Barnaby looked at Wally and Simon. “You two need to stay here.”
Wally and Simon stared at each other. “We are coming too,” Wally protested.
“We can’t stay here,” Simon protested. “We have to do something to help find her. Hetty is our sister.”
“You have to stay here.” Charlie looked pointedly at Wally’s wild mane of red hair.
“He can colour it like I have,” Simon countered.
Charlie was already shaking his head. “You are both still recognisable to Meldrew. He knows what you look like.”
“I know, but he can recognise you too,” Simon protested.
“Yes, but I am Star Elite. Fully armed, sober, and able to work with my colleagues. Meldrew doesn’t stand a bloody chance, no matter how many jailers he has with him,” Charlie declared flatly.
The ruthless determination in his voice was enough to stave off any further objection Wally or Simon might have had.
They lapsed into disgruntled silence while the men from the Star Elite got themselves ready. Although the hour was late, Charlie knew that sleep was impossible. He wouldn’t rest because, now that he had managed to keep his life, he knew that he faced a battle for his future. A future that he knew must include his wife.
Once he was ready, he settled down at the table to wait.
Hetty stared at the shadows on the ceiling as she listened to shouts and whistles on the street below. The clip-clop of horses’ hooves sounded loud in the silence of the bedroom and, for the first time in her adult life, she was so frightened that she felt physically sick.
During the first couple of hours she had been in the tavern, she had listened to the sporadic calls outside, and prayed that they didn’t mean the convicts had been found.
Now, three hours later, she was becoming accustomed to the shouts and muted orders, and found relief in the knowledge that the jailers were still looking for the escaped convicts.
When Mabel snorted and turned over, Hetty looked at her friend through the darkness before she too turned over to stare blindly at the shutter that covered the window.
Inevitably, as they had done more and more over the last few days, her thoughts turned to Charlie. Now that she was alone, in the solitude of the midnight hour, she allowed herself to consider the enigma that he was.
The dimples that flashed in his cheeks when he smiled bespoke of a mischief that matched the twinkle in his beautiful grey eyes, and reminded her of a naughty boy who had done something he knew he shouldn’t. There was something about his quiet strength and calm demeanour that called to her. He was a man who was confident of his place in the world, and could be depended on in a time of crisis, but had not lost sight of the bounties that life could bring.
He was the kind of man that was difficult for anyone to forget.
If she was honest, she wasn’t sure what to make of the feelings she had for him. She was fairly confident that the ache in her heart was love, but then had no idea what love was, so had no way of knowing for definite. All she could do was think about how being near him made her feel; as though she was protected and cared for. The searing kiss he had scalded her with on his way to the gallows was something that still made her touch her lips in wonder and, once again, she felt her heart swell with something that felt distinctly like longing.
“Damn you, Cedric Meldrew,” she whispered into the darkness.
“Whasa?’” Mabel grumbled as she turned over once more.
“Nothing. Go back to sleep,” Hetty murmured.
She knew that she too should try to get some rest because tomorrow was likely to be a very busy day indeed, but her mind wouldn’t settle to anything other than the men who had escaped death today.
“Where are you now?” she whispered to Charlie whimsically.
Her only answer was a loud whistle blasted out directly beneath the window. Strangely, the sound continued to reassure her, for no other reason than it meant she had done her job well.
“Anything?” Marcus cursed when Barnaby shook his head.
“’Ere, what are you two doing out?” A jailer growled from the edge of the courtyard they were standing in. “Don’t you know everyone is supposed to stay inside?”
“We are going home,” Marcus replied.
“There shouldn’t be anyone out,” the man challenged with a frown.
“Is the town under curfew?” Barnaby grunted with his brows lifted. “It comes to something when a man can’t even drink his ale in peace.” He wondered if he was going to spend the night behind bars until the jailer shook his head.