Chapter
4
“Well?” Tavian Dinescu glared at the
two men standing on the other side of the desk. “Speak
up!”
“She wasn’t there,” Vasili said,
scuffling his feet.
“But it wasn’t empty,” Ivan
added.
“What do you mean?” Dinescu
demanded.
“There was a man,” Ivan said. “Big
fella. Scar down one side of his neck. Looked dangerous, if you ask
me.”
Dinescu frowned. He’d been unaware that
anyone was currently living in the castle. “Who was
it?”
“He didn’t give his name,” Vasili
replied. “And I didn’t ask.”
Dinescu looked at Ivan. “What about
you?”
Ivan shook his head. “Never seen him
before. Hope I never see him again. There was something about him .
. . something kind of spooky.”
Dinescu looked at him disdainfully.
“Spooky?”
Ivan shrugged.
Dinescu made a dismissive gesture with
his hand. Had one of the heirs come to claim the place? It had been
years since anyone had occupied the castle on the hill. How long
had the fellow been there? No one had reported seeing anyone new in
town. Perhaps he would look into it. As chief of police, he had
every right to make sure that the person occupying Wolfram Castle
had a right to be there. But he would look into that later. Right
now, his main concern was finding his niece.
He glanced at Ivan and Vasili. “That’ll
be all.”
Frowning, Dinescu watched the two men
shuffle out of his office. Where the hell was Elena? His men had
searched the entire town. He, himself, had questioned every man,
woman, and child, but to no avail. No one had seen
her.
He slammed his hand on the edge of the
desk, an oath rising to his lips. Dammit. She couldn’t have just
vanished into thin air.
So, she had run away, in which case
someone must have helped her, but who? Everyone else in the village
was accounted for. Try as he might, he couldn’t believe she had
found the courage to run off on her own, yet there was no other
answer. Where would she go? As far as he could tell, she hadn’t
taken anything with her, so she couldn’t have gone far. He would
find her, and when he did, he would make her pay.
Scowling, he paced back and forth, his
anger growing. He had lusted after the girl since she was thirteen
years old, patiently biding his time while he waited for her to
grow up. He had discouraged the young men who had wanted to take
her out. He frowned. Had she been meeting one of them behind his
back? Someone from another town, perhaps? No, that was
impossible.
Where had she gone?
He paused to stare out the front
window. It had been a hard year for the townspeople. Tourism had
been down due to a bad turn in the economy. Perhaps the offer of a
sizable reward for information regarding her whereabouts would
yield results.