by Rebecca King
“What do we do? We can’t just hide away in the house, not least because I need to go to the shop, and the market, before we starve to death. The cupboards are bare,” Vanessa cried.
“I will come with you,” her father offered. “If we take our time, I will be all right. It will do me good to get out of the house for a bit.”
Vanessa looked at him doubtfully and wished now she had gone into the village before she had returned home. At least then she would have been able to give her father an adequate excuse for having been out of the house so early.
As if he had just read her mind, her father looked straight at her, his brows lifted in enquiry.
“Just where did you go this morning,” he asked quietly as he cast another glance at the door.
Vanessa thought about lying, but knew her father would be annoyed with her if he found out the truth.
“You went there again, didn’t you,” he added when he saw her reticence.
“We both think it is him,” she protested.
“He won’t have snatched Jemima, Vanessa,” Graham warned.
“I am not talking about Jemima,” Vanessa replied sharply. “He might not have had anything to do with Jemima’s disappearance. I never inferred he did. It doesn’t make him innocent of doing something heinous to Geraldine, though, does it?”
“Calm down, dear,” Graham murmured quietly. He sighed heavily and heaved himself out of his chair. Slowly, he made his way to the hallway.
“Where are you going?” Vanessa asked, watching his versatility.
While she knew he could get about if he chose, his wounds were often painful, especially when it was cold outside. Today, it appeared they were less troublesome because he was able to walk toward the bottom of the stairs with relative ease. Once half-way up the narrow staircase, though, he stopped and looked down at her.
“I don’t know who they are next door, but I don’t like this, Vanessa. I don’t mind admitting that I don’t like this one bit,” he grumbled.
“You don’t think they can find the kidnapper?” Vanessa asked doubtfully.
“No, I think there is something going on we aren’t being told about yet. Those men are tough. Have you seen them all?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Men like that aren’t just ordinary lawmen, Vanessa. They are something more; something much more,” Graham muttered.
“I know. They are from the War Office,” Vanessa replied quietly. “Justin told me, but you aren’t to say a word to another living soul.”
Graham pursed his lips. Admiration shone in his eyes when he looked at her. “I suspected as much. Well, at least we know someone professional is looking to rid us of this blighter. Let’s hope they catch him, eh?”
“Are you still coming with me to the shop?” she called after him.
“Yes,” Graham grunted in reply.
“You don’t have to come with me. It is broad daylight. Other people are out and about,” she replied.
“It is about time I started to get myself moving a little, before I end up in my box, don’t you think?” Graham said as he carefully made his way back down the stairs, his cloak in his hand.
Half an hour later, she wandered slowly alongside her father to the shop. Vanessa was intensely annoyed to find herself searching the various streets they passed through for Justin. She couldn’t help but wonder where he was and what he was doing. None of it was her business, she knew, but that didn’t stop her wanting to see him one more time, if only to reassure herself that the attraction she had felt toward him earlier, at the farm, was a random passing moment that she could readily walk away from.
Time, distance, and a healthy dose of common sense had dampened whatever it was that had overtaken her – hadn’t it? She would know just as soon as she set eyes on him again, she was sure of it.
“That was a heavy sigh,” he murmured gently, wondering if she knew who she was searching for.
He knew. It was the man who was now staring steadily at her and had been since he had left the tavern further down the street. While he was engaged in conversation with his colleagues, he had yet to remove his attention off Vanessa. Graham knew that careful searching look: Justin was checking to make sure Vanessa was all right.
There was a predatory look in Justin’s eye that warned Graham his daughter was going to have her hands full if she wanted to avoid the lawman. There was something about Justin that warned Graham that he wasn’t a man who took refusal lightly. If he wanted something, Justin went after it, and he suspected, would invariably get what he wanted.
“I am just frustrated, that’s all,” Vanessa sighed, unaware of her father’s thoughts.
She looked up at the swinging sign above the shop doorway and gave a start when her gaze landed on Justin, who was just a few yards down the street. While she tried to quell the immediate flurry of awareness that swept through her, it wouldn’t budge. In fact, it grew stronger the closer she got to him.
Their eyes met. Instantly, she felt a familiar connection to him that was unweakened by the presence of her father and his colleagues. In fact, it was stronger given their recent intimacy.
As they passed, she politely inclined her head and watched him nod briskly in return. While his face remained impassive, there was something his searching look that made her want to poke at her hair. It felt like he had just seen straight into her soul, and had read all her deepest, darkest secrets, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Cursing herself for being every kind of fool, she looked at her father.
“We are nearly there,” she murmured quietly to him. “Are you sure you are going to be able to make it all the way back? I am sure Mr Able will be happy to take you in his cart.”
“Phah!” Graham snorted. “I am not some invalid, you know. All right, so I don’t go out much anymore, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t. It is quite pleasant this morning, don’t you think?”
