by Rebecca King
“He cannot have been in there long enough to steal much, Joshua. I only went to the garden for about ten minutes while I picked enough blackberries for a pie. I stopped long enough to pick some plums as well but was talking to Billy for about a minute until you arrived. You know the rest. The thief didn’t have the time to wander through the property because before I went into the garden my aunt and I had been in the house all morning.”
“Well, we have to consider this a distraction burglary. You were deliberately kept talking by Billy while his cohorts broke into your house. That, I am afraid, seals Billy’s fate.”
“I am not sorry. If he knows whoever hit me and asked the man to do it then Billy deserves everything he gets,” Annalisa replied fervently.
“How is your head now?”
“A little fuzzy but I am sure it will heal in all good time.” Annalisa was deeply touched by his tender concern.
“I want you to know that you are perfectly safe here. I am trustworthy and really an honest man. Yes, I lied about Mr Richardson being my relation. He is living in a house purchased by the Star Elite, and loving it, apparently. He likes being closer to people and has even started to go out a little. We keep tabs on him, just to make sure he doesn’t appear on the doorstep here and demand his house back. From what Roger has said, though, Mr Richardson is making noises about never coming back.”
“You are Star Elite?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes. We work with the War Office,” Joshua assured her. “I am sure Margate, the Magistrate, will be happy to confirm that fact when he returns from London. He has been called to see our boss, Sir Hugo, to explain why the Star Elite have had to be called in. However, given the nature and location of the crimes, it is impossible for one magistrate to catch the blackguard.”
“Which is why there are so many of you,” Annalisa murmured with a slow and careful nod.
Joshua squinted suspiciously at her, but there was a twinkle of rueful humour in his eye. “So, you have been watching us.”
“Well, you live right next door and do look suspicious coming and going at all hours of the night. What happens now? I mean, we cannot stay here forever. We cannot keep waiting until the killer makes a mistake. People are dying.”
“I know. For now, you need to stay here and rest. We are going to arrest Billy. Until we speak to him, we won’t know why he has started to burgle houses, or why he chose to kill some of the victims.”
“I don’t think his gang are going to be very happy,” Annalisa muttered.
“We are taking all of the gang to gaol as well.”
“All of them?” Annalisa looked horrified.
“Extra men have been drafted in to help us.” Joshua gently lifted a stray tendril of hair away from the corner of her mouth.
Their eyes met.
“It will all be over soon,” he promised her gently.
“I hope so.” While Annalisa meant word, a part of her didn’t want it to end.
Yes, she wanted the murders and the burglaries to end. She didn’t want what she shared with Joshua to end.
“Leave it to us,” Joshua whispered as if Annalisa had any choice.
Annalisa made no apology for her need to be held by him. She wanted to reassure herself that everything would be all right. That whatever they faced either individually or as a couple, he wanted her as much as she wanted him. When she reached up to slide an arm around his neck, he willingly lowered himself onto the bed and gathered her into his arms. Rather than try to kiss her, he offered her comfort and security, which she accepted and revelled in.
“It isn’t the time to talk about life in general, or furthering our acquaintance, but we will one day soon,” Joshua whispered.
“I know you are busy. Now is not the right time, is it?” Annalisa didn’t really ask. Her words were confirmation that she understood.
Joshua had to content himself with pressing a loving kiss into her forehead, not least because he knew they were in the wrong place for him to really kiss her the way he wanted to. He didn’t get the chance to anyway before Yvette arrived.
“I will see you later,” Joshua promised her before easing off the bed.
“Is she all right?” Yvette asked him tearfully.
“She will be. She just needs to rest right now.”
Yvette reached out and squeezed his hand in silent thanks before turning to her niece. Joshua quietly left the room and closed the door behind him before returning to his duties.
Minutes later, he was on his way to the village to arrest Billy.
What he found along the way was someone completely unexpected, lying in the gutter like unwanted litter. It was clear from first glancing at the man that he had been badly beaten. He was covered in cuts and deep bruising, and unconscious.
“Is he dead?” Hamish shook the man’s shoulder.
“I hope not,” Dean snorted. “How many more deaths does there need to be before we are driven out of town for being bloody useless?”
Roger knelt beside the man only to sigh and scratch his chin. “I have seen this one in Billy’s gang. I wonder if Billy knows the man is here?”
“Who would do something like this to him?” Ronan asked.
“Billy.” Joshua had no idea why he felt that Billy would attack one of his own like this, he just did.
“Well he came close but didn’t manage to kill him,” Roger informed them. “He is badly bruised but will heal in time. Let’s get him off to gaol. I don’t think it will come as any surprise to him to wake up in a cell, do you? He doesn’t know it yet but he is going to tell us everything that Billy and his gang get up to.”
While Daniel draped the thug over his saddle and tied his hands and feet in preparation to take him to gaol, the rest of the men from the Star Elite continued their journey to the gypsy camp. When they reached it, they were disturbed to find that everyone was packing up in preparation to move on.
“Where do you think you are going?” Joshua asked when he found Billy in the middle of saddling one of the horses.
