The Red Door Part 2

He was just reaching for the cap that half covered Billy's face when he heard a constable's whistle and the heavy thud of his regulation boots as he came pounding over the crest of the bridge.

Startled, Rutledge sent the cap flying into the darkness.

"Here, now!" the constable exclaimed as he got closer and took in the two men, a knife lying some two yards away. From his vantage point, Rutledge appeared to be the aggressor, and Rutledge's attacker took swift advantage of it.

He screamed, "Don't let him hurt me-he's trying to kill me. Help me-"

The constable was there, catching at Rutledge's shoulder, hauling him away from his victim, and for the first time Rutledge glimpsed the flushed and frightened face of a boy who looked eighteen or nineteen but for all his size must be no more than sixteen.

And then as the constable's fist closed over Rutledge's bleeding arm, his fingers just as quickly opened again.

"What's this, then?" the constable demanded, stepping back. He was thin and middle-aged, an imposing figure with the light reflecting from the crown of his helmet, giving the impression he was taller than he was. "Is that your knife, or his?" he asked the boy.

In that split second of hesitation, Billy wriggled free of Rutledge's grip and set off over the bridge, his feet flying. The constable looked from him to Rutledge, and Rutledge said rapidly, "I'm Scotland Yard. Rutledge, Inspector. Go after him, man. Go after him, man."

But it was too late. By the time the constable had collected himself and pelted after the suspect, he had turned at the bridge abutment and was lost in the darkness on the far side of the river.

The constable came back, breathing hard, to meet Rutledge halfway. "I'm sorry, sir-"

"So am I. His next victim might not be as lucky." He gave the constable a description of the boy, including the false name, and added, "He's frightened enough to be dangerous."

"I didn't get a close look at him," the constable admitted. "But I'll see word is pa.s.sed on." He gestured to Rutledge's arm. "You'd best have that seen to, sir."

The wound was beginning to hurt now. Rutledge warned, "He may not always choose this bridge."

"Yes, sir, I understand that." He shook his head as he bent to retrieve the knife. "A pity. Nothing here to tell us where it came from. Common enough, by the look of it." He ran his finger along the edge. "And sharp enough to bone a chicken."

"I'll come to the station tomorrow to make a statement," Rutledge told him. "Where are you? And what's your name?"

"Lambeth Station. Constable Bishop, sir." He grinned tentatively, adding as if it were a longstanding joke, "Though there are none in the family that I know of."

Rutledge didn't return the smile. He nodded and walked back to where he'd left his motorcar. The blood trickling down his arm to his hand left a trail behind him, and he thought cynically that it was too bad that the boy hadn't cut his own arm instead.

Dr. Lonsdale, answering the summons at his door, was in his dressing gown and still knotting the belt. "It can't wait until morning?" And then he noted the dark patch of blood on Rutledge's sleeve. "Come in, then," he said and led Rutledge directly to his surgery.

"It's not deep," the doctor informed him, turning to wash his hands after examining and then bandaging the wound, "but it will be sore enough for a few days. Be careful how you use it." Accustomed to patching up men from the Yard, he added, "Providing infection doesn't set in from the knife that did this."

It was good advice. The next morning the arm was still sore and felt heavy, but he reported to the Yard, where news of events had preceded him.

Bowles said as they crossed paths in the corridor, "Constable Walker has reported that a week ago on the Lambeth Road a boy tried to rob a doctor returning from a lying-in. Someone came along, and the boy ran. But the description is similar. He claimed he had a knife, but neither the doctor nor his rescuer actually saw it."

"So I wasn't the first victim." He had hoped that he was.

"In fact, there have been a number of robberies at knifepoint south of the river, but most victims hand over their money without any fuss. You and the doctor argued. What were you doing on the bridge at that hour, anyway?"

"A good question," Rutledge answered him shortly. And then seeing that Bowles was intent on having an answer, he went on. "Making plans of a sort."

"A mad place to go woolgathering," Bowles commented. "How's the arm?"

"It will do."

Bowles grunted. "Dr. Lonsdale tells me otherwise. You'll be on light duty for several days." He handed Rutledge the stack of folders he was carrying. "Inspector Mickelson is behind in his paperwork. You can deal with these."

He walked away without looking back.

Rutledge stood there for all of ten seconds, then strode in the direction of his office, his expression grim.

Lonsdale had said nothing about light duties. This was Rutledge's punishment for not taking his a.s.sailant into custody. And having him do Mickelson's paperwork was intended to drive the point home.

