by Rebecca King
“There is one thing we could do,” Angus piped up thoughtfully from his seat at the table.
Everyone looked at him.
“We could set a trap.” Angus took a swig of his beer and thumped his mug down on the table. “We know the women who have vanished have all been alone. They also all fit a certain type. Young women, slender, pretty, with brown hair. We could find someone who fits that mould and let them wander around. We keep watch, and when our kidnapper tries to strike, we capture him.”
“How are we supposed to keep watch in broad daylight and stay hidden? It is easy to do in London, but in a rural community like this even someone loading a haycart that doesn’t need to be loaded is going to be watched by at least half a dozen pairs of eyes. We can’t adopt the disguises because of drawing attention to ourselves. If we were going to do anything like that we should have done it before Jemima had been kidnapped, not now,” Oliver argued.
“I confess that I do think he has a point, though,” Justin growled. “I hate to say it, but I can’t see any other way of catching the culprit. I mean, look at this map. All the kidnappings have happened from a fifteen-mile radius of here. Some are further out, but we have to question if they are random incidents or are connected. The boy, for instance, is highly unusual. The young girl, Felicity, could have been killed by someone else because she is the only body that has been found, all the others are still missing. I think we have to consider that all of the women missing who have brown hair have been kidnapped by one person. Felicity had blonde hair, I believe?”
Angus nodded grimly.
“So, we have to set Oscar, the boy, and Felicity to one side for now. Everyone else were most probably snatched by the same person. Someone who lives around here, but travels within this fifteen-mile radius. A local could travel fifteen miles around these country lanes with a body relatively easily. A borrowed cart or something could be used, and nobody would bother to look at it.” Justin’s thoughts turned to Curtis, and how easily someone like him would have been able to travel through the village without looking suspicious.
“Geraldine doesn’t fit the mould,” Oliver sighed. “She is the only one who was married.”
Justin mentally swore and shook his head. “She has to have been killed by her husband, even though she has brown hair like the others.”
“I have to question how the milk maid has managed to walk around the area unchaperoned and remain unscathed. I mean, she is slender, relatively pretty, if you like that kind of woman, and has been wandering around yet nothing has happened to her,” Jasper mumbled around a huge yawn. “I think we have to consider them as guilty, we just don’t have the evidence yet. Your suggestion is a good one, but I just don’t see how you are going to persuade any of the villagers to allow their daughters to put themselves at risk like that.”
Justin shifted uncomfortably when he realised his colleagues were, one by one, all turning their attention on him. He glared at them and shook his head.
“No. Most definitely not. No. I won’t hear of it,” he grunted vehemently. “You are not going to ask her to get involved. She is upset enough at her sister’s disappearance. You can’t ask her to put herself in harm’s way. What if something went wrong? No, I won’t hear of it.”
“If you asked her, I am sure she would agree,” Oliver declared smoothly.
“I don’t care. I am not going to ask her, and you are not going to either,” Justin growled.
“What else do we do then?” Angus challenged.
“Well, either you dress up as a woman, or we need to think of something else because you are not going to ask Vanessa to put herself in danger.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Those words were still ringing in his ears the following morning when he stood in the kitchen and listened to the news Oliver had to impart.
“We had to do something, so we took an executive decision and over-ruled you,” Angus added bashfully. “I am sorry, friend, but we have to move this investigation on and catch the blackguard before someone else is snatched from the bosom of their family.”
Justin was seething. “What are you going to do if she vanishes too, and you have put her in danger? How do you explain that to her father? Sorry, but we thought we could protect her? That won’t do. Sir Hugo would have a conniption if anything happened to her.”
“So would you, we know,” Oliver replied solemnly.
Justin froze and stared at his friend.
“Don’t you think we already know how you feel about her? I know you haven’t gotten to know her yet, but there is an attraction between the two of you we would have to be blind to miss. She is just as bad. If you aren’t staring at her, she is staring at you. Do something about it,” Angus urged.
“Given this is personal for you now, we decided not to include you in our visit to her father. Before we even ask her, we had to check with her father that he was in agreement,” Aaron warned.
“And was he?” Justin wasn’t sure who to hit first.
His fingers tightened into a ball of fury, but he managed not to start swinging his fists straight away, at least not until he had heard his colleagues out. It was difficult to believe what he was hearing. To think that they had gone against his express wishes and were prepared to put Vanessa in danger left him unsure how he should feel. He was angry, yes; desperately worried, most definitely. More importantly, he was surprised his friends, colleagues, and confidants, had gone against him, and put the one woman he truly cared about in danger of being kidnapped.
“He agreed but made us give our word that we wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Of course, we gave it and will do everything we can to make sure she isn’t hurt in any way,” Angus replied smoothly.
“What do you plan to do?” Justin drawled.
