by Rebecca King
“Any anecdotes from your sister would help so add those too,” Niall ordered.
“We will get to the bottom of it but have to be careful. The culprit is around here somewhere. We don’t want to rattle him until we have to because we don’t want him hiding any evidence or leaving the area,” Justin warned.
“So, our conversation today has to remain strictly confidential, I am afraid, Miss Clarkson,” Aaron warned her.
“Of course,” Vanessa replied. “I am just pleased you are willing to take me seriously.”
“Your invaluable information gives us a very good place to start,” Oliver assured her.
“Tell me, Miss Clarkson,” Angus interrupted. “Does your brother-in-law go to Derbyshire?”
“His family’s farm is in Derbyshire.”
Brows lifted as the men looked at each other.
“Do you have a map, Weeks?” Justin asked.
Weeks nodded and hurried over to his desk. He drew out a map adorned with dots marking the locations of the disappearances to date and placed it on the desk so they could all see it.
Justin ran a long finger around in a huge circle that encompassed all the red dots.
“The central point is here: Bicester,” Aaron murmured.
When Vanessa looked at him enquiringly Justin stepped in.
“When people who commit serial crimes operate they rarely kill on their own doorstep. They travel, but only within a certain distance. It creates something of a comfort area they feel confident they can work in,” Justin explained.
“And they get home again relatively easily if there is any threat. They tend not to venture too far. If they do expand their target area, they usually get locals in the new location to help them,” Aaron added.
“Like minded criminals,” Oliver said.
“It may be someone from the village then,” Vanessa replied with a shudder.
Weeks sighed heavily. “But that isn’t to say these kidnappings have anything to do with Curtis. It would be wise for you not to go around accusing him and getting yourself into trouble.”
“I haven’t accused him of anything, Mr Weeks,” Vanessa assured him firmly. “Neither would I, or could I. I have just asked him questions about the last time he saw my sister, that’s all. He claims not to have noticed anything untoward, but I know the night before she disappeared she had a discussion with him that was fraught.”
“What was the discussion about?” Justin asked, but suspected he already knew.
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. Geraldine got too upset when she tried to tell me, so I let the matter drop. I was going to speak with her about it when she was a little calmer, but she disappeared before I could,” Vanessa replied.
“Where in the village do you live?” Justin asked suddenly.
Vanessa forced herself to ignore the shiver of awareness that shimmered through her when her eyes met his. This was the first time she had met his gaze this close, and it was distinctly unnerving. She wanted to step back and put some distance between them not least because she suspected his piercing gaze missed nothing. He could read her thoughts, she was sure of it, and that suspicion seemed to be confirmed when a small smile curved his chiselled lips. She just wished those deep, dark eyes of his were as easy to read.
“At the far end of the village,” she replied quietly.
“Is your father nearby?”
Vanessa nodded. “We share the same house.”
“Well, let me escort you back there. It isn’t safe for any lone female to be walking the streets right now, even in daylight given some of the women have been snatched in the morning,” Justin murmured.
“Thank you,” she murmured when she tried, yet failed to come up with an adequate objection.
“We will let you know how we get on with the investigation,” Oliver assured her before she left. “Meantime, if you need anything or hear of anything new then do let us know. We are staying in the tavern.”
“Really?” Vanessa’s brows lifted in astonishment.
She looked at Weeks. It was unusual for the magistrate not to accommodate them himself. They were, after all, here to help him.
“If you want somewhere to stay that would afford you a bit more privacy, Miss Clarkson’s father owns the house next door to his that is empty, doesn’t he?” Weeks lifted his brows at Vanessa. “I am sure he wouldn’t mind you using it for a few weeks. It is full furnished still, I believe?”
Vanessa nodded slowly, her gaze straying once more to Justin.
“He won’t mind, if you have no objection to me telling him why you are here. The house is big enough,” Vanessa assured them. “It would also afford you some privacy but is close enough to the village for you to keep an eye on things if you wanted to.”
The men looked at each other. Justin caught Angus’s faint nod. When none of the men came up with any argument, Justin nodded his thanks, relieved to have found a useful alternative to the tavern.
“If you are sure your father would be amenable to it, we would love to accept your kind offer. We will recompense you, of course,” Justin replied.
“That’s settled then,” Vanessa said weakly, a little perplexed at how swiftly everything had changed.
Within minutes, Vanessa was escorted out of the house, and found herself walking beside Justin down the narrow side road that would take her home.
“How long have you lived in the village?” Justin asked, determined to make full use of his time alone with her to find out everything he could about her.
He tried to assure himself it was professional interest, but knew it was anything but. He wanted to listen to her speak. There was something about her melodic voice that was eminently soothing. He had a mental vision of sitting with her before the fire on a cold winter’s evening listening to her tell him about her day.
“Pardon?” he asked blankly when he realised she had asked him something and he hadn’t heard a word.
