Shattered Dreams (11 page)

“
There has been some mistake, has there? Got here and decided
you didn’t like it, did you?” The warden asked with a snide laugh.
“Well, you are here now, so come with me.”

Tilly
sensed freedom, but worry kept her in her seat. There was something
about the rather arrogant way the woman walked down the room that
warned Tilly something was very wrong.

“
Go, quickly,” Suzanna prompted. “Don’t make her wait. She
gets awful if she is made to wait.”

Tilly
quickly jumped up and hurried after the warden. By the time Mrs
Taylor drew to a stop outside a closed door, Tilly was practically
panting from the speed she had been forced to move to catch up. She
didn’t think that anyone as ample as Mrs Taylor would be able to
move so swiftly. She had no idea where they were, but watched Mrs
Taylor throw a door open to reveal a large room which was empty
apart from several large washtubs.

“
I need to see the governor,” Tilly said, and frowned at the
warden when she didn’t appear to have heard her.

She knew
now that she had not been taken to the front of the building, where
the office accommodation was, so she could talk to the governor.
Instead, she was now at the rear of the building, which overlooked
the dense woodland that appeared to be just as impenetrable as the
fortress she was now in.

“
You get to do the laundry today.” The cold-hearted
satisfaction in the warden’s eyes warned Tilly that doing the
laundry was going to be nothing like doing the laundry back in
Cambley Hamden.

“
Get to it,” Mrs Taylor suddenly growled, and shoved Tilly
roughly into the room.

“
Wait!” Tilly protested. Unfortunately, by the time she had
regained her balance, the door was closed and she was all alone.
She tried to open the door only to cry in dismay when she found it
had been locked.

After
several minutes of banging on the door, she was forced to accept
that nobody was going to let her out. She slowly turned around, and
stared at the three huge mountains of clothes on the
floor.

It was
evident now that it was going to be a very long day indeed; and
nothing like she had planned.

Harry
rang the bell for the third time, and stood back to wait. He shared
a dark look with Barnaby, who took several steps backward so he
could study the impenetrable front façade of the huge building. The
sudden rattle of the ironwork on the door drew their attention back
to the door, and they watched it open slowly with a long, low
squeak.

“
What?”

Harry
groaned at the sight of Cruickshank; the man who had answered the
door yesterday. Before he spoke, he suspected he wasn’t going to
get Tilly today either, but tried nonetheless.

“
We are here to collect Miss Tilly Fenton,” Harry replied as
he peered through the open door and into the darkness.

He
wasn’t altogether certain that the man was still there and, when
nobody answered his demand, pushed the door open wider and took
several steps inside. He threw a glance at Barnaby, and together
they walked into the huge, cavernous entrance hall where they
searched the gloom for signs of life. The temperature inside was
several degrees cooler than out and immediately goose-bumps broke
out on Harry’s chilled flesh. He shook his head in disgust as his
breath fogged out in front of his face, and wondered how anyone
managed to live their lives in such a miserable
environment.

As soon
as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the only man in the
entrance hall; the same one who must have opened the door, and
walked toward him.

“
She ‘ain’t ‘ere,” Cruickshank growled.

“
She came in yesterday,” Harry replied. “I know because I saw
her come in.”

The
warden pointed to the register, and glared up at him as he slammed
the aged book closed with a heavy thump.

“
The last person to come in here was a man, and he arrived
last Tuesday. There is no woman in the book,” Cruickshank replied
with a scowl.

“
I saw her walk through that door yesterday, I tell you,”
Harry persisted as he pointed to the huge front door. “Seconds
before you answered the door to me in fact; so don’t lie about
it.”

His
frustration rose, and he shared a look with Barnaby, who was busy
checking out the various doors around the hallway. Behind the
warden was a door which led to an office marked ‘Governor’, however
Harry doubted that there was anybody inside.

“
Who else was here yesterday, about tea-time?” Harry demanded.
He had to clench his fists against the urge to grab the man by his
collar, and give him a rough shake until he produced
Tilly.

“
Murphy was here yesterday with me, but he is not on duty
now,” Cruickshank replied dismissively. “We are not here all the
time, you know.”

“
Look, I am not lying,” Harry sighed. “I work for the War
Office.”

The man
merely shrugged unconcernedly, and didn’t give him the opportunity
to say anything else. He skirted around the desk and hurried across
the entrance hall toward the main door.

“
I don’t care who you work for, there ain’t no woman in the
register.”

“
Check again,” Harry persisted.

This
seemed to anger the warden, who merely glared so hard at him that
Barnaby moved to stand beside Harry in a silent show of solidarity
that wasn’t lost on the officious warden.

“
I suggest
you
go and check for your woman somewhere else because she ain’t
‘ere,” the warden groused. With that, he yanked the door open and
stood back to allow them both out.

The
message was clear; unless they wanted to cause a rumpus, they had
no choice but to leave.

“
Where is the governor?” Harry snapped and frowned at the
closed office door.

“
Ain’t ‘ere.”

Harry
pierced him with a stare. “The governor should be at his desk
regularly. I can’t help but wonder where the man has gone.” He kept
his voice thoughtful, but the warning was evident in his
eyes.

Cruickshank immediately began to look evasive. “He ain’t ‘ere
all the time either.”

“
He is never here, according to you,” Harry countered. “We
will see what my boss at the War Office has to say now, won’t we? I
mean, if the man is never at his desk, then the wardens are left to
run the place, and that is illegal.”

He
caught Cruickshank’s worried look before it was quickly replaced by
a bland watchfulness that was a little too emotionless to be
believed.

“
I will be back. The next time, I will have a warrant, and the
magistrate,” Harry promised.

