The Confession - Charles Todd [116]
Russell stopped him.
“I remembered something last night as I was falling asleep. When I ran into Ben Willet in London, he asked me if I’d see that Cynthia got boxes that he’s left for her in his lodgings in Bloomsbury. He was in love with her. I could see it as plain as the nose on his face. But he didn’t want her to see him, ill as he was. I asked why the boxes shouldn’t go to his family in Furnham. Willet said they wouldn’t have any use for them. But I was jealous, I didn’t do anything about them. As far as I know they’re still there. My conscience pricked all night. It was wrong of me. There’s no one else, Morrison hasn’t come back. I’d like to ask you to make certain they’re kept until I can deal with it myself.”
“What sort of boxes?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t curious enough to ask.”
Rutledge thanked him and left.
He waited out of sight in one of the other wards until the transfer was over, watching the nursing sister he’d dealt with before hurrying out of the ward, summoning Dr. Wade, and then a few minutes later, the body of Major Russell was taken away on a stretcher under Matron’s grim, watchful eye. Finally the undertaker arrived, and Rutledge went out to his motorcar and left.
It was at a lay-by some two miles away that the transfer was made, the nursing sister settling the Major into the rear of Rutledge’s vehicle. It was painful work, but the Major took it stoically. Rutledge thanked the driver of the undertaker’s van, and an hour later, the Major was in Rutledge’s flat, lying exhausted in the bed while the sister took his vital signs.
Rutledge quickly packed a valise of whatever he would need for the duration and stowed it in the boot of his motorcar, then warned the nursing sister not to open the door unless she could see him through the window beside it.
And then he left, driving to Bloomsbury, and after asking a man walking a handsome English setter, he tracked down the lodging house where Ben Willet had stayed in London.
It was a small, well cared for, with a neat sign by the door advertising a vacancy. The woman who answered his knock was tall, with graying red-brown hair and a lined face, and when she spoke, he realized she was Irish.
“Hello, my dear, I’m that sad to tell you that despite that sign, we have no rooms to let just now. I’ve not had the time to change it. But I’ll give you the name of a friend one street away who does.”
“I’m actually here to collect Ben Willet’s boxes.” He smiled. “He seems to make a habit of leaving them behind. I hope you still have them?”
“Oh yes, of course I do, Major. He told me you’d be here sooner or later. Did he reach France safely? I was so afraid, you know, that ill as he was, he’d collapse on the journey.”
“I should think all is well. But I haven’t heard myself. What sort of lodger was he?”
“Neat as a pin, and such a gentleman. He’s a lovely man, and he could make me laugh until my sides ached, you know. Such a grand mimic, he was. What a pity that he took ill so sudden. I thought my heart would break. But there you are, we shouldn’t be questioning the Lord’s way, should we? All the same, I can’t help but think how his family must feel.”
“Did his sister or her husband come to visit him?”
“He didn’t want her to know, you see. I thought it wrong, myself, she sounded like such a lovely girl. He wrote to her, and I posted it for him myself. It was sent in care of someone else, to be given to her after he’d passed on. And then the man came to see him, and they left together.”
This was unexpected. “When was this?”
“It was the night he was to meet you at Tower Bridge. He said to me as they were walking out the door, ‘Good-bye, Mrs. Hurley. If the friend I was to meet comes looking for me, tell him I’ve gone ahead and will be there as promised.’ When Mr. Willet came back he told me there was a terrible accident on the bridge, and no one could come across. The next evening he left for Dover, and that was that. I held his room for a few days, just to be sure.”
“You’re very kind. Do you remember the man who came to see him?”
“I was in the dining room