by Rebecca King
“The informant must have been wrong to think it was Mr Lawrence they saw, however did get the house right. After all, Horvat is only next door,” Angus sighed. He didn’t realise it but his whole demeanour was somewhat morose as he stared darkly down at the carpet beneath his boots.
“Right location, wrong house,” Jasper sighed.
“The description matches Mr Lawrence senior, though,” Oliver murmured.
“Maybe they are working together?” Angus lifted his brows. “It’s plausible.”
“What now?” Oliver asked his colleagues.
“We have got to find out what has happened to Mrs Vernon. It won’t instil much confidence in the locals if we know an old lady has gone missing but haven’t reported it to the magistrate, or been able to find her ourselves,” Justin said.
“This investigation is not just about saving face,” Angus replied. “We have an elderly person who has genuinely gone missing. Don’t you think finding her is more about duty than reputation?”
“We all understand,” Aaron assured him. “It isn’t easy. We just have to do our best and hope we are successful.”
“We have to find out what Horvat is doing, where he is going, who he is meeting, and follow them so we know where their base is. We know where Horvat is staying. One thing is for certain, we aren’t going to get any answers watching people from this house, or next door,” Phillip said quietly.
“Are we all agreed that we need to keep two men here to watch Horvat, and move on to finding out what we can about the person Horvat is meeting?” Oliver looked around the room at several of the men who were already nodding.
“That’s settled then. Who is staying?” Aaron asked.
“I will,” Jasper sighed reluctantly when nobody showed willing.
Everyone turned to Angus. “I am going to keep watch on Horvat,” he growled. “If it is him who conched me, I have a score to settle.”
The men looked at each other but didn’t argue. When Angus got into a mood like this it was invariably difficult to get him out of it. He had to settle his own dark thoughts in his own way in his own good time. They all knew the cause of his annoyance because they had all overheard the shouting coming from next door. It had been so loud most of the men suspected the entire neighbourhood had heard Angus and Charity yelling at each other. Whatever had happened at the end, the loud slamming of the back door had plunged Angus into a dark mood that was downright dangerous to mess with.
Charity finished tying the laces on her boot and took one last look at the clock before she went to fetch her cloak. The ladies were waiting and would invariably be full of questions as they usually were. But tonight, for the first time in a long time, Charity truly wanted to be on her own. So many troubled thoughts were tumbling about in her head that she was starting to get a headache.
Charity had spent so much of the day crying that her eyes were sore, her heart ached, and she felt truly miserable in a way she suspected she would never be able to hide from the usually astute ladies. The last thing she wanted was to be faced with a barrage of questions she didn’t know how to answer and didn’t want to answer because they were too painful to speak about.
Her stomach fell to her toes when, just as she was about to open her front door, knocking on the back door broke the silence of the house. She paused and contemplated not answering it. It was only the need to see him – Angus – again that made her walk through the house on leaden feet, and slowly open the door.
Her eyes widened with surprise to find Aaron on the doorstep, and all alone.
“Is everything all right?” she asked warily, unsure if it was a good thing or not that Angus wasn’t there.
Angus nodded. “Can I come in for a moment?”
Charity stepped back to let him in. Rather than wave him into the sitting room she stood nervously beside the door and waited.
“I just came to thank you, on behalf of the Star Elite, for the use of your home,” Aaron began.
Charity’s heart began to break. “You are moving on,” she choked in a voice no louder than a whisper.
Aaron nodded. “We have to follow the lead on Horvat and won’t need to use your house any longer.”
“Are you going to stay next door then? Have you found Mrs Vernon?” Charity asked, her aching heart racing along with her troubled thoughts.
Panic suffused her at the thought that the short time she had with Angus was already over. She immediately contemplated asking to see him again, if only so she could say goodbye, but knew she would only be making a fool of herself if she did.
“I am afraid not. We are in touch with the magistrate who have men looking for her. He is now working on that investigation. We aren’t going to be next door either. It is time for us to move on. It doesn’t look like Mr Lawrence is responsible for the kidnappings after all.” Aaron’s smile was wry. “I guess our contact was wrong.”
Charity nodded. “We told you so,” she whispered, and tried to force a laugh but failed miserably. Her chin wobbled instead.
“It appears you ladies know your village well. While we are moving on, please remember that the kidnapper is still at large. Don’t go and put yourself in any danger, eh?” He felt sorry for her, not least because he knew just how stubborn Angus could be.
Since Angus’s argument with the woman before him, both he and Jasper had tried to speak with their friend only to be briskly rebuffed by professional discussions about the investigation. The message was simple: Angus wasn’t prepared to discuss the way he felt with anybody.
Aaron just wished he knew what to say to Charity. It was clear, even to him, that she was upset, and still shaken by the force of her argument with Angus. It was difficult to know what assurances he could offer her, except that she was now free to go about her life. She now didn’t need to worry about having to accommodate strange men who came and went from her house at all times of the day and night.
“Just stay safe,” he urged gently.
