by Rebecca King
“Oh, well, that solves everything then, doesn’t it?” Jess cried with her hands outstretched. “I mean, the Lord has spoken. Let me just ask you, though, how I am supposed to go about feeding myself when I don’t have any skills with which to get a job? I cannot read or write, and I don’t have any experience in doing anything but running a house. I am too young to be a house maid, not trained enough to work in any of the big houses, and have no sewing or cooking skills good enough to work for anyone? Tell me, oh great oracle of mine, what do I do?”
Ben stared at her while he thought. “You have me to provide for you,” he replied weakly.
Marcus remained quiet and let the argument rage. He rather suspected that it wasn’t they had discussed this, but they had clearly not been able to come to any amicable conclusion.
“Jess is worried about you, Ben, you know that,” he began reasonably. “She is right to warn you. However, if this isn’t the life for you then you need to tell her what you do want to do.”
Ben looked at him in confusion. It was as though this was the first time anyone had ever asked him, and he had never given the answer much thought before. He had no idea what he wanted to do. He just knew what he didn’t want to do.
Marcus understood the lad’s confusion. He was trying to do right by his sister, but clearly hated the life he had. At some point, he would start to resent Jess, not just the house. Marcus knew that would destroy the beautiful young woman who clearly adored her only relative, but was helpless to find a way to stop it becoming a reality.
“I think that you need to give it some careful thought, Ben,” Marcus murmured. “Until you know for definite, I have a few jobs you can do to help me out. You will get paid, of course, but it will mean you have to work during the night sometimes and work to avoid that magistrate at all costs.”
“Doing what?”
“I will explain later,” he replied mysteriously.
He turned to Jess, who was looking at him warily.
Jess knew what he was suggesting and was amazed that Marcus would consider it. She looked askance at him but voiced no protest. Marcus was a man who knew what he was doing. He always seemed to have a solution to everything. It didn’t surprise her now that he had plans for Ben. As long as it kept him out of trouble, then Jess would give whatever he suggested her full support.
“Meantime, Ben, you should know that Jess and I have become very close. You don’t have to consider your future involves providing for her. I will see to that.”
His gaze remained locked on hers as he spoke. He needed her to understand that they had a future together. After the past few days, he felt that she essential to his happiness. Not having her in bed waiting for him was something he couldn’t even begin to contemplate.
Jess melted beneath that lingering gaze. While she still had a lot of questions, she knew they would get answered in time. If Ben did want to move on with his life, then she really couldn’t stop him, or blame him, especially if his staying meant that he was likely to end up behind bars. That left her able to face her own future, and decide what she wanted to do with it. Right now, all she wanted was Ben in her life somewhere, a lot happier, and a free man. She didn’t care where they lived, as long as they were together.
Before either Jess or Marcus could say anything else, Ben slammed out of the kitchen.
CHAPTER TEN
Later that night, Marcus watched Ben creep out of the house and swore violently. What the lad planned to do at nearly midnight was anyone’s guess, but Marcus suspected that it wasn’t legal.
The house had fallen silent some time ago. Although from the look of the subdued lighting coming from the windows upstairs, nobody had chosen to go to bed yet. He studied the windows and knew there was something amiss. It was highly unusual for all of them not to have their lights out by now. What were they waiting for?
Marcus made a mental note to finish searching the bedrooms tomorrow and set out after the Ben. He didn’t have to go far before he came to a stop and watched Ben meet with Smithers.
“I take it you didn’t tell her?” Smithers grinned.
“It’s not funny,” Ben snapped. “She doesn’t understand.”
Ben’s bad temper dimmed the thug’s smile a little.
“Where’s the money?”
Ben sighed and dug into his pocket. He held a few coins out with one hand but, when Smithers went to snatch them off him, held them aloft at the same time he held his other hand out.
Smithers dropped the package into Ben’s hand at the same time the money vanished.
Ben glanced furtively around the woods as he stuffed the package into his pocket.
“I don’t want any more now,” Ben said quietly. “Jess knows.”
When he turned around to leave, he found Smithers blocking his way.
“Have you given any thought to what I said?” Smithers murmured.
“I said no, and I mean no,” Ben replied dismissively.
Marcus watched the young lad. In difference to the somewhat youthful side he displayed to his sister, the man facing Smithers was considerably harder.
It isn’t just money you are hiding from your sister, is it? He mused thoughtfully and crept closer.
“They keep asking, and are annoyed that you aren’t willing to help out.”
“I said no,” Ben snapped. “It is just not something that holds any interest for me. If they need help, they have you.”
This time, he side stepped around Smithers and hurried off. Rather than take a direct route home, he began a circuitous route Marcus knew he had used before. As expected, once Ben could be sure that nobody had followed him, he began to head for home. Unfortunately, for the second time that evening, he found someone blocking his way.
“What is in the package?” Marcus demanded.
“Who the hell are you?” Ben snapped. “You move around like a bloody ghost.”
