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

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?”