The Warrior's Princess

  ‘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

  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.’

  Jess shrugged. ‘It was frightening. I thought maybe someone else, I mean someone real, had come in and done it. It didn’t occur to me that it was her to start with.’

  ‘And someone real would be better than a ghost? Who on earth would do that?’ Steph stared at her, shocked. ‘Jess!’

  Jess shrugged again. ‘I wasn’t thinking straight. But what was I supposed to believe? A burglar in the middle of nowhere? Or the resident ghost. Either way I was beginning to feel freaked out!’

  She was aware of Will’s eyes fixed on her face. She stared down at her plate, refusing to meet his gaze.

  Kim stood up. ‘Let’s ring Carmella!’

  ‘What? Now?’ Steph shook her head dismayed.

  ‘Why not? If she can summon your wayward child we can sort all this out and find out what is bugging her.’

  ‘I don’t know, Kim.’ Jess looked from her sister to Will for support. ‘This isn’t a game. She is unhappy. Angry. Lost.’

  ‘And we can help her. Find out what happened in Rome. Oh, come on! It will be fascinating.’ Kim picked up the phone.

  Steph leaned back in her chair and shrugged her shoulders at Jess. ‘You are not going to stop her, I’m afraid.’

  ‘And I doubt if anything will happen,’ Will added. ‘I don’t see our Italian signora finding it easy to contact a two-thousand-year-old child from some weird British tribe!’

  They fell silent as Kim’s voice rose behind them in a torrent of excited Italian.

  ‘Steph’s right, you’re not going to stop her now,’ Will said quietly, with a rueful smile at Jess. ‘I suspect we have to give in gracefully!’

  The conversation on the phone had concluded with a fervent ‘Ciao, a presto!’ and Kim turned to them flushed with triumph. ‘She’ll be here in half an hour. Just time to finish supper. Eat up, bambini. It’s going to be a long night!’

  * * *

  ‘First, I read the cards.’

  They were seated round a low coffee table in Kim’s cosy sitting room, Steph and Will on the sofa, Jess and Kim on cushions, Carmella on a low chair at the head of the table. Behind her a cluster of candles flickered on the bookcase, otherwise there was no light in the room. The windows stood open onto the dark courtyard below with its gently trickling fountain. Theirs was the only one showing any light. Most of the occupants of the other apartments in the palazzo had left Rome for their summer residences in the hills or on the coast. Jess gave an involuntary shiver.

  ‘OK. I start.’ Carmella smiled at them. Her dark hair was tied back with a bright red scarf; the style emphasised her vivacious dark eyes.

  This time she had her own deck of cards with her. She brought them out of her bag. They were wrapped in a length of black silk and reverently she unwound it and began a slow shuffling of the pack.

  Carmella glanced up at Jess. ‘Do you have something belonging to this child?’ she asked.

  Jess shook her head. ‘She lived nearly two thousand years ago!’

  ‘Ah.’ Carmella was seemingly unfazed. ‘No matter. Let me be silent for a few moments.’

  She closed her eyes. The quiet of the room was broken by the faint sound of a police siren echoing from some distant street.

  ‘Va bene. Let’s start.’ Carmella reached down and setting the cards on the table, cut the pack. Will looked up and caught Jess’s eye. He gave a small grimace and she smiled. This wasn’t going to work, but if it amused
the others, then she was content to watch. She firmly pushed away the worm of unease which was beginning to rise deep in her stomach and reached over for her glass of wine, sipping it quietly as she studied the layout of cards which Carmella was setting out on the table. The warm polished surface of the old wood reflected the candlelight steadily. No breath of wind strayed in through the window. The night was hot and very still.

  ‘OK. Now I start with the card of the child.’ Carmella reached seemingly at random and turned over one of the cards. ‘Il fante di bastoni. So here she is again.’

  Jess caught her breath. None of them said anything.

  Slowly and methodically Carmella turned over the remaining cards in the spread. The silence in the room grew heavy. Will and Steph exchanged glances as Carmella sat staring at the cards. She leaned forward, tapping the table with a scarlet fingernail. Then at last she looked up. ‘This young lady, she is in danger. Someone from her past is trying to find her. Hunting her down the centuries.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t understand. This is complicated. Molto pericoloso. I have never read such a spread before. And you want me to try to speak to her?’ She glanced doubtfully from Kim to Jess.

  ‘Did she grow up to be a woman?’ Jess whispered. ‘Or did she die as a child? Can you tell from the cards?’

  Carmella stared back down at the pattern on the table before her. ‘She speaks from two worlds.’ She trailed her fingers across the centre of the spread. ‘She lived two thousand years ago, you said. So obviously she is in spirit now.’

  ‘Yes, but did she live to grow up?’ Jess leaned forward. ‘Can you see her family? She lost a brother and sister. Are they there?’

  ‘The cards speak of torment and fear. They speak of resolutions.’ Carmella tapped her finger again. ‘They speak of loss and of anger and sorrow. And they speak of love. At the end of her life, she found love, but for how long and with whom I cannot say.’ She frowned. ‘Perhaps it was at the moment of death.’ Shaking her head she swept all the cards into a heap and leaned away from the table. ‘I am not sure we should try and call her.’