Lies and Misdemeanours

“She is stronger than you think,” Barnaby warned. “She may look innocent and doe-like but she has a heart of a tiger, she does. She will make a good wife for you. She was worried sick this morning, but not for her own safety. She was worried that she would be prevented from doing her job properly and you would get hung.”

Charlie nodded. He still wasn’t sure if he should be proud or appalled.

“I can’t wait to meet her again,” Barnaby added quietly. “We saw her last night, but only briefly because she was making plans with Mabel. She had already decided with Wally that they had to do something. They had planned things with a few of the regulars at the tavern. When we turned up, they were a bit wary until we gave them a note from Sir Hugo. We didn’t really get much chance to plan much, but we agreed that it would be us who got you down from the gallows while Hetty made her way out of the crowds with Mabel. Wally and his friends were going to act as a distraction, or a barrier in the crowd to make sure that Meldrew’s men, or the jailers, weren’t able to get anywhere near any of us. It worked too – sort of.”

He threw an unrepentant grin at Charlie, who rolled his eyes.

“I am indebted to you for saving me,” Charlie replied. “God knows where I would be if it wasn’t for all of this help.”

“We would have still tried to save you,” Joshua replied.

“Thank God we didn’t have to hang on your feet,” Barnaby sighed fervently.

Joshua yawned. “None of us got any sleep last night. We all went through the plans so many times that we know it like the back of our hands.”

“The safe house, Afferley, doesn’t fall within Meldrew’s jurisdiction. If he turns up, we can kill him because we work in authority; legally, and have Sir Hugo to support us. If the man has the gall to knock on the door, we have the authority to demand he get the necessary paperwork in order to arrest any of us. By the time he does that, Sir Hugo will be here.”

The harshness in Barnaby’s hard voice was so uncharacteristic that Charlie turned to look at him carefully. He frowned at the ruthlessness he saw in the depths of Barnaby’s dark eyes, but was very glad that the wheels within the Star Elite had turned so swiftly.

“The whole plan has, so far, gone better than we had hoped,” Barnaby assured him. “Hetty has done her job superbly, in spite of her worry.”

He looked over at Charlie and watched him look in the direction of the town for the fifth time in a handful of minutes, and frowned thoughtfully.

“We will keep them safer if we just keep moving,” he warned Charlie, just in case the man was thinking about going back, in spite of what they had said.

“They know we married,” Charlie growled. He heaved a sigh of disgust and shook his head.

Although he had considered that marrying Hetty had been the best course of action to take at the time, the association between the two of them now could very well condemn her.

“What?”

Charlie looked at his colleagues. “I married Hetty two days ago, while I was waiting to be hung.”

“Why?” Barnaby growled with a frown. “Last night nobody mentioned that Hetty was your wife. We just asked for her when we got to the mill house because she had sent the letter to Sir Hugo.”

“I thought it was the best way to keep her out of Meldrew’s clutches. If I was hung this morning, Sir Hugo would make sure she was protected while Meldrew was brought to justice. I wanted her safe.” Charlie cursed bitterly. “We married in the jailer’s office. For God’s sakes, she is my wife. Meldrew knows it.” He glared at his colleagues. “The bastard will want to get hold of her, if only to draw me out. She is the wife of a condemned convict who has just escaped his brand of justice. Right now, she is about as wanted as I am.”

Barnaby whistled through his teeth at the same time that Marcus cursed.

“We have to get her,” Barnaby growled.

Charlie sighed. “I know. I just hate the thought of her having to try to get out of there by herself, especially having heard about everything she has done for me. It doesn’t seem right that she face Meldrew alone.”

He was stunned by the fact that she had been so incredibly brave. It was humbling, and left him deeply touched and, if he was honest, more in love with her than ever.

Silence settled over them all as they rode through the countryside. Everyone scoured the area but, for all intents and purposes, they could have been on the only people in the county because they didn’t see any sign of anyone as they rode across field after field toward Afferley.

“Let’s get you to the safe house and wait for the others. Then we will go back and fetch her.”

With no other option available, Charlie reluctantly nodded.

Hetty was cold, miserable and exhausted.

“Do you think everything is alright?” She whispered to Mabel, who looked equally as tired.

The entire town was in the process of being searched from top to bottom. Every inch of every room had been turned upside down. Thankfully, no trace of the four prisoners who had escaped death earlier that afternoon had been found as yet.

Hetty felt a fine sheen of sweat break out on her brow as she watched the heavily cloaked men stalk arrogantly down the road. She was sure that she had ‘guilty’ written somewhere across her forehead for the world to see. Surely the jailers would recognise her – wouldn’t they?