Tuesday Tales 8th May - Finger

Sorry I've been MIA recently, but today my Tuesday Tale is an excerpt from my WIP on the third story in my Gasquet Princes series. Working title Sacha's Story.
Today's prompt word is 'Finger'
My thanks for your visit and comments.

Something was off.

Sacha couldn’t put his finger on it, but his personal alert system had gone haywire. No one could explain the loud bang he’d heard twenty minutes ago. Nor could they explain why nothing was disturbed when he’d done a personal check on all the outdoor buildings.

So what on earth was going on? Thankfully Simeon had phoned to say he’d be at the farm in another twenty minutes. But—

Sacha stalked to the sitting room window; then glanced at his watch. Forty minutes had passed since Simeon’s call, so where was he?

He watched the crimson coloured Porsche zip up the drive and come to a shuddering halt. Simeon’s car. But the man who slipped from behind the wheel and looked towards the front door was not his brother.

He looked liked Simeon, in fact if his gut didn’t tell him differently Sacha would consider his apprehension unfounded.

But a twin knew.

A twin recognised his sibling at a deep and instinctive soul level, and this imposter didn’t touch his soul. He glanced behind him when Liam laid a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be pleased to see Simeon, even if it is only for a few hours, before we are all engulfed in the next tier of Jubilee celebrations.”

“If the man approaching your front door was Simeon, I’d be delighted, but the man you’re watching is not Simeon, I’d swear my life on it.”

Liam swung him round and Sacha noted the pallor on his brother’s face.

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t know why, or how, but my instinct tells me we are about to invite a cuckoo into your nest.” His dry tone was not lost on Liam, Sacha noted with satisfaction.

Strangers watching Liam go about his business could be forgiven for thinking he’d put the past behind him. But they’d be wrong.

Since the attempt on his younger brother’s life Liam, if Melanie didn’t restrain him, tended to go overboard about personal security these days, and Sacha appreciated the turmoil his bald statement would have on his younger brother.

Physically knocked back by Sacha’s claim, Liam stepped forward again and watched the man haul a briefcase from the passenger seat of the car and head for the front door. “Who would organise something like this?”

“The ‘who’ escapes me,” Sacha replied, “but the why is obvious.”

He swung round with the intention of heading for the hall to watch the man pretending to be his twin, enter the house, but found his path blocked.

“They why is not obvious to me, so before we greet this imposter, if imposter he is, you better share your conclusions,” Liam demanded.

His head snapped up, his attention on the closed sitting room door. “Whoever is behind this subterfuge is counting on their man getting past us. After all, if he can fool his brothers, then whoever has organised this exchange can be more confident their man will fool the public.

“And there’s his first error.” Sacha breathed in a sigh of relief when the doorbell peeled. Instinct could be twisted, but the stranger’s first mistake validated his instinctive belief in the switch. Now they had to find out the true identity of the new arrival and who was pulling these new and alarming strings.

He'd suspect Charles deBonet if he hadn’t died when Liam and Paxman rescued Melanie…

Then who?

And where was Simeon?

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