A False Mirror - Charles Todd [147]
“Where is Mrs. Hamilton?”
“In her bed. It’s all been rather much for her. But she’s young, she’ll recover her balance. I’m just afraid of what’s been lost. An innocence that was her greatest charm, and a sense of self that was absolutely absorbing to me. I could—almost—recapture my own youth, watching her.”
“And Mr. Putnam?”
“He excused himself for a quarter of an hour to return to the rectory for a change of clothes.”
“Has Bennett come to see you?”
“Mallory brought him up while Putnam was still here. He wanted to know about Exeter. I told him that my memory remained hazy at best, that I thought very likely I was continuing to run a fever.”
“It could be true.”
“It was. I remember how cold the wind blew as I was walking along that road. I couldn’t stop the chills that racked me. I wasn’t sure where I was going, only that somehow I had to get there.” He hesitated. “Have you told Felicity about Miranda?”
“I’ll leave that to you. When you feel you can.”
“Miranda was afraid of me, wasn’t she?”
“I think, rather, she wasn’t prepared for reminders of the past. She had shut that door. And it’s best left shut.”
“I would have married her, blind or not.”
“The blindness worried her more than it did you.”
“What will you do about Mallory? Do you really believe he wasn’t my assailant? I won’t press charges, you know. It will only make for more gossip and keep the memory of these past few days alive.”
“You’re a forgiving man.”
“No. A realistic one. Deep in my core there’s a molten ball of jealousy. But it serves no purpose. And he’s suffered as much as I have.” He shifted his leg. “I hope you’ve brought something to ease this ache. Else I’ll be drunk as a lord by teatime.”
Rutledge found one of the pills that Dr. Hester had given him. “This should help. I’ve got stronger sedatives as well.”
“This will do. I can tell you, I’m not eager to find myself in a helpless stupor while murderers climb through the windows.”
Rutledge thought the man in the bed was more afraid of the outcome than he was willing to admit. But he laughed, as Hamilton was expecting him to do, as he offered him a glass of water. Then he said soberly, “I’ve found the killer, I think. If I’m right, by morning you’ll have your house to yourself again, and it will be finished.”
“I’m glad to hear it. But we shan’t stay in Hampton Regis, you know. It’s time to turn my back on the sea. And I expect Miranda Cole will be happy to learn I’m not as near to Exeter as I was.”
“I expect she will.”
He left Hamilton then, running into Mr. Putnam in the doorway. “I’ve just brought a few things,” he said, “to tide us over. I went to Mallory’s cottage and fetched fresh clothes for him.”
“Well done. I’ll need to speak to you later. Certainly before dinner.”
“I shall have to give Dr. Granville a little of my time tonight. We’re choosing the readings for Margaret’s ser vice. And the music. She was very fond of the choir.”
“By all means, take as long as you need. I’ll be here to spell you.”
“You know now, don’t you, who is behind all this?” The rector, holding his belongings and Mallory’s in his arms, looked into Rutledge’s face and then away again. “I didn’t think you did this morning, in spite of the dramatic conclusion with that dreadful boat hook.”
“I was as in the dark as everyone else,” Rutledge confessed.
“Will you at least tell me what I am to expect?”
“There’s not much God can do, now, Mr. Putnam. It’s a matter for the law.”
Rutledge found Mallory, morose and alone, in the sitting room. He raised his head when Rutledge came through the doorway.
“It’s you,” he said, as if he’d been expecting Felicity Hamilton to find him and offer him anything but the silence in which