A False Mirror - Charles Todd [109]
The colors of the room were faded, as if no one had given a thought to decorating for many years—the rose paper on the wall now more ashes of roses, and the carpet, in a style more French than English, seemed to have lost interest in life. Yet the room was spotlessly clean, as if to assure godliness if not beauty.
“Miss Cole?” It was a courtesy. She must be the woman he was seeking, the age was right, and something in her face, a strength, a poise, seemed to match the man that Matthew Hamilton had become.
“Yes. I understand you are here about Matthew Hamilton. I’ve been told he’s returned to England, but he has yet to call on me.”
“I’m afraid he’s missing, Miss Cole. We’ve been contacting everyone who may have information about him. In the hope that we’ll be able to find him quickly. You’ll understand when I tell you that he’s been under a doctor’s care for several days, and there is some anxiety about his health.”
“That doesn’t sound like the Matthew Hamilton I remember. He was always a sensible and practical man. Nevertheless, I’m sorry to tell you that you’ve wasted your trip. He isn’t staying with me.”
He had the feeling she was fencing with him, choosing her words to discourage him.
“Miss Cole, Matthew Hamilton is in trouble, and I’d thought he might have turned to you for help.”
“What kind of trouble? The Matthew Hamilton I remember was not likely to be of interest to the police.”
“When did you last see him, Miss Cole?”
Across the room the woman stirred and then was still again. “I’m blind, Inspector. I have been for many years. The last time I met Mr. Hamilton, he was young and so was I. We parted on good terms, and agreed to go our separate ways. He’s not likely to call on me now, and I would be as surprised to see him at my door as I am to see you there. Good day, Inspector. Dedham will see you out.”
Blind…
So that was what Melinda Crawford had not wanted to bring into their conversation.
He realized that there was nothing more to say, nothing to do but leave. A blind woman couldn’t have attacked anyone, not in the way that Hamilton had been injured. And she couldn’t have come for him, even if he’d been able to contact her. Or tried to kill him in Dr. Granville’s surgery. Yet she must have been a greater part of Hamilton’s life than even she knew. Or Felicity…
But would she give him sanctuary?
Rutledge spoke into the silence, his voice reaching her across the room, forcing her to listen.
“I don’t believe that the fact that you’re blind entered into his friendship with you. He has named two houses that I know of for you—Casa Miranda in Malta and again here in England. There may have been others. It was a reminder to him that he’d known you and it tells me as well that if you had turned to him for help, he wouldn’t have refused you. We had hoped he might trust you to safeguard him.”
“He wouldn’t refuse anyone coming to him in trouble. It’s his nature to be kind. And I have not needed his help through the years. If you are interested in why his house should bear my name, you must ask him. As for our friendship, you know nothing at all about that.”
“I can’t ask him. He was attacked and badly beaten by someone who left him to die alone, in great pain. I’m charged with finding that person.”
“I thought you said he was missing.”
“He is. He left his bed in the doctor’s surgery sometime during the night. We don’t know how, or why. Whether he had help or walked out under his own power. But in the morning we found his room empty, and the body of the doctor’s wife lying in the next room, murdered.”
She stirred again, this time her attention riveted on his face. “Murdered, you say? But that’s—that’s appalling. Mr. Rutledge, are you trying to frighten me?”
“Not at all. I’ve come to warn you.” His voice was earnest. “If Matthew Hamilton reached you under his own power, we need to know what he remembers about the attack on him. And why he left the surgery. And why Mrs. Granville was killed. It’s possible that he attacked her in the dark, not knowing who she was until it was too late. If that