by Rebecca King
Betrayal of
Innocence
New Star Elite Series – Book 1
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
STAR ELITE – A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS
DOUBLE ENTENDRE
MARLEY’S SECOND CHANCE
OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING
CHAPTER ONE
Justin sighed and stared hard at the ceiling while he puffed out his cheeks and made popping noises with his mouth. To give himself something to do, he tilted precariously on the back legs of the spindle chair he sat on and tried to balance himself at an awkward angle for longer and longer periods of time in a demi-game of skill.
The rhythmic squeak the chair made was irritating enough to make his good friend and colleague, Angus, glare balefully at him.
“Do you not have anything else to do with your time?” Angus growled, blithely ignoring the fact that the only activity to challenge his own day was reading the same broadsheet for the third time while pretending to be interested.
“I am bored,” Justin grumbled. “Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. I need something to do with my time.”
“I confess, when I joined the Star Elite I expected life to be a bit busier than this,” Aaron admitted from his perch in the corner of the room. He peeked out from beneath is own broadsheet and yawned widely as he looked askance at his colleagues, seeking their agreement.
Phillip prised one eye open and peered at the men lounged casually at various points around the large square study. “Can I remind you that we are having a break before we start our next job? We only completed the last investigation a few hours ago, and already you are bored. We need to rest. Boss’s orders.”
“We had a rest,” Jasper replied sharply. “Last night. Before we all left our beds at dawn to arrest the bounders. Why do we need to rest some more already?”
“Because we have been busy lately,” Angus reasoned. “Really busy, as a matter of fact.”
Aaron nodded. “Too busy.”
“So, we are supposed to go from running around like headless chickens after criminals only to then stop and lounge around like toffs at White’s,” Jasper snorted. His tone left his colleagues in no doubt as to what he thought about toffs at White’s.
The derogatory term ‘toff’ was frequently used to describe the wealthy members of aristocracy who frequented the exclusive gentleman’s club. Today, Jasper’s use of it drew Angus’s frown.
“I would caution you to be careful, friend. Our boss is one of those toffs, and so is Simon Andrews. You won’t curry any favours if they hear you and take offense,” Angus chided. “Just enjoy this time to yourself and stop complaining.”
Justin smiled at Jasper and began to rock in his seat again. There was little he could do about the unease that refused to allow him to relax and enjoy the quietude like he was supposed to. He was on edge, restless, as though something was missing in his life.
Something is missing from my life, he thought with a disgruntled sigh. I need something to do.
Suddenly, the door opened. Sir Hugo, their boss, and two of their colleagues who had just returned from delivering several newly arrested prisoners to gaol, entered the room. The men tensed as they watched Sir Hugo, grim faced, take up position in front of the fireplace and turn to face them. They all knew from the look on his face that the news he had to impart was not good.
“What is it?” Justin prompted, eager to carry out whatever task Sir Hugo asked of him, if only so he could get out of the room for a while.
If there was one thing he hated more than anything it was being confined for too long. The longest period he usually spent indoors was when he was asleep, otherwise he preferred to be out in the open air. It was one of the pitfalls of taking a job with the Star Elite. The confined, often cramped city streets could be claustrophobic sometimes; suffocating with the stench of too many people and not enough fresh air. Still, it was a job, and it kept him busy – most of the time.
“We have had a request from the magistrate in Leicestershire, a Mr Weeks,” Sir Hugo announced to the deathly silence. When nobody moved or spoke, he looked at each man in turn.
Each member of the Star Elite before him was different in stature, looks, age, and experience. He knew this new group of men who made up some of the Star Elite had proven their worth on more than one occasion over the last several months. Even so, on the investigation he was about to send them on they were going to need all their investigative experience and then some to succeed.
“There have been several disappearances over the last few weeks,” he announced solemnly. He opened the parchment in his hand, and read the note from Montague Weeks, the magistrate for Leicestershire, to the men. “These are kidnappings, we think, rather than murders. So far, four young girls have gone missing and one boy. They have all disappeared from within a fifteen-mile radius of the same stretch of the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, near a place called Brecester. The magistrate is completely lost to know how to handle it. His men have gotten nowhere in their investigation and, according to Weeks, have managed to upset the locals more than find the culprit. Weeks considers he needs a gentler hand at the tiller as it were. It would help if someone not familiar with the villagers were to investigate this.”
“Undercover?” Justin asked, his mind racing in several different directions at once.
