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

“We aren’t. We are locking them up for a reason. They tried to abduct you. It is perfectly reasonable for them to be arrested for it, and sit behind bars while they await trial, especially seeing as they pose a danger to young women’s lives like yours,” Oliver replied with a nonchalant shrug. “We have committed no crimes. We have just blocked either of them from being able to try to snatch you again or warn Smidgley of where they are.”

“I hope the Smidgley brothers do panic and go out to look for them. Those thugs, while stupid, are treasure troves of information and will tell us what we need to know about who is helping the Smidgleys,” Rhys grinned. “They just don’t know it yet.”

Oliver shoved a chair out for her and motioned to it. “Now get something to eat. We can talk about what we are going to do next while everyone is here. That way, we are unlikely to be confused about what is supposed to happen. Sir Hugo, our boss, is in London right now, so it falls upon me to lead this investigation.”

“You are the second in command?” Emmeline asked.

Jasper choked on his drink and coughed loudly around his laughter.

Oliver threw him a dirty look. “Sort of, although nobody replaces Sir Hugo.”

Not seeing the joke, Emmeline’s gaze slid over each of the men seated around the table but none of them explained what they found so funny.

“We all work together,” Oliver said eventually. “It is just down to one of us to make most of the decisions about who goes where and does what when our boss, Sir Hugo, isn’t around.”

Emmeline began to pick nervously at the piece of bread Oliver put onto a plate and then slid across the table toward her.

“What is it you do, exactly?”

“We work for the War Office,” Oliver replied a little cautiously.

“Doing what? We are not at war,” Emmeline countered, refusing to be put off by his reticence.

“We work for a small branch of the War Office. Most of us have fought in the battlefields at some point during our military careers. When the war was ongoing, we fought smugglers, French spies and the like. Now that is over, we have turned our attention to more domestic crimes, like the Smidgley brothers,” Harry explained carefully.

“But we still work for the War Office. We have had special training in working undercover, and don’t really talk much about what we do. Our organisation is clandestine, so we cannot tell you much about it. What we can tell you is that we were called in when the magistrates in Leicestershire and Derbyshire found themselves unable to cope with the number of women who kept vanishing from their counties. We deal with gang crime mostly, the majority of which is carried out in London. You know, pick pockets, thieves, that kind of thing. However, like I have said, we were called in to help the magistrates because they had no idea how to investigate numerous crimes of this nature.”

“The kidnaps were all done by one person then.”

“Yes, the kidnaps were all carried out by one gang,” Oliver replied.

“The Smidgley brothers,” Emmeline whispered.

She almost envied the men their adventurous lifestyles – until she contemplated having to actually challenge the thugs who had stormed into her house. With a shiver, she tugged her shawl tighter about her shoulders and turned her attention to the men.

“The work here is different,” Rhys said quietly.

“How?” Emmeline asked.

“Our work is harder in the countryside,” he replied thoughtfully. “It’s more complicated.”

“I don’t see how,” she protested. “Surely, it should be easier?”

Rhys shook his head. “In London, there are plenty of back alleys and places for us to hide in. The buildings are so crammed together that there is always some place we can hide. We can often go out in disguise as market traders, or chimney sweeps and like, and nobody gives us a second look. Out here, everyone knows everyone else. There is little or no chance of going undercover. You know what village life is like. If there is a new face spotted, that person is watched practically everywhere they go. The gossips make it their life’s mission to find out everything there is to know about that new arrival. They don’t stop until they are the first to know everything and are the first to spread the word.”

Harry nodded. “It makes life for us incredibly difficult.”

“Which is why investigating the Smidgley brothers is so hard,” Emmeline nodded.

“Yes. We cannot pretend to be estate workers because the estate workers will know we don’t belong there. We cannot pretend to be villagers because the villagers will do everything possible to try to find out everything about us. If we try to keep ourselves to ourselves, our secrecy makes us stand out. We are doomed to failure before we start.” His frustration at the situation they faced was evident in the ferocity with which Oliver tore into his bread and began to munch at it.

“Is there nothing you can do?” Emmeline asked carefully.

“Yes. Not work in villages unless we have to,” Harry growled.

Emmeline’s smile widened.

“Tell her,” Jasper urged suddenly, his eyes twinkling with mischief.