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

“Where is the blackguard?” Jasper demanded.

“Is it him trying to break in here? Hasn’t he caused his sister enough upset?” Oliver snapped.

“Do you know where he is now?” Aaron asked far too quietly.

“He had better be in the damned grave because if he isn’t I will damned well put him there myself for all the bloody trouble he has caused,” Jasper snorted.

“Does it have something to do with Frederick and Voss?” Aaron asked.

Sir Hugo stood and dug around in his cloak pockets. Rather than show everyone what he held, he nodded to Aaron.

“You had better look through those letters of yours. There should be some that are thicker than others. Thomas said he was going to send you the letters he had received because he wanted you to see what he kept receiving in the last weeks before he came to see me,” Sir Hugo warned.

Aaron immediately began to rifle through the packets in the saddle bags. He tore several open and eventually found one with Thomas’s writing on. Carefully, he unfolded it.

My dear Aaron,

Your time is precious, I know. However, Elspeth needs your help. She is under threat, and so am I. Should you receive this packet it will be because something has happened to me that has left Elspeth in danger. You need to look at Frederick and Voss, but I warn you now there is no proof of their involvement in any of the threats I have received. I have taken measures to make sure Elspeth is protected as much as possible, but she needs you, Aaron. You will know what to do better than I. There is nothing more I ask of you than you do whatever it takes to keep Elspeth away from Frederick and Voss. The letters I have received are enclosed. They have been accompanied by several gruesome physical warnings the likes of which are now buried in the farthest corner of the garden beneath the old oak tree. Don’t tell Elspeth because she will be scared. Keep her safe, Aaron. I know if anybody can it shall be you.

Stay safe,

Thomas.

Aaron dropped the note onto the table and opened the letters Thomas had enclosed.

“Death threats,” he whispered.

He handed one to Oliver who had stepped closer to read over Aaron’s shoulder.

“They are all death threats,” he muttered several minutes later when all the letters had been opened and were being read and passed around the stunned group.

Elspeth dropped the note she read back onto the table and ran her fingers down her skirt as though wiping off the distinct memory of the horrible words the threat contained. It detailed minutely everything the sender would do to her to draw the life out of her.

“God, how vile,” she whispered.

“It’s only designed to scare you,” Jasper assured her.

“How can you say that? Why would anybody send this just to scare someone?” Elspeth cried. “How sick can you get?”

“They want to frighten you, that’s all,” Aaron persisted.

“How do you know?” Elspeth asked with a shiver.

“If a professional, or determined killer was after you they wouldn’t be faces at a window. They would have found a way in by now, and you would be dead. You were in this house for a good month between Thomas’s disappearance and my arrival, weren’t you?” Aaron bit out.

Elspeth stared in horror at the awful notes on the table.

Aaron clasped her chin and tugged her around until she read the calm certainty in his eyes.

“Weren’t you? You were here all by yourself,” Aaron persisted.

Elspeth nodded when her gaze met his.

“Nothing happened to you, did it? You were here, alive and well.” Aaron sighed. “I know your circumstances were horrible, and brought you hardship, but Thomas had no idea it would take so damned long for me to receive news of his death and reach you.”

“Where has he been? Where is Thomas now?” Elspeth asked of Sir Hugo.

“He came to see me in London and told me of the death threats. He asked if Aaron could help him. I told him that Aaron was working deep undercover on the investigation into the kidnappings, which was the truth, but that I would help him. I have, of course, since investigated Voss and Frederick’s backgrounds. I have knowledge that will help prove they have been working together. I also have knowledge that they are fraudsters, who have no qualms about how they rob or defraud someone so long as they obtain money that doesn’t belong to them.”