Sir Hugo pursed his lips. “If necessary, but it isn’t essential to begin with. I think it might get the villagers talking if someone from London were to investigate.” He held his hand up when several of the men looked about to protest. “I know what you are going to say. The locals are more likely to want to talk to someone, well, local. However, Weeks has made it clear the locals are anxious and wary. They don’t seem to have much faith in him now and refuse to speak in case they draw attention to themselves. There is a lot of suspicion, I am afraid. It is what can sometimes happen in places like this. The magistrate’s men have done little to help placate the locals seeing as more disappearances have taken place while they have been investigating.”
“What has the magistrate’s men found out so far?” Callum asked in his usual quiet manner.
“Nothing,” Sir Hugo replied flatly. “Not a damned thing. Nobody has seen anything, heard anything, or been anywhere n
earby when the young girls have vanished. Nobody has found any trace of a struggle, heard any argument, or screams, or noticed anything unusual about the girls’ behaviour before they vanished.”
“They simply disappeared off the face of the earth?” Oliver asked, his brows lifted in astonishment. He shook his head, totally disbelieving of it. “There has to be something.”
“I know,” Sir Hugo replied with a knowing nod. “It is up to you to find it. I don’t care whether it is a broken twig out of place on a tree, or a tiny scrap of an apron string. Find it. I want whoever is snatching girls off the streets found, and quickly.”
“The four – five – who have vanished are all from the same village? Do they have any family link?” Oliver demanded.
“As far as I am aware there is no family link. Two are from different villages in Derbyshire. Two others are from the same village in Leicestershire - Brecester. The boy is from the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border; a place called Umperley, I believe,” Sir Hugo replied having read the place name from Weeks’ letter.
“Do we have descriptions?” Angus asked with a heavy scowl.
“Yes, but weeks will give you more information on all of that,” Sir Hugo replied. He took to pacing before the fireplace, anxiety evident in the stiff set of his shoulders and heavy tread on the floor.
“Do you think this may be murder?” Justin asked as he studied his boss’s unusually tense features.
“As good as,” Sir Hugo replied briskly. He shook his head and sighed. “I have a daughter not much younger than the oldest victim. It strikes home.”
“How old are they?” Justin asked. “The victims, I mean.”
He knew Sir Hugo had six children in all, and thought they were all in their teens or early twenties now.
“The oldest is four and twenty, the youngest eleven,” Sir Hugo reported. “The victims, that is.”
“That’s a huge age gap,” Oliver murmured thoughtfully. “I wonder why the ages are so random?”
“When you are rested, I want you all off to Leicestershire. Go and see Weeks. He will give you more information on who has vanished, when, what they were doing when they were snatched, and give you more details of what his men have done so far. As far as I know, his men have not got anything much to go on, so it would be best for you to start afresh. Do whatever you need to do. Just get this kidnapper caught. I want to know where those young people are and get them returned to their families as quickly as possible,” Sir Hugo ordered briskly. His face turned dour. “Dead or alive.”
“Yes sir,” Jasper replied as he rose out of his seat.
Sir Hugo suddenly stopped pacing and looked at his men. “I don’t want to interrupt your rest period, but the faster you can get moving on this the better. If this is kidnap and not murder, we don’t want this kidnapper moving his victims too far away from home.”
“When did the first victim get taken?” Angus asked as he watched Jasper, Oliver, and Niall prepare themselves to leave.
“That’s just it,” Sir Hugo replied darkly. “They have all been taken over the last ten days. I don’t want many more disappearing, understand?”
Aaron ran a hand down his face and looked at his boss. “Are we all to go?”
“Everyone. I want every man available on this case,” Sir Hugo replied sternly.
“I thought we were the only ones available,” Oliver replied dryly.
“You are. So, get going,” Sir Hugo said with a small smile.
Angus rolled his eyes and followed his colleagues toward the door.
“I want reports as soon as you get there. Keep me updated on this one. I will have men on standby in Derbyshire if you need them. They are busy with the burglary case going on in the big houses up there and are about to catch their culprit. It might take them a few days to get to you if you need them, so you are mostly on your own in this. I would send them, but there isn’t the time to waste.”
Minutes later, Sir Hugo stood in the yard at the back of the house, and watched his men mount their horses. He was a little surprised that they didn’t argue about leaving but was pleased they understood the urgency of the case.
“Do you think you should get Barnaby to oversee this?” Simon Andrews, his right-hand man, murmured when he came to stand at his elbow.
Sir Hugo shook his head. “They don’t need it. They know what they are doing. Look how swiftly they caught those muggers. There is a credible leader in Justin. I don’t doubt he will take the lead on this. Besides, Barnaby is up to his knees with the new baby and the burglary case. He doesn’t have the time spare to help with this investigation.”
“You think it is a local, don’t you?” Simon murmured.
