A Fearsome Doubt Part 3

Not for the first time, Rutledge asked himself how Henry Cutter's wife had come by that missing locket.

"Ye canna' be sure she did! There's only one woman's word for it."

Rutledge replied grimly, "It wasn't in the Shaw house when it was searched. I'd stake my career on that."

"Aye, it's what you're doing."

"The problem is, why would Shaw have given the locket to Cutter's wife? For safekeeping when the police were crawling all over his house? It would have been safer to pitch it into the Thames." He fell easily into the old habit of answering Hamish, of treating the voice in his head as though the dead man sat in the rear seat of the motorcar, his constant companion and a fearful presence. "Shaw wasn't the sort to stray from home and hearth. But then no one thought he was the sort to commit murder, either."

"People are sometimes verra' different under the skin. If he was clever enough to kill, he might ha' been clever enough to have other secrets."

"The same could be said of Mrs. Shaw-or the Cutters."

Rutledge pa.s.sed the house on Sansom Street without stopping. Fog was curling in off the river, wreathing roofs and sliding over chimneys, giving the house and its neighbors a sinister air.

He told himself he hadn't yet formulated a strategy for his opening move. Like contemplating a chess game before touching the pieces, he thought to himself. It was very like that-he couldn't afford to choose the wrong move.

Hamish was saying, "In the end, you must speak to Cutter."

But how to go about that without arousing Bowles's suspicions? The Chief Superintendent was a vindictive enemy, when aroused.

Rutledge wished Mrs. Shaw had had the sense to write to him instead of coming to the Yard in person. It would have drawn far less attention. But then he might have read the letter and done nothing, putting it down to a woman's refusal to let go of the past. Her strong presence, tearful and demanding and fiercely certain, had affected him, as she must have guessed it would.

It might yet prove to be nothing more than that. A brooding that had consumed her to the point of believing in her own phantoms.

A widow whose husband had been hanged for murder must not have had an easy life. Nor her children. He had only to look around him to guess what privations they'd suffered.

Still, she'd survived. It showed in her toughness and her determination. He found it hard to blame her for being bitter and angry. And if she was right, if there had had been a miscarriage of justice, he was as much to blame as Bowles and Philip Nettle. Perhaps more so, because he had brought the case to trial. been a miscarriage of justice, he was as much to blame as Bowles and Philip Nettle. Perhaps more so, because he had brought the case to trial.

Everything hinged on that locket.

THE AUTUMN WEATHER was at its worst-the clear skies of Guy Fawkes Day had long since given way to a week of heavy clouds and a cold wind. Today, the breath-sucking fog seemed to follow Rutledge out of London, cloaking everything and everyone in a clinging, damp, choking vapor. It ran ahead of him toward the Downs, silent fingers reaching through the hedgerows and shrouding the trees. was at its worst-the clear skies of Guy Fawkes Day had long since given way to a week of heavy clouds and a cold wind. Today, the breath-sucking fog seemed to follow Rutledge out of London, cloaking everything and everyone in a clinging, damp, choking vapor. It ran ahead of him toward the Downs, silent fingers reaching through the hedgerows and shrouding the trees.

He could barely see the verges of the road, and slowed for fear of running into a farm cart or lorry, invisible around the next curve. Hamish, a presence at his shoulder, was restless with the tension of driving.

"It wasna' necessary to leave sae early! Ye'll kill us both before this weather lifts!"

Rutledge wasn't sure he would be sorry to wind up in a ditch, his neck broken. But his sister would mourn. And a handful of friends. And Jean, who had married her diplomat and sailed for Canada, would learn of his death on her wedding journey.

He smiled wryly at that. He had no illusions now about his former fiancee. Jean would read the news and sigh prettily, and say to her new husband, "My dear, I've just heard-a very dear friend has been killed on a road south of London. I-I must believe it's a blessing. He was-he was never the same after the war, you know. I daresay-but no, that's not fair. I should never wish to believe he'd found a way to end end it-" it-"

And the diplomat, not very diplomatically, would reply briskly, "You mustn't blame yourself, my dear. It's all in the past now."

Hamish commented, his voice clear in the dim interior of the motorcar, "Aye, it's no' a bonny thing to say. But it might be true, nonetheless."

