To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

It stood silent and unblinking, like a huge slumbering beast coiled to readiness to strike at anybody who ventured near it. Callum knew it was Melrose House. What he didn’t know was why Sir Hugo had asked him to meet with him there.

“Did you find her, the girl I told you about? Jemima?”

Callum mentally winced and nodded.

“What did you find?”

“Her throat had been cut, but only after she had sustained a severe beating,” Callum whispered. “They left her in a ditch about ten miles from here.”

He roughly shoved aside the brutal memory of that battered feminine face which had been covered in moss, dried blood, and dirt. As far as he was concerned, the discovery of Jemima’s body was a stain on the Star Elite’s credibility. They had failed to find her before Melrose, her kidnapper, had murdered her.

“There is another kidnap victim in the house,” Sir Hugo informed him. “She has to be freed. I cannot get inside the property to find out what they have planned for her. What I have learnt is that she has been here for a while.”

“She won’t be kept for much longer here then.” It wasn’t a question.

“Jemima had been here longer and was murdered last week,” Sir Hugo hissed. “They will gradually murder all of the women they cannot rehouse. Melrose and his gang know that we are not far behind them,” Callum informed him. “I doubt they will take Mallory with them when they leave here. She is extra baggage they don’t need. They could kill her at any moment. Have you heard anything about Melrose’s intentions? Is he planning to move on?”

Callum nodded. “Rumour has it that his contacts in London are expecting him to return next week.”

Sir Hugo hissed an epithet.

“Oliver has discovered that Argent has accommodated one of the kidnapped women in his hunting lodge. We have sent men to investigate and try to retrieve the woman if she is there,” Callum added.

The men paused once more for a few minutes while they watched another guard pass.

“Be careful out here. They have dogs,” Sir Hugo warned.

“What do you know about the woman?”

Sir Hugo sighed. “She wants to leave. I have warned her not to run for it, not least because I don’t think she would survive the ordeal. They are brutal here, Callum.”

Having seen the state of Jemima’s body, Callum didn’t doubt it.

Sir Hugo told him about Mallory being sent outside to peg the washing out while wearing nothing more than a light summer dress.

“It’s bloody winter,” Callum growled.

“Maybe they are hoping she dies of illness before they have to beat her to death too?”

Callum closed his eyes and cursed bitterly.

“They steal lives, Callum. They don’t care of those lives are stolen out from underneath the victim or beaten out of them. Anybody who steals another person’s life is condemnable. Melrose, and his staff, are to face the harshest of punishments.”

Callum wholeheartedly agreed. He rocked on the balls of his feet to try to get some warmth into his frozen toes.

/> “What do you want from me?” he asked when Sir Hugo had spent several minutes staring blankly at the house.

Callum suspected he already knew but wanted his orders so he could get on with his job.

“I am going to need your help to get her out of here, Callum. With Jemima’s death we must assume that Melrose intends to dispose of Mallory next, assuming he doesn’t want her to go to London with him,” Sir Hugo began.

“That is her name? Mallory?” Callum lifted his brows and mentally ran through the list of women who had been snatched. “She is one of the recent victims.”

“It isn’t recent for her,” Sir Hugo warned. “Six months is a very long time for a person to be missing out of their life. Does Oliver know I have summoned you here?”

Callum nodded. “He received your note.”

“I sent the missive for just you,” Sir Hugo breathed. “The last thing I want is the men traipsing through here.”