Page 34 of Beyond the Grave
"We restrain her and remove her from the public," Lincoln said. "As to the rest, we'll simply have to find her weakness."
"But she's bloody strong!"
"A different sort of weakness. Almost everyone has a loved one."
Oh my god! He meant to threaten to harm her loved ones if she didn't comply. The notion made my stomach roll. I set down my teacup. "Do you think we'll find her with one of her loved ones?"
"Perhaps." Lincoln gathered up the riding coat he'd slung over the chair arm. "But it's just as likely that she's gone to the place where she worked and died. We'll begin at the hospital."
Queen Charlotte'sHospital for Lying-In was located in Marylebone Road, behind a low brick fence topped with iron spires. The five-story utilitarian red-brick building was hardly a pretty sight for expectant mothers but at least it offered a place for poor women to get the care they needed during childbirth.
Gus acted as coachman, and remained with the horses and carriage, while Seth and I went in through the front door, where a nurse greeted us from behind a desk in the sparse reception room. Lincoln had already disappeared around the back of the hospital, where he would sneak in. He wouldn't tell us what he was going to do, once inside. I had a suspicion that he didn't know himself, but I didn't say as much to Seth as I took his arm like a happily married woman.
"Good morning," I said, smiling at the nurse. "I do hope you can help us. We are Mr. and Mrs. Guilford."
Seth tensed beneath my hand. Had I done the wrong thing using his real name?
"How may I help you, sir, madam?" Her crisp tone reminded me of Estelle's, but this woman was younger and her features not as pinched as the spirit's.
"Our housekeeper's niece was a patient here, some six months ago," Seth said cheerfully. "She received excellent care and her boy is now thriving after a difficult, er, time of it."
Good lord, could he not say "delivery" or "birth?" Being brought up to be polite and avoid immodest words might set the upper classes apart from the lower but such politeness and avoidance became a little ridiculous at times. Particularly with a man who'd had to make his way by bare knuckle fighting.
"Our housekeeper mentioned a certain midwife had been wonderful throughout the delivery." I squeezed Seth's arm as he tensed again. "Since our housekeeper is dear to us, and her niece dear to her, we wanted to show the family's appreciation by giving the midwife a token of our gratitude."
The nurse's face brightened, and I knew what to expect next. "How very generous of you. Do you know, the patient sounds familiar. I recall a young woman who gave birth to a boy around six months ago, and she said her aunt kept house for a lovely family. What did you say was the patient's name?"
"Perhaps it was you she was referring to," I said with pleasure in my voice to match hers. "Only you seem too young. The nurse's name is Miss Pearson."
Her face fell. "Oh. No, I am not her." Clearly she didn't think she could lie her way through to the end. "Miss Pearson, you say. That's very unfortunate."
"Why?"
"She died."
I turned to Seth and placed a hand to my chest. "Oh my. Oh, that's quite, quite awful."
Seth patted my hand and frowned deeply. Then he turned his full attention on the nurse, smiled sympathetically and reached forherhand. "How tragic for you and her other colleagues here at the hospital. How did it happen?"
If I were the nurse I would have been immediately alerted that something wasn't right by his abrupt question, but she seemed not to notice. She was far too busy falling into Seth's beautiful eyes. He certainly had a way with women.
"She hit her head, down in the basement supply room."
"Hit her head?" he echoed. I was content to leave the questioning up to him since I suspected my interruption would be unwelcome and cause the nurse to close up. He was doing a marvelous job without my assistance. "How? Was she alone?"
"One of the doctors was with her. He witnessed the entire thing. He said she simply collapsed. He tried to revive her, but she lost too much blood from the head wound. The coroner later found that she had a weak heart that gave out on her and caused her to fall unconscious."
"I see. What a tragedy."
"Very much so. Miss Pearson was well liked here, and she was extremely dedicated and clever." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Much cleverer than some of the doctors, including Dr. Merton who was with her." She sounded quite pleased about that fact, then her eyes grew sad again. "She's a loss to the hospital. A real loss. If only we'd known she had a heart problem, we would have urged her to take on lighter duties. But she never breathed a word."
A thought took hold and wouldn't let go. A rather sinister thought.
"Do doctors usually go down to the supply room?" I asked. "I thought fetching supplies would be a nurse's job."
"It is." She busied herself with some papers on her desk.
"And yet Dr. Merton was there."
