Shattered Dreams (12 page)

“
I am going to make sure you go to prison for this. Then see
how you like it,” she yelled as bitter frustration swept through
her.

The only
sound that met her ears was the rhythmic clip of the man’s boots on
the stone floor as he walked away. Disgust made her kick the door.
She immediately wished that she hadn’t when pain lanced up her big
toe, and brought tears to her eyes, but it had felt good to be able
to let loose some of the anger that had built within her over the
last few days.

When
silence settled around her, she had little choice but to sit on her
bed with an annoyed huff. She studied the black walls of the small
square space and knew that it was a cell; not a bedroom. Calling it
a bedroom, or even a room, indicated that it was somewhere someone
might wish to spend time. This was a cell; a place of confinement
and punishment. It was awful, and by far the very last thing she
had expected when she had briefly considered that the poor house
might be the place she should be.

As the
hour ticked by, the lack of heat within the room began to draw the
last of the warmth from her skin, and made her already chilled
flesh begin to shiver. She curled up on the bed, and wrapped her
arms around her knees to try to retain some of her precious warmth
while she attempted to work out what to do next. For a moment she
buried her nose in the meagre warmth between her knees, but
couldn’t ignore her frozen toes.

She
valiantly battled the wave of helplessness that swept through her
and, as exhaustion began to draw her into sleep, she locked her
thoughts on the one person who seemed to haunt her dreams more and
more with each day that passed; Mr Harrington Tingay.

Sure
enough, as soon as she closed her eyes, he was there; waiting. His
image was as fresh as the day she had first seen him, and hung over
her like a guardian angel while she slept.

She
couldn’t help but wonder where he was; and what he was
doing.

It was
difficult to understand just what the pang of hurt deep inside her
was all about. Right at that moment, she daren’t consider it too
closely because she wasn’t at all sure she was comfortable with
what she would discover.

She
desperately tried to block out all thoughts of him, and turned her
attention to the most important issue she had to deal with first
thing in the morning: how on earth she was going to get out of
there if none of the wardens would take her to the
governor.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Harry
clutched the missive from his friend, Sir Hugo, and heaved a sigh
of relief. He shook hands with his colleagues, Marcus, Joseph and
Joshua.

“
Thank you for coming so promptly,” Harry said fervently.
“Come on through.”

He led
them into the study, and caught sight of Charles Dandridge outside
the window. He had no doubt that the butler was trying to find a
good position beneath the window in order to listen in on their
conversation, and was probably desperate to know who the latest
arrivals were.

However
Harry, used to working with the Star Elite, was well ahead of him.
He poured everyone a brandy before he took a seat close to them in
front of the fire. He waited for everyone to lean forward, and kept
his voice low so only those within the circle could hear
him.

“
Dandridge listens at doorways, so be careful what you
discuss,” he warned quietly and nodded toward the window behind
them. “I am not sure how much Sir Hugo has told you.”

“
Well, he has told us all about your reason for being here,”
Marcus replied obliquely, and glanced out of the open door which
led to the hallway. He took a moment to close and lock it before he
resumed his seat.

Harry
explained about the forged letter, and the events surrounding
Tilly’s disappearance, and lapsed into expectant silence. He was
immensely relieved that his colleagues had managed to get there so
quickly and, for the first time since Tilly had left his house,
felt hopeful that he would finally be able to get her out of the
poor house.

The
letter from Sir Hugo had effectively assured Harry that he was on
his way. Meantime, however, Harry had full authority to act on his
behalf in every regard.

It was
all Harry needed to ensure that he could now gain access to the
poor house, with the help of the local magistrate, and anyone else
in authority he needed. He could then force the staff out of the
way so that he could search for Tilly.

“
Have you got any further with the case of the forged letter?
Who stole the parchment?”

“
The Dandridges’,” Harry growled. “It is irrelevant whether it
was him or her, really. Either one of them did it. What we cannot
figure out is why they would bring her here, and then leave her in
the poor house.”

“
Is she still there?” Joshua demanded with a scowl.

Harry
sighed and wished that he knew for definite. Both he and Barnaby
had taken to making two visits each per day in an attempt to get
Tilly back, but to no avail. The last time they had been, only
earlier that afternoon as a matter of fact, they had threatened the
wardens with legal ramifications if they didn’t get to see the
governor first thing in the morning. However they had still come
away empty handed.

“
For a busy poor house, the governor is never there. Whenever
we call; morning, noon, or night, he is always out. Nobody seems to
know when he is going to be back,” Barnaby sighed.

“
Has anyone checked his house?”

“
We can’t find out where he lives,” Barnaby replied. “I have
asked around town, but everyone is afraid of the place. Nobody
seems to have any idea what goes on in there, and nobody wants to
even talk about it. Whenever you mention it, people just close up
and change the subject. It’s impossible to know what’s going on
without getting inside.”

Marcus
frowned and glanced out of the window at the huge building on the
horizon. “Have you asked the magistrate if he knows?”

“
He is just as wary of the place, and has no idea who runs
it,” Harry sighed.

“
The wardens cannot be running the place, surely to God? What
about the Trustees?” Joseph challenged.

“
We cannot get inside to know how that place is being run, or
by who,” Harry snorted in disgust. “Nobody on the outside knows.
One thing is certain; the wardens are definitely letting people in,
and not bothering to put their details in the register.”

“
Jesus. So, the residents effectively vanish as soon as they
walk through the door,” Joseph grunted.

