by Rebecca King
“Well, it is a pleasure to meet you,” she began stiffly. “I have lived here all my life and only seen about a dozen or so new arrivals in the village. Not many people leave once they have settled in. Where did you come from again?”
“London,” Joshua replied without thinking.
Yvette nodded, and then truly began to look worried.
Annalisa suspected that was the truth, not least because the cut of his clothing was urbane. He was handsome, clearly wealthy given how expensive his suit was. Together with his pocket watch, and gold cufflinks, the man obviously didn’t need to work for a living.
If he did he wouldn’t be staying here. I just wish I knew what he had done with Mr Richardson.
“Well, we will be on our way then. It is a pleasure to meet you. Oh, by the way, I think you should know that it might be best you keep your doors and windows locked for the time being. I don’t know if your uncle told you but we are currently experiencing a spate of burglaries in the area,” Yvette said as she began to move to the front door.
“Oh? I hope there hasn’t been much taken,” Joshua murmured.
“This isn’t an affluent area,” Annalisa replied. “People don’t have much worth taking. It is what makes the crimes more heinous than most. The fool isn’t stealing from people who are wealthy. He is striking people who work hard for a living, and really need what is stolen.”
“It’s made the locals very angry,” Yvette informed him.
Joshua nodded not least because he suspected that the women were giving him a warning. If he was the perpetrator he would get no sympathy or understanding from them. They were watching and would report any unusual behaviour to the magistrate. Joshua could only be very grateful that the magistrate had been called to London and wouldn’t be around to report anything to but the women didn’t need to know that.
Making a mental note to be a little more circumspect when going about his business, Joshua took his leave of the women and escorted them to the door. He held it open while the women stepped outside.
As she passed him, Annalisa glanced up at him. Once again, their eyes met, and a fission of awareness increased the tension in the air. It hovered over them but cast a pall over her day. It brought forth a whole host of worries she now had to deal with, the worst of which was her suspicion that this handsome stranger was the burglar.
Her aunt seemed to think so too. They remained quiet as they returned home, but the second they entered the house they shared and closed the door behind them, Yvette turned to look at her niece.
“We have to report him to the magistrate.”
“Whatever for? We can hardly report him for staying in his uncle’s house, can we?”
“We have no proof Mr Richardson had any nieces or nephews.”
“No, but we have no proof that Joshua is lying.”
“Joshua?”
Annalisa sighed. “Mr Holton.”
“I know you like him,” Yvette began.
“I do not,” Annalisa blustered.
“Annalisa, dear.”
“You cannot go to the magistrate and tell him that you think the man is a thief and a liar just because he has told us something which might turn out to be the truth. Mr Richardson was a recluse. He barely spoke to us, and we are his direct neighbours.”
“He never went anywhere. He never went to visit these relations.”
“No, I will agree that he didn’t, but that doesn’t mean Mr Holton is a liar.”
“He never had any visitors,” Yvette argued. “No relatives ever came to see him.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have any family. Maybe he was estranged from them or retreated because of family problems or something. You don’t know.”
“He never told us he had a family,” Yvette countered flatly.
“Why would he? We are neighbours and even we weren’t close acquaintances. The man isn’t obliged to tell us anything. We asked. He told us he had no family. Maybe he felt at the time that he hadn’t got a family who cared?”
“Annalisa, the man told me several years back that he was an orphan,” Yvette snapped.
“Well, maybe something happened that changed everything. Don’t you think that if something had happened to Mr Richardson we might have noticed? I mean, it is difficult to remove a body from a house like that without someone seeing it, don’t you think?”
“Who said anything about removing a body?” Yvette’s eyes widened with horror. “Do you think he is dead?”
Annalisa sighed and wished now that she hadn’t said anything. “No. That’s just what I am saying. If there was a body, that man would have had to remove it, wouldn’t he? We would have seen something. We haven’t. Mr Richardson has to be all right.”
“Do you think so?” Yvette still looked doubtful.
“Well, I am not going over there to look for him, I can tell you that much,” Annalisa snorted.
“I am not for one second suggesting that you should.”
“Good. Don’t.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. Don’t.” Annalisa knew that look in her aunt’s eyes, and it was decidedly worrying.
“I still think we should tell the magistrate,” Yvette murmured several hours later.
Annalisa sighed. She had spent the better part of her day trying to assure herself that she truly wasn’t watching the house next door, secretly hoping to catch sight of her handsome new neighbour. With a huff, she dropped her sewing into her lap and gave up.
“What? What should we tell him? We cannot just go around the village accusing any stranger of being a thief, Aunt Yvette. Do you have any idea how foolish that would make us look? Besides, it isn’t fair on Mr Holton. He might just be an innocent person who is doing exactly as he says he is, and it is Mr Richardson who has lied to us. Until we can speak with Mr Richardson ourselves, we aren’t in any position to call anybody a liar. We have to let the man, Mr Holton, go about his business.”
“Are you going to be able to live with your conscience if he turns out to be a thief?”