Vanessa was prevented from replying by their arrival at the shop. She was glad to get inside, and away from the rather stern presence of the men Justin had been talking to. This was the first time she had seen them out on the street all together, and they were a formidable sight.
“The kidnapper doesn’t live around here, does he?” she murmured as she closed the shop door quietly behind her. She looked up at her father and read the solemnity in his eyes.
Graham shook his head. “I don’t think so, no. The man would have to be a blasted fool to kidnap someone from the streets of this village with men like that here. It is plain to anybody with eyes in their heads that they are lawmen. Look at them. Even if you ignore the officious, almost military bearing, it is evident they are all armed to the nines, and dangerous. They would shoot you in cold blood if they needed to and would not think twice about it.”
“Typical soldiers,” Mr Able added from behind them. “They are a tough bunch, aren’t they?”
Graham nodded. “But good to have around,” he murmured.
“Aye, they are at that, if only to make people feel safer,” Mr Able replied.
So many confusing thoughts and emotions swirled through her mind that Vanessa struggled to know what to think as she continued to study the men. In particular, Justin. From the inside of the shop she felt safer doing so and allowed her gaze to wander for a moment or two.
“They are impressive, aren’t they?” Graham murmured suddenly from beside her.
Vanessa heard the hidden meaning in her father’s question, and carefully avoided his gaze. She turned away and smiled when the shop keeper hurriedly cleared some things off a chair so her father could sit down while she shopped. It was a relief to be able to turn her attention to more practical matters, and off the disturbing presence off the man outside for a while. Quietly, she began to shop.
Justin watched the shop door close behind Vanessa and sighed. He glanced at the floor while he contemplated his day.
“What are you thinking?” Oliver asked quietly.
“I am
thinking that we need to pacify Vanessa, before she does something ridiculously foolish like go to the farm unchaperoned again,” he growled.
“Geraldine’s husband was at the farm this morning, wasn’t he?” Angus asked.
“Yes, but nobody knows where he was last night,” Aaron warned.
“We can ask him,” Angus replied.
“He has gone to market, just like always,” Justin reported. “I watched him go this morning.”
“What is it?” Oliver asked quietly when Justin continued to study the shop front thoughtfully. “Do you think she has something to do with it?”
“What? Do you think she would pester the magistrate for information in an attempt to deflect suspicion from herself?” Angus snorted and nodded his agreement to the possibility.
“She hasn’t had anything to do with it,” Justin countered swiftly. “She was right about her claims, though. There is something damned odd about that farm.”
“How so?”
Justin sighed and told them what he had witnessed earlier.
“It doesn’t sound like he expects her to come back,” Angus said. “Sounds to me like we should get this milk maid out of the way and go and search those buildings ourselves.”
Justin nodded. “We will need to hurry. The man has gone for the day and isn’t due back until chucking out time at the tavern tonight, but God knows when that maid will be back. She seems too territorial to be just a maid. I have little doubt the rumours about her and Curtis having relations are true.”
“Well, let’s go and search the farm then. The staff at the orphanage haven’t noticed anybody loitering in the area and didn’t see anybody out on the road when Jemima left. She was perfectly normal; did her usual duties, read to the children, fed them, and went home,” Oliver sighed.
“Then vanished completely,” Angus growled.
Together, the men returned to the orphanage, but rather than go inside, retraced the steps the young girl would have taken should she have headed home as soon as she had left the orphanage. Most of the cart track was overrun with grass, which didn’t provide much in the way of footprints, or give any clues as to what happened to her.
“The villagers have already searched the area and found no trace of her anywhere,” Angus warned.
“Are they still searching the fields?” Aaron asked.
Justin nodded. “Don’t be surprised if they come up empty handed. So far, they haven’t found anybody other than the other girl who was found; Felicity. Weeks is adamant Jemima will have been taken out of the area. He has men searching anyway.”
“Where is Weeks?” Oliver asked, poking about in the bush next to him. There was a break in the hedgerow that was worth exploring. Minutes later, he came up empty handed. Shaking his head, he brushed twigs and branches off his breeches, and looked at his colleagues.
“Gone to Derbyshire to ask his colleague if there have been any clues found over there.”
“Damn it, this kidnapper is like a damned ghost. How can someone just snatch a young woman of the street without them uttering a single peep of protest?” Angus growled, frustration rife in his voice.
“They could have been knocked out.” Justin studied the distance from the orphanage, barely visible from where they were standing, and the house which was clearly visible on the opposite end of the lane.
“How does one carry an unconscious body from this area without being seen?” Angus murmured, copying Justin’s movements.
“They might have known their kidnapper,” Justin murmured.
“But why go with him? It was dark. Where would they go?” Oliver asked.
“Somewhere local,” Justin replied.
“Do you think they might still be in the village somewhere?” Angus lifted his brows in surprise but nodded thoughtfully after a moment or two.
“If it is someone from around here, why snatch people from Derbyshire as well?” Justin sighed because he felt as though they were missing something that was right in front of them.
