The Ghostly Past

Chapter 6

For the next few days, she avoided everyone except for Harriet and her students. She couldn't trust the people from the village. The sense of paranoia was killing her but something was going on. The same day that James had made that odd phone call to Leo, she had popped into the bakery to get some fresh bread to go with dinner, and run into Max and Oliver on the way out.

Max had an armful of fruit and vegetables, heading for his car, while Oliver was walking by.

Both raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi." She said nervously.

"What's wrong?" Max asked her, frowning. Was she that transparent?

"Nothing." She said defensively. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just getting bread. I was surprised they had much left at this time of day but they found me some and he slipped a couple of sausage rolls in too and..."

"You're babbling." Max raised an eyebrow. Damn his observant eyes.

"I'm just tired is all." She didn't know which members of the group were in on whatever was going, but Max, as nice as he was, as hot as he was, was one of them.

"Are you sure? Are you coming out tonight?" He asked.

"No, not tonight. I need to practice." She said, which was the excuse she'd used for most of her life, but it suddenly sounded lame. Maybe because it was partially a lie.

Oliver saved her from further embarrassment. "Have you guys heard about the dead campers?" He asked, his face seeming clear of any guile.

"Dead campers?" Clara asked immediately.

"Who told you that?" Max asked.

"Oh they were talking about it at the lodge where I was doing research today." Oliver said, shrugging. "I saw the police cars and the ambulances go in. Two guys. Apparently they'd been reported missing yesterday. They found the bodies today. Hypothermia. That weird phenomenon people are saying. Shows there's some truth in it."

"That's awful." Clara shivered.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Her parents had always accused her of having an overactive imagination.

Perhaps she had embarrassed herself irrevocably in front of James. He would tell the others and they'd all laugh at her.

Then she looked at Max's face. He looked stricken. His eyes were unfocused, staring into space, his lip quivering, his cheeks blanched. "Are you alright?" She put a hand on his arm, looking up into his face.

He jerked away from her as if her touch burned. "Yes. Yes of course. I'll see you later." Before she could ask any more, he was striding back to his car and unloading his bags.

"That was weird." Oliver was frowning. He shook his head smiling, "But then Max is always intense."

"Yeah I got that." Clara remarked. "Where's he going with all that?"

"Probably back to the restaurant." Oliver said. "He's head chef at the Triton. It's the restaurant at the Mayor's house."

"The Mayor's house has a restaurant?" Clara asked incredulously.

"It's a big house." Oliver laughed. "Leo is rather modest about it, all things considered."

"Leo?"

"Leo Vella? You met him last night. He's the Mayor's son. He works in property, but you just know he can only afford those renovations because his family is loaded." Oliver laughed.