For Love Alone (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 8)

‘Yes, but we were outnumbered.’

The clergyman looked at the door. There were at least forty bodies outside. All of them had been heavily armed and shot. His gaze slid to the holes in the man’s shirt. He had no doubt that the man had been involved in the battle.

‘Why Bladley Weeks?’ he asked mostly because it was the question everyone was asking.

‘Because it is quiet, rural and a fishing village not too far away from France. The thugs were working to create a diversion. They wanted to stop us being able to stop two known criminals from escaping the country and having to face justice for the kidnap of several women.’

‘There has been one boat that has raised everyone’s suspicions,’ the vicar whispered. ‘I don’t know much. I just know that some of my parishioners are worried that a new boat has just appeared in the harbour. Nobody knows who the man is, where he came from, where he is living or why he is here. After last night, everyone is on edge, especially now the man has gone. All the fishermen swear that the stranger isn’t a fisherman. They have never seen him in the fishing grounds. Moreover, he never seems to bring any catch ashore,’ the vicar murmured. ‘It might be an idea to ask the villages nearby to see if he has turned up there.’

‘He is the one who was going to help Smidgley to escape,’ Phillip warned. ‘If the boat does return to the harbour here, notify the magistrate. It might be best if you alert everyone in the harbour to keep an eye out for him. If he isn’t catching fish on his fishing vessel, what is he doing?’

The vicar wholeheartedly agreed and promised to hand the note to the magistrate just as soon as the man could be found.

Phillip and Carlotta took their leave of him. Carlotta remained quiet as she left the peace of the churchyard. ‘What do we do now? Do we go and fetch the horses ourselves? Why didn’t Sir Hugo fetch them?’

‘He probably didn’t know they were there,’ Phillip murmured thoughtfully. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. ‘There is just something not quite right.’

‘Because your colleagues have all disappeared.’ It wasn’t a question.

Phillip nodded and smiled at her. ‘They might be hiding.’

‘But why leave their horses?’ Carlotta whispered. ‘Maybe they have done what you have. Maybe they have had to use the sea to escape but are still making their way back here. What do you think we should do?’

‘You may have a very valid point. Just because I saw Oliver on the harbour side doesn’t mean he would stay here. All roads out of the village were full of Smidgley’s men. Even Oliver would have been able to drop into the sea if he could reach the harbour wall and swim through the boats to safety.’ The more Phillip contemplated that the more he began to suspect it might have happened.

‘There are a lot of bodies in that churchyard, Phillip,’ she whispered.

Phillip nodded. ‘There were a lot of gunmen.’

Carlotta shook her head. ‘And you escaped with only two grazes.’

Phillip ran a hand through his hair. ‘I was lucky.’

‘Very lucky. Let’s hope your friends have been just as fortunate,’ she replied fervently.

‘We need to go back to the safe house and take the horses with us,’ Phillip announced suddenly. ‘Do you ride?’

Carlotta shook her head. ‘I was never given the chance to learn. I don’t like the idea of riding side-saddle and cannot ride astride.’ She adopted a prim tone. ‘It isn’t proper behaviour for a lady.’

Phillip rolled his eyes. ‘Well, walking several miles isn’t proper behaviour for a lady either, not when you are in the presence of a Star Elite investigator and several horses. Up you go.’

Carlotta emitted a squeak of surprise when she was effortlessly hoisted into the air and unceremoniously deposited onto a horse. She clutched at the saddle and warily eyed the ground several feet below with a gulp.

‘Just hold on to the saddle not the horse. We aren’t going any faster tha

n a walk but will be quicker than if we walk on foot.’ As he spoke, Phillip untied four horses and attached them to one another in a long line which was then secured to Carlotta’s horse. He then tied the other three horses to each other and secured them to his horse, which he then mounted.

‘Hold on,’ he urged her quietly before he led the horses into the open field. ‘We are going to have to go slowly because we are leading so many horses. As long as none of them get spooked we should be all right. If anything does happen, the first thing you must do is untie them. Tug on the long, thin rein behind you so the loop is released and let them fall away. We can’t do anything about the rest of the horses. They will have to run still tied together. Hopefully, it won’t happen.’

Carlotta shook her head. She was terrified and made no attempt to hide it. Rather than at least try to speak, she focused on holding onto the saddle and began to pray that she wouldn’t fall off.

Phillip could only hope they didn’t stumble across Haugham, if he was still alive, or Carlotta’s thugs, or they were going to have a Hell of a problem.

CHAPTER SIX

‘What will happen next? I mean, we cannot just stay in the safe house,’ Carlotta asked when they were several miles away from the village.

‘I will see if I can get in touch with Sir Hugo. I need to find out if my colleagues are with him. What we cannot do is stay in Bladley Weeks,’ Phillip replied.