“I don’t have anything on my conscience and won’t need to have unless I cause that man unnecessary aggravation with the magistrate just because I don’t like him being new,” Annalisa growled.
“You don’t?”
“I am not saying that I don’t like him, or that I object to him being new to the area. I am suspicious, not least because Mr Richardson didn’t tell us he had any family. In fact, he did say that he was an orphan, but we don’t know if he lied to us. He wasn’t exactly the most sociable of neighbours. Now that is something he and Mr Holton have in common. They are both surly and about as unsociable as it is possible to get. Why, I am surprised that man didn’t throw us out on our ear the second he opened the door to us this morning. As it was, he barely tolerated us, but no more than Mr Richardson did whenever we called upon him.”
“Maybe it is something to do with men,” Yvette murmured suspiciously.
“Well, until Mr Holton does something suspicious, we really have nothing to report to the magistrate, do we? We can hardly take the magistrate a load of scurrilous gossip and suspicion. What do you expect the man to do, arrest Mr Holton because he doesn’t want to take tea with us?”
Yvette scowled deeply at her, but Annalisa refused to back down. She knew it was wrong to go to the magistrate with their suspicions, not least because a part of her abjectly refused to accept that Joshua Holton was up to no good. He was – up to no good that is. She just didn’t know what it was yet – but she had every intention of finding out.
Somehow.
She just didn’t know how yet.
CHAPTER FOUR
The following morning, Annalisa dropped the newspaper onto the breakfast table and stared in horror at her aunt, who sat flushed and excited at the other end of the table, completely oblivious to the worry she had just caused.
“You have done what?” Annalisa asked quietly.
“I have been to see the magistrate about ou
r new neighbour,” Yvette declared proudly. She then scowled. “But he has gone away.”
Annalisa’s stomach dropped to her toes. She immediately wanted to get up to and go to the window to see if she could see him, but stubbornly refused to get out of her chair.
“Whatever for? I thought we agreed that there was nothing to report,” Annalisa cried. “Are you trying to ruin us?”
“Ruin us? How?”
“Do you have any idea how it is going to look if you go running around like a busybody, reporting anybody who happens to either be new or do something you don’t agree with?” Annalisa demanded.
“Well, I didn’t get to report anything to the magistrate because he wasn’t there. I did see Mrs Hall, his housekeeper, though. She said that Mr Margate had been called to London and wouldn’t be back for a week at least. She said that he – Mr Margate – had been grumbling about what poor timing it was, and that he needed to be here because that Star Elite were in the area. Word has it that they are investigating these burglaries now.” Yvette tapped the side of her nose secretively while giving her niece a broad wink.
Annalisa mentally groaned but her thoughts immediately turned to Joshua. Was he one of the Star Elite? She blinked, shook her head, and watched Yvette slowly nod.
“He is?”
“I think we have to stop asking questions about where Mr Richardson has gone, don’t you? I mean, Mrs Hall said that there are a lot of the them and that they are dangerous.”
“Burglars?”
“Star Elite men. They are in the area now and going to stay here until they catch whoever is burgling people’s houses.”
“You think they are staying in Mr Richardson’s house?” A part of Annalisa was quietly thrilled while also deeply horrified that danger was so close.
“No wonder he is so dangerous,” Yvette breathed.
“Mr Richardson?” Annalisa looked askance at her aunt.
“No, you goose. That handsome Mr Joshua Holton next door.”
“I thought you said he might be the thief and you had to report him?” Annalisa mused.
“Well, now that we know who he really is, we don’t have to report anything, do we?”
Yvette busied herself settling a napkin on her lap and helping herself to a piece of toast which she proceeded to slather with butter and jam. While she munched, Annalisa stared blankly out of the window. Her mind ran in all directions searching for answers, but of course she couldn’t find any because she needed information.
“Of course, I said to Mrs Hall that our new neighbour was a dangerous man. She said that she was downright terrified having them in the house when they called upon Mr Margate. He was a little stymied by them as well. Apparently, they appeared out of the darkness, walked straight into his house without knocking, and just appeared in his study like ghouls. Scared the living daylights out of him, they did. He ordered Mrs Hall to bolt all the doors from then on, just to stop it happening again. Then, of course, Mr Margate got called to London, so the Star Elite haven’t had a need to go back, which she is incredibly grateful for I can tell you.”
“Good Lord.”
“What is it, dear?”
Annalisa, having lost all interest in her breakfast, left the table and ambled over to the window seat. From the outside, Mr Richardson’s house looked still and quiet. In fact, it looked uninhabited. However, Annalisa knew from her long and very sleepless night, that Joshua Holton was up at all hours of the night. While no candles had been lit within the property, she had seen movement both upstairs and down. Shifting shapes and shadows had moved about all over the place, which warned her that he either had ghosts, or a serious sleep problem, or was indeed up to no good.
