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Marcus nodded his thanks. “For now, just keep your eyes and ears open. If you see them, try to carry on as normal. Don’t question them. Try not to behave any differently in front of them, and do not start to rummage through their rooms. They will be very acute to things like that. If you do have to go out after dark, watch your back. Now, tell me, where did your cash come from, and why doesn’t Jess know about it?”
Ben sighed. “I have taken a job over at the brewery in Retterton. I am just a runner. I haul kegs and the like. It’s hard work, but it’s a job. I am trying to save up. That’s the only secret I have.”
“To repair this place?” Marcus asked, studying the peeling paint on the ceiling.
“No. Try to buy both me and Jessica tickets to somewhere else. She doesn’t want to sell this place but, given that our guests are criminals facing arrest, we are going to be in serious financial trouble in the not too distant future.”
“You didn’t know that when you took the job, though,” Marcus said.
“No. I just wanted to get some money together. I planned to pressure Jess into leaving here. Jess won’t sell the place. I have tried many times over the years to persuade her to take a look at some of the other villages in the area, but she just won’t budge.”
Marcus’ ears pricked up. “Is she so attached to this place?”
Ben shook his head. “No, but I think she is worried that it is in such a bad state, nobody will want to buy it. If it was sold, we wouldn’t get much for it. Nevertheless, I think we should cut our losses and go. Jess just won’t hear of it.”
“Would you go, even if Jess didn’t come with you?” Marcus studied him and watched the guilt on the lad’s face. “There is nothing wrong with wanting a life of your own.”
“She is my sister. I don’t want just to abandon her, but I hate it here. She works such long hours, but the house is falling apart around her. I just thought that if I
stopped working, she would get fed up of doing my chores too and would at least think about moving somewhere else,” Ben sighed.
“So you took a job at the tavern to earn some money so that one day you could move on, even if Jess adamantly refused to leave,” Marcus murmured.
Ben’s reluctant nod said everything about just how miserable the lad was.
“Well, the problem will sort itself out eventually, Ben,” Marcus warned him. “The guests will be arrested in time, and this house will then be without lodgers.”
Ben nodded. He didn’t look phased at the prospect of leaving at all. “If we don’t have any guests we cannot run a lodging house. Jess will have to give up and move somewhere else.”
“Why don’t you like it here?” Marcus asked curiously.
“It is too much work, and it is decaying around us. Jess is worried all the time. She used to laugh a lot, but now hardly ever raises a smile. She doesn’t complain, but you saw the room she occupied. I thought the scullery was bad enough, but her room has pots everywhere because the room leaks. It is as cold as Hades in the height of summer because the tree outside blocks the light. I don’t have the tools to cut it back, though, and cannot afford to buy any.”
Marcus yawned. “Well, I have plans for your sister, and they don’t involve her living here.”
He sensed Ben was going to start to ask him questions, but he didn’t want to discuss them until he had thought them over a bit more.
“Right, well it is time I was off to my bed. I will lock up and make sure the house, what’s left of it, is secure. Meantime, I think you need to tell your sister about that job.”
“Which one?” Ben grinned.
Marcus smiled back. “Both.”
“I will think about it,” Ben replied.
Marcus knew Ben wouldn’t tell Jess, just in case she put a stop to either. Hopefully, if everything went to plan, Ben would be rather busy working for the Star Elite by the time she found out about his work for them. Marcus hoped that by then she would be too busy with her new life to be all that bothered.
Minutes later he let himself into his bedchamber and froze when he realised someone was already there. His smile grew as he closed the door behind him and locked it. He divested himself of his clothes as he crossed the room until, by the time he reached the bed, he was naked. The smile that curved his lips grew wider when he realised she had also left her clothes on the floor beside the bed. Settling down, he curled around her, and promptly fell asleep.
When he woke up in the morning, he realised he had not only had his first good night’s sleep in, well, months, but he had also forgotten to get any work done. Still, there were benefits to waking up in bed with a woman in his arms, and he quickly set about taking advantage of each and every one of them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Later that morning, although Marcus had already eaten breakfast with Jess, he took a seat at the table in the dining room with the other guests. He wanted to take a closer look at them. Unfortunately, he got no more clues. Their disguises were either so good that nobody noticed them, or the men weren’t in disguise. In which case, either one of them could be Sayers.
“God in Heaven,” Marcus grumbled once the last of the guests had walked out of the house.
“What’s that?” Jess asked, peering over his shoulder to watch Mr Brammall turn out of the gate. “What’s wrong?”