“We need to find out who in the village has links with Derbyshire,” Oliver declared. “That won’t really help us, though, will it? Not if the kidnapper is randomly choosing his victims.”
“There must be at least three hundred people in this village. We don’t have the time to go door-to-door and question everybody,” Niall replied.
“Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for someone else to disappear. We already look idiots for having lost Jemima while we were on watch,” Phillip snapped in disgust.
“Weeks might be able to help us,” Justin replied. “Vanessa and her father have lived in the village all of their lives. I am sure they will have some idea if someone – anyone – has links to Derbyshire. If they can’t come up with at least six people, we will have to think of something else.”
“Well, Weeks isn’t happy about this at all. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to understand that six of us can’t guard everyone in this village day and night,” Niall replied.
“Not if there is a villager doing this, and they know the village like the back of their hand,” Jasper warned, staring at Jemima’s house.
“What in the Hell could have happened to her between here and home? I mean, look at it. We can see the house from here, and the orphanage – just. The track is empty, I will grant you, but these low stone walls won’t have been enough to stop anyone from seeing a struggle.”
“It hints that Jemima knew her kidnapper,” Phillip murmured.
“So, either there was someone around who Jemima knew but didn’t tell her parents about, or the culprit is in the village somewhere,” Justin grunted.
His thoughts immediately turned to Vanessa. If he was honest, he hated the thought of her being in a place like this. It was too quiet, too remote, and had far too many suspicious people in it.
“The odds are mounting against us,” Niall grumbled. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.”
“None of us do,” Oliver replied. “I am afraid to say that I think we need to go back to the drawing board and take a good look at the evidence we have, preferably without Weeks being involved. Then we can decide on the best way to deal with all of this by ourselves.”
“Keep Weeks out of the investigation, you mean?” Justin murmured with a nod.
“Well, he can keep searching, and deal with the families. He will be kept busy, and we are at least then free to keep investigating the way we are used to,” Oliver argued.
“Undercover?” Angus frowned.
“It’s damned impossible in a place like this,” Justin growled. “No, we need help from the locals, but not Weeks.”
“Why are we keeping Weeks out of the investigation again?” Aaron asked as he followed his colleagues back toward the village.
“Because he won’t agree to our methods,” Justin replied with a smirk.
“What do we do first?” Aaron asked.
“I am going to search that farm. There is something mighty odd about all of that. I think we are going to have to question that husband of Geraldine’s. It is strange how the woman has left no trace of her presence in the house whatsoever. Even someone who decides to run away would leave some of their personal belongings behind. There is something odd there that doesn’t sit at all well with me, and it needs investigating,” Justin replied.
“Trust your gut, my friend,” Niall murmured, clapping his friend on the back.
“We will all go. Many hands make light work. We can include a search of the woods while we are there,” Oliver agreed. “Just in case Jemima has ended up like Felicity.”
“I am off to see if the search parties have found anything new,” Angus said before he left.
“Who is that?” Aaron asked with a nod at a departing figure hobbling toward the church.
Justin peered down the road.
“That’s Reuben.” He briefly explained what Vanessa had told him.
“He may have something to tell us,” Aaron suggested.
Together to men wand
ered over to Reuben.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“We haven’t met,” Justin began by way of introduction.
Reuben looked positively scared as his gaze flickered from Justin to the men behind him and then back to Justin.
“What?” the man stammered.
“We came to ask you a few questions. I am Justin, by the way,” Justin began in a friendly manner. “These are my friends. I hear you help out at the church.”
Reuben nodded in much the same way a child would.
“Tell me, Reuben, have you seen anybody new in the area?” Justin asked carefully.
“Yes.” Reuben nodded.
Justin’s ears pricked up. “Who?”
Reuben looked at him, a little puzzled for a moment. “You.”
Justin mentally sighed. “Aside from us?”
Reuben’s gaze flickered around the men briefly, as though he was contemplating what he could tell them. “No.”
“If you do, will you go and tell Weeks?”
“Why?”
“Because there is someone in the village who shouldn’t be here,” Justin explained patiently.
Reuben scowled. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why?” Justin asked.
“You are a stranger. Don’t like strangers. Strangers are bad. Go away,” he mumbled.
When he tried to turn around and walk away, Justin moved forward. “We aren’t bad, Reuben.”
“Stop it. Stop it. Go away. Leave me alone,” Reuben muttered. He increased his hobble toward the church with such a hurriedly uneven gait that for a moment, Justin wondered if he would fall over. Because of that, he didn’t try to follow the man anymore.
Silently, the men watched him disappear around the back of the church.
“Now either he knows something and is too scared to tell anybody, or he hates strangers,” Niall murmured.
“Vanessa said he could be odd sometimes,” Justin reasoned. “He wasn’t adopted from the orphanage because of his problems. He left when he was too old to stay there any longer.”
