by Rebecca King
This time, both Maud and Ruth promptly turning their backs.
“I hear that you had company at your cottage last night,” Rointon called.
“He was a prowler,” Ruth retorted. She slammed to a stop and glared accusingly at him. “Was that one of your lot?” Her gaze slid to the men still on horseback who were listening intently to every word. “What do you want with us?”
“If I find out you are lying to me-” Rointon began.
“About what?” Maud demanded.
“What? What are you going to do, eh? Murder us? You are getting far too big for your boots, Rointon, do you know that? You aren’t in any position to threaten us seeing as the Star Elite are after you. You do know that they are looking for you, don’t you? You do know that everybody around these parts knows that you and your thugs are the highwaymen. Everyone in the village is talking about you, and that tavern of yours. Anybody could tell the magistrate or the Star Elite, or both, everything they know about you and you will no longer be a free man, so don’t stand there threatening us. You are in no position to. Besides, from the sound of it you have lost one of your men. Spend your time finding him and leave us alone.”
“We have done nothing to you,” Maud added.
“We don’t need to have done anything for Rointon to target us. He is nothing more than a bully who has listened to a pack of lies from someone who thinks they saw something. Rointon is just trying to bully us so he can find an excuse to murder us. What he is forgetting is that he is a common criminal now and no better than any of us because of it. We are going to Mivverford. If anything happens to our cottage while we are away, we will know exactly who to blame and can tell the Star Elite about it. Rointon will pay for the repairs or appear before a judge.” Ruth raked him with a dour look. “He has plenty of money given what he has been doing of late.”
Surprisingly, when the women started walking again, Rointon didn’t follow them, but he watched them intently until they climbed over a gate and disappeared into the trees.
“Do you think he will follow us?” Ruth whispered with a miserable sniff.
“He is going to search the cottage while we aren’t there,” Maud muttered. She stopped suddenly. “Do we still go to Mark’s mother?”
“We have to,” Ruth whispered. “As long as none of them follow us.”
They both looked back at the group of riders who were huddled together, deep in conversation.
“What do we do?”
“Move while they are talking. We can go through the trees but stay off the path. If they follow us, we can tell them that we are off to tell Mark’s mother about the man last night who was asking about her son. Rointon can’t find that suspicious,” Maud replied.
“We can pick up a few provisions while we are so close to Mivverford,” Ruth said a mile or so later. “I don’t want to give anybody in the village my custom now.”
Maud glanced at her. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“To think that someone we have trusted, or might have even helped, or have even giving our custom to, could be a killer is simply horrible.”
“Did you see anyone you recognised?”
“No, but I didn’t venture into the main bar area. Mark told me that some of the villagers are helping Rointon. We need to wait until the Star Elite have arrested them all before we resume shopping in Riddlewood. I don’t want to buy anything from a shop keeper who is a secret highwayman,” Ruth replied. “I know that Elias said that we won’t be allowed to get anywhere near the place, but I think that we need to find the Star Elite’s safe house and warn them that Elias needs help.”
“How do we do that without them shooting us? Do you know where it is? Did Elias tell you?” Maud frowned. She didn’t tell Ruth just how terrified she was because she was strangely enjoying this new adventure. It was as exhilarating as it was challenging but she wouldn’t change it for the world.
“He told me that Morgan is engaged to someone called Lucy who lives in the village. Her parents were victims of the highwaymen,” Ruth reported. “There can’t be all that many women in the village who are called Lucy and have that kind of family history. We can ask someone, can’t we?”
“Let’s go and see Mark’s mother first,” Maud suggested. She stopped to catch her breath and took the opportunity to take a good look around the countryside. “It is going to be easy for them to follow us. As soon as we reach a road, we need to use it and get out of these fields.”
Later that morning, Ruth waved the public coach off as it left the coaching yard in Mivverford and turned to look at her aunt.
“Well, at least Adelaide is safe. The highwaymen haven’t stopped a public coach before, have they?” Maud muttered.
Ruth shook her head but with Mark’s mother and brothers on their way to safety was struck by more pressing matters. Thankfully, they hadn’t seen Rointon or his men, but that didn’t mean that they hadn’t been followed. “Now that I am here, I want to go home and see what is happening.”
Maud smiled at her. “You like him. He is very handsome, isn’t he?”
Ruth’s “I don’t know what you mean,” was ruined by her winsome smile. “He is rather.”
Maud rolled her eyes. “Of all the times to choose to show any interest in the male of the species it has to be now when we are being chased by highwaymen and in the most danger.”
Ruth’s smile fell. “Do you really think that they will target us?”
“The highwaymen lost a man they planned to kill,” Maud said as if Ruth needed reminding. “Rointon still wants a victim. Because we don’t know what we are likely to face when we return to the cottage, we need to see if we can find the Star Elite’s safe house while we are here.”
Thankfully, they didn’t need to question too many locals before they located the home of the young woman whose parents had fallen victim to the highwaymen. They approached the isolated property with extreme caution, but before they even managed to reach the garden, a tall, sinister looking gent stepped out of the bushes and planted himself directly in their path. “Can I help?” he asked dourly.
