Lies and Misdemeanours

“There is a man who drops in. He is about Hetty’s height, with an ample stomach on him.”

“It’s Simpson,” Wally growled.

Charlie nodded, and described hair and eye colour.

“That’s the one,” Joshua agreed. “He dropped in and out on several occasions while I was watching the place. There appears to be two other men who are there all the time.”

“Simpson could be providing Meldrew with information and, in exchange, gets the new tavern as a reward for his compliance,” Hugo murmured thoughtfully.

“There is more,” Joshua warned.

“Has Blagmire’s wife handed over ownership?”

Joshua shook his head. “Nope. She just upped sticks and left. She has the paperwork for the tavern with her. She has confirmed that Meldrew had tried to pressure her husband into paying ‘protection’ money. Blagmire adamantly refused and stood his ground, even when Meldrew tried to ruin the business through blocking trade from getting there. They stuck it out for as long as they could but, eventually, the money ran out. Still, Blagmire refused to give Meldrew anything, especially since he ran the business dry. He said he would rather die than hand Meldrew a damned thing; which of course, he did. The evening that Blagmire was murdered, Meldrew’s men demanded a meeting with him. Rather than threaten him in the tavern like they usually did, they said they wanted a word with Blagmire and he had to go with them.”

“It was the last his wife saw of him,” Hugo drawled.

Hetty gasped. “That poor woman.”

“They took him to his death in the woods,” Wally murmured quietly.

“They set us up,” Simon sighed as he ran his hands down his face.

Joshua threw a roll of parchment onto the desk. “I got the wife to sign a statement saying that the last she saw of her husband was with Meldrew’s men. She has also confirmed that Meldrew had demanded Blagmire pay ‘protection’ money prior to his death. She is going to stay at her sister’s house, so we need to tell her when it is safe for her to return to the tavern.”

“I can’t see how she could hope to run it herself,” Wally sighed. “Not if the business is damaged.”

“If Meldrew’s men intend to run it as a business, they have to make it viable again,” Charlie replied.

“She can sell it though, and set herself up somewhere else,” Hetty argued.

“We need as much of this kind of evidence as we can get,” Hugo said. He unrolled the parchment and read the contents. “I will put this somewhere safe.”

“What about the verger?” Barnaby added. “He has links with Meldrew. We know that from last night. We need to get him to sign a confession, and get him out of the way.”

“We need to get the tavern owner from the Horse and Carriage too,” Charlie growled.

“We need the statement from the verger first. We need to know if the verger murdered Arthur, or whether Meldrew’s men carried out the killing. We can be fairly certain that Meldrew didn’t murder Blagmire personally, but he ma

y have ordered the death.”

“It’s the same thing, surely? I mean, ordering someone you employ to murder an innocent person has got to be the same as actually killing someone with your own hands, hasn’t it?” Hetty asked.

Her stomach churned at the very thought of anyone being that ruthless, but she knew it happened and couldn’t ignore it, especially given that it was happening on her doorstep.

“It is one and the same thing, Hetty,” Hugo nodded. “Demanding protection money from businesses he has no legal recourse to collect is also illegal.”

“Punishable by death?” Charlie asked hopefully, only to wrinkle his nose up in disgust when Hugo slowly shook his head.

“He would get a lengthy prison term which, for a magistrate, is bad enough. However, given Meldrew’s penchant for associating with known thugs, it probably won’t be too much of an ordeal for someone like him. Whatever the case, I want him at the end of the noose.” He threw Hetty an apologetic glance. “I am sorry, my dear, but Meldrew has contacts far and wide. Heaven only knows how many people would be prepared to step into the breach, and keep the protection rackets going, if we don’t make an example of someone like Meldrew. I know it sounds ruthless but, for the sake of putting a stop to his crimes once and for all, we must make an example of him and ensure that everyone, up and down the country is aware of his crimes and the severity of the punishment they incur.”

“Men like Meldrew rarely give up their lives of crime,” Charlie said. “If he had, say, ten years in prison, he would most probably come out after it and start all over again, just not as a magistrate.”

“He is a horrible creature,” Hetty murmured.

She felt dirty just talking about him, and wanted to take a bath to wash the whole sordid mess away. She was suddenly very glad that Charlie was there, but was left to wonder how he dealt with matters like this on a daily basis, and didn’t go quietly out of his mind.

She suddenly had a new respect for the work the men from the Star Elite did, but was horrified by just how casually they talked about people’s lives. It was something she found more than a little disturbing. However, she couldn’t quite bring herself to be too critical of them for it. After all, they were working to protect innocent lives from the likes of Meldrew of his men; who had proven that they had little respect for other people. So, in essence, didn’t deserve anyone else’s consideration.