Betrayal of Innocence (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite Book 1)

by Rebecca King

  “It won’t happen again,” she bit out, a little stymied at just how abruptly he had been able to cut off the emotion that had been flowing so freely a moment ago. She was still trembling and struggling to pull her thoughts into some semblance of order.

  Rather than allow him to see how deeply she had been affected by it, she headed to the door on trembling knees. Without stopping to think about what she was doing, she made her way to the path that would take home.

  She didn’t bother to look behind her when she heard the steady thud of footsteps. She just assumed it was Justin. It was a shock when someone drew alongside her, but it wasn’t Justin. Vanessa gasped and slammed to a stop.

  “Reuben,” she gasped, placing a hand over her thundering heart. “You gave me a start.”

  She struggled to contain the urge to look around for Justin. Unfortunately, she had been so wrapped up in her own emotions she hadn’t even bothered to see if he had even left the barn. She had no idea where he was, and that was disconcerting.

  “Sorry,” Reuben replied with a toothy grin. There was an open affability on his face that belied the thoughtful look in his eye.

  “What?” she prompted when he continued to stare at her.

  “You shouldn’t be here all alone,” he grumbled, shaking his head with the firmness of someone considerably younger than his two and thirty years.

  Reuben had a childlike quality about him that was in complete contrast to his physical maturity. It was what confused most people when they first met him, and made most people keep their distance once they did attempt to draw him into conversation. Sadly, Reuben’s lack of understanding of life, and the world around him, quickly became evident in some of the odd things he said during conversation. Still, he was harmless enough.

  “I am just on my way home,” she replied. She nodded in the direction of the farm. “I didn’t realise you knew Curtis, or Lisa.”

  When he didn’t answer her, she looked at him only to lift her brows askance when she found him still staring thoughtfully at her.

  “What?” she prompted again.

  Reuben blinked. “Er.” He glanced around as though struggling to remember something.

  “Do you know Curtis?”

  “Who?” Reuben scratched his head.

  “The man who lives at the farm.”

  He shook his head, again in a childlike fashion. “No.”

  “You know Lisa, though, right?” She prompted softly.

  Reuben nodded. “She is milking the cows,” he declared suddenly.

  “I know,” Vanessa replied. A somewhat uneasy silence settled between them. “Well, I had best be getting home.”

  “I can come with you, can’t I?” Reuben asked, hobbling along beside her anyway.

  “Of course,” Vanessa murmured.

  “I haven’t seen you at the orphanage lately,” she began when they were about half-way back to the village.

  Reuben stumbled a little and righted himself by leaning heavily on a tree.

  “Are you all right?” She winced and snatched her hand back when Reuben flinched away from her touch. She softened her voice and kept her distance. “I won’t hurt you.”

  Reuben threw her a swift look as he righted himself. He stood upright slowly, brushing bark off his hand with careful precision. Vanessa suspected he was contemplating something and waited patiently for him to decide to speak. To her surprise, he threw her a look that could only be described as curious. She wanted to ask him what troubled him but had already asked him twice now only for him not to answer her. If he wanted to tell her he what was troubling him he would in his own good-time.

  For now, she wanted him to go so she could see if Justin was around. She wished now she had waited for him to catch up with her. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she wondered if he had gone to speak with Lisa, and immediately closed that thought out when she was hit by a wave of jealousy that stole her breath. The thought of Justin sharing with Lisa what she had shared with him in the barn was enough to make Vanessa want to tear her own hair out. She shied away from the mental images it created, mainly because the jealousy doubled in strength the more she thought about it. So much so, she temporarily forgot about Reuben, who she slammed into when she began to walk again. This time, she was the one who struggled for balance.

  “Sorry,” she gasped, righting herself against a tree.

  She looked up when Reuben didn’t answer, only to find him standing right beside her, far too close for comfort.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, taking the hands he held out to her with a smile. “I am sorry. I should watch where I am going.”

  When she was back on her feet, she swiftly released him, then waved to the path before him, even though it was wide enough for them both.

  “Are you going home now?” she asked for want of anything else to say.

  “I have things to do.”

  “I know Magda at the Orphanage would be delighted to see you again,” she began. “She has been asking about you.”

  “I am not going there,” Reuben muttered.

  “What do you have against it?” she asked quietly. “I always thought you liked going there.”

  “I am not going there,” he repeated, this time in clipped toes that hinted at a deeper distress. He glanced furtively around the woods, as though seeking a way to escape.

  To Vanessa, he looked like a trapped animal. She hurriedly tried to think of something to say that would turn his thoughts away from the orphanage.

  “You can talk to me, you know,” she prompted when Reuben continued to look worried.

  “I am not going back there,” he growled.

  “That’s fine. If you don’t want to, you don’t want to. It is fine for you to move on,” she replied calmly. “What do you want to do with your time? Do you still work at the vicarage?”

  “Yes.” Reuben’s voice was so clipped, Vanessa lifted her brows at him.

