“He is goading us.”
“I don’t doubt that the Smidgley brothers know we are in the area. It is odd, is it not, that we return to Leicestershire and within a matter of days one of the kidnap victims, who we have never been able to find by the way, suddenly appears but far too late to be saved?” Oliver bit out grimly.
“Like I have said, the bastard is taunting us,” Harry growled.
“He – they - are enjoying having us on the back foot,” Oliver snorted.
He hated to say the words aloud, but knew his colleagues were also deeply concerned about just how adept this new gang of career criminals, led by the Smidgley brothers, were at not only hiding their activities but swiping people off the street without anybody seeing or hearing anything untoward.
“It is like fighting a damned ghost,” Rhys huffed, his voice rife with the impatience they all felt.
For several moments, the only sound that could be heard was the haunting wail of the wind, which swirled around them and hustled and jostled the trees the leaves upon which rustled in warning. There was a heavy pall that hung over the area, exacerbated by the lack of birdsong, the ominous gunmetal clouds overhead, and the occasional rumble of thunder somewhere off in the distance.
“It’s coming for us,” Oliver whispered with a shiver. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”
“What’s coming for us?” Rhys asked with a deep scowl.
Oliver met his gaze directly. He could see no reason to lie. “Trouble.” He threw one last look at the village before he made his way back to his horse. “Cover that body up. Inform the coroner. Someone needs to stay with the body to preserve the evidence. I want everyone back at the safe house in an hour.”
“It’s going to take that long to get the magistrate here,” Rhys called after him.
Oliver stopped and stared blankly into the darkness of the woods before him. The narrow path he was forced to take was going to make him stumble through the ominous decay of the copse floor. It parodied his life working with the Star Elite. It often forced him to take dark and gloomy paths he didn’t want to traverse. Moreover, it felt as if this Star Elite investigation had taken a completely sinister and dangerous turn only, on this occasion, the Star Elite were more at risk than the kidnap victims.
A deep gut instinct he had always relied upon was warning Oliver that danger was afoot. Strangely, this time he sensed that he was the one facing danger. It had nothing to do with his colleagues being at risk. Whatever caused it left Oliver with an edgy feeling of disquiet that pressed upon him an urgency to get the case solved as fast as possible. It was so strong, and so deeply troubling, that it made him stern when he spoke.
“There is a whole sodding village down there, with a tavern, a blacksmith, and a farmer or two. One of them has a cart. Use it. Take the corpse to the base for now. She can lie in the barn until the coroner’s men can fetch her. I don’t care what you do. I don’t want men standing up here, blatantly visible to anybody who cares to look, any longer than necessary. It’s early still but the villagers will be up and about soon enough. I don’t want any curious locals coming up here to offer their assistance. Moreover, I don’t want that bastard who left her in the ground thinking he has any more of an advantage over us than he already has. Get that body out of here, quickly and quietly. We are not putting a show on for that zealot, no matter who in the Hell he thinks he is.”
With his orders issued, Oliver strode through the woods. While he walked, his mind raced in search of inspiration, or a new method of trying to lure the kidnappers out of hiding and into the open so he and the Star Elite could trap them.
CHAPTER TWO
Oliver was still mulling over the problems the Star Elite faced when he reached the safe house nearly an hour later.
“You look stern,” Jasper exclaimed when Oliver rode into the stable yard. He dropped the hoof he was picking and arched his back.
“We have found one of the kidnap victims,” Oliver informed him dourly. “We need a meeting.”
He didn’t wait for Jasper to catch him up. Instead, Oliver stalked angrily into the kitchen of the safe house the Star Elite were currently using. He didn’t bother to close the door behind him because he wanted to rid himself of the stench of rotting corpse that, until now, he hadn’t noticed still clung to his cloak. Snatching the heavy material off his shoulders, he rolled it into a ball and threw it outside. It landed in a heap at Jasper’s feet.
Jasper, his nose wrinkling in distaste, picked the offending item up between his finger and thumb and draped it over the barn door. With acute sympathy for his friend’s dire morning, Jasper went to join his colleague in the kitchen.
Oliver didn’t glance up when Jasper sauntered into the room. Instead, he dropped several scrolls of parchment onto the kitchen table and began to unroll them and then pinned them down with apples, salt pots, and cups and goblets, until the entire surface of the table was littered with kitchen accessories.
“This woman who has been found strangled today,” Oliver muttered, more to himself than to Jasper. “Caroline Elkins is her name.”
“What of her?” Jasper leaned over the table to read the parchment that had drawn Oliver’s attention.
“She has a twin, doesn’t – didn’t - she?” Oliver whispered. He picked up the parchment listing the missing woman’s personal details, including full name, address, and family members. “It’s her, all right; Caroline Elkins. Blonde hair, blue eyes, about five feet six inches.”
Jasper bit out a curse. “Strangled?”
Oliver nodded.
Jasper eyed Oliver’s cloak. That explained the vile odour coming off it.
“She has been dead for a few days, I reckon,” Oliver warned. “Someone has to inform the relatives.”
“It says here that there are relations in Leicestershire.” Jasper jabbed at the parchment with a blunt finger.