One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1)

“As far as I know they don’t kill. They just pick-pocket,” Barnaby warned. “Although they are violent, as far as we are aware they haven’t been known to kill.”

“The pick-pockets I saw wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. They were barely old enough to reach my chest. They wouldn’t have the power, or the motive.” Luke described the youngest pick-pocket he had chased, and very nearly captured.

“Yet they outran you,” Barnaby coughed around a smile.

“That damned woman screamed,” Luke protested. He knew his friend was baiting him but was too busy battling his temper to pay much attention.

“Were the pick-pockets a diversion to allow the killer to get away? Was the woman working with them do you think?” Luke’s eyes met Barnaby’s. “Until we can unravel this then we have to assume that all the incidents are linked. The woman has to be connected to the body in some way, and one or either of them has to be linked to the pick-pockets. We can’t just ignore the possibility. We were the only ones in the park this morning, aside from the person in the woods who I chased out onto the high street.”

“And lost,” Barnaby added.

“Look, I got snarled up by a barrow man,” Luke protested.

“I am just jesting,” Barnaby soothed. Secretly he wondered what else had happened to get Luke so riled but knew that now was not the time to ask. Luke was usually one of the calmest members of the Star Elite. To see him so rattled was a testament to just how difficult his morning had been, and just how much it annoyed him to lose not one but three people.

“Given that the pick-pockets, Poppy, and the dead man, were the only people here this morning, we have to assume they are all connected. It is deuced odd for all of you to be out and about so early in the morning. You know you were here for a good reason. They can’t have been. For a body to turn up in a park that was unreasonably busy – well – we cannot dismiss a connection just because we can’t make sense of it yet. They were in the area at the time that a body turns up. That in its own right is suspicious enough, especially with all the assaults around here that have been reported of late. If they are innocents in all of this why were they stalking around the park so early in the morning? It isn’t the time that pick-pockets usually wander the parks. Not when most people are still abed in any case. Nor is it usually the time when single ladies take a walk unchaperoned. No, they were all here for a reason. We just don’t know whether that reason is either the dead body, or the woman, or even the man in the trees.”

His concerned gaze met Luke’s. They both appeared to be thinking the same thing because they both turned to study their surroundings a little more closely.

“I chased someone out of the park,” Luke sighed. “Was he a diversion for the real killer who was still hiding in the woods? If everyone else is innocent, could we overlook the one person who might be guilty? After all, everyone else was out in the open. Visible. The hider was standing in shadows clearly with a need to hide. Was he waiting until the woman left the area to move the body out of sight?” He frowned at the spot on the path where he had last seen the corpse. “The corpse didn’t get up and walk himself home. Someone moved him, but it couldn’t be the woman because she wasn’t big enough or strong enough. I doubt it was the pick-pockets either. They were long gone.”

“For strangulation of this kind, on someone as big as you or I, it is safe to assume the killer is a man. It is highly unlikely a woman would have the strength. If she was involved she didn’t actually kill the man herself. Whether she was covering for the real killer is yet to be known. That said, we cannot lose sight of the possibility that they both may have been taken by the killer. After all, we all know just how vulnerable a woman can be out all alone.”

Luke felt an unfamiliar pang of unease shimmer through him. He had never felt panic like this before. Worry, yes; panic, most definitely not. It wasn’t in his nature to fret about anything, yet the thought of that stunning young woman ending up the same way as the corpse he had fished out of the river left him feeling strangely unsteady on his feet.

“Come on,” Barnaby sighed when Luke didn’t answer.

“Where are we going?” he asked. After one last look at the damp patch beneath his feet, Luke quickly followed his colleague.

“We are going to find that dead body.” Barnaby threw Luke a warning look. “Hopefully we won’t find that woman dead too.”

Luke fervently agreed and began to search the woods. They didn’t need to discuss it to know that it was the most likely place they would find the body. However, the more Luke searched, the more the cold hard knot of fear began to form deep in the pit of his stomach. It was sufficiently strong enough to leave him wondering how someone he had met only briefly; who had appeared in his life and brought with her more questions than answers; could have such a profound effect upon him.

“Here,” Barnaby called quietly about a half hour later. He kept his voice low in deference to a nanny walking her young charges along one of the paths just a few feet away and waited for Luke to join him. “Are you all right?” Barnaby asked when Luke appeared. His concern grew as he witnessed the paleness of his friend’s cheeks and the visible tremor in his hands. It was most unlike Luke to be shaken by anything; much less the sight of a corpse, many of which Barnaby knew Luke had handled in the past.

Luke nodded. He was relieved to note that the body Barnaby had just found was the man he had fished out of the river, and not Poppy. Determined to keep his mind on the task at hand, and off the disturbing emotions that were starting to unfurl deep within, Luke threw Barnaby a dour look.

“Do you recognise him?”

Barnaby studied the dead man’s face for a moment then shook his head. “He isn’t someone I have ever come across but, from the look of his clothing, I cannot see him taking a pint down at the Dog and Ferret, can you?”

Luke snorted and pushed to his feet. “He is one of the ton.”

“We need to get Sir Hugo to take a look. If anyone is likely to recognise him, he will.”

“Sir Hugo is at home in Cornwall isn’t he? I thought I heard Marcus mention that one of the children had recently caught chicken pox which had spread throughout the entire family

– including their father.”

Barnaby grinned at the mental image of his boss being covered from head to foot in small, red, and very itchy spots. “I am not sure. If he is still out of action then we will have to speak to Simon Ambrose. Now he is here because I spoke to him last week. His was grousing about the children wrecking the house.”

“He shouldn’t have so many of them,” Luke replied with a grin.

“Six at the last count,” Barnaby smirked.

Wild horses would never get him to acknowledge it publically but Luke rather envied Simon his lifestyle. Although his boss always moaned about the chaos his ever growing brood brought to his life, there was always an unholy light of mischief in his eyes that assured everyone that he didn’t care one bit what carnage was caused. They were his children, and he was proud of them. To Luke, children were always something that belonged to someone else. In his youth he had never once stopped to consider having a family of his own. However, now that he was getting on a bit, and the world was starting to feel a little jaded, he began to wonder if it was time to settle down.

Poppy’s face immediately sprang to mind, but he quickly blanked it out. It took far more effort than he wanted to acknowledge to force his attention back to the pick-pockets and the dead man, but he set the strength of his reaction to her being the mother of his children to one side to consider later. All right so she was beautiful but there were plenty of stunning women in the world. What was it about Poppy that brought about such keen interest? He couldn’t consider her anything more than a suspect in a murder right now. It was foolish to see her in any other light other than someone who had plenty to hide. Why then did he want to help her? Why then was he almost desperate to find her again just so he can reassure himself that she really was alright?