by Rebecca King
“What?” Niall demanded when he heard Oliver growl another epithet. “What’s gone wrong now?”
“Every damned thing. I say, you wouldn’t want to go-”
“No.”
Oliver lifted his brows. “But I haven’t asked you anything yet.”
“I know what you were going to ask, and the answer is no.”
“What was I going to ask?” Oliver demanded, his restlessness growing in leaps and bounds.
“If I will go and talk to the chit and the answer is no.”
“She is nice. All she needs is an escort into town.”
“So you go,” Niall countered flatly.
“I have just spent the sodding day with the magistrate and his men. They have found another body. Have you heard?”
“Yes.”
“What have you heard?” Oliver wondered if he should lop the apple he was about to eat at his friend’s head. He scowled and contemplated Niall a little more closely. It was unusual for his friend to be this uncommunicative. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“What are you reading?”
“The case files again. It appears that the young woman who was found in the graveyard is one of our missing women, a Dawn Hepplebottom. She worked on the Earl of Carrington’s estate,” Niall read aloud.
“So, our kidnapper is killing the victims one by one,” Oliver sighed. “The magistrate has asked the locals in the village if they have seen anybody new in the area, but nobody saw or heard a damned thing. I have also been to take a closer look at Caroline’s body, God help me. There are no other injuries except for the ligature marks around her neck.”
“She must have struggled.” Niall lifted his brows at his colleague.
Oliver slowly shook his head.
“Well, she cannot have just sat there and let him strangle her,” Niall countered flatly.
“There are no signs of a struggle,” Oliver replied. “On her in any case. There are no scratches or bruises anywhere on her person. There are just the ligature marks around her neck indicating that she died by strangulation.”
“Is the Coroner sure she died by strangulation or was she strangled after her death to make it look like she was killed by the same person who killed Felicity Inson?” Niall murmured thoughtfully.
“Now that is a good question,” Oliver replied with a slow and careful nod. He stared thoughtfully across the room while he munched on the apple in his hand. “That is entirely probable. If the Smidgley brothers heard of Felicity’s death, they would invariably learn how she was killed. It must have been gossiped about for weeks and was in the broadsheets. If they were in London at the time of Felicity’s death and had witnesses, there is nothing to say that they couldn’t get rid of their victims in some way, by poison or something similar, and then make it look as if they had been strangled so they wouldn’t get the blame. Whoever killed Felicity Inson gets the blame for all of the dead women who are found in this area who have been killed by strangulation.”
“It would explain why Caroline was dead for several days before she was found. Maybe she was killed in London and brought up here specifically so the Smidgleys didn’t get the blame, but the person who killed Felicity would? But we don’t know who has killed Felicity Inson yet,” Niall warned.
“I know that, and you know that.”
“They know that seeing as the killer is still at large,” Niall snorted.
“Everyone knows that,” Oliver growled. “That is the problem. Too many people know too much. I was in Emmeline’s house earlier, and within half an hour of my arrival, her neighbour found out not only what I look like, but Emmeline gave her my name to go with it.”
Niall grinned and leaned back in his chair. “I wonder if we should have a twilight brigade.”
Oliver’s brows shot skyward. “A what brigade?”
“Well, these women who are in their – ahem – twilight years, seem to be able to get a lot of information a Hell of a lot faster than we can. Look at Angus and Charity’s ladies. They are better at interrogating people than Sir Hugo. They come at you from all angles and leave you so bamboozled that you tell them everything just to be left in peace. They then chew over what you tell them and bombard you with more demands for information that even your own surgeon shouldn’t need.”
Oliver laughed despite his exhaustion. “A twilight brigade. I like it. Suggest it to Sir Hugo the next time you see him and see what he thinks.”
Niall sighed and turned solemn. “We are going to have to do something rash if we want to get this investigation closed. It is rumbling on forever. At this rate, all the victims are going to be dead and the kidnapper and the killer, if they are not one and the same person, will escape back into the shadows before we can capture him. Unfortunately, given what Sir Hugo has said, we cannot call upon the help of the local lads now. We are well and truly on our own.”