Chapter 6

Jenny Teller woke from a deep sleep, disoriented. Sitting up in bed, she stared at the room. This wasn't the clinic-what was she doing here here? And what was that strident sound in the distance?

A telephone.

This was Edwin's house, she realized, brus.h.i.+ng back a tendril of hair that had come loose as she slept. And this was the bedchamber she and Walter always used when they were in London.

The telephone was still ringing. Should she answer it?

Rubbing her face with her hands, she tried to collect her wits. She'd had no idea how tired she was. Everyone had been kind at the clinic, but she hadn't been able to shut her eyes, her worry driving her, and only an occasional nap s.n.a.t.c.hed when Walter was with the doctors or asleep himself had kept her going. Why was there no change in his condition? Why was he refusing to talk, to look at her, to eat? Why couldn't the doctors do do something? something?

She remembered now: Amy and Edwin had begged her to come away for a few hours of rest. Walter was sleeping, it would do her good. And they would bring her back in time to have dinner with him.

Oh G.o.d, had they let her oversleep? But no, sunlight was still pouring through the curtains, making bright squares on the mauve carpet. It couldn't be more than five o'clock-perhaps half past. But no, sunlight was still pouring through the curtains, making bright squares on the mauve carpet. It couldn't be more than five o'clock-perhaps half past.

The telephone had stopped ringing.

She lay back against the pillows, one part of her begging to sleep a little longer, the other las.h.i.+ng her with guilt for leaving the clinic even for such a short time.

There was a tap at her door, and she called, "Come in, Amy. I'm awake."

But it was Rose, the housekeeper. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Teller, but there's someone on the telephone asking for you."

"Who is it?" She swung her feet out of the bed and stuffed them into her shoes. "My sister?"

"It's the clinic, Mrs. Teller. I told them you were resting, but they said it was urgent."

She rushed past Rose, nearly tripping over her untied laces as she raced down the stairs. At the door to the telephone closet, she paused, trying to catch her breath, then she s.n.a.t.c.hed up the receiver and leaned toward the mouthpiece. "Mrs. Teller here."

She listened, her mouth so dry she couldn't speak.

"I'll be there. I'm on my way."

Putting up the receiver, she called, "Edwin? Where are you?"

He opened the study door, and she hurried down the pa.s.sage to meet him. And then to her surprise she saw over his shoulder that the family was gathered there. Amy, of course; Peter and his wife; Leticia, Walter's sister. Their faces, turned toward her, were strained, as if they already knew.

But of course they couldn't. She'd only just been informed herself.

"It's Walter," she told them baldly, and then, unable to say the words, afraid that to do so would make them real, she added, "Oh, please hurry, we must go-!"

There was a deafening silence, and then everyone was moving at once, and someone, Amy, she thought distractedly, was kneeling to tie her shoelaces for her.

She stood there, waiting for the motorcars to be brought around, counting the minutes, refusing to answer their questions. Her mind was filled with only one thought: what she must say to Harry, how she was going to explain.

Chapter 7

Rutledge was walking out of his office at the end of the day when he encountered Bowles bearing down on him.

The Chief Superintendent waved Rutledge back into his office and sourly regarded the stack of folders beside his blotter.

"Something has come up," he said, taking the chair and forcing Rutledge to sit again behind his desk.

"Walter Teller has gone missing," he went on, as if the name should mean something to Rutledge. "Teller? Author of that book in 1914 on the reality of the missionary's life in the field?"

But Rutledge had been on the point of joining his regiment in France when the book had come out to critical acclaim. There had been no time to read it. In fact, if asked, he would have been hard-pressed to supply the name of the author.

"Gone missing? In West Africa, was it?" he asked, dredging up a memory.

"No, thank the Lord G.o.d. Here in London. He was being treated in the Belvedere Clinic. Some sort of nervous condition, as far as I can judge from what Sergeant Biggin was saying. They've searched the place from top to bottom, and there's no sign of him. They even searched among the cadavers. Ghoulish thing to have to do, but thorough."

"Sergeant Biggin is a good man."

"Yes, yes. But this is a matter for the Yard. Important man, shows we're on top of it, results quickly, and all that. If you take my meaning."

Rutledge did. He would not fail to bring in his man, this time.

"One other thing. See that you show the family every courtesy. They'll be worried. Keep them informed."