“Local to Leicestershire or Derbyshire, most probably. However, you know from Sayers just how wide some networks can go. We can’t become complacent and rule anything out until we have more facts. These young girls could have been snatched for slave labour, depravation, have been targeted by a killer, or are being held captive for a ransom for some strange reason.”
“Are they from wealthy families?” Simon murmured as he watched the last of the men ride out of the compound.
“I have no idea,” Sir Hugo sighed. “I just know that it is highly unusual for the hierarchy in our organisation to get involved in anything like this, and odd for a man like Weeks to request assistance in this way. I don’t like it, Simon. I don’t like it one bit.”
Simon looked sharply at his boss, but Sir Hugo was already mounting his own horse. Simon looked at the gates of the yard for a moment or two before, with a growing sense of impending doom, went to find his own horse.
“Will you slow down?” the young man chided gently, his eyes alight with mirth.
When the young girl darting in and out of the trees grinned cheekily at him, his smile widened in spite of himself. He shook his head in disbelief. He knew she was going to fall over at some point, but for the life of him couldn’t find the will to deny her the moment to enjoy herself. Not when she looked at him like that, with her eyes alight with an intimately knowing look that stirred up intimate memories. They brought forth a shiver from within him that made him want to venture closer and hold her hand again. Quickly glancing around to make sure they were still alone, he carefully stepped closer. He sighed impatiently when he found the tree Felicity had been standing behind completely empty.
“Where are you?” he called, his voice hushed for fear of discovery.
Silence greeted him. Sighing again, he began to look for her, and swiftly spotted the brilliant blue hue of her skirt peeking teasingly from behind a tree. He tip-toed toward her. When the material vanished, he lunged forward.
“There you are,” he cried only to stare in disbelief when he saw the space behind that tree empty too. “Where are you?”
“Here,” Felicity cried teasingly from a tree only a few feet away. She promptly vanished again, her laughter tinkling merrily around the empty woods.
“No. Here,” she called again from a different tree a few feet further away.
“Don’t go too far,” he snapped, frowning a little when he realised just how staid and boring he sounded even to his own ears. Throwing back his shoulders, he decided that if he couldn’t catch her he could at least join her. Tiptoeing toward the tree behind which she had once stood, he paused and waited. This time, he didn’t call out to her, but let the silence fall instead. He waited. One moment passed, then two, then three.
“Where are you?” Felicity called tentatively.
He smiled and followed the sound of her voice. Darting quickly through the dense vegetation, he shifted from one tree to the next, creeping gradually closer until he circled around her. Closer and closer he drew until he could see her hiding behind a thick tree-trunk. Slowly, he stepped toward her, careful not to disturb any twigs or branches underfoot. When he was right behind her, he leaned forward and blew gently on her ear. She squealed and ducked away from his outstretched arms. He dived after her, his husky chuckle echoing her in
fectious squeal of delight.
They chased around the woods until they struggled for breath. Eventually, when they grew bored with their chase they subsided on a small knoll overlooking the small village of Lunville.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she breathed as they studied the dusky haze enveloping the sleepy valley before them.
He didn’t reply. He wasn’t interested in the buildings over which stood the tall tower of the old Norman church. Without removing his gaze from the delicate curve of her pale cheek, he nodded.
When he didn’t speak, Felicity looked at him. Her cheeks blushed when she saw the predatory look in his eye. There was something in his smile this time that elicited a shiver down her spine. Boldly, she brushed aside the small ripple of unease it brought with it. Instead, she smiled at him, a small knowing curve of her lips that was boldly daring.
“I really must go,” she whispered, even though her gaze fell to his mouth with rampant curiosity he knew he would satisfy before he released her.
“I know,” he replied quietly. “In just a few minutes, though.”
Felicity thought she knew why.
The only sound to break the silence between them was her heady sigh as she was slowly lowered into the lush grass.
Ten minutes later, he rose and stared down at the woman at his feet. With her eyes closed she looked like a porcelain doll. He had seen one once, in a shop window in the posh end of town. The pale cheeks of the lifeless doll had looked very much like the young woman whose body was equally as lifeless - now. He clenched his fists; a small frown on his face. Deep inside, a shiver of something distinctly alarming swept through him, but he refused to look at it. He couldn’t. It was too worrisome and made him feel bad.
With a shake of his shoulders he studied the area carefully but knew they were alone. The hour was late given nightfall was almost upon them. Nobody was going to be out on a cold, foggy night like this. The village now stood in shadow, lit only by the gentle glow of candlelight from a few un-shuttered windows. It was doubtful anybody would have seen them, high atop the knoll. If they had happened to glance out of their windows they would see nothing untoward. He had made sure of that when he had chosen the spot.