Moments later, Wally entered the kitchen with a scowl on his face.
“What?” she snapped.
“He isn’t here,” Wally announced flatly.
“Is he in the sitting room?” Her worry grew when Wally shook his head.
“I have searched the house. He isn’t here.”
Hetty sighed, and threw her buttered bread onto the table before she left the room.
Now that she came to think about it, there had been no caterwauling last night, and nobody had knocked on the door to demand entrance just after midnight.
A cold hand of fear swept down her back as she thought about the carriage full of men who had visited the Carpenter’s house last night, but she immediately dismissed the two as being unconnected. They couldn’t be linked; they just couldn’t be. There was no reason for Meldrew to pester Simon again so soon. He had only been by the mill a couple of days ago to make another financial demand; with menaces.
“He has to be around here somewhere. The innkeeper won’t allow him to sleep at the tavern,” Hetty assured him. “He is probably in the barn again.”
“If he was in his cups, he wouldn’t have been able to make it to Charlie’s lodgings,” Wally sighed.
“Where are his lodgings?” Hetty asked curiously.
“The Dog and Ferret,” Wally replied absently. It was clear from the vague look on his face that he was worried. “I will go and take a look in the barn. You are probably right. He is just in the barn, that’s all.”
He didn’t wait for her to answer, and disappeared out of the kitchen door without a backward look.
Hetty watched him go, and only then realised that she didn’t even know Charlie’s surname. A flush of shame tainted her cheeks as she remembered the steamy embrace she had shared with him last night. Remorse for her wantonness suddenly swept through her with sufficient force that she stared at her breakfast in disgust before she wrinkled her nose up and shoved it to one side. To kiss anybody the way she had kissed Charlie was a scandal in its own right, but to do so with a man whose surname she didn’t know was shockingly bad.
Her anger at Wally suddenly evaporated, and was quickly replaced with regret.
She could understand his cautionary words now because essentially, he was right. Although she was attracted to Charlie, she hardly knew the man and had no business encouraging his affections. Especially since he had made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t staying in the area for long.
“Should we go and check Charlie’s lodgings, just in case they had gone to the Dog and Ferret because it’s closer?” Hetty suggested once Wally had completed a walk down the driveway and checked the road that led to the village, but had found no trace of their brother.
“I doubt that they would have made it all the way over to the other tavern, Hetty. It’s right on the other side of the village,” Wally sighed.
“We don’t know if they were drunk though. I mean, what is to say that they didn’t just decide to go to Charlie’s lodgings to play dominos or something?” She countered.
She tried to reassure herself that there was nothing amiss. Simon had probably fallen asleep somewhere, a
nd would stumble home in a couple of hours looking like he had spent the night beneath a hedge. She would have believed it as well, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was highly unusual for him not to come home at all.
“He is stopping at the Dog and Ferret,” Wally replied thoughtfully.
“Why don’t we go to the Dog and Ferret?” Hetty suggested enthusiastically. “If Charlie is there, he may be able to tell us where Simon is.”
Although she was as worried about Simon as Wally was, she was also concerned for Charlie’s welfare, and needed to see with her own eyes that he too was alright.
Wally considered that for a moment; then nodded. “Let’s go.”
Worried silence accompanied them on their journey to Charlie’s lodgings. Wally helped her down from the cart almost absently. They both looked worriedly at the windows above the front door for several moments before they made their way inside and went in search of the innkeeper.
“Have you not heard?” the man gawped at them. “He was taken to prison last night. Frederick Blagmire was murdered last night. Shot right through the heart in the woods near to the mill. Another man was with him. I think it was that man we have upstairs; Charlie something or other. They were caught red-handed they were; standing right over the body, so I hear.”
Hetty went cold all over and stared in horror at the innkeeper while she tried to absorb his words.
“Simon,” she whispered dully. “My brother Simon.”
The innkeeper looked regretful. “I am sorry, I thought you knew. It’s all over the village. Everyone’s talking about it.”