Charity nodded. She offered him a half-hearted smile. “Shouldn’t I be the one to say that to you? You are, after all, going after a kidnapper.”
Aaron nodded. “There are plenty of us. We can manage to keep ourselves safe. We have done a perfectly good job so far. Meantime, if there is anything you discover that might help with the case, send word to the War Office. Someone will be in touch.”
With that, Aaron winked at her and quietly let himself out.
Charity stared at the closed door for a moment. It resembled the closing of an entirely different door; a doorway to a whole new future that was no longer available for someone like her. She had no way of opening it because she knew what lay on the other side didn’t belong with her. Angus would never be comfortable in her world, and she certainly wasn’t welcome in his.
“I refuse to cry anymore,” she whispered, swiping a hand against the wayward tear that trickled a solitary path down her cheek. “Time to move on, I think.”
Again, she contemplated not going to meet with the ladies, but then knew they would just come and find her anyway and demand to know why she wasn’t joining them. Determined to get the familiarity of her routine life back if only to steady her shaken world, Charity squared her shoulders, slid the bolt closed on her kitchen door, and made her way through the house.
Seconds later, she slammed out of the front door and headed toward Monika’s house. She knew her friend would insist on following their plan through and going to search Mr Horvat’s property just as soon as he left it. Now that she knew the Star Elite had gone, Charity could really see no reason not to do what she wanted, and if that involved being so brash and daring as to call upon a neighbour then she would.
“Angus can’t scold me for it. He isn’t here anymore,” she whispered miserably.
Ducking her head low, Charity tugged the hood of her cloak up, and kept her gaze trained on the ground beneath her boots as she hurried through the village.
She was so immersed in her journey that she didn’t notice the sol
itary shadow moving silently alongside her, keeping pace with her every step of the way.
“Do you know something, this village gets odder and odder with each day that passes,” Edwina announced once the ladies were furnished with cake and were busy munching.
“How so?”
Everyone turned their attention to the frown on the frail lady’s thin features.
“Well, I saw Mr Lawrence today. He was heading out of town for a few days. He says for another doctor’s appointment, but I distinctly got the impression that they weren’t telling the truth,” Edwina replied.
“They?” Gertrude asked.
“Mr Lawrence and that cousin of his,” Edwina furnished.
“I thought we all agreed that Mr Lawrence isn’t responsible for the kidnappings?” Monika cried in disgust.
“I am not saying he is. Nor am I suggesting that his cousin has anything to do with the disappearances. Oh, no. No. I think you are right to consider that Mr Horvat is responsible. Do you know, I saw him today with another armful of groceries? I swear, that man eats more than all of us put together,” Edwina gushed.
“Pardon?” Charity eyed the plate on her lap with an acute distaste she struggled to hide. It wasn’t the cake that was the problem. Gingerbread cake was her favourite. It was just that her stomach was already in knots from the traumatic day she had just had. The last thing she needed was to bombard it with food. She wasn’t hungry.
Carefully, she slid the untouched food onto the table beside her only to jerk when Augusta patted her hand in a motherly gesture that was so gentle it brought another wave of tears to Charity’s already sore eyes. Determined not to let them fall – again – Charity focused on what Alice was telling them.
“I saw him leaving the grocery yesterday with an armful of food as well,” Monika nodded.
“So, he is hungry,” Charity sighed. “What does that matter?”
“He has purchased more food than one man could ever eat,” Alice insisted. “What I want to know is who is he feeding?”
Everyone froze and turned to stare at her. A heavy silence fell upon them all. Nobody dared mention Mrs Vernon, but Charity knew they were all thinking the same thing. Did Mr Horvat have Mrs Vernon locked up inside his house for some reason?
“Why would he?” Charity murmured.
“Who knows? But then why would he want to go out for a walk at eleven o’clock at night?” Monika countered.
“Well, there is only one way of finding out who is in that house, isn’t there? Now that the men from the Star Elite aren’t here, there is no reason why we cannot pay the man a neighbourly call,” Augusta suggested robustly.
“At eleven o’clock at night?” Charity questioned.
“We can take him some blackberries,” Monika replied with a nonchalant shrug.
There was no suggestion that they shouldn’t go from any of the ladies.
“You could get in and out while he is gone, can’t you?” Alice asked of Charity and Monika.
Her eyes were alight with an innocent enthusiasm that worried Charity.
“I mean, that house isn’t very big,” Alice reasoned. “It could be searched in half an hour. All you need to do is get in, look in the rooms and make sure nobody is tied up and then you can leave. Now that Mr Lawrence has gone you aren’t going to be noticed. What better time could there be?”
“What do you mean ‘you’ could get in?” Charity countered. “I take it you don’t intend to go yourself, do you?”
“Oh, of course not. A lady would never do such a thing,” Alice countered primly.
Charity squinted at her, unsure if she should be offended or not.
