by Rebecca King
Fallen Hero
New Star Elite Series
Book Three
by
REBECCA KING
© 2018 by Rebecca King
The moral right of R L King to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any informational storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, either living or dead, events or locals is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Melody Simmons
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EPILOGUE
GHOSTLY ENDEAVOURS
TUPPENCE
DUPLICITY
TO LOVE AND LOVE AGAIN
GHOST OF A CHANCE
MURDER AT HYNDE HOUSE
OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING
PROLOGUE
Aaron stared down at the missive in his hand in abject disbelief. He read it again and again. The words began to swim on the page, and eventually collided in a jumble of blackened smudge that was difficult to even see.
“He can’t be dead,” he murmured, his voice dull and emotionless.
When the black scrawl on the note wouldn’t swim back into focus, he scrubbed at his eyes and forced himself to ignore the vicious stinging behind his eyelids. When Aaron could see properly, he stared hard at the note then stood and moved over to the fire. Tipping the note toward the flames, he squatted and read it again. Shock rendered him speechless for several long moments. All he could do was stare down at the paper and pray that there must be some sort of mistake.
“Thomas is dead?” he whispered.
The ribald laughter behind him faded into the deeper recesses of his conscious thought.
“God in Hell,” Aaron muttered as one thought filtered through the fog of disbelief. “Elspeth.”
Through the fog of confusion, the image of a beautiful young woman with hair the colour of autumn leaves, and eyes that reminded him of cinnamon sprang to the forefront of Aaron’s mind. He had to wonder where Thomas’s sister was now. The thought that she was all alone was enough to make Aaron’s fury begin to burn. He studied the date on the note and cursed violently. When the laughter behind him increased in volume, Aaron sighed, launched out of his chair and slammed out of the room. On his way to the relative quiet at the front of the large property, he carefully folded the parchment and tucked it into his pocket.
Once inside what had once been the front parlour, Aaron closed the door and made his way over to the window. With better light to read the note clearly, Aaron then removed the brief yet devastating letter from his pocket. He was compelled to re-open it and read it a further five or six times, if only to make sure he hadn’t misread it.
“Jesus,” he bit out, his tone bitter and full of deep regret. “What have I done?”
Aaron hadn’t done anything. That was part of the problem. He hadn’t been there for the one person in the world who truly mattered to him, at what was undoubtedly the worst moment of their life.
“I have failed,” he whispered, his voice full of disbelief. “I have failed her.”
“What’s wrong?” Sir Hugo asked quietly from the doorway.
Aaron looked down at the note he still held.
“I thought it was bad news,” Sir Hugo murmured when Aaron didn’t speak. The look on the younger man’s face said it all. Aaron was usually one of the happier men in the group. He always had a ready smile and was the first one to crack a joke. To see him so stern, and so evidently worried about the contents of his correspondence, was worrying.
Sir Hugo closed the door quietly behind him and made his way over to a chair before the hearth. He took a seat and waited patiently for the man to get over his obvious shock.
Aaron read the note again. “How long has it been here?” he murmured.
“About a week,” Sir Hugo replied. “I was going to send it to you with one of the men, but you were already on your way back here so didn’t bother. Unfortunately, we all got waylaid because of Horvat. Is there anything I can do?”
Aaron, who was still struggling to comprehend the contents of the letter, slumped into the large chair opposite his boss.
“It’s too late,” he murmured blankly.
“What’s too late?” Sir Hugo frowned.
Aaron tried to speak. When he couldn’t think of the right way to say what he needed to tell his boss, he held the note out for Sir Hugo to read.
“I am sorry,” Sir Hugo sighed sadly. He handed the note back. “You have known him a long time, haven’t you?”
Aaron nodded. “We grew up together,” he muttered. “We used to live in the same village as children. They moved to Cromley about the same time I moved to London, but we remained in contact.”
His thoughts weren’t on his newly deceased friend, Thomas Lincoln, but were focused firmly on Thomas’s sister, Elspeth.
“She is all alone,” he whispered. “She has been all by herself for nearly a month now.”
“Who has?” Sir Hugo frowned.
“His sister, Elspeth. She has no other family,” Aaron sighed. “She has had to face burying her brother all by herself.”
Sir Hugo nodded his understanding. His face changed the instant Aaron murmured Elspeth’s name because Sir Hugo knew of the man’s deep affection for the young woman he mentioned often.
“What do you want to do?” Sir Hugo asked. “I can allow you to take some time off, Aaron, but it will only be a week at the most. The investigation into the kidnappings is at a crucial stage, you know that. It is imperative we find Horvat before someone else gets snatched, or we lose any possibility of being able to find those who have already been taken.”
