“I am telling you now that if you get yourself arrested, you are on your own. I will have no alternative but to sell up, and shall have to leave the area. If you are so selfish that you will not stop to consider the impact your crimes have on me, then I shall not stop to consider you when it comes to choosing somewhere else to live. For now, there are the vegetables to prepare for dinner so get busy. I don’t expect you to go anywhere until Lloyd has returned to speak with you. And get rid of those pheasants.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn’t stop to listen. She spun on her heel and left the room. Once inside her bedroom, she let the tears fall while she tried to decide what to do next.
CHAPTER TWO
Marcus ran until he felt as though his lungs were going to burst. He refused to surrender to the desperate need to rest. Instead, he lengthened his stride just that little bit more and forced himself to go faster. Being taller than his quarry gave him an advantage, and he wasn’t prepared to waste it. Every inch gained brought him closer to being able to capture the man racing through the woods ahead of him.
Minutes later, they came upon two tethered horses Marcus suspected had been tethered in the trees so the thieves could leave the area quickly. Sure enough, the man vaulted onto one and wheeled it around. Before he disappeared into the darkness, he untethered the second animal. He tried to slap it on the backside, but the horse danced away and continued to munch the bush it was eating instead.
“Damn it,” the man cursed when he realised Marcus was nearly upon him. Within seconds he vanished into the trees.
“Not while I have breath in my body,” Marcus ground out.
He jumped into the saddle of the second horse and fought with the startled beast for a few precious moments before it suddenly broke into a canter.
The stirrups were too short, so he had no purchase with his feet, but it was of little consequence to Marcus. Nothing mattered except being able to close the distance with the man up ahead.
“Where are you?” he gasped as he studied the path through the trees.
He had hoped that Joe would be somewhere nearby, and able to intercept the fugitive, but there was no sign of him. Had he been taken down by Rawdon Bamber, the man they had just caught stealing some very valuable jewels from the recently murdered Squire’s house?
“God, I hope not,” Marcus cursed, and swore again when a low-lying branch slapped him cruelly in the face.
Settling low in the saddle, he kicked his horse to go faster. He had no idea where he was now, but that didn’t matter. As long as the escapee didn’t vanish, or meet another contact, he and Joe could – and would – follow for as long as they needed to.
“Keep after him,” Joe called suddenly from behind him. “I will see if I can intercept him up ahead.”
“Hurry,” Marcus called after him.
With everybody else back at the Squire’s house, it was now down to him and Joe, to capture Bamber’s associate. He just hoped luck was on his side for once, and he could do so before they got too far away from Framley Meadows.
Now that the organisation had turned its attention to one of London’s most vile gangsters: Terence Sayers, Marcus’ life had been chaotic. Since the investigation had started many months ago, the Star Elite had rapidly learned that Sayers’ network of crime stretched far wider than they had first thought. Investigating his crimes so they could close the network down, and put Sayers before a judge, had rapidly turned into one of the hardest investigations they had ever tackled. It had not only thrown them practically every kind of crime it was possible to commit, but it was seemingly endless work. As soon as one crime was solved, three more were uncovered.
As a result, Marcus had spent the better part of six months racing up and down the country, chasing leads into the man’s seemingly vast network of criminals involved in all sorts of crimes.
“I just wish it weren't so fraught all the time,” Marcus grumbled.
He wiped moisture off his face and shook his head to clear his vision. He was exhausted yet refused to give up. No matter where this lead took him, he would adjust and do whatever was necessary to capture the thief. He would be a veritable treasure-trove of information the Star Elite desperately needed right now.
He just didn’t expect his attempts to capture this particular thief would take so long.
“Curses,” Marcus whispered several hours later.
Even when he yawned widely, he didn’t take his eyes off the man he had been following for what felt like his entire life. Having spent most of the night still in pursuit of the escapee, he was tired, hungry, and in desperate need to get off his horse so they could both rest for a while.
He had no idea what the time was now but was positive that dawn couldn’t be too far away. His head ached from trying to peer through the darkness for so long. His back was numb from the many hours in the hard, unrelenting saddle. The horse kept trying desperately to stop, which made his job as a rider even harder because he had to keep coaxing the animal to carry on.
“What the hell?” he muttered under his breath when he caught sight of a silver sparkle of water up ahead.
It wasn’t only the water that captured his attention. It was the cluster of rooftops alongside it which drew his horrified gaze. He had no idea which village it was, but that was insignificant given the dangers that could lie within the shadowed and unfamiliar streets. If the man lived in the village, he would undoubtedly know every nook and cranny, hiding hole and shadow anyone could hide in. That would give their quarry a distinct advantage, and potentially leave Marcus and Joe unable to find him again, especially since neither had seen the man’s face.
As yet, Marcus had only ever seen the back of him, so he had no idea what hair or eye colour he had. In a village the size of the one up ahead, it would be impossible to find someone he had only ever seen from the back, on a horse, shrouded by a voluminous cloak.
“The last thing we need is a blasted village,” he grunted.
Joe cursed and studied the area around them.
“I don’t know how much longer we can carry on,” he murmured. “These horses are exhausted.”