Monika lifted her brows at Charity. “I think she means we are not ladies.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that,” Alice gasped in horror. “Please. No. I never meant that. I just mean, well, you are younger than I am, aren’t you? I wouldn’t be able to get into that house and would only hinder you.” She turned to Charity. “Your young man was a man of action. You could do what he would have done.”
“He isn’t – wasn’t – my young man,” Charity bit out through clenched teeth.
Alice nodded and offered her a commiserating smile that made it clear she didn’t believe that for one second.
“Well, I don’t mind going,” Monika said firmly. “We can take that basket of blackberries. If he does come back while we are there we can say we were returning home to Charity’s but decided to try to off-load some of the fruit to the neighbours. Seeing as he was up so late, we decided to call upon him to see if he wanted some. It is a perfectly plausible explanation. Besides, he is foreign. I doubt he will know it is terribly rude to call upon anybody not formally socialising at such a late hour.”
Charity shook her head. “Well, we aren’t going to find out sitting here, are we?”
Reluctantly, she pushed to her feet and followed Monika to the front door.
“Wait! We are coming with you,” Augusta cried.
“You can’t all come,” Charity replied in dismay.
“We are going to keep watch,” Gertrude murmured, clutching her trusty reticule.
Charity eyed it warily. “Don’t you think people will find it odd if they happen to look out of the window and see a long line of ladies standing in the street – waiting?”
Agatha rolled her eyes. “We are not going to be on display. God, give us some credit. We have seen the way your – the men from the Star Elite work. If we stick to the shadows like they do, we can keep an eye on you and follow you all the way. We can keep watch outside, and alert you if Mr Horvat comes back unexpectedly. You know, so you are not caught out. We can either intercept Mr Horvat in the street or signal you to tell you he is on the way back, so you can get out in time and he will never know you have been into his house.”
“There is a law against breaking and entering,” Charity sighed. “What do we do if he calls the magistrate?”
“Go to gaol and hope the Star Elite will return a favour and get us out in time for Christmas,” Monika replied dryly.
“I think given how angry Angus was with us for our walk there is absolutely no likelihood of that ever happening,” Charity retorted.
Monika wrinkled her nose up. “Was he frightfully angry with you?”
Charity nodded morosely. “At least he has gone so if we are lucky, Mr Horvat won’t know we have called upon him and I am not going to get into trouble for this.”
The ladies all made their way out of the house. As they walked toward Mr Horvat’s property, the ladies occasionally stopped. Two women took up their positions in discrete locations before the remainder of the group continued their journey.
“You have all put a lot of planning into this,” Charity murmured breathlessly.
A part of Charity couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. She wanted to tell the ladies that their carefully thought out plan was not going to work, if only so they would go home where it was safe but didn’t bother because she knew they would just ignore her. Besides, she felt safer knowing there was someone watching her back.
It was quarter past eleven when Monika and Charity reached Mr Horvat’s back door.
“He has already gone,” Monika whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “What do we do?”
Charity felt sick with fear. She physically shook with terror at the thought of what they were about to do.
“We can’t just pretend this is any ordinary house call,” Charity whispered. “There is no need to go through the pretence of knocking. We know he is not here.”
Monika turned the knob on the door, but it refused to budge.
“Did Mrs Browning leave a spare key anywhere, do you know?” Charity asked.
Monika shrugged but suspected Charity wouldn’t see her in the dark. Together they set about checking under the plant pots clustered to the right of the back door.
They were so busy with what they were doing that neither woman noticed the dark shadow that appeared silently in Mr Lawrence’
s garden.
Angus couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His temper surged but he refused to succumb to it. He had done that earlier and spent the rest of the day feeling utterly miserable for the way he had behaved when arguing with Charity. It galled him to acknowledge that he had been cruel when he had left Charity alone while deeply upset. While at the time, he had hoped that her distress would make her contemplate the foolishness of her actions, he now realised he would have probably done better to stay in the house and put her over his knee to paddle her backside. Angus now wished he had.
He was stunned that after everything, Charity would still insist on putting her life at risk in this way. Even standing in the neighbour’s garden, Angus could hear the women brazenly discussing the possibility of a key being hidden somewhere.
Could they be so foolish as to use it if they found one? His answer came quickly when Monika suddenly lifted a large object in her hand and hurried to the door.
Charity shivered as Monika set to work on the lock. She glanced warily around and struggled to stave off the distinct impression that she was being watched. It was difficult to see much in the darkness, but finally understood the wisdom of the ladies keeping watch. There was no possibility of anybody reaching her and Monika unawares, and that gave Charity the strength she needed to step into the house after her friend.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Good evening ladies,” a dark voice drawled.
Augusta Applebottom gasped and lifted the poker she held in her hand. To her dismay it was swiftly snatched off her. Her gaze slid instinctively toward Alice, who looked as if she was about to faint. Her eyes were so wide in the darkness of the night that she looked like an owl, blinking widely at the two men now standing before them.
“Are you going to arrest us?” Augusta asked boldly. The jocular tone of her voice felt out of place when one of the men, Aaron, slowly nodded.
