Ben gritted his teeth and considered his options. He did not speak about what Simon had been involved in. It didn't matter that his son was dead. Ben didn't want to taint his memory. He didn't want his children to hear of such things. And... if Ben had known then what had been going on... perhaps things would have turned out different. He would have acted differently.

He didn't speak of it... usually, but he might well go to prison and Mr. Meijer could carry on preying on vulnerable poor youths.

It wasn't taken down, the constable said. Slowly, with hands balled on his thighs, Ben spoke: "That man I attacked... we 'ave a history. 'E's..." He didn't know how to get it past his lips. "Rich folk like him, they think they own the world and can do as they like... they wave their money around and use our children for their own depraved desires.... 'E's been preyin' on me bairns, and I did what any father would!" He glanced up at the constable with an expression between anger and despair.

Alasdair sat back in his chair "go on"

Ben's mouth twitched as he tried to control his emotions. "E's buggered me son," the horrid statement finally fell from his mouth. "And now today I learned that he's been tryin' to seduce me daughter. So aye, I punched that bastard!" His voice had gotten louder at the end, as his anger rose once again.

Alasdair nodded. "Yours is the only statement that makes sense......the rest that I've been given don't add up" alasdair sighed "the reason I put you in the cells was so I could look through the paperwork that Constable Crane filled earlier along with the reports from that day."

Alasdair flicked through flicked through the paperwork on the desk and pulled put a sheet of paper and scrunched it up launching it onto the bin "that was the charge sheet for this incident. Normally in this instant you would be changed with breach of the peace but as there is inconsistent evidence its been binned"

Alasdair sat back in the seat. "This shouldn't have even gotten this far"

Ben looked from the constable to the bin, his anger reaching an anticlimax in confusion. Had he just confessed to punching Mr. Meijer and he walked free? Was someone finally going after the haves instead of the have-nots? "So... I can go?"

The front door opened.

Alasdair nodded "indeed you can" he wiped his chin and sat back into his chair. "The constable at the desk will return your items to you and the file on this matter will be closed" alasdair paused for a second "you are the only one who's made sense, the reports from People who were standing next to each other and apparently saw it vary significantly. So please. Go home to your kids"

The accounts had been inconsistent? Fair enough, he did think he had seen a flash of Anita Longbottom as he had been led away from the scene. And perhaps his children had contradicted some of the accounts.

"Thank you, ser," he said with a nod of gratitute to the sergeant, and he got up.

He arrived at the desk just as the door opened. "T' other constable says I can go," he told the constable at the desk.

PC Wood sat at a desk by the door and quirked a brow at the notion of the bulky fisherman being let go, but he didn't say anything. When the door opened, he lifted his chin from his hand and looked over. "Can I help you?"

Alasdair came through just as wood spoke. "Let him go constable. It's all in order"