Barnaby
sighed and rested his elbows on his knees. “What worries me about
that place is that nobody in the area seems to know all that much
about it. People go in, but don’t come back out again. None of the
staff appear to live in Tooting Mallow. It’s damned odd, if you ask
me.”

“
I am glad we arrived when we have,” Marcus
growled.

“
What do you want to do when we get the girl here?” Joseph
asked. “I mean, if you are at risk from whatever the Dandridges’
are up to, do you really want an innocent party being brought into
the middle of all of this?”

“
She is already involved,” Harry replied firmly. “When she was
sent the letter, she was dragged into this.”

He
briefly explained Tilly’s story in a voice that was as low as he
could manage, and gave the men the Bolsworthy woman’s
description.

“
Are you sure Tilly is still there, and hasn’t been moved?”
Joseph whispered with a frown. “How do you know she didn’t leave
straight away?”

“
Because I was in town,” Harry sighed. “Nobody left that
building.”

If he
was honest, he couldn’t be sure that Tilly hadn’t left as soon as
she had arrived, and that was why she hadn’t been listed in the
register. However, his gut instincts warned him that she had done
no such thing, and was stuck inside that hellish
mausoleum.

“
How do you want to go about getting her out?” Marcus asked as
he leaned back in his seat and studied Harry over the top of his
brandy.

He read
the worry and fear in Harry’s eyes, and wondered just what the full
story was. There was a little too much angst on Harry’s face for
this to be just another mission for Sir Hugo. Unless Marcus had
imbibed too much brandy, and was reading far too much into the
situation than he should be, Harry’s involvement with this mission
had turned into something that was very, very, personal.

“
We have told the wardens that I will be back for a meeting
with the governor in the morning,” Harry sighed. “Somehow though, I
really doubt that they will even answer the door to us.”

“
I think we have no choice but to storm the damned place, and
refuse to leave until we have searched it from top to bottom,”
Barnaby growled as he nudged his gun on the table beside his elbow
for emphasis. “If she is there, we are going to find
her.”

Joseph
and Marcus grinned and nodded, but their smiles died when Harry
gave them a warning look.

“
Once she is here, we need to keep her under constant
protection. She has been brought to Tooting Mallow deliberately. At
the moment, we don’t know why, but we cannot take any chances that
the Dandridges’ will do something desperate to get their hands on
her once she is free from there,” Harry warned.

“
Tomorrow morning then?” Marcus asked casually, and glanced
around the small group of men.

To
Harry’s immense relief, everyone nodded.

“
What time do we head out?” Joshua asked around a
yawn.

Harry
grinned conspiratorially. “Just before dawn. We can take a good
look at the entrance and exit points, and wait for
daylight.”

After
several moments of relaxed silence, they all listened to the creek
of a floorboard in the hallway outside the door, and began to make
plans.

Tilly
listened to the doors being unlocked, and the soft footfall of
people outside the door. She waited, then waited some more. Her
frown grew when she listened to the doors on either side of her
room being opened. To her horror, her door remained untouched. She
sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the bars in the door in
confusion. The top of the warden’s head passed by the door; he
didn’t stop to let her out. Her stomach flipped nervously when she
realised that he wasn’t going to come back either.

“
Hello?” she called, just in case he had forgotten all about
her. Nobody answered. “Can anyone hear me?”

She
stared into the empty corridor outside and rattled the door, but it
was locked tight. Panic began to build, and she wondered what she
could do now. Her stomach rumbled hungrily. She didn’t want to eat,
but she needed something. They weren’t going to starve her any
more, surely to goodness? She gave the door one last rattle before
she flopped back down onto the bed with a sigh. With little else to
do, she had no choice but to wait.

Had they
left her in the cell so they could take her to the governor? A wild
thrill of hope swept through her but, as the hour ticked by, it
slowly faded again.

A quiet
knock on the door made her jump. She leapt off the bed and raced to
the door, and almost wept at the sight of Zack standing
outside.

“
Are you alright?” He asked as he glanced furtively up and
down the corridor, clearly afraid of being caught.

“
They won’t let me out,” she whispered. “Don’t get into
trouble, Zack,” she added, although was delighted that he had taken
the time, and the risk, to talk to her.

She
suddenly felt incredibly afraid, which was silly really because she
was locked in a room and really had nothing to be fearful of.
However, the fact that she was now trapped, and had to rely upon
the decency of one of the wardens to let her out, made her more
than a little uneasy. She didn’t want to be at the mercy of anyone,
least of all any of the staff here.

“
I won’t,” he whispered. “I will see if I can get you some
bread or something.”

“
Why won’t they let me out of here, Zack?”

“
Because you keep asking to leave,” he replied. “You are being
punished.”

He
jumped up and down several times in an attempt to see her a little
better, and winced when he fell backward and landed on his bottom
with a heavy thump.

“
The last time someone asked to be let out, she didn’t get to
go either. Then, one day, she just vanished, and nobody heard from
her again,” he gasped as he pushed himself upright.

A wild
thrill of hope swept through her again, and she stared at him with
eyes that were suddenly alive. “Did she go home?”

Zack
threw her a dark look. “There are rumours, you understand,” he
whispered somewhat awkwardly.

She felt
slightly sick as she studied the worry in his eyes. It was evident
that he didn’t want to tell her anymore, and an uncomfortable
silence settled over them for several moments.

“
I will see what I can find out. Someone will have heard the
wardens talking at some point, I have no doubt,” he
sighed.