Lies and Misdemeanours by Rebecca King

here. I will make sure they get what they need.”
    “Thank you,” Wally murmured, and reluctantly escorted Hetty out of the jail.
    When Hetty looked back into the corridor, the prisoners and jailers had gone.
    “Where to first?” Hetty asked once she and Wally were back on the cart.
    She wasn’t sure what to think. Her brother appeared to be just as nonplussed by the day’s events as she was. They sat side-by-side in silence, and stared blankly at the jail doors.
    Wally eventually sighed. “I think that we have to find some parchment, a quill, and get that bloody letter sent off to that man in London; Sir Whatsit.”
    “Sir Hugo Dunnicliffe,” Hetty replied.
    “Yes, that’s the one. Sounds a bit grand doesn’t it?”
    “I don’t care,” Hetty sighed. “As long as he can get them free. I don’t care what they call him. We need that pouch first though.”
    “I know. I emptied my pockets in there, and have no money on me to send anything anywhere,” Wally growled as he picked up the reins and steered the horse around in a wide arch.
    “Well, let’s go and get the pouch, then we can get that letter sent off. If I knew what I was doing I would bloody go and take it myself,” Hetty snapped.
    “We need to send a proper rider. He will be quicker,” Wally declared as he clicked the horse into a walk and turned the cart away from the jail. “Once we have sent that letter off, we need to have a word with some of the villagers, and alert them to Meldrew’s latest scheme. If that blasted magistrate is this desperate to get people to pay him his ransom money, everyone he has been pressuring of late is in danger,” Wally said.
    “We have to get them out, Wally,” Hetty murmured as they turned out of the jail’s courtyard, and made their way through the main street that ran straight through town.
    Before they turned out of the main street, she glanced back at the dark building, and felt a deep sense of foreboding with her.
     
    Two days later, Hetty shivered as a cold breeze swept up her back. She tugged her shawl tighter around her shoulder, and warned herself to remain calm. She wished now that she had thought to bring a cloak with her because she felt so very cold, on the inside as well as on the out.
    The helplessness of the last few days had scarred her to her very soul, and she knew that she would never forget them, no matter what the outcome was.
    The desperate situation the Jones family now faced was simply terrifying; not least because the man who had come to mean so much to her now faced a battle for survival. She quickly blocked out all thoughts of what could happen to Charlie and Simon, and turned her attention to Wally, who appeared to be just as anxious as she was.
    “Do you think we are going to get in this time?” she asked him without taking her eyes off the jail door.
    He merely looked at her and shrugged.
    They had called by the jail each morning since their last visit a couple of days ago, but hadn’t even gotten through the gate. They had been told on each occasion that the prisoners weren’t available, but no explanation had been given as to why.
    Yesterday, Wally had warned the jailer that he would fetch a solicitor; or a magistrate from another county, if they weren’t allowed in this morning. Whether his warning would gain them entrance today had yet to be seen.
    She stood back while Wally knocked on the gates of Derby jail again and, together, they stood back to wait a little while longer.
    Thankfully, someone answered. The small panel in the gate was slammed back, and a thin face appeared behind the bars. He looked at them for a moment, but didn’t speak. Moments later, he slammed the panel back into place before the gate began to rattle.
    Wally and Hetty shared a look of relief, and waited while the gate was opened. Neither of them spoke when the jailer motioned them to enter.
    The look he gave them as they sidled through the narrow gap, warned them to remain quiet.
    Hetty