by Rebecca King
While her aunt dealt with the men, Clarissa sat at the desk, withdrew several sheets of paper and a pencil from the drawer, and slowly and carefully began to sketch the toad’s image. Zach threw a cautious look at her aunt before moving to stand at Clarissa’s shoulder. When she tensed and looked up at him, he knelt beside her and smiled.
‘Do you remember any scars or anything?’ he asked softly.
Clarissa contemplated that. ‘I don’t like thinking about him at all. What I do remember is that his eyes bulged, and he had heavy jowls.’ Her gaze dipped tellingly to his stubbled jawline. In contrast to the highwaymen’s teeth last night, Zach’s teeth were straight and white whereas the few the highwayman possessed had been black and rotten. Zach’s jawline was also sharp whereas the highwayman’s jawline had been loose and hanging beneath his chin like additional baggage.
‘Start at the chin and work your way up. I know it is instinctive to start at the top but oftentimes the hat isn’t all that significant. The jaw, the chin, the lips will all lead into each other. Follow the face up. Start with the shape. Was he round faced?’ Zach murmured gently.
It took him a moment to realise that nobody was talking. Even her aunt had moved positions so she could watch them, but Clarissa was oblivious. She was squinting across the room blankly as if lost in her memories. Without answering Zach, Clarissa began to draw. With swift movements, the face of the first highwayman began to emerge. It was not any amateurish sketch either. What Clarissa drew was so life-like the man’s face could have started to move.
‘You are excellent at drawing,’ Zach breathed. ‘God, you are good.’ He studied the face but didn’t recognise it. He reached out to pick it up and hesitated. ‘May I?’
Clarissa nodded, giving him permission to take it, and turned her attention to drawing the next face of the man who had rummaged around in the storage box at the back of the carriage. Almost an hour later, she dropped her pencil onto the desk and leaned back in her chair to study the Star Elite. To her amazement, they were smiling, as if delighted by what she had remembered.
‘Rosamund is doing the same,’ Bessie said as she stalked back into the room.
Clarissa looked askance at her aunt because she had been so absorbed in drawing, she hadn’t even realised that her aunt had left the room. ‘Is she packing?’ she asked curiously, wondering what else she had missed.
Bessie nodded. Her face was grim.
‘Who is leaving?’ Zach asked, looking from Clarissa to Bessie and back again.
Clarissa sighed. ‘The woman who was in the carriage with me last night, Rosamund Montgomery. She is scared because the highwaymen are so close. She wants to go to stay with her relatives in Scotland.’ She stopped talking when Zach began to shake his head. ‘No?’
‘No,’ Al replied before Zach could. ‘I am afraid that none of you can go anywhere. Not only are you the only living witnesses to a highway robbery, apart from us of course, but you are also in danger. None of you can leave the house, I am afraid.’
‘Do you really think that they will come after them here?’ Bessie asked.
‘We cannot just assume that your niece is safe while the highwaymen are on the loose,’ Al warned. ‘May we speak with Miss Montgomery?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Bessie replied and hurried off to fetch her.
Al shared a dark look with Zach. It was worrying that they would have lost one of the witnesses had they not arrived when they had this morning. It was also concerning yet intriguing that one of the witnesses wanted to leave so unexpectedly.
‘How long has Miss Montgomery been working for you?’ Zach asked.
‘About three years now,’ Clarissa replied.
‘With Clarissa getting a little older, I felt she might need female company and so advertised for a companion. Rosamund applied for the position and has been here ever since,’ Bessie explained, seeing no reason not to tell them.
‘How long have you been living here?’ Zach asked Clarissa.
Clarissa pursed her lips. ‘For about fifteen years.’
‘Might I be impertinent enough to ask why you do not live with your father?’ Morgan asked not least because he was starting to feel a little like a spare wheel while Clarissa and Zach were staring at each other so adoringly. He knew that neither of them realised what they were doing and were oblivious to the bemused looks Zach’s friends were giving each other and Zach.
