Free One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1) by Rebecca King Page A

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    “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