intend to be there, Sergeant Evan. What you say will cause him great distress, and he is still very weak.”
'Of course,' he agreed. 'I am not trying to cause him harm.”
She turned and led the way across the hall. It seemed Monk intended to remain with Sylvestra. Perhaps he thought he could elicit some information from her where Evan had failed. He might be right.
Hester went up the stairs and across the landing, opening the door to Rhys's room, then as soon as she was inside, standing away so Evan could face the bed.
Rhys was lying on his back, his broken hands on the covers. He was simply staring at the ceiling. He was propped up on sufficient pillows to be able to meet Evan's eyes without discomfort. He looked surprised to see him, but the blue bruising was gone and the swelling had entirely disappeared. He was a handsome young man, in an unconventional way, nose a little too long, mouth too sensitive, dark eyes dominating his white face.
Evan was reminded sickeningly of when he had found him. He felt responsible. He had been part of willing him to live, bringing him back from the brink of darkness and into this white light of pain. He should have been able to protect him somehow. It was his duty to find a better answer than this.
'Mr. Duff,' he began with a dry mouth. He swallowed and felt worse.
'We have traced your movements on the night your father was killed, and on at least three other nights before that. You regularly went to St.
Giles, and there used the services of a prostitute, in fact several prostitutes…”
Rhys stared at him. A faint flush coloured his cheeks. It embarrassed him that that sort of thing should be mentioned in front of Hester, it was plain in his eyes, the way he glanced at her and away again.
'On the night in question, a woman was raped and beaten…' Evan stopped. Rhys had gone ashen, almost grey-faced, and his eyes were filled with such horror Evan was afraid he was suffering some kind of seizure.
Hester moved towards him, then stopped.
The room seemed to roar with the silence. The lights flickered. A coal fell in the fire.
'Rhys Duff… I am arresting you for the murder of Leighton Duff, on the night of January seventh, 1860, in Water Lane, St. Giles.' It would be a cruel brutality to warn him that anything he said might be used in evidence at his trial. He could say nothing, no defence, no explanation, no denial.
Hester swung in front of him and sat on the bed between them, taking Rhys's hands in her own and turning him to look at her.
'Did you do it, Rhys?' she demanded, pulling his arms, hurting him to break the spell.
He looked at her. He made a choking sound in his throat almost like a laugh, the tears spilled over his cheeks and he shook his head, a little at first then more and more violently till he was thrashing from side to side, still making the desperate, tearing sounds in his throat.
Hester stood up and faced Evan.
'All right, Sergeant, you have fulfilled your duty. Mr. Duff has heard your charge, and he has told you he is not guilty. If you wish to wait for Dr. Wade to confirm that he is too ill to be moved, you may do so downstairs, perhaps in the morning room. Mrs. Duff may also need to be alone…”
'It will not be necessary to wait.”
Evan swung round to find Corriden Wade behind him looking exhausted, hollow-cheeked, but absolutely unflinching.
'Good evening, Dr. Wade…”
'Hardly,' Wade said drily. 'I have been fearing this would happen, but now that it has, I must inform you, officially in my capacity as Rhys's physician, that he is not well enough to be moved. If you do so you may jeopardise not only his recovery, but possibly even his life. And I must remind you that you have made a charge, but you have not yet proved it. Before the law he is still an innocent man.”
'I know that, Dr. Wade,' Evan answered calmly. 'I have no intention of forcing the issue. I shall leave a constable on duty outside the house. I came only to inform Mr. Duff of the charge, not to attempt to take him into custody.”
Wade relaxed a little. 'Good. Good. I'm sorry if I was a little hasty. You must understand it is extremely distressing for me on a personal level, as well as professional. I have been a friend of the family for many years. I feel their tragedies very keenly.”
'I know that,' Evan conceded. 'I wish my errand were something other.”
'I'm sure.' Wade nodded, then walked past him into the room, glancing at Hester with a look of quick appreciation. 'Thank you, Miss Latterly, for your pan. I am sure you have been of great strength. I shall remain with Rhys for a while, to make sure the shock of this has not affected him too seriously. Perhaps you would be good enough to be of what comfort you may to Mrs. Duff. I shall be down very shortly.”
'Yes, of course,' Hesteragreed, and instantly shepherded Evan out of the room and down the stairs.
'I'm sorry, Hester,' Evan said, going down behind her. 'There really is no alternative. The proof is overwhelming.”
'I know,' she answered without turning. 'William told me.' She was stiff, holding herself upright with an effort, as if once she let go she might never find the strength to regain her composure. She crossed the hallway and went into the withdrawing room without knocking.
Inside Sylvestra was sitting on the sofa near the fire, and Monk was standing in the middle of the carpet. Neither of them had been speaking at that moment.
Sylvestra looked at Hester, her eyes terrified, questioning.
'Dr. Wade is with him,' Hester said in answer. 'He is distressed, of course, but he is not in any danger. And naturally he will remain here.' Her voice dropped. 'I asked him if he was guilty, and he shook his head, vehemently.”
'But…' Sylvestra stammered. 'But…' She looked at Monk, then at Evan behind Hester.
'That is not helpful, Hester!' Monk said sharply.
Sylvestra looked bemused. Her hands moved as if to grasp at something, and closed on air. Her body was rigid and she moved jerkily, increasingly close to hysteria. At this very moment, her need was greater than Rhys's.
Hester went over to her and touched her, taking her arms.
'There is nothing we can do tonight, but in the morning we must plan ahead. The charge has been made. It must be answered, whatever that answer is. Mr. Monk is a private agent of enquiry. There may yet be more to discover, and naturally you will employ the best legal counsel you can. Just now you must keep up your strength. No doubt Dr. Wade will tell his sister, but I will tell Mrs. Kynaston, if you would find that easier.”
'I… don't know…' Sylvestra was shaking violently and her skin was cold where Hester held her.
Evan moved uncomfortably. He should not be witnessing this agony. His task was completed here. This was an intrusion, as it was for Monk. He looked at Hester. She was absorbed in her feelings for Sylvestra. He and Monk barely touched the periphery of her mind.
'Hester…' It was Monk who spoke, but hesitantly.
Evan looked at him. His face was filled with pity so profound it stood naked, startling, and it was a moment or two before Evan realised it was for Hester, not the woman who had received such a devastating blow.
It was not only pity, there was also in it a burning admiration and a tenderness which betrayed his de fences utterly.
He longed for Hester to turn and see it, but she was consumed by her anguish for Sylvestra.
Evan walked towards the door. He was in the hall when he saw Dr. Wade coming down the stairs. He looked haggard, and he still had the trace of a limp remaining from his accident.
'There will be no possibility of your moving him,' he said as he neared the bottom. 'Whether he will be fit to stand a trial I cannot say.”
'We will have to have a medical opinion of more than one man to that,”
Evan answered him. He looked at Wade's strained expression, the darkness in his eyes and what he thought might even be fear, or the shadow of fear to come.
'Sergeant…”
'Yes, Doctor?”
'Have…' he bit his lip. What he was about to say seemed to hurt him intensely. He struggled with it, hovered on the edge of decision, and finally summoned the strength. 'Have you considered the possibility that he is not sane… not responsible, as you and I understand the term?”
So Wade accepted that he was guilty! Was it simply the evidence they had presented? Or did he know
