A Spinster's Awakening (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 2)

“Well, as far as I have heard nobody is sick or anything,” Augusta reported later that morning when the ladies had all converged upon her home for another meeting.

“Do you know something? If we don’t soon go back to our thrice weekly meetings I am going to be as fat as a barrel,” Gertrude muttered as she accepted a heavily laden cake plate off Edwina with a grateful nod. She eyed the heavy gingerbread cake on the plate dubiously but tucked in anyway.

Silence settled over the group while they ate and stared blankly at the rug, the fireplace, even the mantle, and contemplated what they were going to do.

“Well, we are not going to find out what is going on if we just sit here,” Edwina snapped. She slapped her plate onto the table before her. “I say we have to do something.”

“I agree, but what?” Augusta demanded. “We cannot just go around asking people if Mrs Vernon is dead.”

“I think we have to go and see where that Horvat fellow is going. It is broad daylight. We can go blackberry picking or something. It should be enough to convince anybody who sees us that we are just minding our own business. Anybody who challenges us must be suspicious, mustn’t they? If we just happen to wander through those woods to see where Horvat goes, then it is hardly our fault is it?” Monika held her hands out palms upward in an innocent gesture that contrasted with her plans.

“I think we have to go and visit Mr Horvat and look inside that man’s home. I cannot help but have a distinctly uncomfortable feeling about how swiftly Mrs Browning vanished. It isn’t like her to just up sticks and move on. Something must have happened to her,” Gertrude grumbled.

Edwina nodded. “Yes. Don’t you think it is odd that Mrs Vernon vanished in the same way as Mrs Browning? Don’t you think that two mature ladies disappearing in the same street is odd?”

Charity went cold. She tried desperately to think of some logical explanation for what was happening, not least because her neighbours, people she knew, were involved. Unfortunately, all she could think about was Angus.

“It has all happened since that Horvat person appeared,” Monika nodded.

“Has anybody written to Mrs Browning’s relations? You know, to find out what happened to her?” Charity asked.

“I know the vicar did, but I don’t think he has had any response,” Edwina reported.

“We are hardly likely to know, are we?” Alice chided. “He hasn’t spoken to us since he kicked us out of the village hall for causing trouble.”

“We didn’t cause trouble,” Monika snorted. “We found his stash of alcohol in the store cupboard and gave him a lecture on the Devil’s brew he didn’t take too kindly too. He was only looking for an excuse to get rid of us. He is far too secretive, that one. I don’t trust him one bit.”

“God in Hell,” Charity sighed. “Please don’t let’s start that all over again. The vicar is eccentric, I will grant you, but that doesn’t mean he should be suspected of any of the disappearances, if indeed Mrs Browning and Mrs Vernon have disappeared. There might be perfectly adequate explanations for their having left so suddenly. Not everybody has to report to the locals what they do with their lives, you know?” Charity knew her voice was sharp but made no apology for it.

“What is the matter dear?” Augusta asked quietly once Charity had left her seat and taken up position at the window, so she could study the road outside. Nothing moved or stirred. Not a sound could be heard except for the steady thud of her own heartbeat. It was a stark warning that life was passing her by, and all she was doing with it was discussing other people and eating cake.

“I am going to pick some blackberries. I am not coming back until I have found that path Mr Horvat is using and know exactly why he keeps going into the woods at eleven o’clock every night. Then, I am going home to wait until he goes out tonight,” Charity informed them all in a voice that was so hard, so controlled, so determined that the ladies in the room all glanced worriedly at each other.

“Then what are you going to do?” Alice asked fretfully.

Augusta leaned forward in her seat. “Angus is going to be very mad at you.”

“Angus is no longer around,” Charity declared as she whirled to face them. “He left last night with the rest of the men.”

Startled gasps flowed freely about the room.

“Where have they gone?”

“Why?”

“What happened? Did they find Mrs Vernon?”

“Are they going after the culprit?”

Charity lifted her hands, palm outwards, to stave off the questions bombarding her. She took a deep breath.

“I have no idea where they vanished to. There must be a deep hole or something in this village because people keep disappearing and nobody seems to know anything. Wherever the men from the Star Elite have gone they were not in my house this morning, nor have they left a note to tell me if they will be back or not. I have no idea why they left, or even if they were genuinely with the War Office like they claimed. All I can tell you is that now they have gone they are not able to tell me what to do or stop me finding out just how much of a risk Mr Horvat is to any of us. One thing I do know is that Mr Horvat goes out at eleven o’clock every night and leaves his house empty. I intend to find out what is inside that house. If it is anything illegal, I shall report him to the magistrate, if only so we can all sleep in our beds safely at night.”

Charity was physically shaking with the force of her discontent. Tears sprang into her eyes, but she blinked them away and focused on leaving the room. Deep ins

ide, she was incredibly hurt that Angus hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye before he had sailed out of her life just as swiftly as he had entered it. She had no idea what it meant other than she had been used; made a fool of. It was embarrassing, humiliating, and made her want to cry even more, especially when she saw the sympathetic sadness on her friend’s faces.

“Well, no more,” she vowed quietly as she gathered her shawl about her and picked up her basket.