Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“He certainly never told me anything,” Molly replied. “But then I tried to stay away from him whenever he was at my aunt’s house.”

“Me too,” Oscar shrugged. “Neither of us like either of them.”

“Would you recognise the woman who escorted you here, Oscar?” Sir Hugo asked.

“Yes,” Oscar replied.

“What was her name?” Sir Hugo slid into a chair further down the table and removed a small pocket book upon which he made notes.

“Marilyn,” Oscar frowned. “I can’t remember.”

“Marilyn Alton?” Sir Hugo’s gaze sharpened.

“Aye, that’s the one,” Oscar replied with a readiness that assured the Star Elite he was telling the truth.

“What was she doing? Was she pick-pocketing too?”

“Everyone was,” Oscar replied with a shrug. “She was also going out and selling things. She hates that place as much as I do but is too scared to leave.”

“Do you know what she sells?”

Oscar shrugged. The men wanted to ask if Marilyn was being forced out onto the streets to sell herself as was usually the case in criminal gangs of this kind.

“Did you see Marilyn talk to Denzel at any point?”

Oscar frowned. “No.”

“Did she cry and wail like the others, or make any noises about wanting to go home?” Sir Hugo asked.

Oscar shook his head. “But then nobody was allowed to most of the time. The girls who wailed were sometimes hit until they shut up.”

Sir Hugo nodded and scribbled some more.

“At least she is still there,” Sir Hugo warned. “Although she may never want to return to her family.”

“Why not?” Molly interrupted. “If they are waiting for her, and are worried about her, why wouldn’t she want to go home?”

“Because of the things she has experienced while she has been away,” Jasper replied carefully. “She may think that if her family find out what she has done they will disown her. She may have changed too much to ever return to the life she had before she was snatched. There are all sorts of reasons that might stop her from going home to her loved ones. We won’t know until we recover her.”

“You make it sound like she is dead,” Molly protested. “She is still alive. Don’t you mean you have to rescue her?”

“Indeed,” Jasper replied, although ‘recover’ her was a far more apt word given she was probably beyond rescuing.

It was well known to the Star Elite that no matter how much they protested, the young people they usually reclaimed from the criminal element who stole their lives were rarely able to return to the lives from which they were snatched. Their fear and torment meant they had changed completely in a way that could never be undone. They were recovered from a life of destruction, but rarely rescued. It was likely to be the case with Marilyn, whose life had practically been stolen by the cretins who inhabited Rigley Row. She had undoubtedly been forced to do things she had always been brought up to believe were shameful. She would be well aware that if knowledge of her shameful activities ever became known, her family would be shamed, disgraced, or would disown her, or be horrified in a way that would damage their opinion of her forevermore.

Marilyn Alton’s recovery was purely so she could have her life back and make her own choices. It was as simple as that.

Unfortunately, it meant that while the Star Elite had rescued Molly and Oscar, they wouldn’t be able to return to the lives they had left behind either, but for completely different reasons. In their case, their lives would be rescued because they had changed little from their ordeal and would recover from it. For that, Jasper could only be eternally grateful. He hated to think of Molly ending up in Rigley Row.

I wish now I could erase the conversation we had in the carriage on the way here, he mused wryly.

As if to apologise for it, Jasper placed his hand over Molly’s where it lay upon the table. He saw Oscar’s thoughtful gaze land on their clasped hands and waited for the young lad to object. The fact that the lad grinned at him was as much an acceptance as Jasper knew he was ever going to get, but it was enough. Jasper winked boldly back and grinned at the woman beside him who he was starting to suspect had captured his heart.

“What happens now?” Molly murmured when Sir Hugo had finished scribbling.

“We know where the kidnap victims are now. I can tell you that this information is something that we never expected to uncover this easily. Now that we have, you must stay here out of sight because this Denzel is looking for you and will silence you. We will go and recover whoever is still there and will ensure they are also protected until they have furnished us with the details we need about the group’s involvement in the kidnaps. Then, we can find out if the victims want to go home and return them if they do.”

“Why Leicestershire and Derbyshire?” Molly interrupted. “I mean, why not snatch the women from any of the other counties in this country?”