His eyes were wide in the darkness, but Marcus didn’t relent. Throwing a cautious glance around the darkened woods he hauled the young lad unceremoniously off his feet. Slamming him bodily against a tree he tightened his hold on Ben’s shirt until the pressure on his throat made him claw desperately at Marcus.
“You are going to tell me what I know, and you are going to do it now,” Marcus threatened.
“I-I don’t know what you mean,” Ben stammered. “I don’t know nothing.”
“I don’t know anything,” Marcus corrected.
“I don’t know anything,” Ben dutifully repeated.
“Give me the package,” Marcus growled.
Marcus sensed from the look in Ben’s eye that he wasn’t going to do anything he asked. Releasing his hold a little, he dug around until he found the package. Ben remained still and silent when Marcus released him and unwrapped the small parcel.
“More stolen meat,” he whispered in disgust. “You are buying stolen meat off Smithers again, and after everything Jess has said to you as well.”
“It is the last one, I swear it,” Ben protested.
“Stop. Now,” Marcus ordered.
“You are just worried that I will get caught, and Lloyd will start to ask questions about you,” Ben countered.
“It’s not that, and you know it,” Marcus said.
Ben sighed. He really couldn’t argue. He knew Marcus was right.
“What else did Smithers want you to do, Ben?” Marcus held up a cautionary hand. “I warn you now that I will get to the truth eventually, so don’t even think about lying to me.”
Ben thought about that for a moment.
“I can’t help you if you don't confide in me,” he prompted when the lad didn’t speak. “Who are ‘they’ Smithers was talking about?”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Are you sure?”
Ben nodded. “You said earlier that you have something for me to consider. What is it?”
Marcus allowed him to change the subject.
“I have some work for you to do. But first, I n
eed you to tell me what Smithers wants you to do.”
“They want me to take some things to someone in Retterton, but then bring some packages back,” Ben murmured.
“Packages of what, exactly?” Marcus began to wonder.
“Look, let’s go back to the house and then I will explain,” Ben whispered.
He glanced furtively around and couldn’t see anybody, but that didn’t make him feel any safer.
“Tell me now, Ben. It is stolen goods, isn’t it?” Marcus tried to keep his impatience out of his voice. He knew Ben was about to close one line of investigation. His answer mattered – a lot.
“Yes, I think it is. Smithers won’t tell me much about it. He says its best that I don’t know, but I have refused to do it. Smithers won’t accept no for an answer.”
“Who is waiting for you to help?”
“The person who now lives in Mr Grant’s house,” Ben replied.
“Where is Mr Grant?”
“I don’t know,” Ben shrugged. “Nobody has seen him for several weeks now.”
Marcus knew the lad was honest with him because Joe had already found out that Mr Grant, an aged gentleman who had lived in the village for years, lived alone in the house. Nobody ever saw him, though.
“I need you to tell me the truth, Ben. Have you ever transported any packages for Smithers or the new owner of Mr Grant’s house?”
“No. Never. Smithers keeps asking, but I won’t do it. I have just told you.” Ben’s voice was laden with impatience.
“Why doesn’t Smithers just transport them himself?” Marcus said thoughtfully.
“He does, but takes things further afield, I think. Look, I don’t know. I just know that Smithers has asked me to take a few packages to Retterton. Because I know Smithers is a thief, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that they are stolen items from somewhere. I am just not going to get involved. I already have Lloyd on my back about the pheasants. I can’t risk getting caught with packages of stolen items.”
Marcus nodded. He knew Smithers, or someone working with Smithers, could have seen Ben with the pheasants. A young lad not averse to committing a crime to get by would be a perfect candidate to join Sayers’ little gang of thugs. It confirmed that Sayers’ gang, or one like it, was in the area. They most probably used that small, nondescript cottage on the other side of the village as their base.
“Where does Smithers live?” Marcus asked.
“He used to live with his mother in the village, but the last time he got arrested his mother refused to take him back. He went to live with the new owner of Mr Grant’s house, I think.” Ben looked at him. “No, before you ask, I do not know what the new owner’s name is.”
Marcus nodded. “It’s alright. We will find out.”
“We?”
“My friend and I. We will get to the bottom of it. For now, you need to stick with me.”
“Why?” Ben frowned at him and had to wonder just what Jess had gotten herself involved in.
“You get the meat cheaply don’t you?” Marcus replied. He was unsurprised when Ben nodded. “You wouldn’t get anything like that from anywhere else so cheap. So you had a package of it, then another, then another. Before you know it, Smithers is your supplier but then wants you to do something in exchange for his silence.”
“It’s a lure to get me to carry the goods for them, isn’t it?” Ben sounded a little defeated.
Marcus looked at him. “I am not saying that it is. It just may be. Don’t accept anything else from him. The less you have off him, the less Smithers has to hold over you. He could threaten to drop a hint in Lloyd’s ear if you don’t do as he tells you to do. I will get Jess to cook the meat, but it can’t be served to the guests any more than any other meat you have stolen.”
