Page 49 of Silence of Deceit
Audrey picked up on that last word just as swiftly as Hugh.
“You have a child,” she said.
All at once, the doctor’s fury ebbed and again, anguish settled in his eyes. “Catherine. She is three years old. My sister is caring for her these last two weeks, but I know Esther would never leave her. Catherine is her world…”
His throat constricted, choking off those last words.
“Doctor Warwick,” Hugh began, “had Esther mentioned anything about seeing old friends from Shadewell? Had she come into contact with anyone from there recently?”
He looked like Hugh had just asked him to consume something foul.
“Of course not. She would have told me.”
“Or she would have kept quiet, so as not to worry you,” Audrey replied. She had not told the duke about Delia, and Mary and Lord Rumsford had also held their tongues. But the doctor continued to shake his head, rejecting the idea.
“Esther knew how careful we needed to be. Living in Lambeth kept us a far step from her old home and life, but we could make no mistakes.”
The doctor was not lying; he’d come forward with a criminal confession—falsifying the death of a woman in order to marry her himself—and yet he was standing firm on this.
“Doctor,” Audrey said, tapping the back of the chair with a finger, her brow furrowed with thought. “Did you ever share with your wife the true identities of some of Shadewell’s residents?”
When moments passed and his jaw firmed and lifted, Hugh anticipated the doctor’s first lie.
“Don’t bother to lie,” he warned. “Only the truth is going to help you find your wife.”
Though guilt eluded Warwick’s expression, he did at least manage to appear chagrinned. “Yes. We have, over the years, discussed some of the others who were there while she was a patient.”
At last.No patient folios had been rifled through; the doctor had provided all the intelligence necessary, however unwittingly.
Audrey turned to Hugh. “Mary met with Delia for ices. Varney’s is quite popular.”
If Esther had met with Delia, and then disappeared that same day…Delia’s death was almost certainly linked to Esther. He turned back to the doctor.
“Delia?” Doctor Warwick came out from behind his desk. “Delia Montgomery?”
“Yes. Have you seen her recently?” Audrey asked.
“She was a patient,” he replied.
“At Shadewell, yes, I know.”
He shook his head. “No. Well, yes, there as well, but I meanthere. Miss Montgomery was delivered in June, after she was arrested for indecent public behavior. It was only a short stay—she was repentant and agreed to several bloodlettings to relieve her of her hysteria.”
Hugh grimaced. Thornton would have had plenty to say about the doctor’s treatment of bloodletting—he thought it outdated and argued that rather than release ill humors, all it did was weaken a patient and make them listless and more ill. But Hugh was more interested in the fact that Delia had seen Warwick at Bedlam.
And then, shortly afterward, she began working with a blackmailer with knowledge of Shadewell’s wealthier patients.
“Is your wife educated?” Hugh asked. “Can she read and write proficiently?”
Warwick seemed offended. “Of course. Esther attended a finishing school in Hampshire.”
Hugh looked to Audrey, and she nodded. It was enough to go on for now.
“Thank you for your time, Doctor Warwick. If you hear from your wife, or learn anything more, contact me at Bow Street.”
They departed the office and building, Hugh dragging in a deep breath of brisk autumn air as soon as they were crossing the entrance court.
“Esther penned the blackmail letters,” Audrey said.
