by Rebecca King
“We have to admit that this is getting us nowhere,” he warned.
“What else is there?” she asked quietly.
“I have no idea. This is my job. I should know what to do.” It was clear from the frustration in his voice that he didn’t.
“Well, I cannot carry on like this. I have a life to live here, in this village, and I won’t be stopped from living it,” she snapped.
“You shouldn’t be expected to,” Justin sighed.
“What do we do now then?” she whispered.
“I have no idea,” Justin grunted.
For the first time in his entire life he had absolutely no idea what to do. He was lost in a haze of need, want, and duty that conflicted and collided to such a degree he felt battered by it all. His mind warned him that he should stick to what he knew and put his work with the Star Elite first. His heart, however, reminded him that he now knew enough about Vanessa to be assured that they would get on well if they chose a life together. Their backgrounds were not too dissimilar, their parents alike, although Vanessa’s mother had died from fever several years ago. He and Vanessa challenged each other and were not afraid to speak their minds. They both had a good sense of humour. He just preferred life somewhere more bustling. She refused to leave the village. There had to be some compromise somewhere – wasn’t there?
He didn’t see how there could be. Vanessa needed her father just as much as her father needed her. They were close and would become even closer if Geraldine was confirmed dead. The chances of that were looking more and more probable with each day that passed.
“I think we are going to have to move on and investigate each person who has disappeared more thoroughly. It is safe to say that we have investigated Geraldine’s disappearance as much as we can. Curtis is adamantly refusing to acknowledge he had a hand in Geraldine’s death. Questioning both Curtis and Lisa has given us no new leads. Lisa has proven stubbornly belligerent and is adamant she was at the house only to look for money. We have little to go on.”
“Good afternoon,” Vanessa called suddenly.
She slowed the carriage down but didn’t stop, not least because the last thing she wanted was to try to force a conversation with Reuben right now. She watched him lift a hand in a half-hearted wave. When he looked at her, though, there was something almost worried in his eye. She opened her mouth to speak again but he had already ducked his head and picked up the speed of his walk so that he was almost keeping pace with the carriage for a moment or two.
“Who was that?” Justin murmured when the carriage picked up speed again.
“Reuben,” Vanessa replied. “Have you asked him if he has seen anything?”
“Yes, but didn’t get much out of him,” Justin replied. “He is difficult to understand anyway.”
“He has always been like that,” Vanessa told him.
“Did you work at the orphanage while he was living there?” he asked curiously.
“No. Reuben is in his thirties now. I was too young to help when he was a resident there. I have only helped over the last couple of years. He was a different person when I started, but that was because of Carlotta,” Vanessa replied.
“Was she a resident?” Justin asked.
“No. She worked at the orphanage as a nurse. She used to look after the babies. Reuben adored her and followed her everywhere. She lived at the orphanage too; most of the full-time staff live there because the babies need so much care.”
“What happened?” Justin prompted when Vanessa fell silent.
“Carlotta met a man, married and moved away,” Vanessa replied.
Well if she can do it, you can too, Justin thought, but didn’t say as much aloud.
The sentiments hovered in the air, though and he suspected Vanessa knew it. He had to wonder if she truly cared about him, or if he was just a curiosity. It was a sobering thought.
“Reuben was devastated when Carlotta left. At first, he kept asking when she was coming back. It took him a while to understand she wasn’t going to. She did visit, about six months later, but Reuben wouldn’t even speak to her. She hasn’t been back since.”
“Reuben now works for the vicar,” Justin said. It wasn’t a question.
“Reuben wouldn’t survive life outside of the village. It is all he has ever known.”
“Is the village all you have ever known, Vanessa?” Justin asked quietly.
“I haven’t lived anywhere else, if that is what you are asking,” Vanessa replied. “I can’t leave my father, Justin. He needs me.”
Whereas you don’t, she thought, fighting back tears.
Justin felt her sentiments and shook his head in disbelief. He knew she couldn’t and wouldn’t be cruel enough to leave Graham so soon after having lost his eldest daughter. Vanessa was the only family he had left. Even so, was her father right to expect his daughter to sacrifice her life for him?
“I have to go to the orphanage in the morning,” Vanessa informed him when they were back in her driveway. “But I will be finished in time to drive to town again.”
Justin winced as he jumped down. He nodded. “I will escort you to the orphanage.”
“You don’t have to,” she argued. “I am perfectly capable of making my own way.”
“Not while I am in the village,” he countered.
“But you are going soon. What happens when you have gone? I will have to take myself about then, won’t I? No, I will be absolutely fine, I am sure of it,” she replied firmly, determined not to be swayed.
Justin opened his mouth to argue even though he knew she was right.
Still, the Star Elite already faced the embarrassment of having someone kidnapped from the area they were supposed to be guarding. To have someone like Vanessa snatched while helping them was something they had to avoid at all costs.
“I have to take you,” he persisted. “I am sorry, but you are helping us with our investigation ergo you have to be protected at all costs.”
