Her Silent Shadow: A Gripping Psychological Suspense Collection

by Edwin Dasso

  Oh, I’m sorry. Thank you for your honesty. It’s not important. We can be friends for now. She used a smiley face icon, and that made him laugh.

  He was getting ready to type in a thank you back to her when he was prompted to make a decision about sharing his email address. There was a yes or no answer to click. He decided to share. If she were a guy posing as a girl, he’d soon find out.

  “Here’s my email address if you want to move to the next stage,” he typed. “I’ll let you decide.” Within seconds, the familiar bell that signaled an email coming into his phone rang out. He opened his email on the computer, and there it was: a message from nikosantorini. He went back to the chat on the dating site. The name sent a chill down both arms.

  “Are you nikosantorini?” He typed. “Where’d that name come from?”

  It’s me. My people are from Santorini, and my name is Nicole.

  “Are you Greek?”

  What would make you ask that? Only kidding. And that smiley face again.

  “I live in Greektown.”

  No way! I live in the Lofts. Wait, is Gus’s your store?

  “What’s your phone number?” he typed. In seconds her phone number appeared. He grabbed his phone and punched the numbers in.

  “I got my dinner from you yesterday,” she said without saying hello. “I had the pink polka dot scarf that you commented on!” He quickly thought of the day before, and she came to mind right away. She was pretty, blond, and chubby. His heart sank, feeling awful; he didn’t find chubby women attractive. Dana, his late wife, wasn’t thin; her ass was huge. But Nicole appeared chubby beyond what he thought acceptable, with a round, innocent face accentuated by white-blond hair she pulled back into a ponytail. She had broad hips, and he could tell even with her coat on that she was buxom. Imagining introducing her to the family, the comments his uncles would make increased his anxiety.

  “Okay, sure, I remember you,” he said, scrambling. Recognizing how shallow he was, he grasped at a familiar phrase, one she’d used herself that night; they could be friends.

  “I love that place,” Nicole said. “Do you want to get together for coffee?”

  “Oh, I wish I could, but my boys are sleeping,” Andy replied. There was silence for a moment, his excitement about talking to her obviously diminished since acknowledging who she was. He just couldn’t be that big of a cad. “But if you don’t mind my messy apartment, you can come up here and I’ll make you a great cup. It’s right above the store.” He hoped she’d refuse, the idea of visiting a strange guy too dangerous.

  “I would normally refuse, but since Gus has prepared my dinner nightly for the past five years, I think I’ll be safe.” She giggled, and he joined in, surprising himself. Maybe it would be fun. There’d been no one but relatives in his apartment for the past year. Walking the two blocks to his apartment wouldn’t be dangerous, but he found he was thinking of her safety. He ran down the stairs and opened the door to the street, looking out for her. In seconds, she was in view, and he ran to meet her.

  “Hey!” she said, recognizing him. “How nice of you to meet me.”

  “It’s safe, but my mother always says don’t tempt fate.”

  Giggling again, she shivered as they quickly walked to the apartment door. Flipping the light switch on in the stairwell, he went ahead of her just so she wouldn’t feel self-conscious about him following too close behind her ass.

  “My god, this looks just like my grandmother’s place,” she said when they entered the apartment.

  “Yes, well, it hasn’t changed since we moved in. It’s looked like this since I was a child.”

  Walking over to the banquet, she examined the framed photos hanging on the wall above. “All Greek families must have the same photographs. I swear, everyone has an uncle who was a guard wearing a white kilt and a fez and with pompoms on their shoes.”

  Andy turned the table lamp on, leaning closely to see what she was talking about. “I never noticed,” he admitted. “So what are they guarding?”

  “They’re Evzones. The guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”

  Embarrassed, Andy admitted he had no idea who the people in the photos were, except for the newer ones: baby pictures of the aunts and uncles and of his grandparents. She asked him about his family, sharing her own family stories as she took off her coat.

  “Let’s get coffee,” Andy said, pointing to the kitchen. Quickly, Andy forgot about chubby Nicole and relaxed, comfortable with her while they talked.

