To Catch A Thief (Saved By Desire 3)

Had they both come to Framley Meadow?

“It’s impossible,” Jeb murmured with a sigh.

Everything within him was screaming at him that it was not possible for the killer to have followed him all the way from London. Why would he? What would he possibly want with Jeb when the rest of the Star Elite were still on the streets in London?

The Star Elite work mostly in the middle of the night when the shadows were dark, and the only witnesses were largely the criminal element who they were there to catch. It would be considerably easier to capture, or kill one of them in London.

It was just too far-fetched; too ridiculous to even contemplate, to think that someone would follow him to Framley Meadow to give him a warning. Although he wanted to ignore the facts though, he had to question the many similarities between the two sets of circumstances. Two bodies had been found, both of whom had been strangled. There was also a thief in the area with a yen for expensive jewellery. Myers was demanding jewellery from a posh house. Jewellery he should not even have knowledge of. Not only that, but there were not one, but two strangers in the village who had both appeared at the same time as Jeb. He couldn’t forget the man who had attacked him; it hadn’t been Myers. Was Myers just waiting for the jewellery before he left? If so, where did the man who accosted him in the street fit into all of this? Why was he even in the village? Had he killed Tabitha and Mrs Banks? If so, why?

“Where are you off to now then?” Jeb murmured as he watched Myers leave the house.

Dusk had started to fall and had cast everything in rapidly darkening shadow. It helped to hide Jeb as he left his camouflage and followed closely behind - right to the woods beside Delilah’s house.

“I have told her, but she says no,” Roland began without preamble when he met his contact.

Jeb got into a good enough position to see the connection and recognised him as being the man who had threatened him in the street the other night.

So, they are working together, he mused, and settled back to listen.

The stranger growled. “She doesn’t get the choice.”

Jeb wracked his memory but wasn’t sure if he had seen either man in London before. Unfortunately, so many people crossed his path that unless they did something illegal, or he was following them, he barely gave them a second glance.

“I think I can persuade her,” Myers said a little too hesitantly to be convincing.

“Not good enough. She will do this,” the man growled. “I want those jewels. Someone is waiting for them. Don’t let me down. If you do not get those jewels then don’t come back.”

Myers swallowed and took a wary step back. “I will do my best, Bamber. If she doesn’t do it, I will,” he promised nervously.

“See that you do.” Bamber stepped toward Myers menacingly. “Don’t let me down on this. Once we have those jewels, we leave town. Make sure you leave no trace behind. I don’t want to see you again until we are back. Do you understand?”

Myers nodded again and looked warily around the woods as though he expected someone to pop out. Jeb wondered what kind of hold the stranger had on Myers to worry him so much, and decided right there and then that Myers would not make any meeting in London. Not without the Star Elite on his tail anyway.

“What do you have for me?” Bamber sniffed when Myers stared at him with wide eyes, temporarily frozen with fear.

Myers cautiously handed over a lumpy package that contained several small items.

“That’s good, but it is not enough. Get me those jewels and I will call it quits,” Bamber snapped.

“Fine,” Myers nodded energetically as he began to back away. “I will make sure you get them.”

“See that you do.”

“I will.

The man glared. “See that you do.” The threat hung in the air.

Myers remained silent, willing to give Bamber the last word if that was what he wanted as long as he could leave the woods with his life intact.

Bamber pocketed the parcel and didn’t even bother to look at Myers again. As silent as a wraith, he turned around and melted into the trees.

Just as quietly, Jeb followed.

Two days’ later, cold, tired, and hungry, Jeb watched Bamber disappear into dingy lodgings on a side street on the wrong side of London. To say the area was disreputable would be an understatement. Jeb had a gun and a knife on him but still felt vulnerable. As he sauntered casually down the road after his quarry, he could hear babies crying, women screaming, and men shouting from inside the ramshackle abodes he passed. Although the night was falling, children, barely covered against the elements, stood on doorsteps, their darkened, soot covered faces devoid of laughter and gaiety the likes of which children should be entitled to. The almost too still and silent way they watched him move through their neighbourhood was disturbing.

Once he had noted the address Bamber disappeared into, Jeb rubbed at the stubble on his jaw and yawned. Eager to get out of the area before someone tried to mug him he turned around and headed back down the street. He desperately needed something to eat, some sleep, and a shave because the beard he had started to grow over the last couple of days was really starting to irritate. In addition to that, he needed to get his colleagues to watch the property, and follow Bamber when he left the house. He couldn’t do it. He was exhausted. The journey over the last couple of days had been fraught with challenges. He had little money on him, no horse, and hadn’t had a change of clothes for longer than he cared to remember. Still, he had survived, although had yet to uncover what the man’s real name was given that every time he had stopped at a tavern he had used an alias. Jeb had, as a result, practically been on watch over the last couple of days and nights, and was now in desperate need of rest.

Before he left the area behind, he signalled a young child standing on the doorstep of a house two doors away from the lodgings.