A False Mirror - Charles Todd [62]
Bennett swung around so that he could see Rutledge’s face.
“Missing? What the hell are you talking about?”
“When Dr. Granville looked in on him this morning, he wasn’t there.”
“You’re saying he came to his senses and just walked out?”
“We don’t know. He wasn’t there. I went at once to search the Hamilton house and grounds, but if he’s at Casa Miranda, I can’t find him. Unless he knows some way of concealing himself there. When I saw the gathering on the Mole, I assumed someone had sent for you, to tell you where to look. That this was a search party setting out.”
Bennett swore, long and feelingly. “Why didn’t Granville come to me, damn it? And what possessed the fool to leave? He’ll take his death in this rain. That blow on the head must have unsettled his mind.”
“Or someone was afraid he might regain his senses and remember more than was safe.”
Bennett stared at him again. “You’re saying he didn’t walk away? That someone’s got rid of him?”
“There was the Cornelius boy’s nightmare. He saw something in the night. His mother told me it was a hunchback walking through the mist.”
“Pshaw! That’s nonsense.”
“It might fit. If someone carried Matthew Hamilton over his shoulder.”
“Then where in hell’s name would he have taken him? And on foot? He’s no lightweight, is Hamilton.”
“A good question.” Rutledge slowed as he reached the Mole. He didn’t add that there were two motorcars to choose from at Casa Miranda, and a horse. Or that the constable had taken shelter under a tree, where in the heavier downpours, he could hear very little. “Do you want to get down here? I’d like to find a boat willing to take me around to the landslip. Before that I want to speak to Cornelius’s son. In light of what’s happened since last night.”
“A boat in this weather? And what’s there to see, I ask you? Don’t be a fool, you’re here to attend to Hamilton and his affairs, not to see the sights. Take me to Granville’s surgery, if you will. A child’s nightmare won’t help us forward. There may be something Dr. Granville missed in his panic.”
Rutledge stopped at the walk to Granville’s surgery door and waited while Bennett got down. Bennett stood for a moment in the rain, as if torn between duties. “You’re not coming?” he asked finally. “Are you insisting on going to the Cornelius house first?”
The last thing Rutledge wanted was Bennett’s harsh impatience frightening an already frightened child. He compromised. “All right, I’ll come here after I have a chat with young Jeremy.” He glanced at the sky. The clouds had darkened again as another heavy squall approached. Not the best conditions for an open boat, as even Hamish was pointing out.
“If Hamilton is loose, he’s in that house.” Bennett shifted his umbrella against the shadow of more rain sweeping across behind them. “What I’m hoping is that Mallory was careless. If he was the one who took Hamilton away.”
“I’ve told you, I searched the grounds and the house carefully.”
“Not carefully enough, in my book. What better place to keep an eye on the man and his recovering memory than under your thumb? No one ever said Mallory was a fool.”
“That’s not something I want to contemplate,” Rutledge replied. “What’s even more worrying is if Hamilton went there under his own power, he could be out for revenge. Do you think he’s that sort? You know him, I don’t.”
Bennett gave it a moment’s thought. “If I were Mallory, if I didn’t have the man myself, I’d be looking over my shoulder about now.”
Then he was gone, making his way up the walk to the surgery door.
Hamish watched him go, saying, “It could be true.”
Rutledge answered slowly, “He could also have been taken to that cottage that just fell into the sea. In which case, we might never see him again, or find his body.”
“It’s no’ verra’ likely. A verra’ long way to carry a man’s body withoot being seen.”
Rutledge drew up in front of the Cornelius house. “I grant you. But if I were planning to do away with Matthew Hamilton, I’d have carried him as far as I could on foot, well away from Granville’s surgery, and put