“Let’s get the verger,” Hugo sighed as he pushed to his feet.
The words launched everyone into action. Hetty jumped, and tried to remember what had been said over the past couple of minutes that she had missed.
What had she missed? She had been so busy with her own musings that she hadn’t really paid attention to what had just been discussed.
Her eyes flew to Charlie, who winked at her. “We will be back soon.”
He threw Wally and Simon a cautious look before he turned his attention to Hetty. The rest of the men from the Star Elite quietly made their way out of the room to prepare the horses, leaving Charlie to talk to Hetty and her brothers.
“Right now, you just need to sit and wait here. We will have to bring him back here because there is nowhere else we can take him. Not until Meldrew is arrested anyway.” He turned to look at Simon and Wally. “Pick a room at the back of the house, and remove everything from it, then secure the shutters in some way. We will take Snetterton straight to it, and will keep him there under armed guard until he can go to jail.”
“Leave that to us. We are damned all use when it comes to the work you do, but we can keep a little oink like Snetterton under guard while you are gathering evidence,” Simon growled.
Charlie nodded and turned to Hetty. He read the worry in the depths of her eyes, and wished that he could find something for her to do so that she didn’t go quietly out of her mind.
“You need to keep an eye on the driveway, and the woods around the house. For God’s sakes, don’t go anywhere. If you see anyone coming to the house, lock all of the doors and stay out of sight. Don’t challenge them,” he ordered.
Hetty nodded. Words tumbled through her but she couldn’t put voice to them with her brothers present.
Once again, Charlie seemed to understand and, for several long moments, their gazes met and held as a silent interplay took place.
He silently willed her to stay strong while he was gone.
She pleaded with him to be safe and hurry home.
In the end, he dropped a kiss on her cheek before he stalked out of the room.
She hurried to the window and watched him walk across the yard to the waiting horses. The men quickly thundered out of the yard, leaving silence in their wake.
It was an impressive sight, and one that should have reassured her, if it hadn’t looked so damned threatening.
“You love him, don’t you,” Wally murmured gently as he watched the riders disappear around the side of the house.
Hetty kept her gaze locked on the billowing dust they had kicked up in the yard while she sought to find a way to answer him.
Did she? She was fairly certain that she did, but how could she be sure? What was love?
“I do,” she whispered.
“He will deal with this, Hetty,” Simon assured her. “You only have to watch the way they work to know that these men know what they are doing. Look what they have managed to do so far. They have evidence, and are making sure that the key people, those who pose such a risk to us, are brought to justice in ways that mean that they won’t escape the harshest sentences.”
“As soon as they have done their work, we can go home and forget all about Meldrew and the people he has had working for him,” Wally assured her.
“You can,” Hetty challenged. “But what about me? I am his wife now. Where do I go?”
“You won’t find a better, more reliable man than Charlie,” Simon assured her.
“I know, but I cannot help but worry about the work he does. I mean, look at what has happened to him since he has been here. All because he came to investigate his friend’s death.” Her voice quivered with the strength of the emotion she struggled to hide from her brothers. She sucked in a deep breath to try to steady herself and keep the tumultuous emotions at bay, but couldn’t do anything about the tears that trickled slowly down her face. “He puts his life at risk every day, and just seems to blaze about it.”
Wally sighed as he drew her into a hug. “This could have happened to any of us.”
“Look at us,” Simon added. “I mean, we were going about our lives, minding our own business. We didn’t do anything even remotely dangerous, apart from drink too much in the tavern at night, but we were still hassled by Meldrew. I was still put on those gallows, all for doing nothing more than saying no to someone’s greed.”
“There are no guarantees in life for anyone, Hetty, you know that,” Wally added. “At least Charlie is doing something commendable with his life. He is stopping men like Meldrew from hurting innocent people, and can hardly be criticised for it.”
“I am not criticising him for it,” Hetty argued. “I just don’t like him putting himself in danger every day.”
“Everyone is in danger every day of their lives. Things happen, Hetty. Things that are unexpected,” Simon argued.