  “I wonder why our families didn’t know each other, at least because of church.”

  “Mine moved out of the city a long time ago,” Nicole said.

  “Wow, so you moved back alone? That’s pretty courageous.”

  “Not really. I got the job, and the commute took too much of my time. Moving here seemed logical. I think my expectations were way out of line, though. I thought there’d be more sense of community, more Greek people, that Greeks would own the businesses. But there’s Gus’s, and it’s as Greek as you can get. I blame your food for my weight problem.” She giggled again and took a sip of coffee.

  “Yeah, there’s really nothing low calorie on our menu,” Andy said, thinking of the butter and olive oil they used in the vegetables. He sat down across from her with his cup of coffee.

  “It’s late for coffee, but I hate going to bed early on a Saturday night. You have a perfect view here of the action on the street,” she said. “I’ll happily risk sleeping for this.” They looked out the window while they talked. He wasn’t ready to share too much about Dana, and she didn’t ask. Admonishing himself for his earlier judgment of her size, he saw that she was very pretty with a classic, straight nose, large brown eyes and a woman’s figure. Trying not to stare, Nicole’s body looked soft and curvy, her big breasts and hips balanced by a tiny waist and flat stomach. He imagined diving on her, those legs around his back, and had to shake his head to get the vision out so he could continue speaking.

  “Where’s your blond hair come from?”

  “Evidently, there were Germans back in my family history. There must have been,” she said, picking up her ponytail and shaking it. As he listened to her talking, she became more and more attractive to him, the chemistry building. By the end of the evening, he knew he wanted to see her again soon.

  “Are you free tomorrow? Because if you are, I’d like to see you. Sundays here are typical with family around for dinner, and you might enjoy it. But if you think I’m pushing it, we can wait until another time.”

  “No, I don’t think you’re pushing it. I’d enjoy it. But I usually see my family on Sunday as well.”

  “Oh,” Andy said, disappointed.

  “Sunday’s a long day, though, so I bet I could squeeze both families in,” she said, smiling. “What time do you have in mind?”

  “About one? We’ll be home from church, and the kids will probably nap for a while.”

  She agreed, saying she’d be there after one. He walked her down the stairs and watched her walking back to her apartment. When she reached it, he could see her turn and wave to him, two blocks away. He went back inside and cleaned up their coffee mess. Puttering around the apartment, turning off the kitchen lights and closing the lid on his computer, he didn’t know that he was grinning, and it wasn’t until he got into bed that he realized he was happy.

  4

  Sunday church started at nine, and Gus and Estelle waited in the narthex before the doors to the church proper opened. It was the fourth Sunday of Advent. Christmas was next Friday. Estelle was feeling nervous about everything she had to do, anxiety clouding her attempt at spirituality. She’d waited until the last minute to buy her son and his family gifts, and until that was completed via catalog, she wouldn’t be able to relax.

  That concern out of the way, she had to figure out how to meld Gus’s family with hers. He had a bossy older sister and a couple of prima donna sister-in-laws who would not welcome change. This year in particular would be intense b
ecause his brother Peter had narrowly escaped death by a deadly heart attack before Thanksgiving. His wife, Joan, was trying desperately to make up for lost time by attending as many Greektown family get-togethers as she could.

  Prior to Peter’s heart attack, Joan rarely accepted an invitation to bring her daughters to Greektown, and Peter came alone. Her daughters were resentful now, insisting she’d deprived them of their heritage. Gus loved having them, but Estelle didn’t like the intrusion. Joan was learning Greek-style cooking, making Estelle crazy trying to speak Greek while they were in the kitchen together.

  Their daughters—Sally, who was in her thirties, and Jennifer, twenty—wanted to learn as well. Conversations were impossible when they were around because everyone was expected to repeat their comments over and over again and to speak slowly.

  “I wonder how Joan and the girls are doing with their Greek lessons,” Gus said, as if reading her mind.