Ruth studied the gun in the man’s hand and shared a knowing look with Maud. “Are you one of the Star Elite?” Ruth asked, doing her best to hide how terrified she was of him.
The man didn’t blink. “What do you know about the Star Elite?”
“Elias told us that you might be here,” Maud offered.
The man’s brows shot up. Suddenly, his cold demeanour vanished. He instantly came alive and began to pummel them with questions. “Have you seen him? When? Has he sent you? Has he got someone else with him?” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Where is he?”
“Are you the Star Elite?” Ruth pressed.
The man didn’t answer but waved her and Maud toward the house. She suspected it was to get her and Maud somewhere private so they could talk openly without being overheard. Silently, Maud and Ruth followed the man as he escorted them into the building.
“My name is Al,” the stranger began as soon as they entered the property. Before he closed the door, he emitted a loud owl-like whistle that was ear-splitting.
Maud and Ruth looked at each other in astonishment but within seconds, several hoots sounded in response and another man appeared as if he had just materialised out of thin air.
“The rest of the men are out looking for Elias and Morgan. Do you know where they are?” Al demanded.
“They are at my house,” Maud replied, smiling softly now that she was sure they were the Star Elite.
Ruth hated to dampen his joy but said: “Morgan has been shot and is quite poorly.”
Al smothered a curse when a stunning young woman, who had appeared in the doorway while Ruth had been talking, cried out in alarm.
“Morgan?” she whispered tearfully.
“He is alive,” Maud hastened to reassure her. “He is just too ill to be moved. Ruth found him with Elias last night.”
Ruth shivered and told them what had hap
pened. By the time she had finished, Al looked as shaken as Ruth had felt at the time.
“I have men coming from the local team to help us look for them. Word has been sent to our boss in London that we have two men missing and need reinforcements. It is going to take a couple of days for them to get here, but when they do, Rointon is going to be hunted like the dog he is. He isn’t going to get away with trying to execute one of the Star Elite,” Al growled, running a shaking hand through his hair. “We need to get you all somewhere safe.”
Ruth told them about Mark and his mother. “We have just put her on a public coach to her sister’s house, but Mark is still in danger.”
Lucy suddenly placed a hand on Ruth’s arm and asked: “Are you sure Morgan is going to be all right?”
Ruth smiled at her. “Elias won’t allow anything to happen to him. Morgan just lost a bit of blood and was outside in the cold for too long.”
Maud nodded. “He will recover in time. He just needs to rest. The problem is that our house isn’t safe now. Rointon had one of his men sniffing around last night, and Rointon himself stopped us just now. He thinks we know where Mark is, so isn’t likely to leave us alone now.”
Al nodded. “He will return because he will want to see for himself if you have told him the truth.”
“Well, we shall be waiting for the highwaymen when they do return, won’t we?” Reuben announced grimly. He scowled at Lucy, who was in the process of dragging her coat on.
“You can’t come,” Ruth snorted flatly before Reuben could. “I am sorry, but the cottage is crammed with people already. Besides, if the highwaymen already know you, and I assume they do seeing as you are neighbours, Rointon will know that we have lied to him. We will be in even more danger than we are right now.” She looked beseechingly at Al. “This network of helpers of theirs goes far further than you realise. Half of Riddlewood is helping them. Everyone in the tavern last night is involved with their activities in one way or another. All of them. Apparently, Rointon now owns the tavern and while it looks like a tavern it is really just used as the highwaymen’s meeting place.”
“How many of them are there?” Reuben asked quietly.
“A lot,” Ruth edged but had no idea. “Mark should be able to tell you more about them.”
“We turned up last night to meet Elias and Morgan but couldn’t find Morgan at all. Elias was supposedly upstairs and busy.” Reuben didn’t add that the inn keeper had told Al that Elias was enjoying the services of one of the tavern’s whores.
“I shouldn’t have left him,” Al moaned. “I stupidly believed the inn keeper even though I knew that Elias wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“We made the noise.” Ruth smiled when Al looked at her in astonishment. “We heard the inn keeper coming and made it sound as if he was busy so the man didn’t come into the room. We were trying to get Elias awake. They gave him some Laudanum and planned to kill him before he could wake up. We had to practically carry him out of there because we couldn’t keep him awake.”
“Good God,” Al burst out, amazed yet intrigued at the same time.
“Is Elias all right now?” Reuben demanded.
“I think so. He is tired, though. None of us had any sleep last night,” Ruth replied. “We need help.”
“You have it,” Al assured her. “You did right to come here this morning. Thank you. We will round up the men - our men, that is – and come and help you.”
Al then glared warningly at Lucy. “You have to stay here with Martha. You must, Lucy. We will bring Morgan back here just as soon as he is able to travel. Just make sure that you have a room ready for him, and Elias.”
Ruth saw the woman’s annoyance, and brewing objection. “People in the village know us and are aware that we rarely get visitors. Having anybody come to the cottage is going to cause a stir. That is the last thing we need right now because it isn’t just Lucius Rointon that we must be wary of. There is an entire network of his helpers in the village who will tell him if you visit us. Because I didn’t see who was in the tavern, I have no idea who we should avoid. It isn’t safe, I am sorry.”
