Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

Aaron began to rummage around in the cupboards for supplies.

“What strikes me is that there are personal effects still here, just no person,” Oliver said after several moments of carefully manoeuvring their way around the dark house.

“There are papers all over the study,” Niall informed them. “Bills, accounts papers, that kind of thing. She can’t have moved out of here.”

“Her clothing is upstairs,” Callum added. “She has to still be living here.”

“But how?” Aaron demanded as he slammed a kitchen cupboard closed. “There are no candles, there is no wood to light the fires and no food in the cupboards. How in the Hell has she been living here?”

“Will she have had her own stipend, or a trust or something she could live off until the solicitor is able to sort out the legalities of Thomas’s will? Will Thomas have seen to her financial welfare, or would he have just assumed that she has a trust somewhere that would provide for her?” Oliver asked.

Aaron sighed. “Thomas covered the bills out of his allowance. He didn’t mind because he adored his sister. I don’t know the terms of his will, but I doubt he would have left her destitute like this.”

“If she is living here, Aaron, she has to be moved before she starves to death. She won’t survive winter living like this,” Jasper warned.

Aaron nodded. He was bombarded by a complex mix of consternation, anger, frustration, and downright fear. The thought of anybody, especially someone as gentle and loving as Elspeth, living in such poverty was awful. It only heightened the anger he felt toward the Star Elite, particularly Sir Hugo, for not having gotten the urgent letter to him when he was supposed to.

“This is ridiculous,” he bit out. “Where could she be?”

“Did she have any friends or acquaintances she would have gone to?” Callum asked. He studied the cupboard he held open and thumped the door closed. “Nothing in that one either.”

Oliver appeared in the doorway with an empty candle box in his hand. Silently, he tipped it upside down over the table to show them all the solitary candle was the last one.

“I hate to say it but if someone has to live like this they may as well be dead. This house is nothing short of a box,” Niall grunted in disgust.

“She will have acquaintances in the village, but I don’t know who they might be. Thomas never really said much about her life other than Elspeth likes to cook and has run the house while he has been dealing with his investments,” Aaron informed them.

“What did he invest in? Who is his business contact?” Oliver asked.

“It will be in those papers on his desk, I don’t doubt,” Aaron sighed.

“How in the Hell are we going to read them if there isn’t any damned light to see anything?” Niall snapped in disgust.

“I think we have to consider that she is not here but is likely to come back. None of us are much use right now because we can’t see anything. If she does come back she can tell us what in the Hell has been going on around here. First thing in the morning, we all need to go and get some wood for the fire, some bloody candles so we can see, and food before we all starve to death. Then we can set about searching the papers in the office for clues to find out what in the Hell went so wrong for Thomas that it would leave him in such dire circumstances,” Aaron sighed.

“Wait.”

Everyone fell quiet while Jasper turned to study the trees lining the garden.

“What?” Aaron bit out when he saw Jasper’s scowl.

“I thought I saw something,” Jasper murmured absently.

“There is someone out there,” Oliver whispered.

The men immediately moved to either side of the large window in the kitchen so that they weren’t visible to the shadowy figure moving stealthily around the garden. Aaron edged backward and into the darkness but left the candle where it was. As silent as ghosts in the night, Niall and Callum disappeared deeper into the house. They would keep watch from the conservatory and the front of the property so that nobody was able to creep up on them.

The men stood and waited.

The figure cloaked in black moved around the perimeter of the garden with a confidence that was shocking. Either the person lived at the property and had nothing to hide, or the intruder was confident of not being seen. Whatever the reason the person wandered freely around the garden, they had taken strides to ensure their face was covered. Unfortunately, it was impossible to tell if the figure was male or female such was the depth of the hood that engulfed the features of the phantom-like figure which almost glided through the shadows.

“Damn,” Oliver breathed.

“That isn’t someone who lives here,” Callum whispered. “They are too furtive.”

Everyone watched the figure make its way to the conservatory where a gloved hand tried the door. Aaron slowly clicked the lock on the back door but didn’t have the time to slide the bolt across before the latch lifted silently upward. The rattle of the door told them all everything they needed to know. Surprisingly, the figure had the gall to peer through the kitchen window even though the candle was alight to warn them someone was still up. Still, Aaron couldn’t see anything of the intruder’s features.

“Don’t bother to knock then,” Oliver breathed sarcastically.