  “We’ll soon find out,” Estelle said with a forced smile. “Is everyone coming?”

  “I think so,” he replied. His sister, Maria would drive the three-plus hours from the west side of the state and spend the night. The brothers lived in the suburbs, brother John on the other side of Lansing. His wife, Liz, usually came along, but rumor was they were in trouble after thirty years of marriage, his retirement a factor. Liz was sticking by John, trying to involve him, but he wasn’t interested. Only time would tell how their relationship would play out.

  Brother Nick, separated from wife Paula but still living with her, would be one of the first to arrive, his newfound bachelorhood not as wonderful as he thought it would be, days and nights lonely until he asked to move back home. Paula showed up in Greektown, too. She remained friends with Liz and Joan and wasn’t going to allow a little thing like the end of her marriage to infidel Nick to keep her out of the family loop.

  None of the Canadian relatives showed up, having made their own traditions. Once a year they would try to get together for a meal in Greektown, but not over Christmas.

  The doors to the nave were finally opened, and just as Estelle and Gus slid into the pew, Andy’s mom and dad, Big Andy and Anna arrived with him and the two little boys. Anna would take the boys back to the kiddie area if they started to fuss too much.

  Andy was trying to feel something spiritual as he sat looking around at the other parishioners. Church didn’t mean much to him anymore, outside of a tradition that his family had. In the rack attached to the pew in front of him, he picked the weekly bulletin out and skimmed its contents; meal delivery to the poor in the city and toys for needy children helped to fill the seven pages of typewritten news.

  Sticking the bulletin back in the rack, he picked up the Advent devotional and flipped to the date, the fourth Sunday of Advent. “For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He tried to reason why there would be hungry children that Christians needed to feed if Christ died for the sinners already.

  Not wanting to think ill thoughts about God while sitting in His house, Andy allowed thoughts of his late wife Dana in, instead. Miserable, she had tried to ruin his life and ended up ruining her own. He was sorry he let her into his head, when there was a soft tap on his shoulder. He looked up, expecting another parishioner to be there wanting him to move over, and the face of a lovely young woman smiled down on him. It was Nicole.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” she whispered.

  “Of course not,” he said. “Wow, you really clean up nice.” The words escaped his mouth before he could bite them back.

  She raised her hand to her mouth to stifle laughter. He suddenly felt better but didn’t yet equate her presence as being the factor that had changed everything.

  “Gee, thanks! You do, too,” she whispered back.

  The priest came out from the sanctuary and slowly moved to the pulpit, followed by the deacons, swinging the incense burners, and the chanter.

  No matter how violent a beating his faith was taking, Andy loved the liturgy of the Eucharist, and waited patiently for the sermon to end so he could take his place among the believers filing toward the altar to receive communion. He communed in his soul, silently praying that he’d be forgiven his sins, both voluntary and involuntary. Not sure which was which anymore; his cynical criticism of the church or of himself.

  Aware of Nicole just behind him, Andy allowed the moment to flow over him, that today was a new beginning as every Sunday since Dana was murdered had been, praying this time it would last longer than twenty-four hours. Kneeling before the altar rail, Andy opened his eyes as the priest approached him with the chalice.

  “This is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said, offering it to Andy to drink.

  He took a sip of the sour wine and bowed his head as the priest moved on to Gus. A deacon came with the wafer and placed one on Andy’s tongue. Andy leaned back on his heels and stood up to move away and allow Nicole to move in his place, conscious that what he had just done was a sacrilege; he participated in receiving Holy Communion and didn’t believe it totally in his heart, no matter what he thought of the beauty of the ceremony. Tears near the surface; it was a sentimental moment for him. His faith crushed, rather than allowing the past to rule his life, to ruin his life, he was going to move on.

  Although he wanted to keep walking out of the church, he didn’t want to upset his family by leaving before the service was over. Andy went back to his seat and waited for the others to return. Nicole was right behind him, her head bowed as she walked to the pew and slid in again. The wait for the priest to dismiss the congregation was agonizing; he couldn’t sit there another minute.

