“He must be.”
“Why take Robbie, though? I mean, the poor lad hasn’t done anything to anyone,” Harry growled. As soon as he asked the question, he knew that it would remain unanswered. Both he and Stephen knew that the men they were dealing with would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, and would have no compunction against involving women and children in their dreadful schemes. People were mere pawns in their machinations, not real beings with family and friends who loved them.
“Will has been trying to make friends with Robbie for weeks. Levant wanted the lad to work at Dinnington, and undoubtedly intends to use the boy as a pawn in exchange for Cragdale,” Stephen sighed. He wished now that he had taken the time to draw Will out and make him ‘disappear’ to Bodmin jail along with Humphrey, but it was too late. Levant had already made his move. Now it was down to Stephen, and his friends, to ensure that the ladies were protected while they tried to find Robbie.
“Do you think it is a trap?”
“What do you mean?” Stephen froze, and turned a dark scowl on Rufus.
“Do you think that they want us to go and look for Robbie, so that we are away from the house when Levant makes his next visit?” Rufus studied the big man beside Stephen, and was relieved that the bloke was on their side and not Levant’s. An extra pair of experienced hands in this situation was going to give them an advantage over anything Levant intended.
“I am going to go to Dinnington to look for Robbie. Can someone stay here and protect the ladies and the house while I go?” He looked questioningly from Rufus to Harry, and back again.
“Do you think he is there?”
“If you wanted to kidnap someone to use as leverage, and you had been using Dinnington as your base, where would you stash him?” Stephen growled. He gave Rufus an apologetic look for the briskness of his reply and quirked his lips at the man’s accepting nod.
“He is at Dinnington, I just know it.” Harry muttered. “I will come with you, Stephen, if Rufus doesn’t mind keeping watch here?”
“I will remain here if you want me to, that is not a problem. However, if it is evident that Levant, and/or Will, has taken Robbie, it is kidnap and will give me sufficient evidence to arrest Levant, and all of his men.”
“We don’t know if it is kidnap yet,” Stephen sighed. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and tried to keep hold of his patience. His own altercation with the young lad a couple of weeks ago sprang into his mind. The boy then had said that he had been going to see his new friend, Will. Had Will merely been on his way through the village, and Robbie had chosen to follow his friend back to Dinnington out of curiosity? It didn’t seem likely, especially given what they knew about Levant and Taylor.
“If I am not back in an hour then come after me, but be careful. Levant’s men are not just thugs, but they are ruthless thugs.” He turned to Harry. “If you are ready, let’s go.”
“I will make sure that the ladies don’t do anything rash, like go out to look for him,” Rufus sighed and headed toward the house.
He wondered how on earth he was going to keep all of them inside where it was warm and safe while their brother was out only God knew where. He sighed and puffed his cheeks out. If he was honest, he would much rather have gone with Stephen rather than sit inside and wait. He was magistrate for the area, and it was his responsibility to ensure that all crimes were investigated and the perpetrators arrested. It didn’t sit well for him to remain indoors while trouble was afoot.
He paused just inside the doorway and lifted his brows in astonishment at the now empty gardens behind him. How two such large men could simply vanish as quickly and silently was beyond him. He realised there and then why he had been sent inside. Without the necessary skills and training he would never be able to keep up with them, and would undoubtedly have been more of a burden than a help to them. With a shake of his head he closed the door and slid the bolts home.
For the second time that week, Stephen stood just inside of the sheltered protection of the trees and studied Dinnington. Unlike last time the called, the house was clearly occupied because two of the downstairs rooms were lit. Although it was too dim to see who was inside, it was enough to warn them that Levant, and quite possibly Taylor as well, were in residence.
“How do you want to do this?”
“I think that we need to go to the stable block and see if we can find Will,” Stephen sighed. “He is the biggest threat because he has tried to befriend Robbie, and is by far the most ruthless thug of them all.”