“Blackmail,” Ben muttered in disgust. He frowned as he thought it over, and then cursed when the horrifying truth dawned on him.
“Smithers doesn’t have the intelligence to think something like that through, but the people he works for will.” Marcus nodded to the path. “Come on.”
“Who does Smithers work for?”
“I will tell you when we are back at the house.”
Marcus got that feeling again that warned him they were no longer alone. He had heard someone approaching – quietly but confidently. He put his finger to his lips to warn Ben to be quiet.
Ben opened his mouth to speak but, at that moment a movement in the trees heralded the arrival of someone new. Marcus tugged Ben deeper into the shadows. Together they watched Lloyd and Carruthers creep through the undergrowth toward the house.
Marcus beckoned to Ben to watch where he stepped, and together they followed. Neither Lloyd nor Carruthers had any idea they were there. The inept fools were so busy whispering about what they were going to do when they reached the house that neither of them bothered to try to keep the noise down.
Ben moved toward them only for Marcus to haul him back.
“Let’s wait and see what they do,” he whispered into the lad’s ear.
Both lawmen appeared confident that nobody would see them because Lloyd left the trees and walked straight up to the back door as casually as if he was going to take tea. He tested the door to see if he could get in, and then walked around the side of the house to try the doors and several windows. By the time both men had done a full circuit of the house and realised the placed was locked up tight, Ben was positively hopping from one foot to the other in anger.
“What are they after; besides getting into the house?” Marcus whispered. “I mean, your sister is lovely but doesn’t warrant the magistrate breaking into her house in the dead of night.”
Ben shrugged.
Marcus drawled quietly. “I think you had better come clean about what else you have been doing.”
The tone of his voice made Marcus’ words more of a demand than a question.
Ben peered at him suspiciously. “Just who are you? You are not a solicitor, and you are not just in the area to look for somewhere to live, are you?”
Marcus looked at him. Rather than speak, he slowly shook his head. He knew the lad was going to push for more information but didn’t because Lloyd and Carruthers returned. Both men passed by within inches but, thankfully, neither noticed them watching.
Before Marcus and Ben could make their own way toward the house, movement beside the back door drew their attention.
“Who is that?” Ben whispered.
“The estimable Mr Ball,” Marcus replied thoughtfully.
“What is he doing out on a night like this?” Ben murmured.
Marcus knew, but he wanted to see the lad’s reaction. “Shall we go and see?”
“What? Follow him?” Ben looked horrified.
“Well, we won’t find out what he is up to if we don’t, now will we? The tavern will be closed at this time of night, and most decent people are asleep in their beds. So, what could our Mr Ball be going out to do I wonder? Does he often venture out at this time of night?”
Ben snorted. “I didn’t think anyone ventured out after eleven. Jess insists that everyone is in by then so she can go to bed. Until you turned up, I just assumed everybody stayed indoors.”
“Well, he has just left by the back door so let’s go after him,” Marcus suggested.
“He is creeping around at night,” Ben whispered in disgust and then threw Marcus a horrified look. “He isn’t after me, is he?”
“What else is in the scullery except for you and the brace of pheasants?”
“Nothing,” Ben assured him but then shrugged. “There is a bit of cash I have earned from running barrels at the brewery; that’s all.”
“Running barrels?” Marcus felt the small hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “You run barrels? In a cellar?”
“Yes,” Ben replied honestly. “In the Dog and Ferret in Retterton. They have a brewery out the back. I run barrels for them. The pay’s not much, but it is enough for me to be able to put some aside for a rainy day.”<
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Marcus studied him for a moment and shook his head in disbelief as he thought about all of the trips to Retterton he had made only to lose the lad at the tavern. No wonder he had disappeared, he had been in the cellars and the large barn out the back. Relieved to now have one problem solved, Marcus turned his attention back to the situation they were in now.
“He is sticking to the woods, so nobody sees him,” Ben whispered.
“He knows how to creep around silently,” Marcus murmured, fully aware that this was a skill that had to be acquired, and took many hours of practice to perfect.
Anybody could creep around. Most people, at some point in their life, had to tiptoe somewhere. However, to move right past someone without making their presence known was a real skill. Marcus had perfected his ability to do it from his many night-time sojourns working for the Star Elite.
What had Mr Ball done in life to teach him? He mused silently.
Beckoning to Ben to keep up, they set off after the artful lodger. They didn’t go far before someone else left the house through a side door.
“Who is that?” Ben gasped in astonishment.
“Mr Gillespie,” Marcus replied thoughtfully. “Strange time to be bird watching, isn’t it?”
“Just what the Hell is going on?” Ben growled. “There are more people up and about at night than there is in the daytime.”
Marcus looked at him. He was starting to like the lad. “I was hoping you might be able to tell me that.”
Ben shrugged. “Who do we follow?”
“Both of them,” Marcus replied confidently. “I have little doubt that they will both meet up somewhere.”
“How do you know that? Do you know them?” Ben peered at him suspiciously.
