Reluctantly, she left the bed, got dressed, and went in search of him.
She checked her old room, only to sigh when she found it empty. Making her way downstairs, she searched the downstairs rooms and finally came to a stop in the kitchen. The half-open scullery door warned her that wherever Marcus was, Ben was probably not far behind.
“Just what are you two up to?” she whispered with a shiver. If she was honest, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. What she could be sure of was that if Ben was with Marcus, he would be perfectly safe.
Quickly helping herself to a drink, she began to make her way back to her bedroom.
Her muted scream was loud in the night-time silence when she turned into the darkened corridor and heard a chilling voice coming from within the shadows.
“Well, well, well, the house is alive tonight,” Mr Gillespie drawled from the doorway of his bedroom.
“Oh, Mr Gillespie, I didn’t realise you were awake,” she gasped, willing her racing heart to settle.
“I am awake,” he mused wryly. “And so are you.”
He was indeed fully dressed, but there was something about him that was odd. Jess just couldn’t put her finger on what it was. She studied him. His eyes were cold and unwelcoming.
Her thoughts immediately turned to what had happened in the lane yesterday. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if it was him she had seen, but she didn’t want him to realise how scared she had been.
“I am sorry if I disturbed you. I just wanted something to drink,” Jess whispered. “Are you on your way out somewhere?”
She nodded to his clothing and watched Mr Gillespie looked down at himself.
“No, we are not,” he replied.
At that moment, Mr Ball and Mr Brammall appeared in the doorways of their rooms.
Suddenly, Jess knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that these men were sinister. Her gaze flew to Mr Gillespie, silently seeking reassurance, but the unrelenting hardness of his stare worried her.
You are in danger. Walk slowly toward the stairs and get out of here, she thought desperately.
“What have you done with Marcus?”
“We haven’t seen him. I thought you were accommodating him tonight,” Mr Gillespie drawled with a sneer.
He ran his gaze down the length of her meaningfully, very much like Lloyd had done the other week. Like last time, Jess shuddered with revulsion.
“Where is he now?” Ball demanded having lost all trace of his previous shyness still.
“Who?” Jess was starting to suspect who ‘he’ was already, and it wasn’t Ben.
“Your lover. Where is Mr Cauldwell now?”
Mr Gillespie stepped into a shaft of moonlight and revealed the wicked looking gun he had aimed at her.
Jess’ gaze fell to it. She instinctively took a step back from it but then froze when he immediately cocked it.
“I will shoot you before you even reach the top step,” he promised in a voice full of evil menace.
“I don’t know where he is,” Jess said. “I have just been looking for him.”
“Ah, so he took advantage of you and then scarpered, did he? That doesn’t surprise me,” Ball snorted derisively.
Jess didn’t deign to answer and contented herself with throwing him a withering look.
“I think I know where he has gone,” Gillespie murmured suddenly.
Rather than explain, he nodded toward Mr Brammall, who immediately hurried down the stairs and slammed his way out of the front door without a backward look.