Letters to the Lost

Author:Iona Grey [Grey, Iona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction
ISBN: 9781471139840
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2015-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

21

2011

In Jess’s dream there was a fire.

She couldn’t see it because everything was so black, but she knew it was there because she could hear its roar in her ears and feel its heat on her face. Convulsed with shivers and frozen to the bone, she longed to get closer. The darkness glowed red as the heat started to lick through her, and then it was orange and yellow and then the fierce bright white of midday sun and she was burning from the inside. She tried to escape but tree roots and undergrowth twisted around her – not just around her legs and feet, but her whole body – holding her fast. She writhed and struggled and then, above the rage of the furnace inside her she heard a voice telling her that it was OK, she was going to be all right. That she was safe.

Dan Rosinski. It was him, she knew it. He came out of the fire and his face hung in front of her – old at first, but changing before her eyes until he was young again. Handsome, with dark hair and gentle eyes. His hands were cool. At his touch the roots and brambles fell away. She tried to sit up and tell him that she’d read the letters and knew about Stella. It was very important to tell him she was going to find her, but he was easing her down again, saying it didn’t matter.

And when he said that she knew it wasn’t him. And through the heat and the roar and the ache in every nerve and muscle and bone in her body she recognized the man from the leisure centre.

‘It’s all right,’ he said again, as his face began to shrink and swim out of focus. ‘I’m going to get help. Just hold on, I’ll be back soon.’

Will had never phoned for an ambulance before. As he dialled 999 he wondered if he was being ridiculously melodramatic and was about to end the call when the operator came on the line to ask which emergency service he required.

‘Sorry – ambulance please.’

‘What’s the nature of the emergency?’

‘A young lady – I’ve just discovered her, in an empty house. I think she’s sleeping rough in there, or squatting perhaps—

‘Do you need police assistance?’

‘No! No, it’s not that – she’s not well. I’m not sure what the problem is, but she seems to have a fever. She’s very hot, and she’s—’

He faltered. He was going to say that she’d been hallucinating; about letters, and someone called Stella and how she was going to find her, but he baulked at the word. Hallucinating made it sound like she was high on something. The possibility hadn’t occurred to him until that moment. Was he being terribly naïve in thinking that she was actually ill?

‘Is the patient conscious and breathing?’

‘Breathing, yes.’ Rasping breaths that made her chest squeeze like bellows. ‘Conscious – I don’t quite know. She’s talking, but not rationally, if you see what I mean.

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