A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite Book 6)

by Rebecca King

  “Well, that is by the by. What concerns us is that Erasmus has gone.”

  Clara slowly met her aunt’s eyes. “Niall won’t have made him vanish.”

  The thought was horrifying while at the same time strangely reassuring.

  “He can’t make a man just vanish from his life. He isn’t a killer.”

  “Well, Erasmus has vanished. He was warned to stop pestering you by Niall. Don’t you think it odd that the Star Elite turn up at a time when Erasmus starts to pester you even more, and make his lecherous intentions clear? Don’t you think it is odd that the main problem in your life suddenly disappears and leaves no hint of where he might have gone? While I am not suggesting for a moment that the Star Elite will have done away with him, they do have the ability to make people vanish.”

  “How? I mean, where do they put them?”

  “God only knows. I think that is something neither you nor I should know. What we have to consider is that Erasmus may have gone to London with his cousin, only didn’t see fit to tell the gardener or pay him before he left.”

  “Probably because Erasmus wouldn’t want to part with his money,” Clara snorted.

  “Well, whatever the reason, there might be a perfectly logical and simple explanation for the man not being at home. He may have visited relatives. My point is this, while we have questions and cannot find out for definite what has happened, we cannot just assume everything is all right. If the Star Elite is here there is a threat, you can be sure of that. If they have had a hand in Erasmus’s disappearance, and getting that useless magistrate cousin of his to face the hierarchy in London, you can bet it is not without good reason. What we need to know is why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why they decide to appear now. I mean, Erasmus has been pestering you for nigh on a year now and your father has never seen fit to send in the Star Elite before. If they want Erasmus out of the way, one has to consider why?”

  “Because he was threatening me and trying to abduct me,” Clara countered.

  “But we know where to find you if he did. He only lives down the street.”

  “It is what he does before I am found that is my concern,” Clara snorted.

  “Whatever he did he would be found and would face justice for it,” Flo reasoned. “Your father isn’t Secretary of State to allow anybody to maraud his way through the family, you know. He would use his connections to ensure Erasmus lost every day of his future freedom.”

  “There is another threat.” It wasn’t a question. Clara watched her aunt slowly nod. “The thug.”

  Again, Flo nodded. “He has to have links to whatever the Star Elite are here for. Because of it, we must assume that there is still a very real threat to us. While I am fully supportive of a nice trip to town, let’s not stray too far away from each other, eh? I don’t want to have to go home without you and, right now, there is no magistrate to report your disappearance to if anything happens.”

  Clara turned her attention out of the window, a little stunned and shocked that they were venturing out to take tea and shop while potentially still in danger.

  “We aren’t doing anything wrong,” she whispered.

  “No, and there is no reason why we should be taken to task for taking tea. Now if you were going alone, people could scold you, but we are together. We just have to stay that way,” Flo declared.

  Clara nodded, and lapsed into thoughtful silence. She had spent the last few days sitting at home contemplating what had happened, how she felt about Niall, and trying to find a way to put him out of her mind for good. But each time she had looked out of the window she had found herself worrying about him, wondering if he was still out there. Whenever that had happened, the memories of the last time she had seen him came flooding back and she was suddenly no further forward than she had been the day he had walked out of her life for good. She didn’t expect she would see him now. She hadn’t caught sight of anybody lurking on the fringes of her garden since the day he had disappeared. Now, she wasn’t at all sure if that was a good thing or not.

  Later that day, when they had finished their shopping, both ladies took tea in a small tea shop in one of the quieter streets.

  “You look tired, my dear,” Flo murmured sympathetically. “We don’t have to go home today if you wish. I am sure there is a tavern in town we could use.”

  “No,” Clara snapped. She huffed a breath when she realised how sharp she had been and threw her aunt an apologetic look. “I just want to go home. I don’t want to stay.”

  “You don’t feel safe anymore, do you?”

  Clara slowly shook her head. “I think I would feel safer if I saw Niall, or Will, but they aren’t around. I haven’t even caught a brief glimpse of anybody unusual.”

  “I have found myself looking as well, I don’t mind admitting. What’s happened has the ability to creep up on you and steal your security, doesn’t it?”

  Clara nodded. “Shall we go when we have finished our tea?”

  “I think we have to, don’t you?”

  Together, the ladies drank their tea and chose from a selection of succulent sandwiches but ate sparingly not least because they were aware of the encroaching dusk, and the fact that if they lingered any longer it would be dark by the time that they reached home.

  “It has been rather nice to get out, though,” Clara murmured.

  Flo nodded, but frowned at something out of the window.

  “What is it?” Clara’s stomach dipped. She dropped the teacup she held back onto its saucer and studied her aunt before she slowly turned her gaze out of the window.

  “I thought I saw someone,” Flo murmured.

  “Niall?”

  Flo’s brows shot up. “Now why would you think of him?”

  “Because he is the one who always seems to follow me,” Clara retorted.

  “Well, I thought I saw Edith, but I cannot be sure,” Flo sighed. “Anyway, if you are ready, shall we see if we can get a carriage to take us home?”

