The Red Door Part 36

"I was crying. I couldn't see where I was going. I did to myself what you were afraid someone else might do."

"Are you sure there was no problem with the motorcar-the steering or the brakes?"

She shook her head.

He sat with her a little longer, and then she agreed to let Inspector Jessup take her to Dr. Fielding.

He said to Jessup, "Go over this motorcar. If there is any reason for that crash other than her emotional state, I want to know."

Jessup looked at him. "Are you saying someone would like to kill that woman?"

"I told her that if there was an attempt at a third accident, we would know that the other deaths were murder."

"And she thought . . ."

"She was frightened. But it was the only way I could make her watch for trouble. She was angry with the family, she blamed them for her husband's fall."

"I don't understand how she could."

Rutledge was walking around the motorcar, but in the rainy darkness he could see nothing. "It doesn't matter. The fact is, she did. All right, let me know what you find."

He asked one of the constables to drive him back to Witch Hazel Farm, and with a nod from Jessup, one stepped forward and said, "This way, sir."

Hamish was saying something, but Rutledge wasn't listening. He went to find Amy as soon as he reached the house.

"Your sister-in-law ran off the road in the rain. Dr. Fielding is seeing her in his surgery."

"Oh, dear. I ought to go to her. She should never have been allowed to drive to London alone. Are you sure she's all right?" She clicked her tongue. "I don't know what's to become of us. It's a little frightening."

"She's all right, but I think she might prefer not to be alone."

"Of course not. But-there's another problem. We've looked everywhere, and Walter isn't here. No one has seen him since the funeral service. I telephoned the rector-he told me he hadn't seen Walter since we left the church. You don't think he's vanished again? It would be too horrible to contemplate."

"Did you look in the nursery?" Rutledge asked.

"Yes, before I called the rectory." She glanced uneasily toward the door. "You don't suppose he went for a walk?"

"Not tonight. Is his motorcar here?"

"I'm sure it is," she began doubtfully, then said, "Would you look? It's in the small barn just beyond the kitchen garden."

Rutledge went around to the shed where the motorcar was kept.

It was still there. Rutledge laid a hand on the bonnet. It was almost completely cool after driving to the service.

When he found Amy Teller and told her, she said, "I don't remember exactly when I saw him last. But then I didn't realize Susannah had left, either. There was such a number of motorcars and carriages and people, at the end." Amy turned toward the stairs. "Let me fetch my coat," she said. After a moment she was back, adding, "Perhaps we ought to go to the church. I'll feel better when we know he's all right." She bit her lip. "We let him stay to himself too much. But we were all angry still, and upset about Peter and then Jenny. We let him bear the brunt of our feelings."

"The church?" Rutledge asked. "All right, we'll have a look."

He drove with her to the church, but it was dark and empty, with no sign of Walter. They encountered Mr. Stedley just coming to return the church umbrellas, and asked him again if he'd seen Walter.

"I'm afraid not." He looked across the churchyard to the raw mound of earth that marked Peter Teller's grave. "Do you have a torch, Inspector?"

He found the one in his motorcar, but although he flashed it across the stones and beneath the yew trees, there was no sign of Teller.

Stedley, standing in the porch shivering, said, "It's grown quite chilly. I hope he's not wandered far."

Rutledge drove Amy Teller back to Witch Hazel Farm and with her searched the house again, then the outbuildings. But Teller had gone.

"He might have decided to spend a little time with Jenny," Amy said doubtfully.

She called Dr. Fielding's house, but Mrs. Fielding told her that they had not seen Teller since the service for his brother.

Edwin, coming down from his bedchamber where he'd been resting, said, "I should think he's all right. He might have just walked around, trying to clear his head." But it was like whistling in the dark. His voice betrayed his concern.

Mary said, from her corner by the fire they'd built in the hearth against the chill of the rain, "You don't suppose he went to my house? Or Leticia's? Or he may have gone back to London with Susannah. We're all staying the night here. He may have wanted a little peace and quiet."

Leticia, who joined them, said, "On foot? The motorcar is here. No, he must have begged a lift from someone."

Edwin said, "We may be worrying prematurely. Let's give him another hour. It's foolish to panic like this."

"He wouldn't just-vanish again, would he?" Mary asked Rutledge.

But he could offer her only cold comfort. "I don't know."

"Call the Belvedere Clinic, Amy," Mary suggested.

"He couldn't have reached London this soon," Amy protested.

Mollie came in to ask if anyone would care for tea, and they asked her again if she knew where Teller might be.

But Mollie hadn't seen him since the first mourners had departed.

Hamish said, "Ye're worrying about the la.s.s. It's possible you were fearing for the wrong person."

Chapter 32

It took them some time to discover how Teller had vanished so quickly.

Amy brought Rutledge the list of attendees. It took half the night to track them down. He and Jessup dealt with the local names, while Gibson at the Yard ran the others to ground.

The former missionary had been the hardest to locate, for he was traveling about England raising funds for various charities that helped support mission work and had no particular itinerary.

He told the constable who had tracked him down in the middle of Hampshire, "Yes, Walter asked if I was coming to London. I told him I was, and he asked for a lift. There was a meeting he had to attend in the morning. He didn't want to put the family out, although Edwin had volunteered to take him. And I was happy to oblige, it was company on the road."

The constable asked where the missionary had dropped Teller. "By Scotland Yard," the constable told them.

"It was all a lie," Edwin said, angry. "You were here. Why should he go to the Yard?"

"He's going back to the field," Leticia told them. "Leaving us to deal as best we can with the problems he left behind."

Hamish said, "Lancashire."