He saw the looks his colleagues passed between them and knew they hadn’t got a clue how he really felt. If they had, he was sure they wouldn’t put him through it. Heaving a sigh, Justin struggled with the urge to refuse to help them. They had come this far on their own, as far as he was concerned they could damned well finish it without his help as well. Of course, he knew that would never happen because Vanessa’s safety was at stake, but it was a thought nonetheless. He had to be involved, and that was that.
“We thought we could put her on a cart, with someone in the back. A young woman going about on a cart would be easy enough to stop. She would be visible being up high. All she needs to do is take a few trips to town and be seen. It would be enough to make it clear she is going about her business as usual. Given very few other women are out and about right now, all eyes will be drawn to her. We could even stage one of her journeys at dusk. You know, just before night-fall, so the kidnapper will be more likely to try to take her. With someone in the back, armed of course, there is very little that could go wrong. We will have men lining the route at regular intervals, so you will never be without someone who has direct eye contact on you. That way, she will be protected, we will be aware should anybody go anywhere near you, and you will have the help you need whenever you need it. It is important for the safety of those who have already been snatched that we don’t kill the blackguard, we just have to capture him. We can make him talk when he is in gaol where he belongs,” Phillip explained.
“It all sounds feasible, except for the fact that very few ladies can drive a cart. We can’t just use any old cart either. We need something that has been checked so we can make sure the damned wheels don’t fall off or something. Vanessa doesn’t have anything like that. Graham hasn’t driven a carriage for years, I don’t think. They, well, Vanessa, goes everywhere on foot, I think,” Justin explained, desperate for any excuse he could use to put the men off the idea. His gaze sharpened when he looked at his friends. “Have you asked her?”
“No, not yet,” Angus replied hesitantly.
“We thought we could leave that to you,” Niall muttered.
“Oh, so now you want my involvement?” Justin snapped sarcastically.
“We need to do this as a team,” Oliver said. “If we don’t do something we are going to be made to look complete fools, despite the odds being stacked against us. We must take matters into our own hands and prod the idiot into trying to kidnap her when we are there to witness it and catch him in the act. The public are already getting angry at Weeks’s inability to catch the culprit, especially after the latest young girl, and are even more suspicious of us now.”
“We have to do something soon because we can’t stay here forever. Sir Hugo will be ordering us on if we don’t watch out, and we will have achieved nothing. I don’t want the Star Elite’s first failure to be by us,” Angus growled.
Justin sighed, fully agreeing with his sentiments. He stood in silent thought for a moment while he assessed the situation from every angle. Unfortunately, the only scenario he could come up with to try to capture the kidnapper/killer was the one his colleagues had just presented to him. Even though he didn’t agree with it one bit, he knew they had to do something. The last thing he wanted was to have to leave the village with the kidnapper still on the loose. He would go out of his mind with worry about Vanessa while he was gone and there would be nothing he could do about it.
“I suppose you want me to ask her then,” he grunted with a sigh.
“It would help,” Oliver replied with a smile. “Tell her we can show her the semantics of driving a carriage if she agrees. All she needs to do is travel from one place to the other and learn to drive.”
“And stay out of the way if we do encounter the kidnapper,” Jasper added.
“We don’t need to worry about that. Justin can be in the back because she trusts him. He can be the one to keep her out of the way while we arrest the man if he does try to strike,” Callum warned, finishing off his pie and brushing his hands with childlike abandon.
Justin hated every step he took when he slammed out of the house and marched around to the house next door. He lifted his hand to knock only to find the door suddenly yanked open. His eyes widened when he saw Vanessa standing on the doorstep and realised immediately that her father had already told her what they had planned.
“I will help,” she said without preamble. “I have to do this, Justin.”
She could see the hesitation on his face, and knew he wasn’t happy at all with the prospect of her involvement in his case.
“I don’t like it,” he growled.
Her gaze flew to his. “But I thought you had agreed to it already,” she replied without thinking, as though he should have to give his permission for her to do anything. “I mean, I thought you knew what your colleagues were proposing.”
“I had no idea until they told me just now,” Justin snapped. “Damn it, Vanessa. You can’t do this.”
“Why?” she challenged.
“Because it is damned dangerous, that’s why!” Justin bellowed. “What happens if something goes wrong?”
“It won’t go wrong. You and your colleagues will be there, won’t you?” she argued.
“You can bet your life we will,” Justin retorted swiftly. “But it is still a risk you shouldn’t put yourself in.”
“You want this man caught, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” Justin replied.
“So, I have to do it, don’t I? I mean, there is nobody else in this village who will. Nobody truly understands what it is like to have a relation disappear and have no idea where they are or how to find them.” Her voice choked at the last and she fell silent.
Justin sighed when he saw tears gather on her lashes. “I am sorry, Vanessa. I don’t mean to upset you. It is just that I don’t think this is a wise idea at all. I am sure that if we think carefully about everything there will be another way of capturing the kidnapper that we haven’t considered. We can’t think of it just now because everything has happened so fast.”