When Lucy still didn’t look convinced, Maud added: “I am sorry, miss, but the cottage isn’t big enough for everyone anyway.” It was a mild lie but one that she didn’t mind telling if it kept the woman at home where she was safe. “You must stay here.”
“Did Rointon follow you here?” Al asked Ruth before Lucy could protest.
Ruth shrugged. Maud pursed her lips and shrugged. Neither of them knew.
“It doesn’t really matter. We must reach the cottage before they do if they haven’t already gone to search it. Hopefully, Sir Hugo will have the reinforcements here soon,” Reuben muttered. “For now, I am off. Elias will need all the help he can get as fast as we can get it there.” He turned to Maud. “If you can give me directions, I will go there now.”
Maud dutifully told him where to find the cottage and watched him stalk out of the house. Al forced Lucy to promise that she would stay at the safe house, then guided Maud and Ruth to the stable block at the rear of the property.
“We can’t use that,” Maud protested when Al began to prepare a carriage. “It will draw the attention of the locals. That is what we are trying to avoid, remember?”
“But without it we will have to walk,” Al protested. “Besides, I have no way of getting Morgan back here without it.”
“You will have to come back and fetch it later. It might be best if you moved him after dark. Most of our neighbours are elderly and will have their shutters closed by then,” Ruth argued.
Al nodded even though he wanted nothing more than to be able to take the carriage and return Morgan to the safe house no matter what. However, with three people to protect, and an injured man to transport, it wasn’t going to be easy even if he could round up every man that he had available within the hour.
“If you are sure you are all right to walk,” he murmured doubtfully.
With the women’s agreement, they all set out. Al led his horse and engaged them in idle chatter for a moment or two before he began to pummel Ruth with questions about everything she had seen, heard, and done last night while rescuing Elias and Morgan from the tavern.
“There he is. He must have followed us,” Maud whispered when they reached Mivverford and saw Rointon and his men in the middle of the main street.
From the way the highwaymen were looking down each alley they passed, and were scouring the faces of the pedestrians, it was clear they were looking for Maud and Ruth, or possibly Mark still. It was a reassuring sight.
“In here,” Al whispered, urging both women into a side street. “We are going to come out at the top of this side street and make our way around to the other side of the village. From there, it is a short walk to the road that will take us to Riddlewood. We can avoid them.”
The ‘short walk’ Al mentioned was more of a four-mile hike across country, but the women didn’t mind so long as they were able to avoid Rointon. Thankfully, they didn’t see him again, but by the time they returned to the small cottage they were exhausted, cold, and more than a little unnerved by their ordeal. It didn’t help that during the journey, Al had grown increasingly distant, thoughtful, and almost sinister. It was clear that he was tense, and worried about what they were going to find too. In just a few short hours his entire demeanour had changed from being affable and friendly to tense and moody. Ruth wondered what he had seen that she hadn’t. Still, because ignorance was bliss, she didn’t ask him.
“Elias?” Ruth rapped on the door and waited.
By the time the bolts on the door were being slid back, several more men had appeared behind Ruth and Maud. Ruth had no idea what alerted her to their presence. It wasn’t the noise they made. They moved like ghouls. She happened to glance over her shoulder, and almost screamed when she saw several huge, hulking men standing just a few feet away. It didn’t help that they were looking at her as if they were contemplating whether to shoot her.
“These men are friendly,” Al assured her, relieved to have his colleagues there to support him.
Elias cursed fluidly when he heard Ruth’s faint cry of alarm. He yanked the door open and charged outside with his gun drawn only to slam to a stop when he realised that she wasn’t alone.
“Damn it all to Hell,” he muttered when he found not just Ruth and Maud on the doorstep but most of his colleagues as well. Duncan, Morgan, Zach, Gregory, Evan, and Jarvis were all there, with Al. Elias grinned at them. “God, am I glad to see you.”
“Jesus, Elias,” Al growled before hauling his friend into a bear hug.
As they passed him to enter the house, each of Elias’s colleagues swept him into hugs too. Ruth waited until there was just her and Elias on the doorstep.
“Rointon stopped us,” she informed him bluntly.
Elias sighed. “Going to the safe house was an incredible risk to take, but I am bloody pleased that you did. With my colleagues in the house, it won’t matter if Rointon does send men here to see if you were lying about Mark. Come on, let’s get you inside. You look frozen.” He placed a gentlemanly hand on the small of her back, but as he stepped inside, Elias swept a casual look around the area. Although he couldn’t see anything untoward, he had a strong suspicion that they were being watched.
“Is everything all right? Did Rointon’s men return and try to get in?” she asked.
To her surprise, Elias nodded. “He tried to look through the windows, but the shutters were closed. The doors were also bolted. When he didn’t see anything, and the doors wouldn’t open, he left again. I don’t doubt he will return, though.”
Ruth looked around the kitchen but there was no sign of either Morgan or Mark.
“Mark is sleeping still. He is exhausted,” Elias informed her. “Morgan is still in bed.”