They searched all of the outbuildings, but couldn’t find any sign of any of Levant’s thugs. Stephen frowned at the empty rooms that had once housed Will and his cohorts. If he hadn’t seen them only a few days ago, he would have thought that he had imagined them. When the buildings had been searched, they met at end of the stable block. Given the seriousness of the situation, they knew better than to talk, and used hand signals to communicate that they needed to search the main house.
By the time they approached the door to Dinnington’s kitchens, they knew that something was most definitely wrong. There hadn’t been all that many staff in attendance as it was, but for the few that were there appeared to have vanished completely. They were either in the house and on guard, or had been relieved of their duties. Whether they were dead or alive remained yet to be seen, but it was of little consequence in light of Robbie disappearance. It was highly unlikely that the young lad had been moved somewhere else, especially if the boy had been used as bait to draw Stephen out, or even Prudence, for that matter.
They crept through the empty halls of the house and up the servant’s stairs. A thorough sweep of the upper floors confirmed them to be as empty as the accommodation in the stable block. They knew better than to split up and head in different directions. With the house as big as it was, if either of them found themselves outnumbered, they would need the support of a colleague to fight alongside them.
Harry looked as concerned as Stephen was. Instead of taking the main flight of stairs down to the entrance hall, they moved back down the servant’s stairs and began to search each room as they made their way to the main living quarters at the front of the house.
The Library, the lady’s parlour, the dining room and ball room were all empty. They walked slowly down the hallway, and noticed a thin sliver of light that shimmered through the small gap at the bottom of the door. They could either kick the door down and surprise the room’s occupants, or try to find another way in. Before either of them could act, Harry gave Stephen a nudge and nodded toward a partially open doorway further along the corridor.
Stephen slowly crept toward the doorway and drew his gun. Harry scurried past him and stood on the opposite side of the doorway and peered around the door. He signalled that the room was empty and waited for Stephen to enter before he checked the corridor behind them and followed.
At first, they couldn’t see anything untoward. It was only when Stephen ventured deeper into the gloomy depths that his attention was drawn to the bloodied mass that lay in front of the fireplace. Stephen remained where he was, gun drawn; silent and watchful, while Harry sidled closer to the body. Both hands were laid out on the rug on either side of the man’s head, and it was clear from the growing pool of blood on the room that the man was either dead, or mortally wounded.
Rather than bend down and leave himself vulnerable to attack, Harry nudged the body with his boot hard enough to roll the body over. Levant flopped onto his back and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Unperturbed by the sight of the hole in the middle of Levant’s head, Stephen turned and slowly walked around the room as he studied the furniture. There were no signs of a struggle; no broken or dislodged furniture; nothing untoward to indicate that Levant had known what was going to happen. There was no trail of blood on the floor either, which indicated that the man lay where he had fallen.
The finger of suspicion now fell on Taylor, whose presence was almost as non-existent as the man’
s voice. Was that because he was French? Had he talked quietly in an attempt to disguise the accent in his voice?
Satisfied that there was nobody lying in wait to attack, the men sidled out of the room and crept toward the second lit room. This was undoubtedly the room that was going to be occupied, but would it be by someone who was alive, or dead? Stephen sent a silent prayer heavenward that it wouldn’t be Robbie’s body he would find next, and slowly eased the door open.
The rustle of movement from inside the room was quiet but hurried. Luckily, the door was silent as it swung inward and revealed Taylor, who was beside the desk, rifling through a bundle of papers.
To Stephen’s immense relief, there, before the fire, sat Robbie. He was terrified and, from the look of the tear tracks on his dirt streaked face, had been crying, although looked to be relatively unharmed. Stephen immediately moved in the boy’s direction only for a voice from the far corner of the darkened room to shatter the silence. To his consternation, it wasn’t Taylor who spoke, it was Will, and he had a heavy French accent that Stephen knew was the man’s natural voice.
“You took your time to join us,” the man drawled as he studied them dispassionately from head to foot.