‘Let’s call it a clash of personalities,’ Bessie mused.
Clarissa huffed a laugh. ‘My father is the vicar over in Wimley Marshes, but I am not in the least bit interested in worshiping God.’
Bessie, who had been studying the sketches her niece had drawn, threw Al an adroit look. ‘He decided he would rather be a vicar than a father and only remembers that he is a father when he wants to try to tell us how we should live.’ She waved a hand down her clothing. ‘He usually stays away because he doesn’t like the way I live. I am afraid that my tastes don’t suit everyone.’
Clarissa pursed her lips but didn’t take her gaze off Zach. She wanted to gauge his reaction to what her aunt had just said. It was a little disconcerting that he didn’t seem all that phased by her aunt’s choice of clothing. Instead, he seemed to slide a sweeping look over her aunt and shrug as if it were of no concern of his.
Of course, he knows he is only here temporarily. I doubt he would be so accepting of it if Bessie were going to become one of his relatives.
Clarissa sighed, and took a moment to sternly remind herself that Zach was indeed going to be a temporary part of her life. It was therefore extremely foolish of her to allow the burgeoning emotions flickering to life deep within her to build into something deeper. Confusingly, Clarissa wanted to keep her life as it was while at the same time wanted to explore the way that Zach made her feel. No man she had ever met made her this intrigued to know everything there was to know about him. No man had ever been so tender, so caring, as the man beside her.
But he wants something from me. Not only does he want the sketches of the highwaymen, but he wants to use my aunt’s barn. That might be the only reason why he is being so kind and gentle.
‘For now, we need to stay in the area,’ Al began. ‘Like Zach has said, we followed the trail one of the injured highwaymen left behind all the way to Simmerton. With these sketches we may be able to see him going about his business if he lives in the village or somewhere in the local area.’
Bessie slid a look at Clarissa. ‘You want to use here as your base while you work on finding the highwaymen while watching over the only witnesses the highwaymen haven’t murdered.’ When she couched it in those terms, Bessie knew she had already made her decision on whether to allow the Star Elite to stay or not. She doubted that she had any choice. They were just making it seem as if she had a say in the matter.
‘Well, I shall be on my way then,’ Rosamund murmured from the doorway. She squeaked and stepped back when the men from the Star Elite all stood up at once.
‘We won’t hurt you, miss,’ Jarvis offered with a smile but as he stepped forward, Rosamund backed away only to fall over the bag she had just placed at her feet. She landed on the floor with a heavy thump and stared up at Jarvis with wide, terrified eyes.
Clarissa hurried across the room to help her. ‘Come on, get up, you goose. They aren’t going to hurt you. They are the Star Elite.’ She helped Rosamund stand up and brush her skirts off. ‘Did you draw the sketches?’
Rosamund nodded and picked up the papers she had just dropped on the hallway carpet. Rather than hand them to Jarvis, she eyed him warily and shoved them at Clarissa.
‘I am afraid that you cannot go anywhere right now,’ Jarvis informed her as he studied the large carpet bag at her feet. ‘You have to remain under the protection of the Star Elite for the time being.’
Rosamund, her fear of him temporarily forgotten, glared at him. ‘I don’t know why you need me to stay here. I cannot really help you anymore than Clarissa can.’ There was a hint of panic in he
r voice that made Bessie and Clarissa share a worried look.
‘Is there something you need to tell us?’ Clarissa asked quietly with a frown.
Rosamund blinked at her. Her cheeks flooded with colour. When she answered her tone was defensive. ‘No. Why would you think that?’
‘You just seem nervous,’ Bessie murmured.
‘It was frightening last night,’ Rosamund snapped. ‘We were accosted by the highwaymen.’
‘Well, yes, but that is no reason why you should be so determined to run away today,’ Clarissa argued.