  She had wondered if he had been at the farm in search of work. After all, he had helped at the Orphanage until last summer, when his good friend Carlotta had left the area to begin married life with her new husband. Reuben had immediately stopped turning up at the orphanage and had refused to even speak to Magda. He had worked for a small financial reward, several good meals a day, his laundry washed for him, and all the support he needed. Now that he wasn’t working there, none of that happened. She wondered if he was coping, or if the vicar helped him.

  Her gaze fell to his shirt. It had clearly not been washed for a while, but it wasn’t heavily soiled, just not as clean as she would have liked to see it.

  Still, it isn’t any of my business, she reminded herself.

  Usually, she would have offered to help him, but she couldn’t afford to be distracted from her search for her sister right now. While there was still hope that Geraldine was still alive, she had to keep looking for her, if only so she could sleep more soundly in her bed at night.

  “Well, here I am,” she murmured uncomfortably and with no small measure of relief when they reached the edge of the woods

  The last few minutes had been full of tense silence. So much so, she was now on edge and worried as well. She stood on the narrow path that would take her across the field and looked longingly at the property she called home. Her father would be worried sick by now given it was several hours since he should have had his breakfast. She could only hope he had managed to get himself out of bed and downstairs.

  She opened her mouth to say goodbye to Reuben, but when she looked back at the path behind her, she started in surprise to find it completely empty. Her eyes widened in shock. She listened but heard nothing. There was no sign he had even been there; no betraying footsteps, no rustling movement, nothing at all.

  “Well, how did you do that then?” she murmured, wondering if Reuben was eager to leave so she didn’t pester him about going back to the orphanage. “Well, goodbye.”

  “He left a few moments ago, while you were staring at the house,” Justi
n murmured from a few feet away.

  Vanessa barely stifled her scream as she whirled around at the sound of his voice. She stared at him in dismay.

  “How long have you been there?”

  “Long enough to know he went that way while you were thoughtful, and seemed glad to go,” Justin replied with a grin.

  “How do you do that?”

  “What?” He asked nonchalantly, well aware of what she meant. “It’s a knack.”

  Vanessa looked at the path Reuben had just taken, but she had no intention of following him.

  “Who is he? What’s wrong with him?” Justin asked with a nod in Reuben’s direction.

  “Did you hear the conversation?” she demanded, then held a hand aloft before he could reply. “Wait! Were you behind us the whole time?”

  “Mostly,” he replied carefully.

  Vanessa hated it when he didn’t answer her questions but edged, and only gave her what he thought she wanted to hear.

  “Reuben, is it? Tell me about him.” Justin’s voice was soft but no less of a command.

  “There isn’t much to tell. It is rather a sad story, I am afraid. He arrived as a baby at the church orphanage two and thirty years ago. There was no name, so the matron at the orphanage named him after the vicar who found him.”

  “Reuben,” Justin murmured, edging closer to her.

  “His surname is Smith,” Vanessa sighed ruefully.

  Justin lifted his brows at her.

  “Not very original, I know, but it is the surname they give to children who arrive without knowing their surname. He has always been known as Reuben Smith,” she replied.

  “Fair enough,” Justin sighed. He had no idea why he was so curious about the man. He wasn’t really, he just wanted Vanessa to keep talking. There was a hint of huskiness in her voice that deepened it a little. It reminded him of warm honey and was addictively sweet.

  Besides, thinking about Reuben keeps my mind off the movement of those curved lips, he mused as he fell into step beside her.

  “While at the orphanage, Reuben became good friends with one of the volunteers there, a young woman called Carlotta Hensridge,” Vanessa murmured. “Although Reuben grew up physically, his mind didn’t. He has stayed a child mentally, and that is evident when you speak with him. Because of the staff’s fondness for him, they offered him work at the orphanage when he came of age and it was time for him to move out. Most of the children there move on and start work somewhere, hopefully with accommodation thrown in. Because of Reuben’s problem, the matron decided to offer him work around the orphanage. They couldn’t pay him much, you understand? So, he did the garden, pruned the trees, did some of the manual jobs outside, mostly because he hated working indoors. In exchange for his work, he was paid in food, he had his laundry done for him, and had a small stipend he could use for new clothing, and whatever he wanted. Of course, they gave him help with that too.”

  “Seems like a good bargain,” Justin replied.

  “It was fine,” Vanessa said quietly.

  “Was?”

  “Like I said, he became very close to Carlotta. He seemed to worship her, would do whatever she asked of him without question. She helped him purchase the clothing he needed, and he always helped her. Then she met someone, got married, and moved away. Reuben changed almost overnight,” Vanessa replied.

  “He doesn’t want to go to the orphanage anymore because she isn’t there,” Justin sighed. “It is a shame, especially if he had the help he needed. What is he doing now to look after himself? Does he get any help?”

  “I think he is working at the vicarage cutting the grass, and digging the graves, but it is part-time work at best. It certainly isn’t enough to fill up his days, I don’t think. What else he does with his time is anybody’s guess. He simply refuses to go back to the orphanage.”

  Justin pursed his lips. “Well, he has to find his own way in life at some point, I suppose. At least if he is in the village and does become unstuck, he can turn to the orphanage if he needs to. Let’s hope he does, eh?”

