Mistaken Identity (Saved By Desire 4)

“They are under guard,” Barnaby replied. “Jacob’s around here somewhere with them. They won’t get away from him, even if they do wake up.”

Marcus nodded, happy to leave that part of the clean-up operation to the men.

“You may want to stay out here,” Barnaby warned with a cautious look at Jess.

Jess saw what he meant but wasn’t going to be thwarted. She didn’t want to be prevented from witnessing the harsh reality of what she had accommodated in her home.

“I need to see for myself what they have been doing. These criminals have dragged me into this. I deserve to know who they truly are.”

Barnaby opened his mouth to object, and looked at Marcus worriedly, but Jess swept past him. Neither man had the time to haul her back, and stop her entering the kitchen.

Marcus followed her and swore at the scene that awaited them.

Placing his gun into his cloak pocket, he put his hands on his hips and surveyed the contents of the table Kieran and Joe were rifling through.

“Now why would you do that?” he murmured as he eyed Smithers’ body swinging silently from the rafters. “Or did someone else do it to you?”

He knew the dead man wasn’t going to give him any answers so turned his attention to the rest of the room. It was clear that the gang had abandoned it

quickly. Papers and drawings were strewn haphazardly across the floor in a trail that led straight to the fireplace. The flames that had once burnt there had died down now. However, visible in the ash were the edges of the unburnt papers. Marcus scooped the untouched papers out of harm’s way and put them on the table before he turned to the rest of the contents that littered the wooden surface.

“What is it?” Jess asked, staring at the various pieces of equipment that helped cover the entire surface of the table-top.

“Forgery,” Marcus replied.

Barnaby peered up into the face of Smithers and shook his head. “He must have a lot to hide.”

Reassured by the calm, unflappable manner of the well-armed men in the house, Jess began to relax for the first time that morning. Wandering around, she studied the ghost of the life of Mr Grant, and the left-over items of the men who had used it for their crimes.

Eventually, she returned to Marcus’ side.

“They look like gems,” she whispered as she studied the tiny pieces of brilliant stones Marcus was poking through.

“They aren’t the gems they had stashed in your house,” Marcus replied. “Ben found those. Thankfully, he had the foresight to remove them before the house collapsed. Unfortunately, we do not have the evidence they were in Sayers’ possession at some point.”

“We can continue to call him Sayers’ for the time being until we have proof of his real identity,” Barnaby warned.

Jess picked up what looked like a plate of some kind that was still in the process of being carved. “It looks like a banker’s note.”

“The man you know as Ball is nothing more than a thug. He is as dumb as anyone could be. He doesn’t have the intelligence for something like this or the patience. Ball is a fighter; a bully. This is too intellectual. This is Abernathy’s work, or Brammall’s.”

“Where is everyone?” Jess asked hesitantly.

“They are all seated in a line at the bottom of the garden. I have sent someone to the gaol to fetch the cart. It should be here within the hour,” Barnaby replied. “We can gather everything up and take a look at all of the evidence once they are behind bars.”

“Carruthers is with them,” Marcus said.

Jess’ gaze flew to him. “Lloyd can go too.”

Marcus nodded and smiled. “You know the man was apt to bend the law to serve his purposes. Well, he has now lost his job, and his reputation. When he does get out of prison, he will never get a position of authority again.”

“Good,” Jess replied with an emphatic nod.

Ben stepped back into the room. “You need to come and see this.”

He nodded toward the room behind him and led everyone to it. Not all of them could fit inside because Kieran was already in the cramped confines. They did manage to get close enough to see that inside the room was a long bench littered with all sorts of paraphernalia. What drew everybody’s attention was the table in the centre of the room, and the unfinished sparkling diamond and ruby necklace that lay right in the middle of it.

“That’s why they wanted the gems,” Marcus murmured.