Rutledge concentrated his attention on the road.

ELIZABETH M MAYHEW GREETED him warmly, clucking her tongue over the weather, and saying, "I was afraid you might not come. That you'd be glad of the weather as an excuse." him warmly, clucking her tongue over the weather, and saying, "I was afraid you might not come. That you'd be glad of the weather as an excuse."

"Nonsense," he told her, kissing her cheek. "It will lift by noon. Frances sends her love, and I'm to convince you to come to London for a few days over Christmas."

"How sweet of her," Elizabeth said, leading the way to the stairs. "I may do that. I've grown so dull of late I'll bore her to death. But perhaps it would would be good for me. We shall see." be good for me. We shall see."

The house was a comfortable Georgian manor on the outskirts of Marling, a pretty village that had enjoyed its share of wealth over the centuries and still maintained an air of quiet gentility.

Set back behind a low brick wall, the gardens bedded down for the winter, the house now seemed to wear its age more starkly, but in summer it glowed with the warmth of the sun and with the rampant colors of perennials, with annuals sprawling at their feet. Then it was timeless and beautiful.

There had always been a welcome here, as long as Rutledge could remember. But without Richard's voice in the pa.s.sages or his long legs stretched out toward the fire after a day tramping on the Downs, there was an emptiness in the rooms that lamps and Elizabeth's lighter voice couldn't fill.

Rutledge had known Richard Mayhew longer than Elizabeth had, long before Elizabeth had come into the picture. In his youth, he'd played tennis here with Richard, and gone for long walks over the Downs, following old tracks and pathways whose origins were lost in time. It had seemed odd, when the summer light lingered late into the evening, to think of the ghosts whose footsteps they were following. Angles, Saxons, Romans-G.o.d knew what other now nameless tribes had pa.s.sed this way. Richard had called it the spell of Midsummer. "The poets are always writing about it. I daresay the ancients wors.h.i.+ping the sun thought this a magic time."

And so it had been. Before the war had come and swept it all away.

Now the house seemed sad without Richard, and Rutledge found himself wondering if it wouldn't be wiser if Elizabeth closed it for a time and took a smaller place in London. Away from the memories. But perhaps those memories were comforting. . . .

As his own were not.

She was saying, "And I must apologize-but we've been invited out to dine, and I couldn't tell them no. With the Hamiltons-you remember them?-and of course Mrs. Crawford will be there. She's coming up from Suss.e.x, just to see you."

Melinda Crawford was one of the most remarkable women he'd ever met. As a child she'd survived the siege of Lucknow, during the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857. An inveterate and fearless traveler, she had seen more of the world than most men. Rutledge had always been immensely fond of her. Her memory was as sharp as ever it had been, her tongue as tart, and her company as charming.

Elizabeth, reading his expression, said wryly, "Richard adored her, too. I think she took his death harder than I did."

It would be an unexpected treat to see Mrs. Crawford again. But not tonight. He was too tired and his mood too dark for polite conversation. "It was a rather long drive-" he began, and then stopped. "Would you like to go?"

She made a face. "Not really. But Bella Masters has been having a very difficult time, and we've been trying to cheer her up a bit. Raleigh will come to dine, but Bella can't get him out of the house otherwise. She hasn't said, but I have the awful feeling that he's dying. And n.o.body quite knows what to do."

"What's wrong with him?"

"A very stubborn infection. It cost him his toes, and then his foot, and now he's about to lose his leg close to the knee. Blood poisoning. He has some sort of apparatus to wear in place of his foot, but he hates it. Bella tries to pretend all is well, which doesn't help. It's Lydia Hamilton's turn to entertain them, and she couldn't make up her numbers. I'm afraid Raleigh isn't always very good company. We're the martyrs thrown to the lions."

"In that case, by all means, we'll go," Rutledge a.s.sured her.

She seemed relieved, but said only, "Then come into the sitting room and we'll have our tea in comfort, before it's time to dress. I've something to show you-"

Henrietta, the spaniel, had just presented Elizabeth with puppies, five of them, still blind and squirming and noisy. They lay in a box near the hearth, and Henrietta rose to greet Rutledge before warily allowing him to admire her family. Elizabeth was on the floor beside the box, clearly entranced, giving him the name of each tiny ball of fur.

