Charles Todd - The red door

"Are you also watching the river?"

"I've put out the word, sir. But that's some distance away. Do you think he could have got that far, ill and on his own?"

"I think he could do whatever he put his mind to. Keep me informed, Biggin. There is nothing more I can do here. Did you meet the rest of the family?"

"Yes, sir, I did. They were angry. Well, you'd expect that. But it seemed to me they were as angry with Teller as they were with the clinic. Though that's an odd thing to say."

"All the same, I'll keep it in mind."

The next morning, Rutledge returned early to the clinic. He found Mrs. Teller in Matron's small sitting room, and again she was alone except for Matron. She was on her feet and asking him for news as soon as he stepped through the door, but he had none to give her. He found himself apologizing, as if it were his fault that her husband hadn't been found.

To distract her, he asked if her family was with her this morning.

Jenny Teller sighed and shook her head.

"They came back close to eight o'clock and they weren't at all satisfied that the police were doing everything they could to find Walter. I told them you'd come to see me, but they were still upset. And then this morning, Amy-she's Edwin's wife-came to tell me that Edwin and Peter weren't convinced that Walter is still in London. And so they have each gone to look for Walter where they felt he might be. I know that Susannah, Peter's wife, went to Cornwall, because his family often summered there when he was a boy. I think it's nonsense, but they're as worried as I am." She turned away, so that Rutledge couldn't see her face. "I asked Amy if she could stay here with me. But she wanted to drive down to Witch Hazel Farm on the off chance that Walter might have decided to go home to heal. He knows I'm here in London-he wouldn't go to Essex, knowing that."

"He might have awoken to find you weren't here, and he may have gone to Essex to seek you," Rutledge pointed out.

"But he knew I wouldn't go that far. As for his family, I feel let down, somehow. As if his brothers are more worried about Walter than about me. That sounds selfish, doesn't it? But they were here last night, badgering the police, and I could see that they could hardly sit still."

"Do you think they might know something they haven't told the police? About your husband's illness or his disappearance?"

"What could they know?" She considered that for a moment, and then said, "Walter is a good man, he's tried to live up to his calling, and he takes his responsibilities seriously. He's kind and considerate, and not the sort of person who has secrets. He wouldn't leave me to worry like this if he were in his right mind. I'm sure of it. I don't believe for a moment that he knew what he was doing yesterday, and that's what's so frightful to think about-that he's ill and not able to judge things properly and can't care for himself."

"I understand." Rutledge glanced at Matron, to see if she had anything more to add, but she was watching Mrs. Teller with concern for her distress. Feeling his gaze, she turned to look at him.

"I can add very little to that, except to say that Mr. Teller was very depressed by his illness. I had wondered if he feared his condition was permanent."

"Then when it changed for the better," Rutledge pointed out, "it should have been very reassuring. And it was not. Which leads me to believe that something else was on his mind." He turned again to Mrs. Teller. "Where would he be likely to turn, if he were troubled?"

"Why should he turn anywhere? He only needed to ask one of the sisters where I had gone. They would have told him." She blinked back tears. "It was the first and only time I left him. I hadn't slept at all-I was so afraid he would die."

Matron said, "When Sister Agnes looked in on him shortly before three o'clock, he appeared to be asleep. When she returned at twenty past four, he was gone. In little more than an hour, he recovered the use of his limbs and dressed himself. It seems hardly possible."

"Someone might have helped him dress. Helped him to leave."

"Who? To what end?" Jenny Teller put in quickly. "Everyone was at Edwin's house-they were all there."

Hamish said, "Did he wait for her to go?"

It was a good point. Jenny herself had just said that she had never left her husband's side. And he could hardly dress and slip away with her there in the room.

Rutledge left Mrs. Teller in Matron's care and searched the clinic himself, as the staff and then the police had done the night before.

Sister Vivian accompanied him and answered his questions. But it was clear that a patient would have found it difficult to slip out the staff entrance or the door where supplies came in and the dead were carried out.

One fact was certain. Walter Teller was no longer in the Belvedere Clinic.

"Aye," Hamish said. "But for his grieving wife, it's as if he never existed at all."

As Rutledge was leaving Teller's room, he found Sergeant Biggin looking for him.

Biggin said, "I didn't want to disturb the wife. But there's a body. You'll have to come and see."

"I can't recognize Teller. And I won't put Mrs. Teller through this until I know whether or not you've found her husband."

"Fair enough."

"Wait here."

Rutledge went back into the sitting room where Mrs. Teller was just joining Matron in a morning cup of tea. It was painful to see hope flaring in her eyes at the sight of him, then watch it dashed again.

"Mrs. Teller, would there be a photograph of your husband at your brother-in-law's house that the police could use to help them search for witnesses, anyone who might have seen him? I'll be glad to send someone around for it."

"A photograph?" She opened her purse and brought out a small velvet case. "I have this. But it's very precious-"

"I'll see no harm comes to it," he promised, and took out the silver frame inside the case.

"He was younger, then," she warned him. "He gave me this before we were married."

Looking down at the likeness of Walter Teller, Rutledge saw a strong face, marked by something he couldn't define. The years in the field? Possibly. It was there in the eyes, a shadow that belied the smile for the camera.

He thanked Mrs. Teller, and went back to where Biggin was waiting.

"Let's go," he said.

"He's not wearing the clothing Mrs. Teller described for us when he first went missing," Biggin told him as they walked out to the motorcar. "But the physical description fits. Height, weight, coloring."

"What happened to him?" Rutledge asked.

"He was stabbed. On Westminster Bridge. He was found shortly after dawn."

Rutledge's heart sank. Had Billy killed him? Bowles would have an apoplexy if the boy's first victim was Walter Teller.

They drove in silence to the morgue, where the body had been undressed and the man's clothing had been put in a cardboard box.

"Do you care to examine his belongings first?" the attendant asked.

"Was he robbed?"

"I expect he was. No watch or rings. No money."

"Then I'll see the body now."

He was accustomed to looking at the dead. Sometimes he was surprised at how much he could read in the dead face. At other times there was nothing but a blankness. As if the substance of the living being had been wiped away with his death.

Biggin was right. The victim was of the same general height and build as Walter Teller, his fair hair parted on the left side. But one look told Rutledge that this was not Teller. Even given the changes over the years, it was not. In fact, the dead man resembled Rutledge in size and weight, as well.

Rutledge asked that the body be turned so that he could examine the wound in the man's back. The knife had been shoved in hard, just where Rutledge had felt the faint prick of the blade against his own skin. He'd found, after he left Lonsdale, that small blood-encrusted spot in his own back.