‘What will happen if he wakes up before we’re back?’ Annie whispered, casting a glance back at the orange lit window of the study as they walked through the gates. ‘He won’t wake tonight,’ Polly said. ‘I done it enough times to know how much to give him.’ ‘Don’t he realise his drink’s been tampered with?’ Annie asked, a note of incredulity creeping into her tone. ‘He wakes with a heavy head alright. Thinks he’s overdone the drink, don’t he?’ ‘Where did you get the sleeping draught?’ Polly didn’t answer immediately. ‘Best you don’t ask,’ she said finally. ‘What if we don’t find Isaac? What if he ain’t in custody like we thought?’ ‘I know a few other spots we could go lookin’. I don’t fancy ‘em, though, so we’ll try there first.’ ‘They’re worse than the jail? What spots?’ ‘Isaac and me lived on the streets before Ernesto took us in and we seen a lot of bad places, mixed with a lot of bad people. You and Georgina, you just got your mama and then the workhouse.