“Rousseau,” Harry sighed. He had only ever seen the man once, but remembered the ruthlessness in the cold grey eyes.
Stephen kept his face impassive and mentally cursed his luck. He had been working alongside one of England’s most wanted men and hadn’t known it; mainly because he had been too busy investigating Levant and Taylor. He hadn’t thought to give the disreputable thug a second glance. He remained quiet, but gave Robbie a reassuring wink. Despite his fear, the boy offered him a tumultuous smile that was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
Beside him, Harry frowned at a clearly frantic Taylor, who desperately flicked through the piles of papers on the desk. “If you are looking for the property deeds, we have them,” he drawled.
Dread filled Taylor’s face, and stared in terror at Rousseau, who merely twirled his gun around and around in his fingers and stared back.
Stephen blatantly ignored the implied threat and moved over to Robbie, so that he could undo the ties that bound him to the chair he sat on.
“I wouldn’t try to leave if I were you,” Rousseau drawled but made no attempt to stop him.
Once he was free, Stephen helped the boy to his feet and stood him between Harry and himself. He bent down to whisper in Robbie’s ear. “If anything happens, run like hell for home and don’t stop. Rufus is there.”
“It seems that you have been busy while I have been away,” Rousseau drawled to nobody in particular. Although he tried to appear unconcerned, anger was evident on his face. All of the months of hard work and expense had all been for nothing. He turned cold eyes on the man of business, who stood petrified behind the desk.
“We have everything we need,” Harry replied, keeping his voice neutral. “It seems as though that you are back to square one, Rousseau. With Beaulieu dead, and several of your contacts missing, your future looks more than a little uncertain.” He shared a knowing look with Stephen in an attempt to provoke the Frenchman into action. Although both men would prefer not to have the lad present when they brought the man down, at least they knew that he was alive and well.
“Beaulieu is not dead.”
“I am afraid that he died several weeks ago,” Stephen retorted and turned to watch Taylor, who had begun to frantically search through the papers again. He turned back to Rousseau. “He isn’t going to find what you are looking for. We have the deeds to the houses you have purchased, and several other papers besides.” The accounts, and lists of contacts, would indeed come in handy, and would go a long way toward ensuring that the rest of the French spies could be rounded up quickly, and with a lot less risk to the men of the Star Elite.
Harry shifted beside him. Stephen flicked him a glance but, before he could look back at Rousseau, a loud bang shattered the silence and reverberated around the room. Robbie screamed and clutched the back of Stephen’s shirt, but he made no attempt to try to get the boy to break his hold. Hiding behind Stephen prevented the young lad from seeing an inch wide hole appear in the dead centre of Taylor’s forehead, or the man’s blood splatter up the wall behind him.
Although he wasn’t desensitised to death, he had seen enough of it, and been in enough situations like this one, to know when to hide his disgust. Rousseau would use any sign of weakness against them at any given moment, and Stephen couldn’t lose sight of the fact that they had a young witness who could be scarred for life if he had to witness any more bloodshed than was absolutely necessary.
“I wouldn’t try anything,” the Frenchman drawled. “I have another gun on my lap.” He took his time to reload the gun he had just used with smooth calculation. He clearly wanted to draw the moment out and raise the tension enough to provoke either Stephen, or Harry, into doing something foolish.
“What do you expect us to try?” Stephen asked. “We have your paperwork, and the boy, and know who you are, as well as where to find you, and your associates.”
“Do you think that you will leave this house alive?” Harry demanded. His patience with the man’s theatrics was waning rapidly and he had to fight the urge to just shoot the man right there and then. Although Rousseau had a gun on his lap, Harry was lightning fast and was confident the Frenchman would never speak again even before he lifted a hand off his lap. But this was Stephen’s investigation, and it was down to his colleague to make the decisions as to the Frenchman’s fate. Harry was just there for support and, if it came right down to it, he was the one who would protect Robbie, while Stephen dealt with Rousseau.
