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

Was having a soul mate possible? She couldn’t be sure, but Elspeth knew that if it was, Aaron was hers.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I want to be there,” Elspeth informed Sir Hugo when he was preparing to leave the house to oversee the removal of the coffin from the grave.

“I don’t think that is a wise idea,” Sir Hugo murmured.

“This involves me,” she argued. “I am not going to sit here and wait. I will go quietly out of my mind. I am coming.”

Sir Hugo sighed and looked at Aaron in silent appeal, but he merely shrugged to say that he didn’t mind. “I am coming. I will keep her safe,” he offered.

Elspeth looked at them both in exasperation.

“I am able to keep myself safe, you know,” she declared flatly.

“Not from Horvat you can’t,” Aaron argued. “Just stay close to me. I will request you turn around when the lid is taken off, just in case. You don’t need to see anything too disturbing, but I do think you need to be there.”

Sir Hugo reluctantly surrendered and led the way out of the house.

Despite the reassuring presence of Aaron and his friends, Elspeth still felt a deep sense of trepidation settle over her as she followed the men across the graveyard to the plot where she thought she had buried her brother. The grave diggers had already made great inroads to digging the rectangular space back out. So much so, she could hear the heavy thuds of their spades hitting the coffin lid.

“Ready?” Sir Hugo asked of the magistrate when they arrived.

The magistrate eyed Elspeth with concern but didn’t object to her presence given it was Sir Hugo who requested she be present. With a nod to the grave diggers, the coffin was carefully lifted to the surface and placed onto the ground at the side of the grave.

&n

bsp; “Turn around,” Aaron whispered to her when the screws were unwound.

Elspeth turned, but only so she faced Aaron, who slid a supportive arm around her waist. She leaned against him while she waited for what felt like an eternity.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the magistrate burst out. “What in the Devil’s name?”

“Elspeth?” Sir Hugo called.

Elspeth looked over her shoulder at him only to find him pointing to the coffin.

Slowly, she turned around. To her stunned disbelief, but intense relief, rather than there being a body inside the coffin there were several bags. Aaron stepped closer and quickly opened one to reveal its contents to everyone.

“I suspect this is three thousand pounds,” he murmured.

One of the grave diggers swore but then looked contritely at Elspeth. “Sorry, miss.”

“What do you want to do with it?” the magistrate asked of Sir Hugo.

“I would appreciate an armed escort to get this back to the bank where it belongs. I shall see to the necessary formalities,” Sir Hugo bit out, his face stony with the depth of his concern.

The magistrate nodded and oversaw the removal of the bags all of which were placed at Sir Hugo’s feet.

“I shall go and get my men,” the magistrate informed him before he hurried off.

“I shall stay here and keep watch,” Sir Hugo replied. He turned to look at Aaron and Elspeth. “Then we need to talk.”

The magistrate nodded grimly and waved at him over his shoulder but didn’t slow his pace.

“What now?” Elspeth asked Aaron. “I know they are going to take it to the bank, but then what?”

“We go back to the house to wait. Someone at some point is going to turn up. The grave diggers will be sworn to secrecy. If Thomas is around here and watching us, he knows we have the money. He won’t know, however, what we are going to do with it. That can only draw him out of hiding. We already know Voss and Frederick are still at home because Oliver has already been to check. They are out of the way and won’t have any idea what is going on. The coffin is going to be put back, and the grave filled back in. For all intents and purposes, everything will be as it was yesterday, but with fresh soil over the grave.”