Page 79 of Murder on Harley Street
“It’s true that she was upset, but it had to end. Her husband found out. I didn’t want their marriage to falter. Isabel and I had no future, you see, as I didn’t intend to leave Margaret.”
“She was more than upset. She was distraught. And livid.” Sister Dearden made a sound of disgust low in her throat. “It’s sotypicalof you not to notice what a woman is feeling. Not unless it’s amorous.”
Dr. Iverson bristled. “She told me she was fine.”
“Arrogantandan idiot,” the nurse muttered.
Harry interrupted before the doctor could retaliate. “Did Isabel Kempsey threaten to tell the doctor about you? Is that why you killed her?”
Sister Dearden regarded him with lips curled into a sneer, as if she considered herself superior to him even though she was still on the floor with her hands and feet bound. “She suspected I liked women and began following me to prove it.” That explained the various notes about locations and times in Isabel Kempsey’s secret diary. “She told me she would take the information to the press. She was going to make up a story that I touched her inappropriately during consultations, and that the doctor knew and did nothing to stop me. She was going to use me to ruin the clinic.”
Mrs. Iverson gasped.
Dr. Iverson sniffed. “Ruinme, you mean. Isabel wouldn’t have followed through on her threat. She was all bluster. She just needed to get a few things off her chest.”
“She was going to destroy everything we’d built!” Sister Dearden cried.
“We?Ibuilt that place, not you. The patients come to seeme.”
“They come to becured. You use it as your personal brothel.”
“That isnottrue!”
“Those patients who don’t succumb to your overtures are told they have a nervous condition. All you do is talk to them, or subject them to electric shocks, which are as pointless as giving them a pat on the back. You don’t cure anyone! It’smewho often advises which medications they should take, which treatments will revive them. I could run that practice much better than you.” She jerked her chin in Mrs. Iverson’s direction. “Margaret could work at reception, and I’d see the patients. We’d be a superb team.”
“Women can’t be doctors,” Dr. Iverson pointed out.
“I’d dress as a man. I’ve done it before and no one at the Café Royal has known otherwise.”
He barked a laugh. “That’s absurd. It’s nothing to do with looking like a man. It’s to do with education, capability, intelligence.”
“Enough.” Harry’s firm tone cut through Sister Dearden’s protests. “With an ignorant attitude like that, Doctor, it’s no wonder the women around you have taken advantage. I don’t have the time to list all the women who’ve achieved great things, despite being denied a formal education, but I urge you to do some research.” He looked to me. “Any more questions, Cleo?”
“Just one,” I said. “Sister Dearden, didyouwrite Isabel Kempsey’s name on Edith Hamlin’s file that day we asked about her?”
“It was easy. Neither of you were watching me, and I’ve been forging the doctor’s handwriting for so long that it’s second nature to me now.”
“I say!” Dr. Iverson growled. “This is news to me.”
Sister Dearden cackled, the sound bitter and brittle. “I knew you were looking for a possible link between Mrs. Hamlin and Isabel Kempsey, so I created one.”
I had no more questions, but we didn’t want to leave until D.S. Forrester arrived. Dr. Iverson asked if he and his wife could withdraw to a different room, and Harry agreed.
“I’ll make tea,” I said, following them out.
Dr. Iverson put his arm around Mrs. Iverson’s shoulders to support her. “You know it’s all right with me if you want to act on your…nature with other like-minded women. If you find love, you should accept it, Margaret.”
She blinked damp lashes back at him. “But I loveyou.”
“And I love you. But you know I’m talking about a different kind of love.”
She shook her head. “I won’t. It’s disgusting.”
“It isn’t, becauseyouare not disgusting. You are a good woman who has hidden herself away too long. Don’t worry, Margaret. I’ll protect you if necessary.”
Mrs. Iverson leaned into her husband a little more. It was enough for them both, for now.
By the timeD.S. Forrester arrived, Sister Dearden was no longer willing to talk. She’d closed up entirely and refused to even look at anyone. He ordered his constables to take her to Scotland Yard and for Duncan Hamlin to be released, while he remained behind to gather witness statements. Once finished interviewing Dr. and Mrs. Iverson and the housekeeper, he joined Harry and me in the sitting room.
