The Whitehall Affair (Excerpt)

2 - The Ghosts We Create

Nora shuffled out of the bedroom and looked across the living room towards the kitchen. Ian was still in his pajamas, his red hair going in about twenty different directions. He turned from the stove and smiled at her, causing her to pause.

"Sleeping Beauty has arisen," he sang. "Just finishing up with breakfast, but coffee's ready."

Nora nodded mutely and started across the living room, still not shaking off the uneasiness that had settled into her bones. Though everything appeared normal, she still couldn't explain last night, nor could she understand why Ian was acting as though nothing had happened.

As she neared the island, she saw her purse sitting on the counter with her phone next to it. Suddenly, it began buzzing, the screen lighting up. Nora jumped at the noise, her eyes wide as her heart started racing.

"Probably Margot," Ian said, glancing over his shoulder, though he turned towards her when he saw her odd behavior. "Best answer it. She'll just call back later."

Nora nodded and stepped over, picking up the phone.

"Hey," she said, willing her heart to slow down.

"Good! You're up!" Margot said brightly. "Someone had a lot of fun last night."

"Guess I did," Nora said, moving to sit on a stool as she looked over at Ian. He was smiling slightly.

"Seriously, Nor! This is great! You haven't gone out like that in YEARS! I, for one, was happy to see the old Nora," Margot exclaimed, causing Nora to wince slightly. She had a rather nasty headache and Margot's squealing wasn't helping. "I mean, God, you were even throwing in all this 20s slang that I've never even heard of before... so got into it."

"What?" Nora asked, not understanding.

"You must have done your research, though I'm not really surprised, knowing you. How did you find out about those tunnels, by the way? I mean, yea, I'm down for an adventure, but pretty sure I would have lost my job over that one... And then..."

Nora zoned out as Margot continued on, mentioning random things around the ballroom that Nora had pointed out. Things that she didn't remember and certainly didn't know about now.

How much longer had they stayed at the party after she blacked out? What had she done during that time?

Did no one see her panic attack in the middle of the dance floor?

"Oh my God, do not tell me you blacked out. You didn't even drink that much," Margot whined. "Maybe your tolerance has gone way down since you stopped going out. No worries, we can get it back up."

Nora shook her head, as she frowned and tucked her hair behind her ear. None of this was making sense. She frantically tried to piece together anything that she could remember.

She did a couple shots with Ian and Meredith, then had a few drinks that Ian mixed, intentionally making them on the weak side. Margot had popped over a couple times. Nora also had some champagne. But not much. Yes, it wasn't as much as before, but she knew her tolerance wasn't that low.

In the middle of all this mess, one thing took prominence in Nora's mind. The woman in the photograph and all the strange things that had happened after she found it.

Who was the woman? Why was her photo in Whitehall Mansion? And just why did the woman look exactly like Nora?

Christ, just how drunk had she been?

"Nor?"

"Uh, yea. I guess I must have had more than I thought," Nora finally said, smiling weakly. She could feel Ian glancing at her from his station at the stove. "It's a bit blurry..."