  Clara nodded and dutifully finished her tea but before they could gather their things and leave, Flo was distracted by an arrival in the tea shop, an old friend who and beckoned her over.

  “I shall go and see if I can flag down a carriage to take us home,” Clara suggested, and swiftly left her aunt to greet her friend.

  Once outside, she eyed the road and lifted her hand at a carriage down the street. Before she could do anything more than step closer to the pavement, another carriage rumbled to a stop before her. Clara screamed when hands grabbed her from behind and hauled her bodily toward the open door of the carriage, and the hands that reached for her from within. Clara planted her boots on the panelling at the side of the door and locked her knees to stop her attacker forcing her inside.

  “Let go of her!” a man bellowed from further down the street.

  Clara was only faintly aware of the sound of pounding feet. Her attention was locked on avoiding the hands that were trying to tug her into the depths of the large vehicle. She pushed against the man behind her, fighting desperately for her freedom. With every ounce of breath that she had left, Clara screamed.

  The man inside the carriage cursed viciously before suddenly slamming the door. As if propelled by the Star Elite, the carriage then lurched into motion and began to pull away. The man behind Clara then promptly vanished, leaving her to stumble backward and fall onto her bottom on the pavement. She sat with her legs outstretched staring blankly at her feet for several moments before the grunts and curses of two brawling men beside her drew her attention back to what was happening. Her eyes widened when she saw Niall land a punch against his opponent’s jaw that was so vicious his head snapped back and he slumped lifelessly to the floor.

  Clara looked up, straight into Niall’s angry glare. Silently, he hauled her onto her feet and glared at the gathered crowd around them.

  “Get out of here,” he ordered coldly.

  Will raced up to them and threw Clara a careful look before he t
urned his attention to the unconscious man.

  “I’ll deal with him,” he assured Niall, who then turned his attention to Clara.

  Clara turned around when she saw that Niall was looking at something over her shoulder, and watched another man disappear into the tea shop.

  “Who is he?”

  “One of us,” was all Niall replied. “He is going to get your aunt. Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going? Wait. I am not going with you,” Clara protested. She tried to tug her arm out of his fierce grip but couldn’t get him to let her go.

  Niall suddenly slammed to a stop. He pushed his face right against hers. “You are going to come with me, or I am going to throw you over my sodding shoulder and create even more of a scene. Now shut up and get walking.”

  Clara blinked at him but couldn’t see anything of the passionate man who had kissed her in the woods. He had seemingly vanished that day and been replaced by a cold stranger who was lethal. She eyed the man on the floor warily and looked at Will. The urge to ask him if the thug was still alive was strong but she knew from the warning in his eye that he wouldn’t answer her. Carefully, Clara studied the man at her feet a little closer, but knew he wasn’t the thug who had accosted her in the street. It was then that she began to realise that the Star Elite were after both of the thugs who had attacked her, and the men in the carriage. But who were they? What did they want with her?

  “Now what?” she whispered more to herself than to Niall, but he heard her.

  “Now, we are going to get you home where you should have stayed,” he growled.

  Without hesitation, he hauled her across the road and dragged her into a coaching yard whereupon he sent a stable lad to fetch his horse.

  “I am not getting on that thing,” Clara protested when a large bay horse was led out of a long row of stables.

  “Up you get,” Niall snapped and boldly manhandled her until she was sitting atop the animal.

  Clara clung desperately to its mane when she looked down at the ground several feet below. The animal coughed and jerked causing her to cry out in alarm.

  “You are going to fall off if you don’t relax,” Niall warned, jumping up behind her.

  “What are you doing?” Clara cried.

  Niall suddenly grinned an impish grin that was full of mischief. “I am going to get you home, my dear.”

  With that, he encircled her with his arms and cantered out of the stable yard.

  They joined the main flow of traffic with a speed that was alarming and made Clara cling to him in sheer terror. She was certain the horse was going to crash into something, and they would both end up on the floor. Eventually, though, the houses and buildings disappeared, and they raced across open countryside.

  They were several miles away from town before Niall slowed the horse to a walk. For a few moments, silence settled between them. Clara was almost afraid to break it because she knew Niall was going to scold her for being daring enough to go out for tea and shopping. She almost wanted to defend herself before he could, but then warned herself she didn’t have to explain anything to him. She had done nothing wrong. How could one be criticised for going about one’s life?

  “Who are they?” she whispered. “I think I have a right to know.”

  “We think they are the people behind the kidnap of several innocent women, just like you, who used to live in Leicestershire and Derbyshire.”

  “What do they want with me?” she asked, almost dreading his answer. At least Niall was prepared to tell her what she wanted to know now.

  “Why do you think?”

  “My father is the Secretary of State,” she murmured.

  “Exactly.”

  “It is a stupid thing to do, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, you should have stayed at home like you were told to.”

  “I am living my life as any young lady should,” Clara snapped. “I didn’t mean that. I mean those stupid men trying to snatch me. Don’t they realise that the Secretary of State has the power to unleash the law on their foolish heads? That he would leave no stone unturned to make sure those responsible faced the harshest of punishments?”

