Page 65 of Murder on Harley Street
“I do, but Harry’s client will appreciate no longer being the focus of your attention, Sergeant. Is there anything we can tell the doctor to give him hope?”
He paused, which was better than an outright refusal.
“Please, Monty.” Hopefully using his first name would work in my favor and not strike another mark against me. “We both have the same objective. In fact, perhaps we can help gather more evidence for you while you interrogate Mr. Hamlin. We’ve made some solid contacts while investigating this case, including people close to him. They trust us and might open up to us more than to the police.” I chewed my lower lip as I waited for his response. While I hadn’t completely lied, it was certainly an embellishment of the truth.
He gave in with a sigh. “Very well. We were given a letter he wrote some time ago to his former employer threatening to destroy him by sabotaging his device, the Electro Therapy Machine.”
Mr. Reid had told us Mr. Hamlin had been upset at his dismissal, but he’d not mentioned a letter. “Why did it take Mr. Reid until now to give it to you?”
“He only just found it.”
“How convenient.”
“I thought it was coincidental, too, but Hamlin hasn’t denied writing it, so I can only assume he did.”
“WhatdoesMr. Hamlin say about it?”
“Nothing. He’s refusing to talk.”
I wondered if Forrester knew Edith Hamlin had been a patient of Dr. Iverson’s, and the doctor had failed to diagnose her cancer. If he didn’t yet, he would soon. It would seal Mr. Hamlin’s fate, and I didn’t want to be the one to tell him. Not yet. It didn’t feel right. There were pieces of the puzzle missing, most notably the reason Duncan would kill Isabel Kempsey.
“Thank you, Sergeant. You’ve been a great help, and I’m sure you’ll crack him soon. You’re a marvelous investigator.” I hung up the receiver.
Harry stood on the opposite side of his desk to me, his arms crossed over his chest. “That was a little much at the end.”
I pushed myself to my feet and rounded the desk. “Probably, but I feel as though I need to bolster his confidence a little. It took a bit of a dent after…you know.” I clasped his jacket lapels and stood on my toes to kiss him.
He unfolded his arms and circled them around me, kissing me back. When I finally pulled away, he resisted. “We don’t have to go just yet, do we?”
“A man has been arrested, Harry. I feel sorry for Duncan Hamlin, but I know that doesn’t mean he’s innocent. Even so, if he is, we need to find the real killer quickly, because Forrester can build a strong case against him. Hamlin has motives to destroy the doctor in abundance.”
“Perhaps he’snotinnocent.”
He tried to kiss me again, but I placed a hand to his chest, warding him off.
He sighed. “Very well. From what I overheard of the conversation, it sounded like Reid is involved.”
“He found an old letter written by Hamlin threatening to destroy the Electro Therapy Machine. It seems suspicious that he never mentioned its existence before today.”
Harry glanced at the clock on the mantel. “We’ll call on him now, but we shouldn’t stay too long. We have the meeting at the hotel, and I don’t want to miss it.”
“I’m not sure our presence is entirely necessary. We’ve given the best description of Pierce that we could. We can’t do more than that.”
“Sir Ronald has asked me to go, and I don’t want to disappoint him. Not now when I’m trying to stay on his good side.” He stole a kiss, then fetched my coat from the stand.
I glanced at the clock, too. “We’ll make sure we’re not late.”
Mr. Reid invitedus into his office with enthusiasm, but not because he was pleased to see us. “I’ve been meaning to contact you, Mr. Armitage. You promised to clear my device of any fault in causing the death of that woman at Iverson’s clinic, but there’s been no retractions in the newspapers. They continue to mention the Electro Therapy Machine in a negative light every time they report on the police investigation.”
“I promised no such thing,” Harry said, his voice calmer than mine would have been. “I was hired by Dr. Iverson to clearhisname. In doing so, IsuspectedI’d be proving your device was sabotaged. But I didn’t promise.”
Mr. Reid rested his elbows on his desk and buried his hands in his hair. “This is a nightmare. My reputation is ruined a little more each day this isn’t resolved.”
“Is that why you faked a note from Duncan Hamlin?”
“It’s not a fake! He did write it.”
“Then why not mention it earlier to us? Or the police? Why wait until now?”