He could hardly tell one from another, except by the liver-colored spots, but dutifully gave his attention to each in turn, while Henrietta licked his hand and watched attentively as Elizabeth lifted her brood one by one and held the newborns up for his inspection. He found himself thinking that Elizabeth herself would have made a wonderful mother, but there had never been any children in her marriage. Richard had been philosophical about it. "Early days," he'd said. But time had run out.

When the maid brought tea, Elizabeth went to wash her hands and Henrietta climbed gratefully back into her box, nosing each of her treasures, as if to rea.s.sure herself that none had gone missing. Rutledge leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Hamish, in the back of his mind, was saying something about Richard. He ignored it, and tried to put London and the Yard out of his thoughts for the evening. It would not do to drag the Shaws into Elizabeth's uncomplicated world, and yet Rutledge found himself wis.h.i.+ng he could talk to her as he would have done to her husband. A barrister, Richard would have understood Rutledge's dilemma and heard the story out without criticism or comment. Elizabeth would worry over Ben Shaw's innocence as well as his guilt, and leave the subject more tangled than it was. . . .

She came back into the room just then and, seeing him with his eyes closed, said briskly, "You need your tea!" and proceeded to pour him a cup.

Hamish said, "A wee dram o' whisky would do more good."

THE WHISKY CAME at the Hamiltons, a stiff drink that Lawrence Hamilton handed him with the admonition "You'll need this!" at the Hamiltons, a stiff drink that Lawrence Hamilton handed him with the admonition "You'll need this!"

Elizabeth had gone upstairs to speak to Lydia, and the two men were alone in the drawing room.

Rutledge said, "I hear Masters hasn't been well." He had met the man a time or two in the courts, but hardly knew him at all.

"No, he hasn't. And it's been difficult for him. Not only the loss of his limb, but the constant pain and the dragging down of his spirits. He had to give up the law, you know, and that was possibly worse than amputation. He loved his work." Lawrence was square, fair, with a ruddy complexion. "Still, he's a man of uncertain moods. Always was, for all I know, but now it's noticeable. Lydia and Elizabeth and a few other friends have tried to make his illness bearable for Bella-"

He broke off as the maid ushered in another guest. Melinda Crawford swept into the room with grace, a tall woman, slim now with age, and wearing the evening dress of another reign: gray silk, with lace high to the throat and binding the sleeves at her wrists. Her white hair, piled high in s.h.i.+ning waves, was still thick, and the handsome blue eyes were unclouded. The beautiful ebony cane in her left hand was more affectation than necessity.

She greeted her host with warmth, and then regarded Rutledge with interest. "You survived the war, then. Why haven't you been to see me?"

Rutledge answered, "First I had to find my way back into civilian life." But it was Hamish that he had wanted to hide from her. Melinda Crawford had seen war, had nursed the wounded and comforted the dying when she was only ten; her experience was so vast that he had been afraid she would instantly read his secret in his eyes.

He went to kiss her cheek, and she held him off for a moment, studying his face. "Ah. And have you found your way?" She let him kiss her then, and took his arm as he led her to the small French love seat.

"I don't know. I expect you'll tell me?"

She laughed gently. "War has done nothing for your manners, I see. But it's good to have you back. Lawrence, is that sherry I see at your elbow?"

He brought her a gla.s.s and she sipped it. "One of the privileges of age," she declared, "is to be able to drink a gla.s.s or two of wine without a lecture on moderation. This is quite good, Lawrence. I shall require the name of your wine merchant."

Lawrence chuckled. "Indeed. He's the same as yours."

"Ah, but he never treats me as well."

Hamish, taken aback by Melinda Crawford, was silent, trying to make up his mind about her. Rutledge, drawing up a chair next to the love seat, said, "I've missed you."

"At my age," she agreed, "four years is a very long time. I wasn't sure I would live to see you again." She studied his face once more. "But the wicked seem to thrive in this world, and I'm still here. Thank you for your letters, and the books of poems. I treasured both."

"I thought you might like the poet. O. A. Manning."