"Who made the initial report? The family or the clinic? And when?"

"The clinic. An hour ago. They sent someone around to the nearest station. When he saw the lay of the land, Sergeant Biggin contacted the Yard. And rightly so."

Bowles stood up, pacing the narrow room. "The facts are these. The clinic contacted the London police, Sergeant Biggin went to have a look, and then he contacted us. It seems Teller had come into the city from his home in Ess.e.x to speak to his bankers-there's a son off to Harrow, shortly-and took ill on the way home. His doctor-man by the name of Fielding-sent him directly to the Belvedere, hoping the medical men there could sort him out."

Rutledge nodded. "They have a good reputation."

"That was last week. And according to Biggin, Teller was not showing any improvement at all. In fact his paralysis was progressing. And then as quickly as it came on, it apparently disappeared, because in the middle of the afternoon, today, Teller dressed himself and walked out of the clinic on his own. The clinic's porter never saw him leave. So they searched the place, then called the police and summoned Mrs. Teller. She'd been resting at the home of her brother-in-law in Marlborough Street, and the family came to the clinic at once."

It was a measure of Bowles's personal interest in the matter that he had briefed Rutledge so thoroughly.

"That's all I can give you." Bowles turned to leave. "My compliments to Mrs. Teller, and we'll do everything in our power to bring this matter to a happy conclusion." With a nod, he was out the door.

Rutledge sat where he was for a moment. Missing persons were seldom brought to the attention of the Yard, unless the search ended in a suspicious death. Or the person in question was important or well known. Many of the cases were closed by the recovery of the pitiful body downriver, others with a trial for kidnapping or murder. He had a feeling that none of these applied to Teller's disappearance.

But something had caused the man to leave his sickbed. And it was the sort of puzzle that appealed to him.

"Ye ken," Hamish was pointing out, "that yon puffed-up Chief Superintendent is looking for a scapegoat."

Suddenly Bowles was there again, poking his head around Rutledge's door.

"Good. You're still here," Bowles said. "Another thought to carry with you. Teller was in the field for quite a few years. For all we know, he may be walking around London suffering from a new plague. That would set the cat amongst the pigeons. It may be the reason why Teller's doctors are closemouthed about his condition."

The terrible epidemic of Spanish flu, as it was called at the time, that killed more people around the world in 1918 than the war had done, was still fresh in the public mind.

"I thought you said that he'd recovered-"

"Don't confuse issues, Rutledge. There's no telling how long these things might fester. Talk to his doctors and discover if you can what the risks are."

"When was he last in the field?" Rutledge asked.

"What difference does that make?" Bowles demanded irritably. He pulled out his watch. "You should have been on your way a quarter of an hour ago."

"And Inspector Mickelson's reports?" Rutledge asked blandly, unable to stop himself. He gestured to the half dozen folders still on his desk.

"d.a.m.n it, man, hand them over to Gibson. Someone else will see to them. This is urgent business."

Leaving the Yard, Rutledge drove to the Belvedere Clinic. It was housed in what had been the offices of a large Canadian firm that had returned to Ottawa with the end of the war, ironically enough because it had suffered severely in the Spanish flu and the depressed state of business after the Armistice. The clinic, looking for new quarters, had taken it over because they were expanding. It was not far from the British Museum, and traffic on the busy thoroughfare it faced was heavy at this hour.

When Rutledge went up the steps to the ornate entrance the clinic had kept during renovations, a porter in a dark blue uniform nodded to him and opened the door for him. Inside was a high-ceilinged foyer, and his footsteps echoed on the patterned marble floor as he crossed it. The orderly seated at the reception desk greeted him and asked how he might help.

Rutledge had intended to ask for Mrs. Teller, but at the last moment he changed his mind. "Matron, please. Inspector Rutledge, Scotland Yard."

"Indeed, sir." The orderly pressed one of six b.u.t.tons on a pad to one side of his desk. "A sister will be here shortly to take you to Matron's office."

"Were you on duty this afternoon when Mr. Teller left the clinic?"

"Yes, sir, I was." He cleared his throat, his fingers fidgeting with the panel of b.u.t.tons. "Our visitors leave at four o'clock, you see. It's quite busy for several minutes. Mr. Teller must have been amongst them, but how was I to know? I had no reason to notice him in particular."

"You don't recall anyone who could fit his description?"

"No, sir. They're mostly relatives, discussing their visit. It's the usual pattern, I see it every day."