  “Not if the people who issued the harshest of punishment were behind the kidnaps,” Niall snorted.

  “What?” Clara felt weak. “My father wouldn’t ever be involved in anything like that.”

  “I am not talking about your father,” Niall snapped. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair because rescuing her again in the middle of a bustling down was most definitely something he hadn’t wanted to do, not least because he had drawn undue attention not just to himself but to his colleagues as well.

  “His associates in the War Office are behind it?”

  “Not all of them,” Niall sighed. “Just a few who think they are the exception to the law and cannot be punished for their crimes.”

  “What happened to the victims?”

  “They disappeared,” Niall informed her.

  “You haven’t found them.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Oh, we have started to find them all right. Dead. Murdered.”

  Clara felt sick. “Why would they kidnap them, keep them for several months, and then kill them?”

  “The kidnappers snatched the women for a purpose. When those women were no longer fit for purpose they had to die. It is that simple.”

  Niall saw no reason not to be brutally honest with her. He doubted he would lose his job because of it purely because Clara seemed determined to put herself in danger. To keep herself safe she had to be aware of just how sinister the threats against her life were.

  If Atticus Potter doesn’t agree then he can go to Hades.

  “What purpose?”

  Niall flicked her a dark look. “Prostitution mostly.”

  Clara closed her eyes and fought another wave of sickness. She contemplated how the men in power in the War Office could possibly be involved in something so vile, but her thoughts immediately rejected contemplating it too much. It was sickening; the sheer brutality of man and how they could be so cruel to an innocent woman.

  “Mother of God,” she hissed.

  “This is no game, Clara. If these people get you then we know you will vanish and will most probably never be seen alive again. The women who have been found alive have been examined by medical experts and have evidence of being used for prostitution. We think they were subdued with drugs. Opium, mostly. Don’t underestimate the enemy you face. Don’t think they won’t try to snatch you again. They may have failed up to now, but they won’t give up. Trying to snatch you off a busy high street was a very bold move and should be a warning that there is nothing they won’t try. It is the desperate action of desperate people. We have it on good authority from a man who was recently arrested that the kidnappers intended to snatch you to use you as a bargaining tool to get your father to agree to stop investigating the chief suspects. Atticus refused, but sent us to watch over you. Little did we know at the time that you were going to do everything possible to put yourself in danger.”

  “Getting water from a well is not wilfully putting myself in danger. How was I supposed to know? You didn’t tell me about the danger I faced. If one of you had just come and knocked on the door and told us rather than loiter in the garden and scare the life out of us, don’t you think my aunt and I would have taken more precautions?”

  “Like you have today?”

  “We have taken one journey into town to take tea and do a little shopping. How can that be wrong?”

  “It is wrong when you put your life in danger. You are aware that someone has already tried to snatch you, and it isn’t Erasmus. Or should we forget about the thug in your garden the other night?”

  Clara sighed. “Nothing had happened for several days. My aunt and I got bored rattling around the house all day by ourselves. We needed to get some fresh air and sample some freedom. We are not prisoners, you know. If we had known just how much danger we would be in, both of us would have stayed at
home and suffered in silence.”

  Niall really couldn’t chastise her anymore. He didn’t doubt she would have stayed at home had he taken her into his confidence. Now, he wished he had, not least because the Star Elite had come so close to failure it was cringeworthy. He closed his eyes on a silent prayer that it wouldn’t happen again but knew that God wasn’t likely to be so kind. The kidnappers would strike again, of that there could be no doubt. Unfortunately, they still had Clara in their sights.

  “Now what?”

  “Now we get you home and this time you have to stay there no matter what, Clara. Promise me. Stay at home with your aunt, no matter how claustrophobic it gets.”

  Clara nodded. She didn’t hesitate, not least because the Fate of the previous kidnap victims hovered over her. She knew that she had come close to the same Fate; far, far too close.

  “Did you see who was inside that carriage?” Niall asked.

  Clara shook her head. “It was too dark to see. That thug you hit wasn’t the one from the garden, though.”

  “No, I know. We know the kidnappers don’t work individually. There is a gang of them, most of them petty career criminals who commit crimes for easy money. They don’t give a damn who pays them or what they have to do. To them, its easy money,” Niall sighed.

  “What are you going to do?”

  He lifted his brows and looked ruefully down at her. “Keep dragging you out of trouble probably.”

  Clara rolled her eyes. “It does seem to happen quite a lot, doesn’t it?”

  Niall coughed discretely and puffed out his cheeks.

  “Have the ladies left you alone?”

  “I am blessed to say they have, for now at least. Although I have managed to avoid one or two of the most determined ones.”

  When he smiled, his entire face changed, softened. When his eyes twinkled like they were, small dimples appeared on the corners of his mouth. It made him even more handsome, and more than a little mischievous. She knew this was Niall the man, not Niall the Star Elite operative.

  When she realised that she was staring at him, Clara forced herself to look at where they were heading. It was only when she contemplated what had happened that her thoughts turned to Erasmus.