"She's dead now, I've heard."

He answered simply, "Yes."

"A tragedy among so many tragedies. There's never time to mourn. I remember in India there were so many burials we couldn't cry anymore. It was almost the same here, after this war. And you're back at the Yard, I've heard that as well. You forgot my birthday this year."

"I didn't forget. I didn't know what you would have liked. Frances sent a gift from both of us. Nightgowns suitable for a queen, if I have it right. Silk, in fact, from the East. Appropriate, she felt."

"Very beautiful," Melinda Crawford agreed. "Most of all, I would have liked your company for a few hours. But then I'm selfish, aren't I, when so many people are being murdered these days." Her eyes twinkled, but there was an undercurrent of sorrow behind the words.

The aging face was serene, and told him nothing. But he had a glimpse, brief as a b.u.t.terfly's touch, of the loneliness of this extraordinary woman.

She would not have wanted him to see it.

7.

BEFORE HE COULD ANSWER, THE DOOR OPENED, AND A MAN and woman came in, followed by a young man of perhaps thirty. and woman came in, followed by a young man of perhaps thirty.

Lawrence made introductions, and Rutledge studied Raleigh Masters. The barrister had been heavyset. Now his jowls drooped like a bloodhound's and his clothes fit rather too loosely. His brown hair was streaked with gray and his frame was a little stooped, although that might have been from the crutches under his arm.

He swung into the room, a powerful man still, and undaunted, it seemed, by his infirmities. "Hallo, Mrs. Crawford, good to see you again, my dear. Forgive me for not shaking hands, Mr. Rutledge, but I have not yet learned the knack of these sticks."

His wife came to greet Melinda Crawford, and then spoke to Rutledge in a breathless rush. "Down from London, are you? How very nice!"

Bella Masters seemed to possess a rather diffident nature, and her face was worn with worry, as if she slept poorly. But there was an underlying attractiveness there, and a strength, if Rutledge was not mistaken, that was the last defense against her own weakness.

Lydia and Elizabeth returned to greet the newcomers, and Bella went on in that breathless way, "We are so sorry to be late-the weather was very bad just past Hever."

"Nonsense!" her husband retorted, adjusting his sticks as he sat down heavily into a chair. "I could see perfectly well!"

Bella glanced apologetically at the young man-who must have been driving them-but he ignored the remark and came to speak to Mrs. Crawford and then Rutledge.

Lawrence Hamilton had introduced him as Tom Brereton, and he said now to Rutledge, "Did I hear Mr. Hamilton correctly? You're an inspector?"

"Yes. Scotland Yard."

"Then you're here on duty?"

"Actually, I'm on leave."

Brereton nodded. "I believe Lawrence said you are a friend of Mrs. Mayhew's?"

"Yes. I've known her for some years. Richard and I were at Oxford together."

"I met her in hospital during the war. She read wonderfully well-it was rather like hearing a play. Everyone came to listen. I never had the good fortune to know her husband. They tell me he was an excellent barrister. I was interested in the law at one time, but my eyesight isn't what it was." Brereton smiled wryly. "Shrapnel. They did what they could, but I won't be studying long hours anymore."

"Yet you drive." It was a typical policeman's response, as Hamish was pointing out.

"Oh, yes, I can manage. Now. But they tell me a great many more motorcars will be on the road in the next year or so. That might make a difference." He shrugged. "I know Kent fairly well. It helps."

Mrs. Crawford was chatting with Lydia, and Brereton continued in a lowered voice, "She's a truly amazing woman. Did you know she'd been at Lucknow? During the Mutiny? I can't quite comprehend it. 1857, that was!"

Rutledge responded, "She has several interesting souvenirs, including one of the greased paper cartridges that sparked the Mutiny. And the ball that pa.s.sed through her skirts one afternoon, as she carried water to the wounded. Her mother nearly fainted at the news-young Melinda was supposedly taking a nap."

Brereton smiled. "I can believe the story. My grandmother told me once that Mrs. Crawford had been quite a heroine. But she she denies it." denies it."

At dinner, they were well into their soup before Masters looked up from his spoon and said, "Mrs. Crawford. I'm told mulligatawny soup is an old Indian specialty."