Through Sergeant Gibson, Rutledge had already sent a telegram to Hobson, asking Constable Satterthwaite to keep a watch on the house. But would Teller go there as penance for what he'd done to Florence Teller? Or to escape from his family? He could live as a recluse there as easily as he could in Africa.

Mary Brittingham said, "He might have gone to my house. There's no one there. I'd given the staff a few days off. But Jenny still had her key. He could have taken it. I'll have a look, at least."

It was nearly dawn by that time. Rutledge said, "You should rest first."

Mary, her eyes sunken with worry, laughed without humor. "I doubt I'd sleep at all. Someone ought to look and see if Peter's revolver is here. I can't sit still. Let me drive home and look. He may have turned back, to confuse us. I'll stop at Leticia's too. I'll bring him back if I find him. If I don't, I'll take your advice and rest." She held up a Thermos. "Mollie has given me tea to keep me awake on the road. I'll be all right."

There was a light breakfast in the dining room, but no one felt like eating. Rutledge said, "I have a feeling he's not in London. He could have taken a train anywhere."

Amy, who had gone looking for the revolver, said, "It isn't there. He might well have shot himself this time. He was so depressed about Jenny. Although you'd think he would have a care for Harry."

"He may have thought Susannah had reached her house. He could be there." He went to put in yet another telephone call.

"Tiresome man," Leticia said. "He's thinking only of himself. I for one am going up to my bed." She turned on her heel to leave.

The storm had gone with the night. A pale sunlight touched the windows.

Amy said, "Shouldn't someone go to Portsmouth?"

Leticia said, "As I learned the last time, no one can simply arrive at a mission and announce his return. There are arrangements to make-travel for one, supplies, money, and so on. Details, like how long he'll be expected to remain there, what comforts he can expect-or not. Whether Bibles have been translated into that particular dialect. What his expenses are, and who will sponsor him. Enthusiasm isn't enough."

"Which is why," Hamish suggested, "he went with yon auld man."

It was a strong possibility. Except that he'd left the missionary in London.

Rutledge said, "If there's any news at the Yard, I'll make certain you hear it right away. Meanwhile, I need to return to London. I can coordinate a search from there."

"No, you aren't," Amy said. "You're going along to Hobson. Aren't you?"

It was true. He'd thought Hamish might be right, and in the silences of the house with the red door, Teller might use his brother's revolver. Who would hear the shot? Even Mrs. Blaine was gone. But he hadn't wanted to alarm them.

But on his way he detoured to speak to Inspector Jessup. The Teller motorcar had been moved from the scene of the accident, and it was now sitting in the small paved area to one side of the police station.

Inspector Jessup had gone home to bed. Rutledge was turned over to one of his constables, who gave him the report on the accident.

"Nothing anyone did caused Mrs. Teller to run off the road," he said. "But someone had tried to tamper with the brakes and failed."

He went out to have a look for himself and saw that Jessup had been right. "Any report on Mrs. Teller?"

"Dr. Fielding gave her something to calm her and kept her overnight. But he thinks she will be fine. Bruised and shaken, he said, but nothing time won't heal."

It was late when Rutledge finally arrived in Hobson, and he was tired. He debated knocking on Mrs. Greeley's door and asking if his room was available. But he was afraid that Cobb might still be staying there, and the last thing he wanted tonight was to talk to anyone.

Instead, he found his way in the dark to Sunrise Cottage, and well before he reached the house, he stopped and stared up at it. There were no lights. The house looked just as it had done when he'd left it the last time.

"You wouldn't see a change. He's asleep," Hamish said quietly.

If he was even inside.

There was a rug behind his seat of the motorcar. It was tempting to reach for it and sleep for half an hour. Neither his wits nor his reflexes were at their best.

When he didn't immediately open the door, Hamish said, "It isna' wise to stay here on the road."

"He's not likely to slip up on me."

"Aye. True enough. But ye must move the motorcar."

Walter Teller might well be twenty paces from where Rutledge sat, asleep in his wife's bed. He didn't want to risk more noise.

There was no way of knowing what the man's state of mind was. Or even if he'd come this far. Walter Teller was a man who kept his emotions close, whose feelings had been lost in a welter of events, from the day he left for Africa, or possibly even from the day he was ordained. Was he a killer? He hadn't murdered his first wife. The odds, then, discounted his murdering the second.

Hamish said, "Why did ye no' feel for the second wife what you felt for the first? The la.s.s here?"

Caught off guard, Rutledge said, "Because no one else did."

"Aye."

"I can't help but wonder if it would have made any difference if Florence's son had been brought up in London, not here. He might have had better medical care. That might have occurred to Walter Teller as well."

But Hamish had no answer for that.

"We may never explain Walter Teller satisfactorily. Tidily and with ribbons."

He had only to open his door to find out. That is, if Walter was indeed in Sunrise Cottage-and still alive.

"Ye're no' thinking straight," Hamish said.

Rutledge could feel the darkness coming down, the sound of big guns in the distance, and closer to hand, the rattle of a Vickers gun.

No, that was at the Front. When Hamish was still living and breathing. Before he'd had to shoot him for disobeying orders . . .

His mind felt as if it were stuffed with cotton wool. But he'd come this far. Pulling his motorcar out of sight on the far side of the hedge, he listened, but nothing stirred.

Opening the motorcar door as quietly as he could, Rutledge stepped out into the night. There were stars overhead, and the looming shape of the house, rising behind the hedge, the whiteness of it almost ghostly in the ambient light.

He could still hear the guns in France, distantly echoing in his mind. Closer than they ought to be.