“Its time to go. We are gypsies. It’s what we do.” Billy shrugged.
“Even when you have beaten one of your men half to death? Yes, I am sure you do want to scarper. Unfortunately, you are now all under arrest for multiple burglaries and several deaths.”
“Prove it.”
Billy barely flicked Roger a look as he recounted the crimes the village had endured over the last several weeks.
“You don’t have anything on us. You are just blaming us because it is easier for you to tell everyone you have arrested the culprits. What are you going to do when we are behind bars yet the crimes keep happening? They will, because we didn’t do it.”
“You did beat one of your own half to death,” Joshua said.
“The man’s a fool and got what he earnt,” Billy snapped. “You don’t know the rules we live by. Make mistakes and you get put in your place. He didn’t do as he was told and messed everything up.”
“So he had to die?” Hamish stared at the man in disgust. “It is surprising you manage to get anybody to stay in your bloody camp with that attitude.”
“Nobody can’t leave us. When they join a gang like this, their crimes keep them hostage. Leave, or even try to, and everyone will either kill you and lie to protect each other or make your life miserable until you return. You are soulless, homeless, with no respect, morals, scruples, or principles. It’s a feral lifestyle, helping yourselves to the rewards of other people’s hard work as you go.” Joshua waited for someone to step forward and object to his brief synopsis of what life was like within this travelling gang.
While everyone in the camp had gone perfectly still, none of them argued. There wasn’t much they could say against the truth. The men from the Star Elite knew that all it would take was one word from Billy and the entire camp would turn into an extremely dangerous place to be.
“You have nothing on us except your own prejudices,” Billy snorted.
“Wh
y Annalisa? What has she got that you want?” Joshua demanded.
“What does any woman have that a man wants?”
Joshua went cold. “We have already been through this. Annalisa is not your kind and wouldn’t fit into your world. You know that.”
Billy shrugged again. “You mentioned it.”
“You were distracting Annalisa while one of your gang broke in, weren’t you?”
“I was warning her.” Billy dropped the saddle he held onto the ground at his feet and placed his fists on his hips. “We are moving on from here before we get the blame for crimes we didn’t commit. You have more problems on your hands than us. Now that the magistrate’s men are here, we are going to scarper. You have no evidence on us. You cannot condemn a man because of your own prejudices. Try it and you will become the most hunted men in England because there are more of us and they will find you. It isn’t a warning. I am not a man to issue warnings to your kind. I am telling you what is going to happen if you even try to put us behind bars for what’s been going on around here. We might be thieves. We might fight a bit if we are paid the right kind of money. We might teach our own kind harsh lessons about keeping their places in our group, but we aren’t killers. We don’t murder men and women in their beds at night. We don’t attack people in their own homes. Many of the men you see here are fathers. They have families of their own. The last thing any of them ever do is venture into people’s homes. I foolishly sent Barry into the house to try to worry Annalisa about just how vulnerable she is living with that aunt of hers. It was meant to be a final warning to try to make sure she didn’t trust the wrong man. Each time I saw her she was looking for you, and letting you into her house, her garden. She doesn’t know you, but she stupidly trusted you and let you get close. There is nothing to say that you are not the killers.”
“We aren’t,” Joshua sighed, knowing that Billy was right.
“Well Barry panicked. He is a bit stupid you see. When she turned around, he hit her when he was told to just warn her that it was incredibly easy to get into her house, into her life, and that she was to be careful and not take stupid risks. That was all he was supposed to do, but the bloody fool smacked her on the head and got carried away. He had to be taught a lesson about keeping his hands to himself and doing as he is told. He will heal, and crawl back to us. His kind always does.”
Joshua sighed and looked at his boss who looked quietly horrified but didn’t say anything.
“Do you have any idea who the killer is?”
Billy snorted. “No and it worries us as well. Why do you think we are moving out before we had planned? We have eyes and ears everywhere, and nobody has seen a damned thing, yet this killer has been into a house and murdered someone else. I don’t want the next corpse to turn up to be one of us, our kids, or brothers. We are hauling them off the streets and moving on to somewhere safer.”
There was something in Billy’s defiant stance that warned Joshua the man was being honest. Even as he spoke, Joshua looked around the camp and was struck by the number of younger children milling around while their mothers, sisters, elderly relations, remained hidden inside the various caravans. There were indeed several generations of the same families all living within several feet of each other. The evidence was there in the similarities in their features that was too striking to be just a coincidence.
“I know Annalisa is not for me. My family wouldn’t allow her into the camp because of the attention she will draw to us. She doesn’t belong and would be bloody miserable living the kind of life I live. I am the kind of man who prefers to – how shall I put it – worship her from afar. I just wanted to warn her to stay away from you because I find it curious that you turn up at the same time that these random murders begin. All the villagers are whispering about it. You should stop and hear them sometime. It is quite an enlightening experience. We know it isn’t us and that is worrying enough for us to move on because the only other group who are operating in this area is yours.”