Annalisa doubted he had spent the night thinking about her like she had him. It was annoying because she didn’t want to spend her waking hours, or sleepless nights, thinking about the handsome stranger. Annalisa just wanted to sleep and go quietly about her business just like she always had. Of course, now, it was impossible because at some point over the long and very tiring night, she had started to wonder about all sorts of things about her new neighbour. What Mr Holton was doing in a small village like Bamtree was something that had bothered her. Joshua Holton was, by far, the most interesting person to stumble into her rather mundane life, well, ever. However, he seemed so out of place that she couldn’t help but wonder what had compelled him to come to the village if it wasn’t the burglaries.
What she was going to do when he left had worried Annalisa even more. She liked her life, her routine, the familiarity of it. However, she was intrigued by the shiver of excitement that had slammed into her when she had been with him yesterday. It had been thrilling and had left her anticipating the next time she could meet him. The need to speak with him again was something that she hadn’t experienced before, and was so strong it made her contemplate various ways she could bring about a chance meeting. It was difficult to know what it was that made Joshua so different to anybody else she had ever met, because she had never felt anything like it with anybody else.
“I need to see him again, just to see if these feelings vanish,” she whispered.
Maybe it is the danger he presents that I find so trilling? Maybe he is exciting because he is an enigma?
“I want something more out of life. Maybe Joshua Holton is it?”
When she stopped to contemplate her future, and what she might do with it, all Annalisa could see were endless days of taking tea with her aunt, visiting friends and acquaintances, and shopping while filling in endless hours with reading and sewing.
“I am living like a ghost; existing but not quite living,” she whispered.
“What was that, dear?”
Annalisa shook her head, but when she looked at her aunt was struck by the difference in their ages. Her aunt was in her late sixties and was indeed happy to live out the rest of her years as she was. Quiet in her solitude, enjoying an active social life whenever she saw fit, enjoying what was left of her days. However, Annalisa wanted something – more. She wasn’t prepared to wile away her time, waiting for God to take her. She wanted a life.
But that means marriage and there isn’t anybody in the area I find even remotely interesting.
Her gaze turned instinctively out of the window. “Except him.”
“You know, you really must stop mumbling dear, I cannot hear a word you are saying,” Yvette muttered.
“I am just thinking, that’s all,” Annalisa sighed.
“I was thinking as well, dear,” Yvette replied.
Annalisa mentally groaned. This time, her aunt did hear her.
“Now there is no need to be like that, dear,” Yvette chided. “I just think it might be a good idea if you went to see your neighbour. You know, you could ask him if he is settling in or something, and if we can help-”
“No.”
“But-”
“No.”
“Annalisa.”
“I said, no. I am not going around there. Firstly, how desperate would I look to call upon a single man by myself? Why on earth would I wish to ruin my own reputation let alone put that poor man in such a difficult situation like that? Do you have any idea how utterly inappropriate that is? No. If you want to go around then do but leave me out of it.” Annalisa was so vehement in her denial that Yvette blinked at her and stopped pushing.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Yvette murmured, a little hurt by Annalisa’s ferocity.
“Just stop your machinations. You don’t know that man is one of the Star Elite. If he is, he isn’t the kind of man who is going to take to settling down to a life of matrimony, is he? If he is the kind of man who works for them, they fight the most dangerous of society, don’t they? His job is dangerous, and he is going to be gone for long periods of time, even if he does seem inclined to want to marry, which I don’t think he does. I mean, how old did he seem to you? Did he really look like he is likely to have a wife and half a dozen children at home waiting for him?”
; Annalisa was struck by just how much that possibility left her dismayed. She had no idea why because the man shouldn’t mean anything to her. The seconds the words were out of her mouth, though, she felt awful, jealous, and wanted to find out if he was married.
Anybody lucky enough to marry a man like him would be a fool to let him ride off into the night.
Annalisa sighed. “Look, I am sorry for snapping at you. I just don’t think that we have any right to interfere in the man’s life whether he is one of the Star Elite or not. He might be an innocent, ordinary person just going about his business, as he has every right to do. Stop making assumptions about him. If he is Star Elite then he is too dangerous for you to even try to domesticate him. He is used to fighting criminals every day, not sucking on pipes and wearing smoking jackets.”
In fact, Joshua Holton didn’t look to be the kind of man who even owned a smoking jacket. A gun, yes, but anything domesticated was most definitely out of the question.
“Are you not curious about him?”
“Yes, I am, not least because he lives right next door. But if there was one thing our visit yesterday taught me it was that he is barely sociable. He didn’t want us there and while I do believe he told us a load of lies, he is under no obligation to tell us the truth about anything. We were prying. He wasn’t. We turned up unannounced and uninvited. Neighbours or not, that is completely the wrong thing to do. He has every right to be put out with us. You wouldn’t appreciate having your home invaded like we did invaded his.”
“You sound so defensive of him,” Yvette murmured with a scowl. She was unsure if she as happy with that or not.
“I am just saying that if he is Star Elite we have to leave him alone to do his job. If he isn’t one of them, we must leave him alone. His life - his business. I, for one, don’t intend to waste my day watching him going about his business, or paying him any more unwelcome visits.”
Yvette contemplated that but given the dismissive tone of Annalisa’s voice decided it was best not to push just now. “What do you intend to do today then?”