He
contemplated the empty doorway for a moment, but his gaze was
captured by the warning look Barnaby gave him.

With one
last, hard look at the warden, Harry stalked out of the
building.

“
We will send for the magistrate,” Barnaby sighed when Harry
reluctantly joined him outside. “Come on, we are going to get
nowhere.”

Reluctance dogged Harry’s every step as he quietly followed
his friend to the waiting carriage. He stopped to look back at the
now closed door when the heavy thump behind him met their
ears.

“
We need help,” Harry sighed. “At least four wardens appeared
in that entrance hall while we were there, and there were
undoubtedly more inside the main body of the building. It’s
impossible for the two of us to divert all of their
attentions.”

“
I know. I cannot help but wonder why they don’t have her
listed in the register,” Barnaby growled. He shared a look with his
friend, and saw the worry in his colleague’s eyes. “She wasn’t in
there, Harry. You saw that book.”

“
I know, but she definitely entered that building, Barnaby.
What do you think is going on?” Harry threw one last look at the
building as the carriage turned out of the driveway and let his
curses flow.

“
I don’t know,” Barnaby sighed. “What’s more important is
finding out whether the Dandridges’ are involved.”

Harry
frowned at that. “I can’t see how they could be. I mean, bringing
her to Tooting Mallow - yes. The Rectory seal had been used on the
letter Tilly received. The Dandridges’ have been the only people
there apart from me, so nobody but them could have used it. Are
they responsible for sending her into the poor house where she has
ostensibly vanished? No - definitely not. I mean, if we cannot get
her out, how in the hell would the Dandridges’ be able
to?”

“
Unless the Dandridges’ have contacts in the poor house, and
they want her in there for some reason. I don’t know.” Even as he
spoke, Barnaby knew that he sounded completely
implausible.

Harry
seemed to agree because he was already shaking his head. “We just
don’t know. At the minute, we have to find a way to get her out of
there. We can establish why nobody registered her entrance once she
is back at the Rectory.”

“
We have to get Sir Hugo in on this, Harry,” Barnaby warned.
“The poor house has already broken the law by not registering the
details of every resident they have.” He looked at his friend. “I
can’t help but wonder how many other people are in there without
the appropriate documentation.”

Harry
scowled down the road. “One thing I want to know is; why we were
allowed into the entrance hall today?”

“
I know,” Barnaby sighed. “Yesterday, you didn’t even get one
foot over the threshold. Why today, of all days, have we been
allowed in only to be told the same thing, and then thrown back out
again?”

Harry
frowned and shook his head in disgust as the questions began to
tumble through him. Thankfully, Barnaby was driving. It gave Harry
the perfect opportunity he needed to think about what in the world
he should do next; and just how he was going to get Tilly
free.

“
But, I really want to leave now. I don’t have any debts. I
don’t owe anyone any money. I have coins,” Tilly argued as she
hurried after the warden who stalked down the corridor ahead of
her. She nearly ploughed into his back when he suddenly slammed to
a halt.

“
I am telling you to get back to your room,” the man
growled.

Her eyes
darted downward and she saw his fist clench threateningly. For one
brief moment her eyes met his, and she wondered if he really would
hit her. Somehow, in this awful place, she wouldn’t be surprised if
he did.

She had
been here a week now, and had yet to find anyone in charge who
would even listen to her. She had been bullied, threatened, and
blatantly ignored. Despite asking numerous staff to be allowed out,
she had seen nothing of the governor, and now began to doubt
whether he really even existed.

The
female warden, Mrs Taylor, was downright sinister, and seemed to
take delight in scaring the residents with threats that one day;
she would lock them in their rooms, and forget where she left the
key. It was deeply unnerving to see the hopelessness that lurked in
the depths of all of the residents’ eyes, and witness the fear on
their faces when they knew that Mrs Taylor was around.

“
I want to see the governor. I demand to see the governor –
now. I am not a prisoner. I haven’t committed any crime, and
shouldn’t be here. I made a mistake and demand that you release
me,” she declared firmly.

She
lapsed into startled silence, and took a hasty step back when the
warden suddenly leaned toward her with an almost feral snarl on his
lips.

“
I have told you that the governor ain’t here, and I ain’t
taking you anywhere. Now get back to your room, or you forfeit your
food for the next day.”

Tilly
tipped her chin up, and glared back at him at the same time that
she crossed her arms.

“
Let me write a letter then,” she demanded, and carefully
ignored his disgusted snort.

Although
an inner sense of self-preservation warned her to keep her mouth
shut and do as she was told, she knew that she was fighting for her
freedom, and couldn’t afford to be bullied into staying silent. She
couldn’t just allow herself to be forcibly kept a prisoner by
anyone, but she was at a loss to know how to get someone to listen
to her.

“
I warn you here and now that I know your name, and I know
that you are breaking the law by keeping me here like this. I will
get out and, when I do, I will make sure that you get to feel the
full weight of the law for this. This is false
imprisonment.”

She
gasped in pain when he suddenly grabbed her elbow in a fierce grip,
and all but dragged her down the long corridor toward her
cell.

“
I am not going to be silenced, and forced to remain here
against my will,” she muttered through gritted teeth “I can get
myself out of here, and I will.”

In spite
of that, she was thrown mercilessly through the door of her room,
and landed on the bed with a heavy thump. The sharp edge of the
wooden frame bit painfully into her hip, but she stumbled back onto
her feet and clutched the bars of the now locked door with tight
fingers while she peered out into the hallway. Now that she was
alone and had the door to act as a barrier, she felt considerably
braver, and had no qualms about raising her voice so that the
warden could hear what she had to say.