ridge. She was in a rush. Maybe the solicitor will have a spare key?’ Ginny tipped her head to the side. ‘Wait a minute. I think her sister lives close to here, or at least she works locally. Maybe Sally could call her if she’s already left. Her name’s Sonia.’
‘Sounds like a plan. I’ll give Johnno a call and get us out of here somehow.’ As he pulled the phone from his pocket, Greg walked back to the door, and jiggled the knob again, but as before, he had no luck.
GREG WAS PLEASED THAT Ginny seemed to have relaxed with him and didn’t think he was trying something on with them being locked in the room. Hell, she’d even agreed to go out for dinner with him, much to his disbelief—and pleasure. He’d mumbled like a schoolboy when he’d mentioned dinner. Halfway through asking her, he’d changed his mind, and he knew he’d sounded like an idiot. But she’d been kind, and then to Greg’s utmost surprise, she’d said she’d go out with him. The way they were going, it would be too late to go anywhere.
Although it was Friday night, the sorts of places that would be open and buzzing weren’t exactly what he’d had in mind. Ginny must have read his mind because, as he hit the button on his phone, she crossed to the window and looked out into the dark.
‘By the time we get out of here, it will probably be late, so I might pass on the dinner now,’ she said softly.
Disappointment ran through him, but he nodded with a smile as he hit the speed dial for Johnno ‘You’re probably right. But how about a rain check? To make up for this I’ll take you somewhere nice one night.’
Her nod was non-committal, and Greg tried not to frown as he waited for the call to connect.
What the hell am I doing? He needed to get out of here and start acting like a rational human being again.
After a few more seconds, the call still hadn’t dialled out; he lowered the phone and looked at the screen. Johnno’s number was there but the phone was still trying to connect the call. He lowered his brows as he stared at the service. There were no bars at all.
‘What the f—’ He glanced across at Ginny at the window. ‘Sorry. I’m used to working with men all day.’
‘What’s the problem?’
He walked over to the window, keeping his eye on the service bars. ‘The network must be down. There’s no service. Look.’ He handed her the phone in case she thought he was up to something. ‘There’s not even the usual SOS call option that’s there when the network’s down.
‘Oh dear,’ she said softly. ‘What do we do now?’
‘The window. It’s our only option.’ he said and looked up as there was another loud thud from upstairs. ‘Maybe I can get up to the next floor.’ Greg unlocked the window and tried to push the sash window on the left up, but it was jammed. He moved to the one beside it but again, there was no movement even though it was unlocked. ‘I can’t believe it. It doesn’t bode well for this project. Maybe I should have scoped it out a bit more before I signed the contract.’
‘Maybe it means the house should be left as it is?’ Ginny tilted her head and stared at him. ‘It’s a beautiful old home that just needs some TLC.’
Greg stilled with his hand on the window as regret shot through him. ‘So you’re another one who doesn’t think old houses shouldn’t be refreshed?’ His words came out more harshly than he’d intended as his patience was being sorely tested by being locked in this room. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.’
‘I suppose it depends on what you mean by refreshed,’ she said slowly.
Greg looked down at his phone and shoved it back in his pocket without answering her. ‘I’ll give it a few minutes and try again. I can’t believe this.’
‘Actually, I’m glad you came up when you saw the light on. I don’t know how I would have fancied being locked in here by myself.’
Greg crossed to the bed and stood beside Ginny. ‘So, what did I mean by refreshed? It’s a bit like what you do, I guess. It’s valuing old things and working with them and making them suitable for today.’ He pointed to the door and the window in turn. ‘So, this is a graceful old house, but I imagine living in it as it is would be quite challenging. Sticky doors and windows, leaking hot water systems, thuds and groans in the night, nowhere to park on the block or outside . . . and the list goes on.’
Ginny’s hat wobbled as she shook her head, and Greg almost reached out to catch it, certain it was going to slide off her hair. She was sitting up straight on the bed, her handbag grasped firmly in her lap and her legs crossed demurely at the ankles.
She was an unusual woman. The way she spoke and the way she carried herself was quite old fashioned, and her confidence seemed to come and go. She intrigued him, and that was different for him. For the past few years, he’d been too tied up in his business to take an interest in socialising.
‘So what are we going to do until we get phone service?’ she asked.
The bed dipped as he sat next to her,
and there was another loud thud from upstairs.
Chapter Five
‘Do you think there is someone up there? Or is it just the house settling?’ Ginny asked. Considering the situation she and Greg were in, she was feeling remarkably calm. Greg sat beside her on the bed, tapping his fingers on his thigh, a frown creasing his forehead.
‘Maybe we could bang on the door and if there is someone up there they might come to see what’s wrong, do you think?’ Ginny persisted. It was a strange situation. She’d forgotten all about the clothes and was trying to get used to being confined in a room with a man she had only met an hour or so ago.
He was a nice man. No, she shook her head. Nice was such a weak word, and one that Mrs Beynon had taught them never to use in the stories that they had written every Friday afternoon at primary school.
‘Worth a try, I suppose.’ Greg shook his head. ‘But if there is, they’re more likely to take off than come and help us. And I think this house probably settled about eighty years ago.’
The wide smile lightened his face for the first time since he’d burst into the room.
‘Maybe it’s the aunty,’ Ginny said with a little smile. Her tummy let out another loud gurgle and heat ran up her neck. Feeling self-conscious, she placed her hand bag carefully on the floor, and fiddled with the catch. Anything to divert Greg’s attention from her digestive juices.
‘The aunty?’
‘Aunt Agatha.’ She nodded. ‘Sally told me on the phone the other day that they didn’t want to sell the house or empty out her belongings in case it upset her.’
‘Is she in a home? It’s the first mention I’ve heard. They must have power of attorney to act on her behalf. I thought the house was owned by Taj Brown, the surfer.’
‘No, she’s passed.’
Greg’s forehead wrinkled in a frown. ‘So what do you mean upset her?’
Ginny waved a hand and the light from the bare electric bulb in the ceiling above caught the iridescent orange glow of her manicured nails. ‘I was being silly. All those thuds and creaks and groans set my imagination running rampant. I grew up in a haunted house.’