Aaron struggled to find any interest in what Sir Hugo was saying. The investigation into the recent spate of kidnaps in Leicestershire and Derbyshire was the least of his concern right now. Why Sir Hugo should think he cared was beyond him.
“I don’t even know if Elspeth is still there,” Aaron murmured in disgust. He shook his head. “I need to go.”
“You need to think for a minute,” Sir Hugo advised calmly but firmly.
“No. I need to go,” Aaron insisted. “I should have been there for her.”
He knew that because of the amount of time it had taken for the letter to reach London, it would have been a miracle if he had been able to get to Cromley in time for Thomas’s funeral, but he should have at least been given the opportunity to try.
Aaron felt a deep, raw anger begin to build. He struggled to contain it as he took to pacing before the window. The quiet street outside held as little interest for Aaron as the man seated opposite. He didn’t care what Sir Hugo wanted, thought, needed or intended to do. Not now. Not after this. Sir Hugo had essentially delayed Aaron from getting the letter that would have meant him capable of fulfilling a duty, a personal responsibilit
y. As far as Aaron was concerned, the man could go to Hades now.
“I am sure she will be all right, Aaron,” Sir Hugo murmured compassionately.
Aaron rounded on his boss. “How can you say that? You don’t know anything about her,” he spat dismissively.
“I know you speak of her a lot,” Sir Hugo replied.
It wasn’t just Elspeth’s predicament that built Aaron’s fury, it was the additional strife the actions of his boss had caused that Aaron found unforgiveable. Aaron was a man of pride, duty, and honour. He had been unable to behave with any sort of decency toward someone who was a large part of his life, all because of the selfish actions of one person: Sir Hugo. Aaron could never forgive him for that. On a completely different personal level, it hadn’t only been Elspeth who had paid a heavy price for the man’s failure to act swiftly upon receiving the letter that had now turned Aaron’s world upside down.
“Damn you,” he hissed at Sir Hugo “If you knew this letter had been sent to me by my housekeeper, you should have taken steps to get it to me as a matter of urgency. You work for the Star Elite man; a bloody government organisation who can send messages to people within days. There is no damned reason why you shouldn’t have made sure something this important reached me. There is no bloody excuse.”
“I had no idea it was so important,” Sir Hugo argued.
He did his best to try to stay calm, but knew he was going to end up on the receiving end of Aaron’s shock, no matter what he said. Still, he didn’t mind because the news Aaron had just received was terrible. It was understandable that the man would be deeply upset about the death of his life-long friend.
“My housekeeper doesn’t usually send correspondence to me here,” Aaron bit out. “Don’t you think you should have put some bloody importance on the fact that she sent this to me here, in the damned safe house, and marked it urgent?”
“You are in the middle of an investigation, Aaron,” Sir Hugo warned. “Personal matters have to be set aside, you know that.”
Aaron snorted. “Oh, like personal matters have been set aside for Angus, have they? What about the other men who met their partners during one of their investigations? They have been allowed time off to sort out their home lives. I have a note informing me of a close, personal friend’s death and suddenly I am not allowed time off to even attend the bloody funeral?”
Aaron, in temper, threw the note onto the floor. He would, of course, pick it back up and carry it with him because the news it contained was that important. However, right now he merely stepped over it as he resumed pacing in front of the window, his agitation evident in every line of his tall, rigid frame.
“I am sorry you missed your friend’s funeral,” Sir Hugo began several minutes later.
“No, you aren’t. All you bloody care about are your sodding investigations,” Aaron bit out.
“I am sure Elspeth will be fine,” Sir Hugo added gently.
“You don’t even know her,” Aaron snapped. “You would know, would you?”
“No, of course I don’t,” Sir Hugo sighed.
“You don’t know the situation she faces,” Aaron warned. His anger burned at the thought of what Elspeth had faced and might still be going through.
“Is there nobody Elspeth is likely to have turned to for help?” Sir Hugo studied the lines of tension on Aaron’s face, and knew that the man was seriously struggling to control the urge to punch something. He just hoped to God Aaron didn’t try to punch him. Aaron was well over six feet, with a powerful physique and a ruthless streak that was legendary. “Why don’t you just take a few hours to decide how best to deal with this?”
“I don’t even know where she is now,” Aaron warned.
“She will be at home, surely?”
Aaron shook his head. “There was something Thomas was concerned about regarding the house. I have no idea what it was, but he was worried about their ability to stay at the property. We were going to meet to discuss it, but I got called to help with the bloody investigation and couldn’t meet with Thomas because I was never in the sodding area.”
He left his seat and stalked to the door.
“Aaron, it is going to do no good if you just go charging over there without any clue if Elspeth is still there. Where would she have gone if she has moved? Do you know of any relations she might have turned to? Are there any villagers who might help her? What has Thomas told you about their arrangements? Stop and think carefully. I am sure it won’t seem as bad once you consider the facts,” Sir Hugo argued.