  “I’m going to get my boys so my mom can take communion,” he whispered to her, standing and squeezing by.

  They were in a soundproof room with other small children. “Mom, go get communion,” he said to Anna. She stood up and handed the storybook over to her son. “Come on, boys, let’s go home.” Buttoning up their coats and putting on hats and mittens, they would wait outside. The light and cold air immediately did its work as Andy felt the tension in his shoulders release. It wasn’t long before Nicole came out. He smiled at her, happy she was there, hoping this insanity he was feeling would pass.

  “I made my apologies to the family so I could come over early,” she said. “Am I still invited?”

  “Of course,” Andy replied. “Meet my boys.”

  He introduced them, and the littlest immediately took a liking to her, grabbing her hand. Soon his parents and uncle exited the foreboding doors of the church, and they moved as a group, walking down Lafayette to Beaubien Street.

  “Everyone, this is Nicole,” he said, suddenly aware that he had no idea what her last name was. His dad stuck out his hand for her to take.

  “Does Nicole have a last name?” Andy cringed, but she spoke up, not at all intimidated.

  “Haleros,” she said. “Shortened from Halerosous.”

  Anna stopped and frowned. “Wait,” she said. “Is your mother Stephanie Haleros?”

  Nicole nodded her head. “You know her? No way.”

  “I do!” Anna said and went on to explain that they’d served together on a committee of one of the many Hellenic women’s organizations to which she belonged. Nicole talked to Anna the rest of the way back to the apartment, and Andy was off the hook.

  This could be a bad development, he noted. If he decided there was nothing to pursue with Nicole and she’d already established a connection with his parents and lived two blocks away, it might be difficult to separate from her. And if it turned out they liked each other, his mother may be forming opinions already that weren’t in Nicole’s favor.

  Too emotionally exhausted from his epiphany at church, he decided to let nature take its course. He would follow the path of least resistance that day. There was part of him that was relieved Nicole was there; her presence grounded him. Surely, that’s a good sign.

  After they arrived at the apartment, it took a while for the chaos to die down. Andy tried not to sta
re at Nicole as she removed her coat, exposing a figure-hugging sweater and casual black pants. The night before, she was wearing a heavy Wayne State University sweatshirt and baggy jeans that didn’t hide her body. Nicole was voluptuous. He felt that stirring in his groin again and turned his back to hide his smile, so glad that part of him was still alive. After forced celibacy in an unhappy marriage, he was beginning to wonder if he’d ever want to do it again. As the family arrived, the men were sizing her up in a favorable way, which meant something to him. He knew that he was being shallow, but also that he wasn’t in any condition to defend her to his family because she was fat.

  Nick and Paula arrived soon after. “How you doin’, Andy?” she said, patting his cheek. “You hangin’ in there?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he said.

  “Your girl sure is pretty. I’d keep her away from your Uncle Nick,” she warned. “He’s licking his chops.” Andy glanced up to see Nick checking out Nicole, looking her up and down from the back like a prize steer, while she continued talking to Anna, unaware of the attention she was getting.

  “Oh, I think she’ll be okay,” Andy said. “She’s a nurse in the trauma unit at the medical center. It might take more than Uncle Nick to scare her.”

  Paula laughed, but she wasn’t so sure anyone was safe around Nick. “I better go see if I can help out in the kitchen,” she said with no intention of helping.

  Andy glanced back to Nicole, wondering if his mother was giving her the rundown on the whole ugly story of the past year. He almost hoped she was so he wouldn’t have to. Watching her nodding her head while Anna yammered on and on, he went to her rescue.

  “Mom, don’t tell her too much the first day, okay? We don’t want to scare her off.” Why the word scare was used twice in conjunction with Nicole bothered him. He shook his head to rid his mind of the thought.

  Andy led Nicole away from Anna back to the living room just as Jill arrived. He could see Nicole looking at Jill with admiration as she removed layers of clothing, her lean body standing out in spite of the simple black pants and white shirt she was wearing.