He smirked in satisfaction as he withdrew a highly decorated roll of parchment from his pocket. He broke the War Office seal, and turned the unrolled parchment around for Meldrew to read the arrest warrant that had been penned, and signed, by the Lord Chief Justice himself.
Meldrew’s face fell. A dark frown settled over his brow. He glanced at Hugo, then back at the parchment.
Charlie wondered if Meldrew was going to just shoot himself and be done with it. The reality of his future seemed to land on him with the full force of hammer blows. He didn’t move, speak or even blink. He just continued to sit and stare blankly at the parchment, as though he wasn’t sure where it had come from.
“The War Office, you say?” Meldrew repeated dully.
Hugo nodded. “We are the Star Elite.”
Meldrew sucked in a quick breath. His gaze flew to Charlie, who nodded slowly and stared dispassionately back at his nemesis.
“I see that you have heard of us,” Hugo sighed.
Meldrew nodded slowly. His mind was clearly racing; trying desperately to ignore the facts as they had been presented to him.
“You had better come clean, Meldrew, and do it quickly, because you are going to jail. We have work to do, and are not going to spend all night talking to you,” Charlie warned.
Meldrew merely looked at him before he reached forward and dipped a quill into the pot of ink at his elbow. He picked up a piece of parchment from beside him and began to write.
“If you sign this statement declaring that I won’t face death by hanging, I will tell you where she is,” Meldrew sighed as he pushed the parchment across the desk toward Charlie and Hugo.
Hugo and Charlie shared a look before Hugo picked up the parchment and read it.
“Who?” Hugo challenged. He handed the parchment to Charlie to read without taking his eyes off Meldrew.
“The woman.”
Charlie froze. His gaze lifted slowly and met Meldrew’s. In spite of his situation, the former magistrate had the audacity to smirk at Charlie, then lean back in his chair while he waited for Hugo and Charlie to sign his pardon.
“If my wife dies, I promise you that I will make sure that your death at the hangman’s noose is as painful as possible. There shall be no mercy.” Charlie’s words dripped lethal menace.
Meldrew looked blandly at him before he turned his attention to Hugo, who slowly tore up the pardon.
“We know where she is,” Hugo growled with a smirk. He stood back, and nodded to Barnaby. “Take him to Derby jail, but arrest Gembleby while you are there. Send word to the War Office. We need reinforcements to look after the jail while a new, more trustworthy magistrate can be found. Actually, go to Tattington and get General McArthur to send some red coats to take over the running of the jail. They will suffice until we can get this mess sorted out.”
As he spoke, Meldrew slowly sat forward in his chair. Disbelief clouded his eyes as he looked from Hugo to Charlie. He turned, somewhat panic stricken, to Barnaby, who unceremoniously hauled him to his feet and began to drag him toward the door.
“You are coming with us.”
“She is safe and well,” Hugo assured Meldrew as he was dragged past. “My men are with her now.”
In the doorway, Meldrew looked back. “She can’t be. She is dead, I tell you. We know she helped them escape, and has paid for it.”
“If you have -” Charlie stepped forward only to be held back by Hugo.
Barnaby hurried the man through the door before anyone could say anything else to antagonise an already dire situation, and left Hugo to console Charlie.
“Do you think he really has her?” Charlie demanded.
He didn’t wait for Hugo to answer though, and barged past his colleagues as he raced through the darkness toward his horse.
“It may be bluster,” Hugo warned as he followed. “Don’t get angry until we know for definite that he isn’t just tormenting you.”
“We should interrogate him until he gives us answers,” Charlie snapped, and quickly mounted his horse. He glanced back at Meldrew, who was protesting vociferously about being made to ride on horseback.
“Anyone as arrogant as he is will only play with us. He will enjoy being in a position of knowing something we don’t. I am not going to spend the night bartering with the bastard. We have to look for Hetty. The first place we are going to look is Afferley,” Hugo ground out. “If she is there, we will come back and deal with Meldrew.”
Charlie nodded. He didn’t ask what they were going to do if she wasn’t there.