Aaron stopped and looked at his boss. “I know Thomas and Elspeth lost both of their parents in a carriage accident when Thomas was nineteen. Elspeth was with a housekeeper at the time, who stayed with them until she also passed away from a fever when Elspeth was twenty. Since then it has only been Elspeth and Thomas. I know Elspeth is going to be absolutely devastated. I know she is going to need help – my help. What I do know is that I should have been there for her but wasn’t because of the demands of this damned job. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me. That may not matter to you, but it concerns me a Hell of a lot.”
“What makes you think she will have moved on? Surely, Thomas will have made sure she is adequately provided for, won’t he?” Sir Hugo challenged, effectively stopping Aaron from slamming out of the room.
Aaron cursed. “I don’t know. What Thomas did tell me was that their cousin already made it clear to Thomas that he wanted the house and that he considered Thomas and Elspeth to be interlopers. Over the last several years he has made Thomas several generous offers to purchase the property, but Thomas always refused. He has also threatened Elspeth and made lecherous overtones toward her. Now that Thomas is no longer around, the cousin – Frederick – will make sure he gets his hands on the house, whatever the cost to Elspeth. Yes, he would see her out on the street if he chose to put her there, I don’t doubt.”
“Has Thomas not seen to her welfare in his will then?” Sir Hugo persisted. “Maybe he has made provision to ensure she is suitably provided for in the event of this Frederick trying to challenge her?”
“I hope he has, but I think the house has a stipulation attached to it that means it can only be inherited by the men in the family. It cannot be willed to Elspeth,” Aaron muttered.
“But Thomas might have left her a sum in his will that ensures she is able to look after herself,” Sir Hugo argued. “She could have purchased a house of her own if he has left her some money.”
Aaron looked at him. “Thomas was in some sort of financial difficulty. About a week before this note was written he also wrote to me to ask me to meet with him as soon as I was able to because he wanted my advice on what to do about it.”
Aaron paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at his boss.
“Do what you need to do,” Sir Hugo muttered. “But you can only have two weeks.”
Aaron ran up the stairs without a backward look because he was going to go to Cromley regardless of what Sir Hugo said, he just didn’t say as much to Sir Hugo. The thought of not knowing where Elspeth was, or how she was, galled him. It was disturbing enough to realise that his good friend had died, and Aaron had been the last to find out about it. To think that Elspeth might consider him cold and uncaring enough to not bother to attend her brother’s funeral made Aaron want to punch something.
“I should have damned well known,” Aaron bit out as he slammed into his room.
Yanking a battered saddle bag out from under his bed, he threw the contents of his drawers into the bag, crushed it all down, and swiftly tied the laces. Yanking it off the bed, he took a moment to collect a few precious items secreted in a tiny compartment in the wall before he slammed the dresser back into position and made his way out of the room. The slamming of the door behind him was loud in the silence of the house, but Aaron didn’t care.
Racing down the stairs, Aaron stormed into the kitchen in search of his cloak.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Olive
r offered. He was already in the process of dragging his own cloak over his shoulders.
Niall nodded his agreement.
“I need to find her,” Aaron whispered. “I don’t know what I am going to do if she is not there.”
“Don’t panic,” Oliver urged soothingly. “We will find her. She can’t have gone too far, not if she is short of funds.”
“She can’t just vanish on me,” Aaron replied.
“Probably might be best to marry her if you want to keep close tabs on her, eh?” Niall grunted. “That way at least you will know where you left her. She will need somebody’s protection now anyway. Might as well be yours.”
“He is right. Now that Thomas is gone she needs someone to look after her,” Oliver warned.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Aaron spat. He rounded on his good friend and glared at him.
Oliver remained perfectly still as he waited for the tension within the room to ease a little.
“I can only give you a few days off,” Sir Hugo warned his men from the doorway.
“I am going to take as long as it takes,” Aaron snapped. “If that isn’t acceptable then you can have my resignation.”
“Now there is no need for any of that,” Sir Hugo replied with a swiftness that matched his alarm.
“I can assure you there is every need for it,” Aaron replied briskly. “I should have been at my friend’s funeral. If it wasn’t for that bloody fool’s errand we were sent on after Horvat, I would have been there for Thomas, and Elspeth.”
“We know,” Jasper replied. “We all understand.”
“No, you don’t,” Aaron retorted coldly. He swiftly ignored the small voice that warned him it wasn’t fair to take his anger out on his friends and threw Sir Hugo a filthy glare.
“You love her,” Oliver replied with a shrug. “Don’t you think it is about time you stopped denying it? She needs you.”
“She needed me when she found out her brother was dead,” Aaron retorted.