“It isn’t us,” Roger replied. “We work with the magistrate.”
“Aye, I am sure you would like everyone to believe that you do. But where is that magistrate, eh? He has disappeared with everyone else, hasn’t he?” Billy challenged. “You will know for definite that we haven’t had anything to do with what’s been going on because the crimes will keep happening and we won’t be here. We are off to Appleton. You can find us at the back of the tavern. It’s where we go every year when we have finished here.”
“We will check,” Joshua promised him.
“Do what you want, I don’t care,” Billy shrugged. “One thing you have to remember, gentlemen, is that if it isn’t you or us, someone in this village is a killer and they are making you, the magistrate’s men, look bloody fools as well as us look guilty. So, we are taking that out of their hands and getting out of here. You can do what you like. I hope Annalisa has the good sense to stay away from you, but I doubt she will. You are, after all, more of her kind than I shall ever be.”
“Don’t pretend to give a damn about her. She is injured because of what happened,” Joshua growled.
Billy truly did look regretful. “I apologise for that but the matter has been dealt with, as I am sure you already know.”
“He is off to gaol.” Roger lifted his brows and waited for Billy to object. “You really don’t give a damn, do you?”
“He needs us more than we need him,” Billy snorted. “He knows where to find us when he gets out.”
“If he gets out,” Roger warned.
Billy grinned and returned to saddling his horse.
“We know where to find you, gentlemen,” Roger warned suddenly. “If the burglaries and murders stop once you have gone, we will come after you. You will be put behind bars and you will face justice for all of your crimes.”
Billy didn’t answer. He didn’t stop saddling his horse, or even throw a dismissive glance in their direction as the men from the Star Elite left the camp. It was clear that Billy was done with the village, its occupants, and its problems, and wanted to get away before he was blamed for crimes he didn’t commit.
CHAPTER TEN
Annalisa glared at the man who was knocking on her front door but made no attempt to get out of her seat.
“I have no intention of going to church on Sunday,” she whispered to her aunt.
“Why are you whispering, dear? He cannot hear you,” Yvette chided.
“It doesn’t look like he has heard what happened to you,” Hamish murmured from his position beside the window.
Annalisa looked at him as he stood with his shoulder propped casually against the window frame. Joshua, she knew, was slowly wandering around the house for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. All was peaceful in the house or would have been had everyone not been tense and on edge.
“That is because we haven’t been anywhere,” Yvette replied somewhat pointedly.
“Is there somewhere you need to go?” Hamish asked.
“Well, no.”
Hamish grinned at her. “You could go to church on Sunday.”
Yvette wrinkled her nose up. “I don’t care what other people choose to do with their time, I really don’t. If people feel the need to go to church and pray that is entirely their prerogative. However, I do not have any intention of ever joining them. It isn’t that I don’t believe in God or anything like that. I just don’t see the need to go to church every Sunday and listen to the vicar preach to me.”
“It appears that not many other people see the need either seeing as the vicar only ever calls upon us to try to persuade us into going,” Annalisa said.
She placed her sewing into her lap when she heard Joshua’s booted step outside the door. As he had every time that he had passed the doorway that morning, he smiled at her – a gentle kind of smile that was personal and held a hint of mischief. She had to wonder if he was doing it deliberately, to try to make her smile or something. Seeing as she had a smile on her face right now,
his plan it seemed to be working as well. With her cheeks blooming with pleasure, Annalisa turned to watch the vicar. She was painfully aware of Joshua moving to stand at her shoulder so he could see the clergyman too, but she didn’t move.
“He seems awfully persistent,” he murmured with a frown.
Hamish shook his head. “In all the places I have been I have never met a vicar so determined to gather his flock. I wonder why?”
“I shall tell you why,” Yvette countered. “Without any congregation to preach to, the Bishop will close the church down and he will be out of a job. There were rumours a few years back that the Bishop had questioned whether it was worth trying to maintain the church here but the locals wouldn’t hear of it closing. It renewed interest in the place – for a while at least. Over in Sinopton, the vicar there now conducts services in several smaller village churches as well. All of the local vicars have been moved on.”
“The churches are still there but now one vicar oversees all of them,” Hamish murmured. “That would be enough to make sure the vicar rounded up his stragglers, eh?”
“You cannot blame him for wanting to stay here,” Joshua mused.
“Like you do?” Annalisa challenged. “I thought you were adamant you are going to go back to London when your investigation is over?”
“Annalisa, you must not be so forward,” Yvette chided.
“Don’t you think that we should dispense with all the formalities. I mean, we are sharing a house with them,” Annalisa countered.
Yvette threw her a rueful look but didn’t argue. She looked at Joshua, as if repeating Annalisa’s question.
“Well, things change,” Joshua murmured.
He ignored the smirk on Hamish’s face and turned to look at the vicar once more. All trace of mirth vanished the instant they both saw the clergyman peering into the front parlour window.
“Now that’s just plain rude,” Hamish growled.
“Very intrusive,” Joshua added with a nod to the vicar who was now walking around to the back of the property. “And persistent.”