A large crowd had now gathered outside the police station, equipped with blankets, mops, spades and buckets and anything else that might be useful in fighting a fire. Women hovered on the edge of the crowd, talking in low, anxious voices, their arms crossed. A table had been placed on the police station’s verandah and Prewitt was bent over a map in earnest discussion with several other men.

O’Grady looked up from laying out stacks of canvas bags as Amos and Adelaide entered the front room.

‘O’Grady, you idiot,’ Amos growled. ‘If you’ve an ounce of sense, you’d let this town’s only doctor out. ’e’ll be needed.’

O’Grady straightened. ‘I don’t have the authority to let him out.’

‘Where’s Sergeant Maidment?’ Adelaide demanded.

‘He’s here.’ Maidment’s lanky figure entered the police station, removing his cap. He wiped his forehead and pushed the thinning hair back. ‘What’s the problem, Mrs Greaves? We’ve got an emergency on our hands.’

‘You’re holding Dr Hunt and Miss Redley in your cells,’ Adelaide said.

Maidment glanced at O’Grady. ‘What? Why?’

‘Haven’t had time to brief you, sarge,’ O’Grady said. ‘Mr Barnwell came in last evening and laid charges, insisted they be arrested.’

‘What on earth for?’

‘Assault and theft.’ O’Grady outlined the charges against Caleb and Netty.

‘If Dr Hunt hit Barnwell, he had good cause,’ Adelaide said. ‘And as for the charge against Miss Redley, the jewellery that she is accused of stealing was my jewellery. I asked her to sell it for me.’

This was too much for O’Grady. His face screwed up as he tried to understand the evidence that was shifting under his feet. ‘You was—’

‘I was—am—the daughter of Sir Daniel Lewis. The jewellery was left to me by my mother. It was mine to sell.’

‘That’s as may be, Mrs Greaves, but Mr Barnwell—’

‘Mr Barnwell is no longer in Maiden’s Creek,’ Sergeant Maidment said. ‘I passed him north of the town a couple of hours ago and he has your son with him.’

Adelaide drew herself up to her full height. ‘Constable Prewitt told me. Why didn’t you insist they turn back?’

‘I was in a hurry to get back to town—I didn’t have time to stop and argue. Besides, the man assured me they were just out for a ride and would eat lunch and turn back. I’m sorry, Mrs Greaves, I didn’t think there was anything untowards.’

Adelaide shook her head. ‘Sergeant, he has kidnapped my son, and all of these trumped-up charges are to buy time to allow him to get away.’

‘Why would he kidnap Danny?’ Maidment asked.

‘That’s between me and him. We are wasting precious minutes standing here arguing. Please release my friends,’ Adelaide said.

Maidment nodded. ‘See to it, O’Grady.’