“Well, I have managed to persuade Emmeline to help us. All we need to do is show her a few manoeuvres so she can protect herself should anyone try to make a grab for her. Then, we need to find out where the Smidgley brothers are. If they are still holed up like Sir Hugo says, we have to think of a way to lure them out so they can see her.” Oliver tore off a piece of bread and began to munch it in between bites of his apple.
“The Smidgley brothers are still at their mansion. They have been joined by their Uncle Claude, the Earl of Hervill. Yesterday, as a matter of fact,” Niall informed him. “Rhys and Ryan are on watch.”
“We need to decide what manoeuvres we are going to show Emmeline,” Oliver sighed.
Niall shook his head briskly. “No. You are going to decide what manoeuvres you are going to show Emmeline. You have been tasked with this, not me. I am not going to help you.”
“But this is a group investigation.”
“Yes, but you were given Miss Elkins to look after and look after her you shall,” Niall retorted.
“Anybody would think you lot want me to be the next one to fall into the parson’s trap,” Oliver grumbled.
Niall froze and turned to look at his friend a little more closely. His brows lifted when Oliver met his gaze. “It is like that already?”
“Have you seen her?” Oliver cried. “She is gorgeous. She is sweet, gentle, and intelligent. She is quick.” He didn’t think he meant intellectually either, although he knew she was no addle-brained female. Miss Emmeline Elkins was as sharp as a tack and stubborn when she had a mind to be. Oliver ran a weary hand down his face.
“You have a job to do, so do it,” Niall snorted. “You don’t have to marry the damned chit. Just give her a knife and show her how to use it without cutting her own throat. Maybe show her how to land a punch. Hopefully, with all the aggression, she won’t see you as any romantic hero. If she does, well, all I can say is another one bites the dust, eh?”
Oliver glared at him and lobbed an apple across the room. It slammed into the wall beside Niall’s head. “You won’t be so damned blazé when you are challenged by a bloody female.”
“You have only known her a day, for God’s sake. How badly can you have fallen? Don’t be so dramatic. She is only a female. She cannot be all that scary. It may be that she doesn’t see you in any romantic way, have you thought of that? Just because she is beautiful, doesn’t mean she would look at someone like you. I mean, look at you. You are rough and ready, and smell like horses. Most of the time you are almost feral, and you spend your days asleep and your nights awake and when you are awake you can be an ornery cuss. Don’t fret, I am sure what whatever stars she might have in her eyes right now, a day or two with you with knock it out of her.” Niall ducked and laughed when Oliver threw another apple across the room.
“Are you saying she is out of my league?” Oliver demanded loudly.
“Just saying,” Niall grinned. “You may think you are handsome, but you have all the charm of an outraged bullfrog. Give it a rest. She just happens to be the first female you have come across over the last several mon
ths who hasn’t run screaming at the sight of you, and who doesn’t want to smash you over the head with something heavy. Just because she smiled sweetly at you doesn’t mean she would rush you up the aisle. Give her a chance, eh? You have to really, because I am not helping you with her. On this occasion, you are well and truly on your own.” With that, Niall sailed out of the room, but swiftly before Oliver could throw any more apples.
Oliver watched him go and contemplated throwing another apple across the room just for the satisfaction of hearing it thump the door. Studying it carefully for a moment or two, Oliver picked it up and bit into it with a crunch. As he munched the succulent fruit, he found himself eyeing the clock and wondering if it was too late to go and see Emmeline’s property anyway, just to make sure she was safely locked in for the night. It wouldn’t hurt just to keep an eye on her, would it?
Before he could talk himself out of it, Oliver shoved out of his chair, grabbed his cloak and made his way out of the safe house. Rather than take his already tired horse, he tugged his cloak on and ambled out of the courtyard at the rear of the house. Within seconds, he was swallowed by the night.
