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

“Magda made her go away,” Reuben snapped suddenly. “She made her go away. She was my friend, the only one who cared, and she went.”

“Carlotta,” Geraldine and Vanessa murmured together.

“All of this is because Carlotta married Charles and left the area to be closer to his family?” Geraldine asked in shock. “What does that have to do with us?”

“We are all similar ages to Carlotta, and have the same hair colour, don’t we?” Vanessa replied.

“What about the others?” Justin demanded, interrupting them.

“I ain’t done no others,” Reuben replied flatly.

“There are more, and you know it,” Phillip snapped. “You will tell us what we want to know.”

“I don’t understand what you were thinking when you snatched us. What did you expect to do with us? Keep us here forever? Kill us? What? Did you not think someone would piece it all together and look to you eventually?” Vanessa cried.

“He clearly didn’t,” Geraldine moaned. “I have been here for a long time. I gave up hope.”

Geraldine fell silent when her tears began to fall again. Vanessa hurried over to her and tried to soothe her but there were no platitudes she could offer her. Nothing could make what had happened to her right. Geraldine had lost her home, her marriage, and had been confined for several weeks in a crypt below a church, and there hadn’t been a thing she could do to make her presence felt.

“I weren’t going to kill them. I just wanted them away from the orphanage. If Magda hadn’t made her go away, she would have stayed with me, but she left,” Reuben warned. “So I made her pay.”

“What about Felicity?” Justin asked. “Did you decide to make her pay as well? What happened there?”

“I didn’t do anything to Felicity,” Reuben replied sharply. “She is nothing to do with me. I didn’t touch her. I have not been anywhere near her.”

“Well someone killed her. Seeing as you like to help yourself to women’s lives, I think we have to cons

ider that you killed Felicity. You will therefore be arrested for her murder, and will be confined until you can prove your innocence,” Phillip replied.

“But I didn’t kill her,” Reuben protested loudly.

“Carlotta fell in love and moved away when she married, Reuben,” Vanessa shouted. “There is nothing wrong with that. You haven’t made Magda pay, you have made us pay. You have made Felicity pay. How fair is that? How could you steal someone’s life? How could you steal our lives?”

“Has he touched any of you, besides dragging you around that is?” Niall asked.

All three women shook their heads.

“Well, that’s something to be thankful for,” Justin sighed, hauling Vanessa back into his arms when Geraldine had stopped crying and offered her sister a shaky smile.

“Its about control, isn’t it, Reuben?” Oliver suggested. “I don’t think this has anything to do with Carlotta at all. I think all of it has been done because you felt that you had no control over anything in your life, so you decided to take control of women who you felt you could control. These women are nice, gentle women, aren’t they? Easy for a thug like you to snatch off the streets and control.”

Again, Reuben’s eyes narrowed. When he looked at Oliver, there was a very direct and credible threat evident in the man’s face that thickened the tension in the small room.

“I don’t know if you are very cunning, or insane. Either way, you are under arrest for the kidnap of these three women, and the others who are yet to be found. You are also under arrest for keeping people confined against their will and will be kept behind bars until trial. You will tell us what you have done with the others, Reuben, whether you like it or not, especially if you ever expect to see daylight again. I hope you like spaces like this, because you are going to be spending a very long time in a cell not much bigger than this, and you won’t have several dead bodies to keep you company.”

“I haven’t done anybody else. That ain’t me,” Reuben growled. “I ain’t done nothing else.”

When Aaron and Angus hauled him to his feet and used Geraldine’s bonds to tie his hands behind his back, Reuben once again adopted the shy persona that had fooled so many people.

“Oh, knock it off,” Vanessa snapped in disgust. “You are fooling nobody with any of that now. You are going behind bars where you belong and that is the end of it.”

Reuben glared at her, until Justin stepped in front of her and nodded to his colleagues.

“I think he should be made to wait for the gaoler’s cart in front of the altar. At least there he can pray for forgiveness. Niall, can you go and fetch the doctor?” Justin said.

The men helped the women out of the crypt, and up the narrow stairs toward sunshine and freedom.

Geraldine, clinging desperately to Jemima’s hand, began to cry again when she saw the altar.