“I have my men at the ready,” Rousseau challenged; his eyes were as cold as his voice.
“They are no good to you. As far as we can tell, you didn’t pay them enough to stick around and see off danger.” Stephen’s lips quirked into an arrogant smirk. “You see, we did a thorough sweep of the grounds and house before we got here. Whatever men you did have seem to have abandoned you, so I am afraid that you are on your own now.” He glanced dismissively at the spot where Taylor had stood to make his point.
“You thought you were so clever, didn’t you Rousseau?” Harry added nonchalantly. “Although your contacts got things wrong the first time round, and lost the first chain of houses you originally established, you managed to steal and swindle enough funds from the rich and stupid to furnish your coffers with enough cash to purchase a second set of houses. Unfortunately, funds were limited this time, weren’t they, Rousseau? You didn’t have enough cash spare, and couldn’t send home for any given that everyone you knew and considered reliable had either vanished or was dead.”
Stephen sighed and saw the flicker of doubt on the Frenchman’s face. “I have been following you for several months now. Although you were very clever, you made one fatal error.”
“I know that I shouldn’t have relied on Levant,” Rousseau sighed and nodded toward the body on the floor. “Or that foppish fool over there. They were both incredibly stupid, but Levant was easy to direct, and easy to fool. The idiot thought that he was genuinely working for a Lord of the realm who wanted to purchase a property portfolio and keep it away from his grasping wife. Levant tried to convince everyone that he was someone rich and wealthy, but he had the manners of an ingrate, and the intelligence of a country wastrel.”
“He had no idea who you were, did he?” Stephen knew that Will had played the part of employed thug to be able to keep an eye on Levant, as well as the coffers.
“The idiot was so busy spending our money that he didn’t pay attention like he was told to. He hired you,” Rousseau pointed one of the guns in Stephen’s direction. “I knew you were different. I watched you, you see. You had too many eyes.” For emphasis, the Frenchman opened his eyes wide and flicked a glance randomly around the room. “You were too calm and controlled and I couldn’t find any of the bodies you were sent to get rid of.” He shook his head. “You were
very clever. I could have done with you on my side.”
“I am afraid that I am far more than a hired thug,” Stephen sighed. “I work for His Majesty’s government, you see, and have been sent to ensure that you are brought to justice; or killed, one way or the other.” He heard Robbie’s gasp but didn’t bother to turn around; he would explain to the boy later. Until then, all he had to do was keep Rousseau talking.
“I made no mistakes, it was that damned idiot Levant,” Rousseau argued.
Stephen shook his head. “I am afraid that the big mistake you made was setting your sights on Cragdale Manor and its beach.” He knew he was starting to irk the man when Rousseau began to shuffle in his seat. The tell-tale ruddiness that flooded the man’s cheeks warned of an unspoken anger that wouldn’t take too much to bring to the surface. “Unfortunately, you have to establish a relatively easy way to get your replacements into and out of the country, don’t you? Despite your desperate attempts to re-establish a network of people to help you, I am afraid that this time round, my colleagues and I have been one step behind you, clearing up in your wake and ensuring that your plans never come to fruition.”
“We now have the ownership deeds to all of the properties you purchased. Putting them in Taylor’s name was a huge mistake because he is now dead. Because of the man’s association to you, the properties will be turned over to the government, who will try to find the owners who have mysteriously vanished, or will keep them for future sale, or use. Whatever, it is irrelevant to you really because they are no longer yours.” He sighed and tipped his head to one side to study the Frenchman. “It isn’t as if you are ever going to have a use for them anyway,” Stephen explained almost apologetically. “You see, the local magistrate has gathered enough evidence against your thugs to ensure that they will be arrested and brought to trial for harassment, murder, and being traitors to king and country by aiding you. Humphrey, bless his greedy heart, was enough of a glutton to sing like a canary when we held out the pies, and he was able to provide us with the details of everyone you killed, he got rid of, and Levant threatened.”
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