Lies and Misdemeanours (20 page)

He took a few moments to study each book closely before he gathered them into a neat pile, and added several pieces of parchment he had found in the drawers. He selected three more books out of the drawer. The writing in them was different, but one appeared to be a diary of some sort that had been hidden away at the back of the drawer.

Hopefully it would be Arthur’s, and would provide them with details about what had gone on in the days leading to his death.

“Let’s go,” Hugo said as he gathered the books and papers.

The house was still and silent and, although there were no tell-tale snores from Snetterton yet, it was well over an hour since the man had retired for the night. Satisfied that they had done everything they could for now, both men silently let themselves out.

The following morning, Hetty rolled over in bed and contemplated recent events. While it was nice to be able to lie somewhere soft and not worry about being crept up on, the events of the last few days weighed heavily on her mind and left her unable to settle.

Last night had been restless to say the least. Dawn had started to break out on the horizon before she had finally found sleep, but there had still been no sign of Charlie.

As a result of her worry, she was now groggy, tired and miserable.

Hetty threw the covers back, and hurried to the window. There was no sign of their horses outside.

Were they alright? Had Meldrew got them? Where were they?

Her stomach was in knots by the time she hurried downstairs. The sound of voices in the study drew her toward the door, but indecision made her hesitate.

Before she could decide what to do, a husky voice rumbled in her ear.

“Good morning.”

She spun around with a squeak, and almost slumped with relief to find Charlie beside her.

“Morning,” she replied.

Before she could say anything else, he captured her lips in a very thorough kiss that left her struggling to gather any will to be angry with him for worrying her so much.

“I take it that you didn’t sleep either?” he murmured gently. He knew from the slightly grumpy look on her face, and the darker circles beneath her eyes that she hadn’t.

“What happened last night?” she demanded with a frown. “Did everyone get back safely? Did you get any information? What took you so long?”

Charlie grinned at her. “Of course we got the information we need,” he chided. “We always do.” He squinted at the wall beside her. “Everyone got back safely, of course. We took as long as we need to take in order to make sure that everyone was safe.”

The temptation to kiss her again was strong. He coughed and considered at the study door for a moment. Before he could take advantage of their brief moment of privacy though, Marcus stomped past them with a scowl on his face.

“News,” he snapped as he stalked straight into the study. “Morning Hetty,” he called.

Charlie looked at Hetty. “Come on, let’s go and see what’s gone wrong now.”

They arrived in time to see Marcus slap a broadsheet onto the desk in front of Hugo, who was busy poring through the papers and books they had found in the verger’s house.

“You aren’t going to like it,” he warned Charlie.

“What?” Charlie frowned and picked up the broadsheet. “Oh, no,” he whispered as he read the main headline.

“What?” Hetty demanded, and moved to his side to read the news.

“More hangings,” Charlie said flatly. “Meldrew’s got himself more victims.”

He glanced over at Simon and Wally, before he read out the names of the new convicts who had been arrested for helping two condemned prisoners escape execution. Their punishment would be meted out two days hence, once the new gallows were completed.

“The gallows are being constructed on the upper floor of the jail,” Marcus growled. “The prisoners are going to be pushed out of the window. The gallows are being attached as a framework around the window, high off the ground. It’s been done before in Winchester.”

“So there is no chance of escape,” Hugo sighed. “I have seen this done before too, but in Oxford.”

Hetty felt sick. She clutched at Charlie’s arm when the room began to swirl around her alarmingly.

“They all helped us escape,” Wally snapped in disgust.

“How in the hell did Meldrew find them?” Simon growled. He took the broadsheet off Charlie, and read the article with Wally.

Charlie described what he had witnessed in the tavern.

“So Simpson is the village’s traitor?” Wally growled. “It’s the last time I give that bastard my business.”

“Can’t we arrest him for being involved in Meldrew’s schemes?”

“I think if we can find something to pin on him, by way of assisting Meldrew with his crimes, then we will,” Hugo replied firmly. “Right now, we don’t have evidence that Meldrew has committed any crimes. Although we
know
what he did with Charlie and Simon was illegal, it isn’t enough because it is his word against theirs, and they are now condemned criminals.”

“I can’t believe that Simpson would betray the village like that,” Hetty whispered with a frown. “What a horrible thing to do.”

She had known Simpson for a long time, and had always found him to be an affable man who was inclined to be a little roguish but, as far as she was concerned, that was part of his charm. Or so she had thought. Now that she knew just how deep his treachery went, he was by far the very last person she wanted to be associated with.

“He was the one who provided Meldrew with the information about what you had been discussing,” she whispered as she studied the beloved face of her husband.

He nodded and drew her closer to his side. She had suddenly gone so pale that he had to hold her because he feared that if he didn’t, she would fall over at any moment.

“It appears so, darling. We were discussing things, in our cups as you do. I never thought the tavern owner would be the one we had to fear the most,” Simon replied.

“He deserves to be punished,” Hetty snorted.

Wally nodded. “He does. However, once word gets out of his association to Meldrew, nobody will go anywhere near the place. He doesn’t get much in the way of passing trade, and has to rely on the locals for his business.”

Simon snorted. “Locals he has betrayed.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Hugo added darkly. “What’s done is done. What’s important now is bringing them all to justice.”

Before anyone could speak, the slam of the back door drew their attention. Everyone turned to the door, and watched Joshua enter.

Hetty groaned at the look on his face. She knew that the news he had to impart was not going to be good either, and wondered just how bad this day was going to get.

“Go on then,” Hugo drawled. He leaned back in his chair and propped his boots up on the desk in a casual pose that was at odds with the tension in the room.

“Come and sit down,” Charlie urged Hetty, and led her over to a seat on the opposite side of the desk to Hugo.

“Blagmire’s wife has been driven out of the tavern. The place was run into the ground through lack of trade because Meldrew’s men blocked passing traffic from getting there,” Josh sighed as he took a seat on the window seat so that he could face everyone as he explained. “After Blagmire’s death, strange things started to happen at night. As a single woman living alone with nobody but her children to protect her, she was forced to flee to the safety of her sister’s house. She now lives in Northampton, which is why I have been gone a bit longer than I should have.”

“So the tavern is closed up?” Charlie frowned when Joshua slowly shook his head.

“Who is there then?” Hugo demanded. He dropped his boots and leaned his elbows on the table.

“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 may 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.

“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.”