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

Aaron nodded.

Elspeth’s head was starting to ache. While it was wonderful that they were prepared to help her, the speed in which Aaron’s friends worked left Elspeth with the distinct impression that she didn’t have a clue how to help herself. It was humiliating, or would have been, if Aaron and his friends hadn’t just opened a doorway to a perplexing problem that left her completely flummoxed to find a suitable answer: would she have a house to live in or not?

CHAPTER THREE

“We will go and speak with the solicitor and the bank to find out what they know. It is best if we do it in an official capacity because then they will have no choice but to answer all of our questions and let us see the files they have,” Oliver told her.

“For now, I would like you to come into the front parlour with me and take a look at who we found trying to break into the house,” Aaron added.

“He is still here?” Elspeth gulped.

“He can’t hurt you. We need you to tell us who he is, so we can find out why he was trying to get into your house,” Oliver informed her.

Elspeth followed Aaron through the house with a deep sense of trepidation. If he had said she didn’t need to go, and he would get the interloper to the magistrate, she would have happily stayed in the kitchen where she belonged. As it was, Elspeth crept cautiously into the front parlour only to stare in horror at the hooded figure firmly tied to one of her kitchen chairs.

Oliver stalked boldly up to the figure and yanked the hood off the man’s face.

“Frederick!” Elspeth gasped.

She stared blankly at her cousin, who blinked several times while his eyes adjusted to the light. When his gaze fell on Elspeth his entire face changed. Frederick’s eyes, which had previously been wide and unfocused, narrowed sharply, almost spitefully upon Elspeth. His thin lips curled into a snarl of fury.

“Get me out of this chair at once,” he demanded.

Elspeth didn’t move.

“What were you doing trying to break in?” Aaron asked.

“Who in the Hell are you?” Frederick thundered. “If you are responsible for this I warn you now I shall have you reported to the magistrate for abduction.”

“I haven’t abducted you,” Aaron retorted. “You are here, aren’t you? It is where you were trying to get into when we caught you trying to force the lock on the conservatory. I just helped you get inside.”

“I own the house,” Frederick thundered.

“Do you have the paperwork to support your claims?” Oliver demanded.

From his position in front of the window he was far enough away for his face to be hidden by shadows. He was also close enough to the window so his entire being was nothing more than a somewhat sinister outline which was occasionally illuminated by flashes of distant lightning. It was hauntingly eerie to see and had such an effect on Frederick that he gulped warily.

“It is only a matter of time,” Frederick muttered. “Everybody in the family knows that the house can only be inherited by the men in the family. It is a stipulation on the house’s deeds. Thomas had no issue at the time of his death, so the property in its entirety goes to me, the next in line as it were.”

There was such an air of arrogant scorn on the man’s face that even Aaron wanted to slap him. Oliver hissed his displeasure.

“But do you have the paperwork to support your claims?” Oliver persisted. “Do you have a title deed that states you have rightly inherited the property?”

“It is as good as mine, everybody knows it,” Frederick reported coldly. “Now I demand you release me this instant.”

“You don’t, at present, have the paperwork that proves you own this property legitimately,” Aaron pushed. It wasn’t a question.

“No. If you wish to be pedantic about it, I don’t yet, but the solicitor is already dealing with the paperwork. It is only a matter of time before my name is added to the deeds.”

“But it isn’t your house yet,” Oliver persisted.

“No.” Frederick looked at them sullenly.

“So why were you trying to break in? If it isn’t your house – yet – you have no right to force entry,” Callum snorted. “That’s the law, and it applies to you too.”

“We have to hand him over to the magistrate for attempting to break into a property that isn’t his,” Oliver informed them all.

Frederick jerked. “I have done no such thing,” he protested.