Shadows of the Past: A Supernatural Suspense Mystery (Shadow Slayers Stories Book 1) by Nellie Steele (read aloud .txt) 📗

“To talk to you. Can I come in?”

“No, Gray, you can’t come in. This is crossing the line. I’ve already told you I can’t help you.”

“All right, fine. I’ll come back later. Perhaps around six tonight, perhaps you’ll be in a more receiving mood then.”

Josie grimaced. She stood aside, allowing him entrance. “Thought you’d see it my way,” he said, stalking into the house.

She closed the door. “You have five minutes, Gray. Although, there is nothing you can say that will change my mind.”

“You’re being stubborn, although I’m not surprised, you’ve always been stubborn. It’s one of your most enchanting yet exasperating qualities.”

“Four minutes.”

“Are you really enjoying your life here? This mundane existence? The daily grind?”

“Three minutes.”

“You can’t tell me this is what you want. Come on, Celine. Can you look me in the eye and tell me this is what you really want?”

“Two minutes.”

“You can’t, can you? You can’t do it, that’s why you’re just trying to wait me out, that’s why you won’t discuss anything.”

“I can, Gray. I can. This is what I want. I like my life. I am happy as Josie.”

“You didn’t know any different, not until yesterday anyway.”

“I’m not coming back. I can’t.”

“Celine, please. We need your help.”

“I can’t help you. Especially if the Duke is involved.”

“Celine, you’re the only one who can help if the Duke is involved. You know that.”

“I think your time is up, please go.” Josie walked to the door and opened it.

“Celine, please. There are children involved here. We need your help. Now, please, stop being stubborn.”

“How dare you? Don’t you try to guilt me into this.”

“I’m simply telling you what is at stake here. If you can let two innocent children be tormented by the Duke, much the way you were, then fine, I’ll go. But I don’t think that’s in your nature, Celine. At least it wasn’t. Perhaps Josie is that selfish, you were not.” He walked through the door. “Think about it. I’ll be in touch.”

Josie slammed the door behind him. She was furious. How dare he show up at the house unannounced and then try to guilt her into changing her mind. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t being selfish. It was worth it, she deserved a life too. Sacrifices had to be made. She had to stay the course. Days remained, only days, that was all it would take. She took a deep breath; she had to maintain her normal life. She forced herself to climb up the steps, determined to focus on work for the afternoon. She hoped to use it as both a distraction from her recent conversations with Gray and an affirmation that this was the life she was choosing.

“Here we go, he’s coming out,” Michael said, “that was a short conversation.”

“He doesn’t seem upset, he’s not yelling like yesterday.”

“No, he wasn’t in there long enough.”

“There he goes, and he’s off.”

“Yep, hmm, well, should we go back to the car?”

“Yeah, it’s way too hot out here already. Plus, time for a mid-morning snack.”

They headed back to the car, Michael turned on the engine to run the air conditioner to cool the car off for a bit. “So, who do you think he is?” he said, cracking open a soda that Damien brought.

“No idea. I never saw that guy before yesterday. Here wait, I’m going to text her and see what she says.”

“Wait, you’re going to text her about this guy?”

“No, I mean, sort of. I’m going to just ‘check in’ and ask her how it’s going, is she okay and all of that.”

“Oh right, yeah, okay, good idea. See what you get back from her.”

“Okay, here we go. I sent it, said ‘everything going okay?’ Let’s see what we get back.”

Within a few minutes, Josie responded: Yep, all good here :)

“So she’s still going to lie,” Michael said.

“Looks like it. It’s too obvious to ask if she’s had any visitors. Hmm, perhaps I can say… I’ve got it. ‘No disturbances?’” he said as he typed.

His phone chimed indicating a response: Nope, nothing to worry about, D!

Damien responded: How’s your head?

After a moment, he received a new message: Seems fine, doesn’t hurt, no bump or anything

“Anything?” Michael asked.

“Nope, she’s admitting to nothing. Looks like that was a bust.” He threw his phone down, grabbing a bag of chips and popping it open.

“Well, I guess the stakeout continues.”

Josie answered the text messages from Damien. She was surprised it took him this long to check in. It seemed he was walking on eggshells around her, not wanting to come across as overbearing. She settled in to her chair and pulled up her email application. Nothing new there. She opened a few reports and a word document to continue working on creating a summary for a client.

She typed a few words and added a chart. She fiddled with adjusting its size and location and added a caption. She stared at the document. She typed another word and stopped. She found herself distracted. She tried to push ahead, finishing the statement. She deleted it and rewrote it twice then was stuck again.

It was no use, she couldn’t focus. She still had about an hour before lunch so she decided she would relax with a bath. She headed for her room. As she prepared for the bath, she noticed the music box sitting on the dresser where she had put it the night before. She shook her head, turning to face away from it as she changed.

After the tub was full, she slipped out of her bathrobe and into the tub. She laid back, closing her eyes, trying to relax. After a few moments she opened them. Staring ahead, she found she could see the music box from where she was in the tub since she had left the door ajar. She couldn’t catch a break today, she thought. She closed her eyes again, shutting it out. They popped back