Rosamund looked helplessly at the door as if doubting she was going to be able to use it. ‘I-I just don’t feel safe here anymore. I-I am sorry, but like I told you at the breakfast table, I have been contemplating going to Scotland for a while. After what happened last night, well, it was the last straw. I am not going to stay here and be accosted by highwaymen. Why, I won’t even feel safe going to town in the daytime anymore.’ Rosamund sucked in a breath and snatched her handkerchief out of her bag to dab at her nose. She sniffed and willed herself to calm down because it upset her that she was so nervous. ‘I am sorry but unless these men are going to arrest me, I am going to Scotland.’
‘Not today, you won’t,’ Nora, the downstairs maid, muttered as she stepped cautiously into the hallway. She looked curiously at the men who stepped back to allow her into the room, and hurriedly delivered the note she carried to Bessie. Once it had been handed over, she hovered uncertainly at the side of the room as if waiting for further instruction.
Bessie cautiously unfolded the small piece of paper. ‘Ah. It says here that Frederick has taken to his bed. He doesn’t think he needs a doctor just yet, but he has a bad case of the chills and isn’t able to warm up.’ She threw a dark look at Rosamund. ‘So, unless you are prepared to walk to town, there is no possibility you are going anywhere today. Like you have just said, you won’t feel safe even going to town. I assume that you won’t feel any safer having to walk there.’
Rosamund’s mouth fell open. She stared in horror at Bessie for a moment before turning beseeching eyes on Clarissa. ‘Can’t you take me?’
‘No, I can’t,’ Clarissa snapped. She mentally winced because she knew she had to go into town to post her letter to her father now but would have to try to sneak away when Rosamund was busy in her bed chamber.
‘I am afraid that none of you can go anywhere,’ Zach interrupted, moving to position himself directly beside Clarissa.
He had been watching her when she heard about the coachman’s illness but apart from a frown of concern, she didn’t seem all that worried. Bessie, on the other hand, was staring down at the paper in her hand as if contemplating leaving them all to go and see him. It was then that Zach began to wonder if it was Bessie who had been leaving the coachman’s cottage early this morning.
While he and his colleagues had called upon Frederick and tried to interrogate the man, the coachman had been startlingly reticent. Despite the Star Elite’s questioning he had refused to even acknowledge that anybody had visited him that morning. Moreover, he hadn’t displayed any side-effects from last night in the form of the chills or anything else.
But we know that someone had spent at least part of the night with him. If it had been Bessie, why hadn’t she realised that Frederick wasn’t very well?
It was confusing because it was also clear that Rosamund had no idea that the coachman was poorly either.
So that leaves Clarissa but she isn’t worried at all.
Suspecting there was more to unravel in that mystery, Zach turned to the emotions that surged through him, particularly the strength of the relief that slammed into him when he concluded that it hadn’t been Clarissa he had seen sneaking out of the coachman’s cottage either. A proprietary need to let everyone know that he was beside her made him move closer still before he contemplated if it was a wise move.
‘I am afraid that you are now all under orders to stay in the house, and that comes from the War Office and the Star Elite,’ Al warned.
‘Are we under house arrest?’ Rosamund looked outraged and terrified at the same time.
‘I suppose it does,’ Zach mused.
Strangely, Clarissa didn’t argue. When Zach looked at her, he found her studying Rosamund warily, as if deeply troubled by the companion’s behaviour.
‘I will remind you, Rosamund, that it was a part of your contract that you work a week’s notice if you choose to leave your position. You can consider your time here, the next week at least, your notice. Should you choose not to work it, I will not give you the reference you need to get another position, nor shall I pay you what you are owed. You are perfectly safe here right now because the Star Elite are going to be staying here with us while they conduct their investigation, so there really is no need for you to feel as if you need to run to safety.’ Bessie offered the men a brisk smile.
‘Thank you,’ Al murmured with great relief.
The Star Elite all mumbled their thanks.
