Betrayal of Innocence (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 1)

This time, Weeks nodded.

“I can’t see him leaving the farm,” Weeks added. “It is his life, after all.”

“It was Geraldine’s life as well,” Vanessa countered.

The room grew solemn as everyone considered that.

“Who inherits if Geraldine dies?” Niall asked quietly.

Vanessa sighed. “About a fortnight before she disappeared she went to the solicitor, at my father’s suggestion, and changed her will. Everything goes back to my father on her demise. I don’t know if she has told Curtis or not, but at the moment he is carrying on as normal.”

“How do you know?” Justin asked.

“Because I call by daily to see if she has returned,” Vanessa replied, seeing no reason to lie to him.

“Even though he might have had a hand in your sister’s disappearance, you go to his farm and challenge the man on his wife’s whereabouts?” Niall demanded incredulously.

“I am not afraid of him. Many people know I am going to the farm. If I disappear the culprit can only be Curtis,” Vanessa replied.

“Or the kidnapper who keeps snatching young women, just like you, off the streets without anybody seeing him,” Justin snapped.

Vanessa wanted to say that the streets were safe, but she now knew they weren’t.

“First Geraldine and then Felicity,” she whispered. “Do you think they are connected? I mean, Felicity is dead but Geraldine isn’t.”

Justin hesitated and threw a dark look at Weeks when he opened his mouth to argue. Weeks closed it again with a snap.

“We don’t know,” Justin replied. “I would caution you not to go anywhere near the farm right now, though.”

Vanessa was already shaking her head. “I refuse to hide. Curtis has made it quite clear I am not welcome at the farm, even though it is not his. I refuse to be bullied away from the place. That farm belongs to my sister, not him, so he doesn’t get a say in what my father and I, her relatives, do there. I know he resents me going anywhere near, but I refuse to be cowed by him so will continue to visit daily to see if Geraldine has returned. I don’t care what anybody thinks. I am going, and that is that.”

“But Curtis is her husband, so has a legal claim on the land,” Weeks burst out clearly affronted at being told to keep quiet.

“Not necessarily,” Justin replied coldly. “If Geraldine has made a will since the marriage, and has left her belongings, in this case the farm, to her family rather than her husband then the will is legally binding. It overtakes any moral arrangement the marriage puts into place. I am afraid the will has to be respected. If Geraldine says the farm goes to her father or sister in her will then the farm goes to her father or sister, and that is that. Curtis can of course challenge it in court if he wishes, but I don’t stand his chances much.”

“Have you looked around the farm?” Niall asked cautiously, wondering if the husband had killed his wife to make room for a lover. It was entirely reasonable, therefore, to look at the possibility that Geraldine’s body might be hidden on the farm somewhere.

“No,” Weeks snapped.

Niall nodded and looked at Justin.

“Why not?” Justin challenged.

Weeks sighed. “Because I don’t think it is necessary. I cannot waste the manpower searching farms. That place is huge. Besides, the search parties looked in all the fields and found nothing. There is nothing to suggest Geraldine is there.”

“But she might be, and you didn’t search for her,” Justin countered flatly.

“She isn’t there, I tell you,” Weeks thundered.

“But you didn’t search for her there,” Justin replied, his voice hard.

“No,” Weeks admitted eventually.

“So she could be there, you just haven’t found her,” Justin countered. He didn’t know why he was pushing so hard. There was something about the magistrate’s belligerence that was annoying. His colleagues thought so too because none of them made any attempt to stop him challenging the man.

Weeks didn’t speak. It was clear he was outnumbered and so lapsed into disgruntled silence.

Vanessa shook her head. “You think she is dead, don’t you?”