“As you wish.”Kendrick tipped his hat and departed, leaving Adrian with the awful sensation of having the walls closing in around him.He felt as though he’d been trapped in a tiny box from which there would never be any escape.
“Sir,” Murry said, his voice sounding as though it came from beyond a vast distance.“Would you care for a brandy?”
Dismayed by the question, Adrian turned to his valet.“What good will that do?”
“I…” Murry shook his head, his expression pained.“I’m so very sorry.”
Adrian stared straight through him.“Just call for the carriage.”
Murry did as requested then accompanied him on the twenty-minute ride to St.George’s Hospital at Hyde Park corner.Rain would have been an appropriate setting for their somber journey.Instead, the sun shone from a clear blue sky with an almost disgusting degree of vibrancy.
Preoccupied by grief and guilt, Adrian held his tongue.There was so much to say – so many thoughts demanding attention – and yet he could not find the words.So, he listened to the dull tread of the horse’s hooves and the occasional moan of the axle when they turned a corner.
Yet all he truly heard was Evie’s voice, so young and bright and full of joy.
It was unfathomable to him that he’d never hear that sound again.His heart shrank as pain tightened its hold, made worse by the realization of what was to come.In time, the memory of his sister would fade until all he’d be left with was some sort of vague recollection, more akin to her portrait than to the flesh and blood woman she’d actually been.
This was how it had been with his mother, the miniature of her likeness reminding him daily of what she had looked like.
“Do you wish for me to join you or would you prefer to go in alone?”Murry asked when they reached their destination.
Adrian blinked.He’d almost forgotten his valet was there.Turning to him, he gave his instruction.“Stay with the carriage.”
The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was the awkwardness of his valet seeing him fall apart.So he took a deep breath, alit with a heavy tread, and went to join Kendrick, who waited for him by the entrance.
“You should prepare yourself,” Kendrick warned once they’d met with Doctor Fellowes.The coroner led them through a long hallway to the echoing sound of their shoes clicking hard against the stone floor.“She was stabbed in the throat.”
Adrian clenched his fists.It was hard to believe he’d not wondered about the cause of death until now.Evie had simply been dead.But the truth of it was, she’d been killed.Someone had done this to her, and now he knew how.
The hollowness behind his ribs expanded as he followed Doctor Fellowes into a cool stone chamber where three tables stood side by side.Two of them were occupied by corpses, their bodies outlined beneath the white sheets that covered them from head to toe.
Doctor Fellowes approached the nearest table and reached for the edge of the sheet, then paused.He glanced at Adrian.“Ready?”
Was anyone ever ready to see the remains of someone they loved?Adrian doubted it, but nodded all the same.He had to ensure that the victim was Evie.Moreover, he hoped that seeing her would offer some sort of clue as to who might have done this.
The sheet was pulled back, revealing a mass of dark brown locks that matched his own.Her forehead came into view next, then her beautifully arched eyebrows, a pair of eyelids – closed as if in slumber – with black lashes resting against her pale cheeks.
Adrian had no need to see her nose or mouth for every possible hope a mistake had been made to be destroyed.There was no longer any doubt.
He took a deep breath and almost choked when he inhaled the acrid air.The smell of death was all too familiar.He’d encountered it hundreds of times before, thanks to the family business.What he’d never planned on was of one day associating it with his sister.
Swallowing against the rising discomfort that threatened to make him retch, he gritted his teeth and asked Doctor Fellowes to pull the sheet lower.The doctor sent Kendrick a questioning glance before doing as Adrian asked.
A ghastly wound, stained by dried blood, came into view.The throat had not just been stabbed, it had been cleaved open, leaving behind a gaping display of raw flesh and bone fragments.
Drawing upon every strength he possessed, Adrian detached himself from all his emotions.It was vital he be objective if he was to gain understanding and see justice served on Evie’s behalf.
He considered the faint signs of bruising near the side of her neck and the lacerations of the wound itself.“Inflicting this sort of damage would have required proximity.”
This was not the sort of wound one received if one were fleeing one’s attacker.Whoever had done this had likely held her in place.Pinned down, perhaps?
“I agree,” Kendrick said.“It would appear that your sister knew her attacker and had no reason to fear him.Any idea why she might have gone to the churchyard in the first place?”
“No.”He’d told her to be careful and not to go anywhere unescorted, so why had she done it?Adrian could think of no reasonable explanation.Unless she’d embarked on a secret liaison with someone she feared he wouldn’t approve of.
“Miss Fairchild, Lady Camille, and Miss Irvine were killed the same way, as though they’d walked straight into the arms of their killer.”
Adrian turned to Kendrick.“You think my sister was killed by the same individual?”