“I asked where you come from,” Vanessa replied patiently, wondering if he found her boring. He was looking at her with such a strange expression on his face she wasn’t at all sure what to think. “You seem distracted about something.”
“I am just thinking over everything you told me,” Justin lied as he shoved all thoughts of a personal nature to one side. “Tell me what discord there is between you and Weeks.”
Vanessa sighed. “Until Geraldine vanished, I had had a perfectly good association with Mr Weeks. He is a good man, but I haven’t had need to use his services, or call upon him for anything. I have heard he is good at what he does, although can be considered, well, weak.”
“So he does his job, but only just.”
Vanessa nodded, and then told him about no search party being raised for Geraldine when it was realised she had vanished.
“Everyone just assumes she has run off,” Vanessa cried.
“But you know she hasn’t.” Justin put just enough hint of doubt in his voice to make her look at him.
“You don’t believe me either,” she whispered with an air of defeat.
“I am not saying you are wrong, but just don’t get upset if you are found to be wrong,” he replied cautiously.
“You don’t believe Curtis has had anything to do with her disappearance, do you?” She stopped in the middle of the road and looked at him. “Might I remind you that I know my sister better than both you and Weeks? Surely that should be taken into consideration.”
Justin sighed. “I just want you to consider all options.”
“Who are you by the way?” Vanessa demanded. “Why do you speak with such authority about murders and the like. Why, anybody would think you have experience of kidnapping people.”
If she hadn’t just met him in the magistrate’s house, Vanessa would have run all the way home, but there was little reason to doubt his integrity.
“I work in London, on major cases such as kidnap, blackmail, burglary, pick-pocketing gangs, gang masters and crimes of that nature,” Justin warned
her.
He waited for her to absorb that for a moment. He didn’t mind answering her questions, to a point, as long as she didn’t object to him finding a few things out about her.
“Tell me, Miss Clarkson, what does your father do?”
“Nothing. He was injured in the war and has never fully recovered,” Vanessa replied honestly. “He doesn’t get out much.”
“I am sorry,” Justin replied. “Might I meet with him?”
“I think it is inevitable, don’t you?” Vanessa replied ruefully. “Seeing as you are going to be neighbours.”
With a wry smile, Justin escorted her home.
CHAPTER SIX
Justin entered the somewhat small yet cosy sitting room and looked about curiously. His gaze fell immediately onto the dapper gentleman seated beside the fire, a thick woollen blanket across his legs. Given what Vanessa had told him, he didn’t expect the elderly gentleman to rise out of his seat to greet him, but he did.
“Sir, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Justin murmured with a polite bow.
“This is Mr Silverton, father. He has come from London to help us look for Geraldine,” Vanessa added hastily.
“Oh?” Vanessa’s father perked up, then looked at Justin as one would size up a horse.
He was subjected to such valuating scrutiny, Justin had to bite back a wry smile. There was astute wisdom in the man’s gaze which held a hint of battle-hardened weariness that made Justin immediately empathise with the man. He instantly felt a connection to him that he had only ever felt with his colleagues in the Star Elite. It was enough to make him look at Graham Clarkson with renewed interest.
Justin had little doubt that Vanessa had been truthful in that her father had served his time in the army. While he bore the scars that proved as such, he didn’t speak of them, of that Justin had little doubt. They were a closely guarded secret, each one with a story to tell and each one leaving a lifelong scar upon body and soul time would never erase.
“Please accept my apologies for the intrusion,” Justin murmured. “But I asked your daughter for an introduction. We met at the magistrate’s office.”
“Weeks is a damned fool,” Graham boomed. “Wouldn’t know his backside from his ear.”
Justin’s lips quirked.
Vanessa cringed and began to tug her father’s blanket straight when he slumped back down into his chair and waved Justin to the seat opposite.
“Sit down. Sit down. I don’t stand on damned ceremony here you know,” Graham blustered.
“Father, you mustn’t speak like that in front of company,” Vanessa chided.
“Balderdash!” Her father boomed.
She turned to Justin, a desperate plea in her eye. “You must excuse him. He has started to lose his hearing.”
Justin smiled at her father, but with such a conspiratorial air that Vanessa lifted her brows at him.
“I don’t mind. Us ex-army folk are used to being frank with each other,” he murmured dryly.
This did make Graham straighten up. He squinted suspiciously at Justin, who remained perfectly still, just as a soldier would on guard duty.
“What regiment?” Graham demanded.
“Thirty forth battalion,” Justin replied. “You?”
“Twenty second Gloucester Fusiliers,” Graham murmured, slumping back in his chair. He gazed blankly off into the fire as though drawn back to the days of old and the memories they brought forth.
“Sorry, he does this sometimes,” Vanessa murmured. “Would you like some tea?”
“Tea?” Graham suddenly spat, leaving neither Justin or Vanessa in any doubt as to what he thought about the fetid brew. “The man doesn’t want tea. Get the man a brandy, I say. Eh? What of it? Brandy shall it be?”
