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

“All of it?” Aaron asked with a heavy frown.

“Every last penny. The account balance is zero. I checked,” Elspeth whispered.

“What did he want it for?” Callum asked. “Do you know?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that it isn’t in the bank where it is supposed to be. I don’t know if he took it to London with him or spent it on something he didn’t tell me about. Whatever he has done with it, he didn’t pay the bills with it. The grocer won’t allow me to have any more goods until his bill is paid, but I don’t have anything to give him. The housekeeping jar is also empty, which is highly unusual. It looks as though Thomas emptied the bank, the housekeeping, and took all of the money we used to live off and it died with him,” Elspeth wailed.

“Calm yourself,” Aaron urged when she began to weep into her hands. “We will find it.”

“How much did he withdraw?” Callum asked.

“Three thousand pounds,” Elspeth replied. “Together with the housekeeping and various small pouches of money we kept for emergencies, there is just over three thousand one hundred pounds. It’s gone. All of it. But I don’t know where, or why Thomas would do such a thing. I mean, if he has spent it he has spent everything we had to live off.”

“It doesn’t sound like an investment,” Jasper said.

“It sounds to me like there must have been a specific reason, and it has something to do with his journey to London,” Niall added.

“Did Thomas gamble at all?” Oliver asked. “Do you know?”

“I don’t think so,” Elspeth answered.

Aaron was already shaking his head. “Thomas wasn’t the kind of man to risk the family fortune. He was steady, sensible, and an estimable gentleman. If he was backed into a corner by circumstance, or someone was trying to blackmail him or something, he would have come to me.”

His thoughts flickered to his last note from Thomas, which hinted that Thomas was in financial difficulty. Had it been a lie? Aaron suspected it was because Thomas couldn’t have been in trouble if he had three thousand pounds in the bank. Why would he lie, though?

Elspeth frowned at Aaron. “You aren’t easy to get in touch with because you are quite clearly busy with your own life. Why should he burden you with his troubles?”

“Because we are friends; childhood friends,” Aaron reminded her. “Thomas always told me things he couldn’t discuss with anybody else, even you, Elspeth. It wouldn’t be the first time he has come to me with a problem he needed to talk through. It is what friends do.”

“Has he told you about any trouble he faced that might have taken the money?” Elspeth asked.

“No. The last time I saw Thomas he appeared quite happy. He said his investments were working well, and that you were content with your lot, Elspeth. He seemed just like Thomas. There was certainly no hint that he was in any kind of danger, trouble, or faced any particular problem in life he couldn’t deal with,” Aaron informed them all. “But then only a couple of weeks later, I received a note from him hinting that he was in financial trouble. He asked to meet with me because he needed my advice.”

“How odd,” Oliver murmured.

“So why in the Hell would he need over three thousand pounds?” Callum asked the group seated around the table. “What could have gone wrong in two weeks?”

“Do you think he might have bought a house somewhere?” Oliver asked after several moments of thoughtful silence.

“Why?” Elspeth cried.

“If Thomas believed he was going to lose this house, maybe he bought somewhere else,” Callum suggested.

“For three thousand pounds?” Phillip snorted. “It would have to be a bloody big house for that much.”

“He already owns – owned – this one. He didn’t need to purchase another,” Elspeth replied.

“I know,” Aaron sighed. “We are just thinking aloud because it helps to get the facts in order. To be honest, I just don’t have a clue what he might have needed three thousand pounds for.”

“Have you checked under the floor boards and the like? You know, for hiding places, that kind of thing,” Callum asked.

“Thomas took the money out of the bank the day he left for London. He got up in the morning, then told me he was off to London in his usual jovial way. There was no indication anything was troubling him. Once he left here he must have stopped off at the bank, withdrawn the lot, having taken the housekeeping and the other pouches of coins with him. He didn’t come back here. He immediately left for London. I just have no idea why, and why he has spent the last several weeks before his death ignoring the bills that have been piling up. Aaron, none of them have been paid for weeks,” Elspeth hiccupped tearfully. “He had the money in the bank. Why didn’t he pay the bills? We owe people a fortune.”

“We can sort the bills out, don’t worry. We can calculate how much has been spent and it can be taken out of Thomas’s estate before any money is handed over to any relations who might inherit from him. If the solicitor has already transferred Thomas’s estate without clearing his debts then his conduct must be called into question,” Aaron informed her.

“From the sound of it there isn’t any money in the bank to clear the bills,” Callum said.

Oliver leaned back in his seat. He looked sadly at Elspeth. “Given there is no cash available, for the solicitor to clear the debts the house would have to be sold, wouldn’t it?”