  Vanessa smiled at his empathy. He didn’t know Reuben but was sympathetic to the man’s plight in a way that most people, even some of the villagers, weren’t. Despite his officious reason for being in the village, his understanding put a human touch to his professional demeanour she knew he wasn’t aware of. Vanessa knew she wouldn’t be able to see him as an investigator from London anymore. Justin was a man first, an investigator second, and that was that. Or would have been, if life was that simple.

  When they reached Vanessa’s house, life proved considerably more difficult than either of them had anticipated.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “What on earth is wrong?” Vanessa cried when she entered the kitchen and saw her father leaning heavily against the kitchen table.

  Justin stepped around her and stalked over to her father. He took the man’s weight easily, and practically carried him over to the chair before the fireplace.

  “Thank you,” Graham murmured breathlessly as he slumped wearily into the chair.

  “What are you doing up and about like this?” Vanessa demanded as she slammed the door closed behind her. She yanked her cloak off and threw it carelessly onto the table.

  “I am not a damned invalid,” Graham grunted dourly. “I can get about. I was just worried about you.”

  Vanessa realised then that her father’s pale and trembling demeanour was because he was relieved to see her alive and well. She suddenly felt awful for having caused him such distress.

  “I am sorry, I just went out. It was early when I life, and you were still asleep, so I didn’t bother to wake you,” she murmured, reluctant to tell him where she had really been.

  Graham nodded. “I think you should sit down,” he whispered.

  Vanessa knew immediately that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

  Justin stepped toward her and eased her down into a chair as well. Rather than take a seat himself, he stood protectively by her shoulder and waited.

  “There has been another kidnap,” Graham announced to them both.

  Justin froze. “When?” he demanded.

  “Yesterday, apparently,” Graham reported. “Or, rather, last night. Mrs Montgomery came around to tell you not to go to the orphanage today. They don’t need you. The children are upset.”

  “Oh, good God,” Vanessa breathed. “Who?”

  Her mind raced in several directions all at once. She felt the heavy weight of Justin’s supportive hand on her shoulder and, without thinking, reached up and took it.

  “Little Jemima Coleman,” Graham whispered sadly. “She assured Magda she could get home when she left after her shift last night. She only had to go to the end of the road.”

  “She didn’t get there?” Vanessa cried. “What on earth could have happened to her? Didn’t anybody see anything?”

  Justin cursed bitterly, then apologised to them both when he realised what he had done. Graham waved his apology away.

  “Believe me when I tell you that my daughters have heard worse,” Graham grunted. “Sit down, man.”

  “I have to speak with my men,” Justin replied. “Tell me what you know about Jemima.”

  “She is one and twenty. Her father owns the tavern in the village but doesn’t live there. Their house is at the opposite end of the road to the orphanage. Last night, she left as usual. It had just started to go dark. Everything seemed fine, but an hour later her father called at the orphanage to ask where she was.”

  “She hadn’t returned home,” Justin murmured.

  Graham shook his head.

  “What does she look like?” Justin asked gently.

  Vanessa stared blankly at the floor.

  Justin squatted down before her and tipped her chin up until she met his gaze. “This is close, Vanessa. There isn’t a moment to lose. I need to know what she looks like.”

  “She is pretty. She has light brown hair and is of small build.”

 
“Eye colour?” Justin replied.

  Vanessa opened her mouth to ask him if it was important but then sucked in a breath.

  “Blue, I think,” she replied.

  Justin smiled encouragingly at her. “Good enough. Leave it to me. I will go and speak with Magda and find out a few more details. Does Jemima have a suitor?”

  Vanessa looked at her father.

  “Not as far as I am aware,” Graham grunted.

  “I don’t think so. Jemima isn’t like that,” Vanessa added.

  “I need to go now. Just stay inside, please,” he warned.

  “What will you do?” she asked, but Justin was already on the way to the door.

  “My job,” he declared harshly.

  To her amazement, the man who nodded briskly to them from the kitchen doorway was completely different to the man she had kissed several times only an hour ago. Justin’s features had sharpened almost menacingly such was the gravity on his face. Gone was the tenderness in his soft dove grey eyes. Even they appeared to have gone several shades darker. They appeared almost sinister as they stared hard at her.

  “Don’t leave this house again, Vanessa,” he warned. “I mean it this time.”

  He wanted to stay and secure her promise, but time was of the essence.

  “Make sure she stays inside,” he ordered Graham instead. Thankfully, he nodded sternly.

  Content with that, Justin let himself out and stormed toward the house next door.

  Vanessa stared blankly at the kitchen door and sighed. She wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

  “What is going on here, father?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know,” Graham murmured staring thoughtfully after Justin.

  He had wondered that very same thing just now, when he had seen the way Justin had been watching Vanessa. He could remember looking at his wife that very same way when they had just met. Unfortunately, his darling daughter didn’t seem to have noticed just how protective the tall investigator was of her. Graham wasn’t sure if he should tell her or not.