Vanessa felt utterly deflated by the realisation he saw her as nothing more than a commitment brought about by his work. She had been pleased he had wanted to protect her while all the while he had been considering the Star Elite’s reputation.
“Do what you like, but I won’t wait for you,” she snapped, more affronted than she really should be. “Good evening to you.”
With that, she disappeared into the house and slammed the door behind her.
“Is that you, Vanessa?” Her father called from the bottom of the stairs.
Vanessa, leaned against the door and studied her father. He was suited in his finest and looked ready to go out.
“I am going out for a while,” he mumbled somewhat sheepishly.
Vanessa’s brows lifted. “You look rather dapper,” she mused. “Anybody I know?”
Graham grinned. “Well, you might have met her a time or two, but that is all I am prepared to say right now. Will you be all right on your own for a while?”
“Of course,” Vanessa assured him. “I will take an early night, I think. All this driving around in an evening is wearing me out. I will see you tomorrow, when I get back from the orphanage.”
She smiled when her father chuckled. It was something he didn’t do very often. To hear it made her smile.
Once he was gone, her smile swiftly died. The silence closed in on her, and so did the walls. Until now, she had always been fine stopping in the house alone. Now, it felt like an empty husk. Or was that her? She couldn’t be sure. It was all so very confusing. She wanted to change things but then didn’t. She wanted to move but then wanted to remain where she was comfortable, with everything that was familiar all about her. Her father needed her, but then evidently, given tonight’s surprise, he quite clearly didn’t. She thought she was quite happy to keep her distance from Justin, but now realised that she couldn’t. It was far harder than she had ever expected.
“I need to think about this,” she hissed, sliding into a seat at the kitchen table.
She reali
sed then just how vulnerable she was to watchful eyes from outside. A flickering shadow at the side of the garden made the decision for her, and she quickly worked her way around the house closing all the shutters and curtains. Unfortunately, that made the house feel even more claustrophobic.
Vanessa suddenly wished she could go and visit Geraldine. In ordinary circumstances, she would have done just that. Now, she had to spend a quiet evening alone.
She hated it.
When a wave of sadness settled heavily on her shoulders, she made her way to her bed chamber and quietly got ready for bed.
Vanessa was exhausted when she left her bed the following morning. She had spent most of the night tossing and turning, plagued with dreams of Justin. Now, she was tired, grumpy, and had a deep sense of disquiet she had no way of easing. It had appeared out of nowhere sometime during the night and had grown steadily worse as dawn had approached.
She hurriedly lit the fires, but that didn’t do anything to dispel the pervading chill that seemed to sneak into her bones.
“If I didn’t know better I should think we have some bad news on the way,” she whispered as she stared absently into the flames.
When a horrifying thought crept into her mind, she quickly hurried upstairs to her father’s room. Heart hammering, she slowly eased the door open and took a cautious look inside only to heave a sigh of relief when she saw her father fast asleep still. Assured that he had made it back last night safe and sound, she slowly closed the door again and went back downstairs to see what else she could find to do with her time before she could leave for the orphanage.
An hour later, Vanessa decided to leave for the orphanage early. She was bored, worried, and desperately needed to get out of the house for a while. With no idea where Justin was, she left the house without him and began to make her way through the village.
She was so lost in thought as to where her sense of unease came from that, at first, she didn’t realise she was no longer alone. It was only when she saw a pair of boots appear beside hers that she gasped and, with a jerk, looked at the man who silently materialised beside her.
“Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t realise you were there,” she gasped with a ready smile. That smile faded when he didn’t respond.
“It’s a fine morning, isn’t it?” she prompted a few minutes later when her sense of unease grew.
Again, he didn’t answer.
“Is there something wrong?” she asked with a frown.
A decidedly uncomfortable tension hovered in the air unlike anything Vanessa had ever experienced before. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Eager to be on her way, and hopefully ease her growing disquiet, she eyed the huge church lying to the right of her, and the orphanage just a little further beyond that on the left.
“I am off to the orphanage. Have a good day,” she called, striding forward.
Suddenly, the world went black.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Justin, who was dozing in front of the fire with his boots propped up on the chair opposite, suddenly jerked awake. He gazed blankly at the wall opposite for a moment while he waited for all his senses to awaken. When they did, he knew deep in his gut that something was wrong, and his gut was never wrong.
“What is it? Not had enough sleep again?” Angus asked with a grin.
“Why don’t you get to bed? There is plenty of room, you know. There is no reason for you to sleep in chairs here,” Niall suggested. “I will take night shift tomorrow. You can get a proper night’s sleep for a change.”
“It isn’t that,” Justin growled. “What time is it?”
Niall glanced at his timepiece. “About eleven.”
Justin launched out of his chair. “Damn it, I hope to God she has done as she was told and stayed at home.”
“Who?” Niall asked as he watched Justin lunge across the kitchen.
“Vanessa, of course,” Angus replied. “She is all he thinks about.”
“It is not,” Justin argued.
