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

“How long is he behind bars for?” Justin asked.

“The judge has said he can give us another forty-eight hours. After that, Curtis must be released because we don’t have a shred of evidence to support our theory. We can hardly arrest the man for tupping the milk maid, now can we?” Jasper replied.

“He has said the maid is fired, effective immediately. He hopes never to set eyes on her again,” Niall added.

“So, our two suspects will soon be released from gaol. We know Reuben isn’t physically or mentally capable. We know the Vicar hasn’t seen or heard anything unusual of late. The only thing he has said is that the villagers are scared. We don’t have any gangs of people roaming the streets, trying to protect their village, but there is a lot of concern and people are making arrangements to ensure that no woman goes out alone,” Justin informed everyone.

“We know the kidnapper doesn’t break into houses, and is most probably working alone and targeting young, unarmed women, who are caught by surprise and dragged off to who knows where for God knows what reason.” Angus rubbed a hand down his face.

“How can one person just take people off the streets without anybody noticing them? Nobody saw Jemima, or Geraldine. Not a word. Not a sound. Nobody saw a blessed thing. How? Why? What the Hell happened to them? They have to be around here somewhere, but where?” Niall thumped his knee in frustration.

“We could conduct a search of the village, but that would only make our culprit change location again. He has already ventured into Derbyshire,” Oliver sighed.

“Or lives in Derbyshire but knows this village well enough to be able to come back whenever he wants,” Justin added.

“So, we are unable to find anyone with any useful clues, have no idea which way to turn because we don’t have a single lead, and need to mount a search of not just this village but the entire counties of Leicestershire and Derbyshire just to get some answers?” Angus snapped.

“Or, we wait for the killer to strike again and hope that one of us catches him in the act,” Justin snorted. “There are eight of us to cover two counties. Well, I know our reputation precedes us, but we would have to be able to perform bloody miracles to solve this riddle.”

“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.”