A Sudden, Fearful Death

"Don't be absurd!" Sir Herbert snapped. "If a patient has died unexpectedly I will attend to it when I'm finished here." He turned slowly to look at Callandra. His face was pale and there were sharp lines of anger between his brows.

"One of the nurses has been strangled and stuffed down the laundry chute," Callandra said slowly and very clearly. "That can hardly be called a misjudgment. It is beyond question a crime, and if you cannot leave here to summon the police, I will do so on your behalf. The body will remain where it is. Dr. Beck is seeing that it is not disturbed."

There was a sharp hiss of breath between teeth. One of the student doctors let slip a blasphemy.

Sir Herbert lowered his hands, still holding the bloody needle and its long thread. He faced Callandra, his eyes bright, his face tight.

"One of the nurses?" he repeated very slowly. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Callandra answered. "It is Barrymore."

"Oh." He hesitated. "That is appalling. Yes, by all means, you'd better call the police. I shall finish here and be available to meet them by the time they arrive. You had better take a hansom yourself rather than send a messenger, and for goodness sake be as discreet as you can. We don't want a panic in the place. The sick will suffer." His expression darkened. "Who else knows of it already, apart from Dr. Beckf'

"Mrs. Flaherty, the laundrywomen, and one skivvy whom I asked Mrs. Flaherty to watch over, for that reason."

"Good." His expression relaxed a little. "Then you had better leave immediately. I should be ready when you return." He did not apologize for not having listened to her immediately, or for his rudeness, not that she had expected him to.

She took a hansom cab, as he had suggested, and ordered the driver to take her to Monk's old police station. It was probably the closest, and it was certainly the one of which she knew the address and where she was confident of finding a senior officer with a proper sense of discretion. She used her title to obtain immediate attention.

"Lady Callandra." Runcorn rose from his seat as soon as she was shown in. He came over to greet her, extending his hand, then changing his mind and bowing very slightly instead. He was a tall man with a narrow face bordering on handsome in a certain manner, but it was belied by lines of temper around his mouth and a lack of assurance which one would not have expected in an officer of his seniority. One had only to look at him to know that he and Monk could never be at ease with each other. Monk was assured, even arrogant, his convictions deeply seated and dominated by intellect, his ambition boundless. Runcorn held his convictions equally deeply, but lacked the personal confidence. His emotions were uncertain, his humor simple. His ambition was also keen but his vulnerability was plain in his face. He could be swayed and cut by what other people thought of him.

"Good morning, Mr. Runcom," Callandra replied with a light smile. She accepted the seat he offered her. "I regret I have a crime to report and it may prove to be a sensitive matter. I wished to tell you of it in person rather than find a constable in the street. I'm afraid it is very serious."

"Indeed." Already he looked in some indefinable way satisfied, as though the fact she had confided in him were an accolade. "I am sorry to hear it. Is it a matter of robbery?"

"No." She dismissed robbery as of no consequence. "It is murder."

His complacency disappeared but his attention quickened. "Who has been killed, ma'am? I will see that my very best officer is on the case straightaway. Where did this happen?"

"In the Royal Free Hospital on the Gray's Inn Road," she replied. "One of the nurses has been strangled and placed down the laundry chute. I have come straight from there. Sir Herbert Stanhope is the chief medical officer and a surgeon of some note."

"I've heard of him, of course. An excellent man." Runcorn nodded. "Indeed, an excellent man. He sent you to report this matter?"

"In a sense." It was foolish to resent the reference to Sir Herbert, as if he had taken charge and she were merely a messenger, and yet she knew that was what it would come to in the end. "I was one of those who found the body," she added.

"Most distressing for you," Runcorn said sympathetically. "May I send for something to restore you? Perhaps a cup of tea?"

"No thank you," she said rather more briskly than she had meant. She was shaken and her mouth felt dry. "No thank you. I should prefer to return to the hospital and allow your officer to begin his investigation of the matter," she added. "I have left Dr. Beck standing guard over the corpse to see that nothing is moved or altered. He has been there for some time by now."