Justin smiled. “That would be better,” he admitted.
Vanessa shook her head at him but headed over to the brandy decanter. She had hoped to use her father’s interest in their guest to thwart his usual afternoon brandy, not least because it always made her father go to sleep and then kept him awake at night. A little piqued, she poured two large goblets of brandy and handed them over before she perched precariously on the edge of the chaise in between both men.
“I came to ask you what you think has been going on with Geraldine,” Justin asked of her father. While he waited for Graham to answer, he studied the room.
From Graham’s seat in the farthest corner of the sitting room, right next to the fire but looking outward, onto the road and the passing traffic and pedestrians, Vanessa’s father wouldn’t miss much of life happing right by his front door. The suspicion was confirmed by the knowing look in the older man’s eye when their gazes met.
“I know that people have a lot of secrets to keep,” he murmured.
“Everyone has secrets to keep,” Justin countered. “What is so odd about this village’s secrets?”
Graham’s brows lifted. “A frank talker,” he murmured. “I like that.”
“So, what have you seen?”
Vanessa frowned, unsure what she should make of the rather odd conversation. She wondered if all ex-army men spoke in such a brief, almost coded way, and looked at her father with renewed curiosity.
“Have you seen anything?” she asked her father pertly, feeling like a fool for not having asked him before now.
“Just because my legs don’t work as well as they used to, girl, doesn’t mean the rest of me isn’t in perfect working order,” Graham muttered, tapping the side of his head.
“I never claimed there was anything wrong,” she replied briskly, pointedly tapping the side of her head.
“See that you don’t,” Graham warned.
Vanessa opened her mouth to object that she never would only for her father to pre-empt her and turn his attention back to Justin.
“I know that Mrs Cunningham three doors down, with the grey door, has a visitor late at night. He doesn’t leave until morning, and in the early hours as well. He might have seen someone moving about at that time,” Graham murmured. “You should ask him.”
“I will,” Justin replied. “You will have to give me his direction. Why haven’t you told Weeks this?”
Justin determinedly keeping his gaze averted from the rather delectable female seated an arm’s length away. Even with a few feet of distance between them he could smell the delicate scent of her perfume. It was tantalising; reminding him of warm summer sunshine and flowers.
“The damned man is a fool,” Graham snorted disparagingly. “He doesn’t believe our Geraldine wouldn’t leave that farmhouse come Hell or high water. It has been her life-long dream to buy that place and live there. If it hadn’t been for that damned fool she married she would still be around.”
“What do you think has happened to her?” Justin asked. He threw Vanessa a warning look. Thankfully, she took the hint and remained quiet as she slid back in her seat and folded her hands in her lap.
“She wouldn’t surrender the life she has always wanted without a fight. She wouldn’t give up,” Graham murmured, this time with less bluster. “It is safe to say she isn’t living there now.”
“Maybe she has gone to stay with friends for a while but didn’t get the time to tell you?” Justin offered helpfully.
Graham was already shaking his head. “Geraldine has never shown any interest in travelling,” he replied. “There is no reason to believe she would do so now. She had made it clear to us both that she was unhappy, and there were difficulties between her and that husband of hers. Of course, we never trusted him one bit – never served in the army, you see? Not even when we were at war with the frenchies.”
“Was he old enough?” Justin asked.
“Aye, he was old enough, he was just too weak to fight,” Graham snorted.
“He is a farmer.”
“A farmer’s son, aye, but he still didn’t fight,” Graham retorted.
“He must be strong, though.”
“Physically, yes. Mentally? Not a chance. Being physically strong
still doesn’t qualify him to take over a farm of his own, though, does it? No, I think Bennion heard that Geraldine was going to purchase a property of her own and decided to swindle her. That’s what he has done. He decided to try to take it as his own. His father made it clear he wanted him out of the house. What man at six and twenty still lives with his mother? All Curtis knows is farming. It stands to reason that he would see Geraldine as the answer to his prayers. Of course, once they were married he thought everything that was hers would be his and he could do what he liked with it.”
“That isn’t the case,” Justin stated. It wasn’t a question. He paused when a crafty look appeared on Graham’s face. “What?” His gaze flew to Vanessa, but he found it difficult to read the impassivity on her face.
“I warned Geraldine she would be a fool to purchase a farm herself,” Graham admitted.
“Oh? She hasn’t bought it?” Justin frowned.
“She did,” Vanessa sighed only to pause herself when her father shook her head.
“She put the money up for it, but the property is officially owned by me. She met with a few raised eyebrows when she went to the solicitor and told him she wanted to purchase the farm, I can tell you. She came back a little worried, so I told her to put it in my name. As far as everyone was concerned, that farm is hers. Geraldine even told Curtis she owned it. There was no reason for him to know the truth,” Graham explained.
“But why? I mean, why did Geraldine not trust her husband, even at the beginning of their marriage?” Vanessa cried.