“But there isn’t the time, Justin. The longer we wait, the further the man might have taken them if they have been kidnapped with the intention of moving them on for slavery or something. We just won’t know what they have been kidnapped for until we have caught him,” she replied.
Justin looked at her with such plea in his eyes that for a moment she had to look away. When he gazed at her like that her will to argue with him faded. She knew she would cave in to him if he made a move toward her.
As though he had just read her mind, Justin suddenly stepped forward.
“What does your father think?” he asked suddenly.
“He thinks it has to be done. We have to know what has happened to Geraldine. He has faith in you,” she replied honestly.
“And you don’t?” Justin countered.
“Of course, I do,” she assured him. “I am just not sure the plan is going to work because it is based on the assumption that the man is from around here, and is able to watch people going about their business. How do we know he isn’t from somewhere else, and just wanders through villagers, snatching people off the streets who fit a particular mould?”
Justin frowned at that. His gaze lifted to her hair. “Does Geraldine have the same hair colour as you?” he asked, eyeing her brown tresses which were, shockingly, very much like the young women’s who had just gone missing.
“No, she has darker hair,” Vanessa replied. “Like my father’s. My hair is like my mother’s.”
Justin shook his head. For a moment, he thought he had a faint tendril of suspicion blossom to life, but it slithered away like a ghost in the night before he could capture it. He knew now why his colleagues had been adamant that Vanessa would fit the bill. While she was older than some of the women who had been captured, she was young, pretty, and lived in the area. It was enough – for the kidnapper at least.
“Where is your father?” he demanded, glancing around the kitchen as though expecting him to pop up at any moment.
“He has gone to the tavern for an ale, and to try to get some idea of what the locals think about the kidnappings,” she replied. She sensed she knew what he was thinking and tried to thwart him. “You won’t sway him, though. He understands why I need to do this.”
“I understand as well, Vanessa,” Justin replied.
“Do you?” she interrupted. “Do you really?”
“I do,” he replied firmly. “I just don’t agree that it has to be you.”
“Why? Because I am a female?” she asked quietly. “Or because you think I am too close to Geraldine?”
“No,” Justin replied instantly.
He suddenly realised that there was so much he wanted to say to her but couldn’t because he struggled to find the right words to describe the emotions coursing through him. Besides he couldn’t tell her that he wasn’t at all certain furthering their acquaintance was a good thing to do but was caught like a fly in a spider’s web.
“It is just a heck of a risk, that’s all,” he murmured with considerably less heat a few moments later.
Vanessa struggled with her disappointment. She couldn’t help but think a very important, and special, moment had just passed them by. One moment ticked past, then another, then another. The silence lengthened.
“Damn it,” he snapped suddenly.
Before Vanessa could do anything more than lift her arms, she was hauled into his embrace. Her lips were caught with his in a branding unlike anything she had ever experienced before. With it came a surge of white hot need that overtook everything. Common sense, logic, reasoning didn’t exist in the wake of the tumultuous emotions that swirled through her. She couldn’t make sense of any of it.
One thing she did know for definite was that she wanted this man, Justin, in her life for good. She didn’t know yet what it was about him that made him so special, but she knew that she would learn everything there was to know about him and it would all work out between them in tie. This connection she felt with him was something she had never expected to feel for anybody. She had seen it, of course, in other couples who communicated through look or touch. While she had no proof, she suspected they too exp
erienced this kind of link with their mate.
Oh, God, he is my mate, she thought with a vague sense of shock. She had wondered if there was someone meant for her, of course she had. She just hadn’t expected her mate to be a man like Justin; someone who didn’t like country life and preferred the city.
“We can’t do this,” she whispered when she managed to put some distance between them.
“Don’t do what?” he murmured peppering tiny kisses down her throat.
“This. Us. You will have to leave once you have caught him, won’t you?” she asked quietly.
Justin lifted his head and looked down at her. He could read the silent question in her eye but knew he couldn’t make her promises he wasn’t sure he could keep.
“Of course we will,” he replied bluntly, seeing no reason to lie to her. “We have other cases to investigate.”
“London?” she asked with a wry smile she truly didn’t feel. She wanted to cry, and almost did. It was only her pride that refused to allow any hint of moisture to settle in the steady gaze she levelled on him. She just wished it was so easy to hide the disappointment she sensed he could read on her face.
“It’s where I live,” he replied with a soft yet melancholic smile. “You should try it one day.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I did once, and know it isn’t for me.”
Justin shook his head. “Damn it,” he growled. “What now?”
Vanessa had no answers for him. It was all she could do to keep her mind on more practical matters, like the investigation. It helped to avoid the hurt that blossomed out from within the centre of her chest and began to overtake her entire being. She wanted to ask him about himself; find out a bit more about him, the man, but she knew it was foolish to allow him any closer than he already was. Her heart was breaking enough as it was.