He had left so suddenly and silently that when Niall re-entered the room seconds later, he paused and glanced around the kitchen warily in search of his friend. He shook his head, but knew it was best not to think too much about where Oliver might have gone. He suspected he already knew.
Oliver sucked in a huge breath and willed himself to calm down. He was annoyed that his friends had dropped him into his allotted task and refused to help him. Moreover, he was annoyed at his own lack of self-control when it came to Miss Emmeline Elkins. Caring about her, even on a professional level, was probably the worst thing he could ever do. He couldn’t lose sight of the fact that he could offer her all the assurances in the world, but when it truly came down to keeping her safe there was always going to be an element of failure; a danger that she might end up losing her life after all.
“I will give my life to protect her,” he murmured aloud, tipping his head back to look up at the stars. The forceful emotion behind those spoken words made them a devout promise unlike any he had ever experienced before. While he was alone, in the quiet of the still and empty night, Oliver contemplated what it might all mean.
He cared about his colleagues and would fight with them to protect them and keep everyone safe if he had to. He knew they would fight to the death for him in return. However, with Emmeline, things were considerably different. The emotion that drove his determination to protect her was so strong that Oliver struggled to put a name to it. Even though he walked along the narrow, winding path that was barely visible in the night sky, he felt propelled, driven almost, to move faster, partly to get to her house a little quicker but partly to try to outrun the feelings he knew he could never ignore.
“Damn,” he hissed through clenched teeth when, out of breath and exhausted, he eventually gave up and slowed his pace. He had practically jogged around the outskirts of the village to reach the rear garden of Emmeline’s property, which now stood in solitary gloom several feet away. Surprisingly, there was a light coming from within the house. Had Emmeline left it on because she was unnerved, or was she still up? Oliver contemplated edging closer but decided against it just in case she or that nosy neighbour of hers saw him. The last thing he wanted was for half the village to turn out and chase him off thinking he was the kidnapper or something.
As he stood in the darkness studying the house, Oliver allowed himself a few private moments to contemplate the woman inside a little more. She had far more capability of turning his life upside down than she realised and he would have liked, but it was already far too late to turn around and walk away. Even if he ignored his orders, which practically commanded he spend as much time with her as humanly possible, Oliver knew he could never cast Emmeline into the past along with the other people he met through his work with the Star Elite. He suspected that if he did move on, he would be forever haunted by her memory, and that was most disturbing because it was something he had never encountered before.
“I have always walked away and forgotten the women I come into contact with,” he whispered. “Why are you so sodding different?”
He wished he knew, but after several moments of quiet contemplation, Oliver turned around and began to make his way back toward the safe house. This time, though, he didn’t go through the woods. He walked to the end of the road and sauntered casually through the village. He could have been the only person alive in the whole world given how eerily devoid of life the village seemed. There wasn’t even a stray cat to howl its protest at his intrusion. But that situation didn’t last for long.
As if to warn him of impending doom, out of the eerie quiet came a low rumbling noise. Oliver squinted at the end of the street but couldn’t see a carriage, and he was certain that’s what made the noise. Casting a glance over his shoulder didn’t give him any clues as to who else was out and about at such an ungodly hour. Without hesitation, he darted into the darkest shadows of a small alley tucked away between two terraced houses and stood back to wait. Minutes ticked by. The rumbling sound stopped. A deathly silence ensued. Oliver’s nerves stretched taut as he waited and watched. Something was afoot, he knew it. His gut instinct was never wrong.
When nothing happened for several minutes, Oliver crept toward the entrance of the alley. He knew he was not alone out on the street. Someone else was also watching and waiting, but for what he had no idea. He wished now he had spent a little longer watching Emmeline’s house, if only to be sure she was safe. Had they found her? Rather than go back to the safe house, Oliver decided to double-back and go and check Emmeline’s property instead. With no movement out on the street, he stepped backward with the intention of using the gardens or yard of the property to circle around the village to return to Emmeline’s home.