Bessie turned to Nora. ‘Go and get Sara to open up the guest bed chambers, Nora. We have guests staying for several days.’ Bessie looked at Al, who appeared to be the leader of the group. ‘Our housekeeper is called Mrs Reynolds. She will make sure that you have enough food. Please feel free to come and go as you please, but I shall place the security of the property in your hands.’
‘We will make sure you are safe,’ Morgan promised. ‘It is our job now to keep you all safe.’
While he spoke, his gaze remained locked on Rosamund who looked more worried than ever now that she had been prevented from leaving. She didn’t seem all that relieved to learn that the Star Elite were in the house either. It warned the Star Elite that she had secrets, and they had something to do with what was going on in the house and why she now desperately wanted to leave it.
Zach wondered if it was her who had snuck out of Frederick’s cottage. If they were lovers, and had fallen out, it was understandable that she should look to leave her position and avoid embarrassment. What the Star Elite couldn’t allow her to do was go and get herself killed.
‘Right, well, we will leave you to settle in. You, Clarissa, need to do that letter to your father,’ Bessie began.
‘You don’t need to write to him,’ Nora muttered with a nod toward the open front door. ‘He is here.’
‘What?’ Clarissa whirled to stare in abject horror at the open topped carriage travelling down the driveway. ‘Oh, no,’ she moaned.
‘Damn it. Can today get any worse?’ Bessie cried.
‘We cannot tell him,’ Rosamund gasped. ‘We can’t tell him what happened last night.’
Clarissa hurried forward to close the door and slid a bolt across. She felt foolish when she saw the astonished looks on the Star Elite’s faces but didn’t waste time contemplating how they felt. Instead, Clarissa glared at her aunt.
‘He cannot find out that they are Star Elite either,’ she whispered furiously.
‘Can’t we just pretend to be out?’ Rosamund wailed.
‘What’s the problem?’ Zach asked with a heavy frown. To think of one man being able to throw the entire household upside down like this was alarming. ‘I thought you said he was a vicar. Is he going to start spouting quotes from the bible or something?’
‘No. He hates Bessie and upsets me. We always argue. He is going to be even more determined to get me to leave here if he learns that you are the Star Elite, and we were robbed last night,’ Clarissa hissed although doubted that the lawmen would go along with any ruse she might suggest.
‘We are not going to explain ourselves to him,’ Bessie snapped, squaring her shoulders and staring resolutely at the door as she braced herself for the forthcoming visit.
A heavy silence settled over the hallway as everyone listened to the carriage pulling to a stop on the gravel at the front of the house.
‘Do you want us to get rid of him?’ Al offered.
‘Unless you are going to arrest him, I don’t think you c
an,’ Clarissa snorted. ‘He is going to be curious about you but please avoid his questions.’
‘Is it really a problem if he knows about us?’ Zach asked.
Clarissa glared at him. ‘You don’t know my father. He is a vicar; someone who visits parishioners. If any of them are worried about the highwaymen, and moan to him that they are worried, he is likely to tell them all about you; what you look like, where you are staying, what you are doing. He likes nothing more than to be an authority in everything.’
‘He won’t have any qualms about telling everyone where you are staying,’ Bessie murmured.
The Star Elite looked at each other.
Clarissa sighed. ‘That means that if any of the locals are highwaymen like you suggest, they will not only learn where you are staying but that the witnesses they allowed to live are helping you.’
‘Jesus,’ Morgan growled.
‘My father visits his flock every day and objects to me living here,’ Clarissa added. ‘He will do everything in his power to try to get me to move to London. Make no mistake, he will scorn you to all and sundry if he gets a chance.’
‘Because he hates me,’ Bessie added. ‘Knowing that you are here, having failed to stop her being robbed, will make him worse than usual.’
‘The usual discontent he brings to this house whenever he visits is bad enough,’ Rosamund added. ‘We cannot do anything that will make him worse.’
Clarissa squinted at the door when her father knocked on it.
‘Why has he chosen to call upon you this morning?’ Al asked, glaring at Clarissa. ‘I thought you said you dined with him last night?’
