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“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.
