A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 6)

Clara shook her head. “I could do with

getting out of the house for a while, Aunt. I think going into town to do some shopping and take tea is a wonderful idea.”

Flo sighed with pleasure and turned her attention out of the window.

Clara, meantime, was busy searching the shadows of the alleys, buildings, and trees they passed for any sign of the Star Elite. She suspected they were out there somewhere, still watching, still waiting for something.

“Have you heard from father yet?” Clara asked.

Flo looked at her with a frown of concern. “No, and I have to say that it is highly unusual for your father not to reply. I am starting to get worried I don’t mind telling you.”

“Do you think something might have happened to him, and that is why the Star Elite are here?”

“I hope not,” Flo whispered firmly. “I am going to write to a good friend of mine who lives just down the road from the town house. She will be able to tell me if she has seen Atticus going about his business. When he does appear, he is going to have a piece of my mind, I don’t mind telling you.”

“Why do you think they are here?”

“I don’t know, but I doubt it is Erasmus. He has disappeared apparently,” Flo snorted.

“Disappeared? Really? How do you know?”

Flo tapped the side of her nose but when Clara lifted her brows and gave her a pointed stare, gave in. “Rita was talking to Moorcroft, that gardener of his. Moorcroft was in the tavern grumbling that he hadn’t been paid and that Boyle wasn’t at home. That cousin of his has gone as well, but he has gone to see the Lord Chief Justice apparently although Erasmus didn’t go with him.”

“The Lord Chief Justice has probably found out what a poor job the man does,” Clara snorted.

“Well, that is by the by. What concerns us is that Erasmus has gone.”

Clara slowly met her aunt’s eyes. “Niall won’t have made him vanish.”

The thought was horrifying while at the same time strangely reassuring.

“He can’t make a man just vanish from his life. He isn’t a killer.”

“Well, Erasmus has vanished. He was warned to stop pestering you by Niall. Don’t you think it odd that the Star Elite turn up at a time when Erasmus starts to pester you even more, and make his lecherous intentions clear? Don’t you think it is odd that the main problem in your life suddenly disappears and leaves no hint of where he might have gone? While I am not suggesting for a moment that the Star Elite will have done away with him, they do have the ability to make people vanish.”

“How? I mean, where do they put them?”

“God only knows. I think that is something neither you nor I should know. What we have to consider is that Erasmus may have gone to London with his cousin, only didn’t see fit to tell the gardener or pay him before he left.”

“Probably because Erasmus wouldn’t want to part with his money,” Clara snorted.

“Well, whatever the reason, there might be a perfectly logical and simple explanation for the man not being at home. He may have visited relatives. My point is this, while we have questions and cannot find out for definite what has happened, we cannot just assume everything is all right. If the Star Elite is here there is a threat, you can be sure of that. If they have had a hand in Erasmus’s disappearance, and getting that useless magistrate cousin of his to face the hierarchy in London, you can bet it is not without good reason. What we need to know is why?”

“Why what?”

“Why they decide to appear now. I mean, Erasmus has been pestering you for nigh on a year now and your father has never seen fit to send in the Star Elite before. If they want Erasmus out of the way, one has to consider why?”

“Because he was threatening me and trying to abduct me,” Clara countered.

“But we know where to find you if he did. He only lives down the street.”

“It is what he does before I am found that is my concern,” Clara snorted.

“Whatever he did he would be found and would face justice for it,” Flo reasoned. “Your father isn’t Secretary of State to allow anybody to maraud his way through the family, you know. He would use his connections to ensure Erasmus lost every day of his future freedom.”

“There is another threat.” It wasn’t a question. Clara watched her aunt slowly nod. “The thug.”

Again, Flo nodded. “He has to have links to whatever the Star Elite are here for. Because of it, we must assume that there is still a very real threat to us. While I am fully supportive of a nice trip to town, let’s not stray too far away from each other, eh? I don’t want to have to go home without you and, right now, there is no magistrate to report your disappearance to if anything happens.”