Angus snorted but wisely remained quiet.
“Don’t you think your determination to protect her might be more personal than professional?” Niall asked as he watched Justin tug on his boots.
“What if it is? She has to be kept safe,” Justin replied.
Before anybody could say anymore, he slammed out of the house. To everyone’s surprise he returned minutes later, his face a cold, implacable mask of fury that had all his colleagues launching out of their seats.
“She has gone,” Justin snapped. “She left for the orphanage this morning, apparently.”
“Do you want me to go and see if she is there?” Angus offered although made no move toward the door.
“I will go. You will just have to go to town alone,” Justin replied.
“If you are sure you don’t need me, I am off to see Weeks,” Angus informed them. “Everyone else is on watch. We will convene back here at six tonight.”
Justin nodded, and let himself out of the house. As he marched toward the orphanage, he ran through in his mind everything he intended to say to Miss Vanessa Clarkson just as soon as he saw her. He was in a fine mood by the time he knocked on the door and stood back patiently to wait for someone to answer.
“Could I speak to Miss Clarkson please?” He asked of the matronly lady who eventually opened the aged oak door. The woman looked blankly at him for a moment.
“I am afraid she hasn’t arrived yet,” she replied.
“But I thought she was supposed to help here this morning,” he said, his voice hardening with the force of his concern.
“She was but she must have been waylaid.” The woman frowned at him for a moment. “I say, you are one of those lawmen, aren’t you? I heard she has been helping you with your investigation. She was supposed to help here this morning, but we aren’t surprised she hasn’t turned up given everything that has been going on around here. Most of our volunteers aren’t coming here at the moment, not after what happened to poor Jemima. I am sure Miss Clarkson will be here when she can. I should try her home on the other side of the village. She will probably be there with her father.”
“I know where her home is,” Justin growled.
Justin was positively trembling with rage when he turned around and returned to the village. He headed straight back to the house and caught Niall and Angus just as they were leaving. He quickly told them Vanessa had gone.
“We have to find her,” Angus growled.
“I will ask the villagers,” Niall assured him. “Then round up the others.”
“I will go and see if she has gone back to the farm,” Justin snapped impatiently.
With that, the men split up.
“Damn it, Graham, where has she gone?” Justin whispered as he stared at the mare docilely munching grass in the field next to the house.
Vanessa’s father, now grey in colour, leaned heavily against the fence.
“Just find her for me, son. Find them both for me. This isn’t like Vanessa. She may sound headstrong at times, but she isn’t foolish enough to wander off without telling anyone where she was going, not after what happened to Geraldine.”
“Curtis is searching the barns and outbuildings with Angus, but they haven’t found anything yet,” Justin growled.
Niall appeared at that moment, the grimness on his face told Justin and Graham that he too had found no trace of her.
“We need to ask around. Someone might have seen her on the way to the orphanage this morning.” Justin turned to Graham. “Are you sure she left the house to go to the orphanage? She isn’t likely to have gone anywhere else?”
“No. I am positive she went there. She left a bit earlier than normal but woke me and said she would see me later,” Graham replied.
They all turned to watch Weeks dismount from his horse at the end of the narrow path.
“I have search parties out for her again. I am afraid the villagers are worried sick now and are all armed and ready to strike if the miscreant is c
aught. I don’t stand his chances much if they catch him, but what can I do?” Weeks sighed.
“We need to mount a house to house search of the village,” Justin growled. “The bastard has to be in this village somewhere and knows her routine well enough to be aware that she goes to the orphanage today.”
“That’s just it, isn’t it?” Graham sighed. “It cannot be a random stranger doing this. It is someone we know. Someone who has betrayed us in the worst way possible.”
“I will start the house to house search. The villagers will understand the necessity of it. I will have my men on it at once. What else do you need?” Weeks asked of Justin.
Justin sighed, and spoke from the heart: “I need Vanessa back.”
He struggled to know what to say, think, or even do right now. His world was shaking so much he struggled to regain rational thought. When he heard the matron at the orphanage tell him that Vanessa had gone, at first he had been angry. That anger had stayed with him until he had seen Graham. Then the worry had grown. Now, it was so strong he was going quietly out of his mind with fear for her.
“I will do whatever it takes to be able to tell her all of the things I was stupidly reluctant to say before this,” he hissed to her father. “I want her back, Graham.”
“You should have done a better job of keeping her safe then, shouldn’t you?” Graham reported dispassionately. “You were here but you kept pushing her away.”
Justin winced but knew the accusation was fair. He had failed miserably in all aspects of this case. It had nothing to do with his ability to investigate, but everything to do with his attraction to the woman who had captured his heart from the first day he had stepped foot in the village. He had been distracted by her beauty, and the temptation she put before him, and had missed clues that could have led to the kidnapper’s capture before now. If he had been paying attention to his job, the reason he was in the village in the first place, Vanessa would be safe, and busy playing with the children at the orphanage right now. Because of his failures, she was God knows where.
I hope to God she is still alive.