A False Mirror - Charles Todd [11]
“Mrs. Blackwood?” Bennett said, almost snarling. “What has she to do with it? No, it was that—that—” Words failed him. “I was trying to bring in Mallory, in connection with Mr. Hamilton’s thrashing. Mrs. Granville tells me Hamilton’s still alive but not speaking. More’s the pity. All he has to do is nod his head to a question or two, and I’ll have my man.”
Granville said sharply, “You think Stephen Mallory is behind this beating? Surely not!”
“Then why did he nearly break my neck, and run over my foot in his hurry to get away from me? When I set eyes on him again, it’s charges he’ll be hearing, assaulting a police officer with intent to do bodily harm, suspicion of attempted murder, and anything else I can think of. I’d almost wish Hamilton dead, to make it murder.”
“You don’t believe that!” Granville answered him, indignant. “Why should Mallory want to kill Hamilton—I understood they were friends.”
“Because,” Bennett exclaimed, his voice raised in fury, “he covets Hamilton’s wife. Didn’t you know? It’s the gossip all over town.”
Granville saw the inspector, hobbling unsteadily on his crutches and in a foul temper, out of the surgery. For a moment he watched the man down the walk, then cautioned the hovering constable to keep out of Bennett’s way. His face thoughtful, the doctor turned and strode back to Hamilton’s room.
He stepped across the threshold, an apology for the delay on his lips. And found his patient alone.
Mrs. Hamilton had gone out through the garden door, leaving it half ajar.
Granville bent over Matthew Hamilton’s broken body, listening to his uneasy breathing. To the doctor’s practiced eye, his patient’s condition remained unchanged. And if his wife’s voice hadn’t roused him, it was safe to say that no one could, for several more hours at the very least. The body found its own methods of healing, often enough, and a wise medical man learned to leave it to work its own miracle. He was almost grateful for Bennett’s injury, to keep the man out of the sickroom with his loud, badgering demands for answers and information.
“You have twenty-four hours of peace. Make the most of them,” he added softly to the silent, bandaged man. “After that, I shall have to find another way of keeping the inspector at bay.”
Straightening, Granville looked toward the open door just behind him. Bits of conversation reached him down the passage. Two women in the midst of what must have been a lively discussion in one of the other rooms. His wife speaking to someone in his office, though he could only make out every other word. There was a rumble of a reply, then as the man raised his voice, Granville caught the end of the sentence. “…if you wouldn’t mind, Missus.”
Had Mrs. Hamilton overheard any of his exchange with Inspector Bennett? The man had all but shouted at times, his anger getting the better of him. Had she heard Bennett accuse Stephen Mallory of trying to murder her husband? Was that why she left so abruptly, after hovering over Hamilton, nearly in tears?
He silently repeated Bennett’s last comment. He covets Hamilton’s wife. Didn’t you know? It’s the gossip all over town!
Dr. Granville found himself wondering how much of that was true.
Felicity Hamilton walked quickly through the streets without taking any notice of where she was going. First one shock and then the other. She wasn’t sure she could deal with either of them. She couldn’t stop thinking about Matthew lying there on the narrow bed of the doctor’s surgery, looking like a dead man. Bruised, battered, his bones broken—it hurt to imagine what he’d endured.
She hadn’t thought to ask who had discovered him lying on the strand. Why hadn’t she gone searching for him herself? Everyone knew he enjoyed walking along the tideline after a storm, looking for treasures washed ashore. Not that he ever found many—but he’d bring home a bit of driftwood or a smoothed shard of brown glass with the wide grin of a boy who had been out without leave, offering his tokens in the hope of avoiding a scolding. Wrapped in a sea mist, he particularly liked to stand at the