Cold Comfort (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 5)

“So, you didn’t get on,” Oliver said.

“We rubbed along, put it that way, but were happier if we didn’t have much to do with each other,” Emmeline smiled.

“Sibling’s are not under any expectation to get along, you know, even twins. I know I have fought with my brother quite physically a time or two.” He rubbed his chin and threw her a rueful look. “He won most of the time, but I refuse to tell him that.”

Emmeline smiled, a little relieved that he wasn’t going to condemn her for the shattered remains of her family.

“To answer your earlier questions, no, I don’t know who her friends are. I would recognise some of them if I saw them and have a vague understanding of their names but have no idea what they do with their time.”

“How was Caroline spending her time, apart from drinking that is? She lived in lodgings, didn’t she? Did she have a job?” Oliver wished now he had read the case file a little more closely.

“She rented a bed in a shared house,” Caroline replied. “She paid for the night, if she earnt enough.”

“How did she earn that money?” Oliver asked. He regretted it when his question was met with a pointed silence. When he looked up, and saw the colour on Emmeline’s face, he knew, and bitterly regretted asking Emmeline to spell it out.

“The few belongings she did have vanished with her,” Emmeline said evasively. “I did ask one of her – associates – about them. He told me that she sold anything of value ages ago, not long after she started frequenting the pubs in the lower end of town. I suspect she drank the money.”

Oliver contemplated the clothing Caroline had been dressed in at the point of death. They weren’t the impoverished pauper’s clothing one would expect to see had she been struggling to make a living, or indeed making a regular living on her back. The clothing Caroline had worn had been tailored, and while not extremely expensive, had been costly at some point in time.

She might have been better off with her kidnappers. If she was used to making a living on her back, why would they kill her? Unless it was because she was used to it and so had to die? Maybe she was too rough around the edges and had to be disposed of?

Making a mental note to discuss all of this with his colleagues when he made his way to the new safe house later, Oliver turned his attention back to the woman seated opposite. As had happened the first time he had set eyes on her, what seemed like a lifetime ago now but was in fact only an hour ago, Oliver felt something stir deep in the centre of his chest. It blossomed with a warmth that stole through him and brought with it a fierce need to keep Emmeline in his life. It was damned odd because it contrasted with the very real need to get up and run out of the house and keep on running until he had put as much distance between him and Emmeline as it was possible to put between them. He suspected that if he stayed with her for too much longer, his life would never be the same again. Oliver hated to think why. It wasn’t because he was ever going to allow anything romantic to happen between them. He was only in her life temporarily, because it was a part of his job. As soon as that job requirement was over, he would go. It was that simple. It was what had always happened before and was going to happen again with Emmeline.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Thank you for coming all this way to tell me,” Emmeline said when the silence that lengthened between them began to get uncomfortable.

Oliver nodded. “What about Smidgley Hall? Do you know if Caroline had any connections to anybody who either lived or worked there?”

“No, I don’t,” Emmeline replied honestly. “Some of her friends might know, but I wasn’t all that close to her. All I can identify are some of her – associates.”

Emmeline coughed discretely and lowered her gaze to the floor. She knew he understood what she meant by ‘associates’, but thankfully, he didn’t ask her to expand.

For the first time since Sir Hugo had suggested it, Oliver began to doubt his ability to persuade Emmeline to help them with their investigation. She wasn’t an outraged relation who demanded justice for the loss of her loved one. Emmeline wasn’t even what he would consider a close relation of the deceased, not after what he had just heard in any case, and for that he was grateful. Moreover, she wasn’t grief stricken like he had expected her to be, and so deeply upset she would be inclined to agree to anything he suggested. However, that didn’t change the fact that she was perfect in every way – for helping the Star Elite with their investigation, of course.

“What is it?” Emmeline felt sick because she knew there was more, although she couldn’t hazard a guess as to what more he could say.

“We need your help,” Oliver said simply.

Emmeline swallowed but there was nothing she could do about the fear in her eyes.

“You want m-my help?” she asked somewhat weakly.

Oliver hated to do it but nodded.

“To do what - exactly?”

The last thing Emmeline wanted was to get involved in any aspect of Caroline’s life. She hated to even think about what Caroline’s choices had led her to do, much less understand how she had survived so long as she had. Since their parents had died, a part of Emmeline had always waited for that knock on the door that would inform her of Caroline’s demise. She just hadn’t expected her sister to die the way she had, at the hands of kidnappers who had not only succeeded in snatching her out of the life she had chosen for herself but had put paid to her already tenuous hold on life as well.

“I won’t get involved in any aspect of Caroline’s life,” she warned.

“I am not asking you to.” Oliver’s response was swift. “Not completely.”

“No.”

“Just listen to what I am going to ask you.”

“No. I am not going to get involved.” Emmeline pushed out of her chair when Oliver sighed. She didn’t want an argument with him. “There is nothing you can do, or say, that would persuade me otherwise. No.”