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

Justin watched the shop door close behind Vanessa and sighed. He glanced at the floor while he contemplated his day.

“What are you thinking?” Oliver asked quietly.

“I am

thinking that we need to pacify Vanessa, before she does something ridiculously foolish like go to the farm unchaperoned again,” he growled.

“Geraldine’s husband was at the farm this morning, wasn’t he?” Angus asked.

“Yes, but nobody knows where he was last night,” Aaron warned.

“We can ask him,” Angus replied.

“He has gone to market, just like always,” Justin reported. “I watched him go this morning.”

“What is it?” Oliver asked quietly when Justin continued to study the shop front thoughtfully. “Do you think she has something to do with it?”

“What? Do you think she would pester the magistrate for information in an attempt to deflect suspicion from herself?” Angus snorted and nodded his agreement to the possibility.

“She hasn’t had anything to do with it,” Justin countered swiftly. “She was right about her claims, though. There is something damned odd about that farm.”

“How so?”

Justin sighed and told them what he had witnessed earlier.

“It doesn’t sound like he expects her to come back,” Angus said. “Sounds to me like we should get this milk maid out of the way and go and search those buildings ourselves.”

Justin nodded. “We will need to hurry. The man has gone for the day and isn’t due back until chucking out time at the tavern tonight, but God knows when that maid will be back. She seems too territorial to be just a maid. I have little doubt the rumours about her and Curtis having relations are true.”

“Well, let’s go and search the farm then. The staff at the orphanage haven’t noticed anybody loitering in the area and didn’t see anybody out on the road when Jemima left. She was perfectly normal; did her usual duties, read to the children, fed them, and went home,” Oliver sighed.

“Then vanished completely,” Angus growled.

Together, the men returned to the orphanage, but rather than go inside, retraced the steps the young girl would have taken should she have headed home as soon as she had left the orphanage. Most of the cart track was overrun with grass, which didn’t provide much in the way of footprints, or give any clues as to what happened to her.

“The villagers have already searched the area and found no trace of her anywhere,” Angus warned.

“Are they still searching the fields?” Aaron asked.

Justin nodded. “Don’t be surprised if they come up empty handed. So far, they haven’t found anybody other than the other girl who was found; Felicity. Weeks is adamant Jemima will have been taken out of the area. He has men searching anyway.”

“Where is Weeks?” Oliver asked, poking about in the bush next to him. There was a break in the hedgerow that was worth exploring. Minutes later, he came up empty handed. Shaking his head, he brushed twigs and branches off his breeches, and looked at his colleagues.

“Gone to Derbyshire to ask his colleague if there have been any clues found over there.”

“Damn it, this kidnapper is like a damned ghost. How can someone just snatch a young woman of the street without them uttering a single peep of protest?” Angus growled, frustration rife in his voice.

“They could have been knocked out.” Justin studied the distance from the orphanage, barely visible from where they were standing, and the house which was clearly visible on the opposite end of the lane.

“How does one carry an unconscious body from this area without being seen?” Angus murmured, copying Justin’s movements.

“They might have known their kidnapper,” Justin murmured.

“But why go with him? It was dark. Where would they go?” Oliver asked.

“Somewhere local,” Justin replied.

“Do you think they might still be in the village somewhere?” Angus lifted his brows in surprise but nodded thoughtfully after a moment or two.