Suddenly, the world went black. The coarse material of the bag that was dropped effortlessly over his head was thick and made breathing difficult. Oliver instinctively reached up to lift it off so he could breathe properly but the ends were held closed, encasing him in an impenetrable blackness that was overwhelming. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath when he was tossed over someone’s shoulder. It was then that he realised just how much danger he was in. Almost immediately, the world began to swirl around him, encouraged by the stench of what he knew was chloroform. Within seconds he was unconscious.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Emmeline yawned and blinked sleepily at the room she was in. A frown of confusion marred her brow as she stared at the cold and empty fireplace in the sitting room. All at once, her sleepiness vanished, and a flood of disappointment slammed into her as she recalled the endless hours that she had waited for Oliver to show up.
He hadn’t returned like he had said he would.
Her frown darkened when she glanced at the clock. She sighed and contemplated going to bed when a persistent hammering on the door broke the silence and made her jump. Her heart leapt into her throat. She jerked out of her chair and raced to the window, prising the lace curtain out of the way to peer outside. Her hopes were dashed when she saw two strangers on her doorstep. Dropping the curtain, she turned to face the room and tried to decide what to do. Should she answer it?
“I wonder if there is something wrong, and that is why he didn’t come back?” It was highly unusual for her to get so many visitors let alone male ones. The men on her doorstep this morning must have something to do with Oliver. “The neighbours are going to have a wonderful time with their arrival as well.”
Emmeline made her way to the door and yanked it open without giving a moment’s thought to the possibility that it might not be Oliver’s colleagues on the doorstep.
“Yes?” She asked, wishing now she had stopped to check the clock on the mantle for the time. Whatever time it was, the morning was still incredibly early given dawn had barely snuck over the horizon.
Rhys stared for a moment or two. Eventually, his mouth snapped sh
ut and he nudged Harry, who was openly staring in disbelief at the stunning young woman who had just yanked the door open.
“Miss?” Rhys croaked. “Miss Emmeline Elkins?”
“Good God,” Harry mumbled only to jerk and look contritely at her. “Good morning,” he corrected, looking sheepish.
Emmeline looked tousled, but still downright beautiful. For a moment, Harry looked warily at Rhys. To see her thus was enough of a warning as to why Oliver was so reluctant to spend any time with her but might explain why Oliver hadn’t returned to the safe house last night. Given the look of her now, he had made his presence felt while he was here as well.
“May we speak with Oliver, please?” Harry asked politely.
Rhys grinned because he suspected if Harry had been wearing a hat, he would have snatched it off his head and held it respectfully before him. His smile fell, when Emmeline frowned at them in confusion and clearly had no idea what they were talking about.
“I thought he was with you,” she replied blankly. “Did he not come back?”
“He returned here,” Rhys said looking hesitantly at Harry.
“He didn’t come back here yesterday.” Emmeline stepped back and waved the men into the house. “He said he was going to about eight o’clock but didn’t. I just assumed he was busy with his investigation, or something.”
“One of our colleagues spoke to him around midnight. He said that he hadn’t been able to come back to check on you because he had been delayed with the coroner. Our colleague saw him last around midnight,” Harry replied without telling her exactly where Oliver had intended to go. He couldn’t say because nobody had any idea why Oliver had left the house. Niall had said it was probably to see Emmeline again. To find it wasn’t the reason why Oliver had just vanished was disturbing.
“Is it likely he has gone home?” Emmeline suggested.
“We don’t live around here,” Rhys replied instinctively.
He suspected that telling this young lady such things wouldn’t matter. He wasn’t divulging any secrets per se. None of the Star Elite who were working on the investigation into finding the kidnapped young women came from Leicestershire or Derbyshire. The local groups, who would invariably have investigated such crimes, were busy investigating other criminal activity going on in the area and didn’t have the manpower to conduct the investigation. Rhys, Oliver and the rest of the men did.