“Yes. Morland wounded him. They brought h-him back to the castle.” Rebecca looked down at her hands. “He . . . could not be saved.”
Kendra was silent, remembering how Morland had left her. The interruption had given her enough time to pick the lock on the handcuffs.
“I think Gabriel saved my life,” she whispered.
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“I believe Gabriel wanted redemption, Miss Donovan. Mayhap he got it.” She cleared her throat. “Captain Harcourt was also a member of Morland’s club. He and Gabriel went there the first night of the house party. He didn’t want it known, as he’s hunting for an heiress.”
They fell silent again. A soft knock interrupted their reverie. Rebecca went to open it, letting in Aldridge, Alec, and Sam. A young maid followed. She brought a cloth sack over to Kendra.
“The doctor said ye were ter put this on yer face, miss.”
Kendra eyed the sack. “What is it?”
“’Tis a poultice, miss.”
Rebecca reached for it and gave it an experimental sniff. “It smells like castor oil and slippery elm. Excellent for inflammation and bruises.”
Gingerly, Kendra pressed it against her face, but couldn’t help thinking a bag of frozen peas would’ve worked better. But what the hell—when in Rome . . . or the nineteenth century.
The maid curtseyed and left the room.
Aldridge came over to the bed. “I apologize for invading your privacy, Miss Donovan, but I”—he glanced at Alec and Sam—“we were anxious to see you. How are you feeling?”
“I’m still breathing.” She hesitated, then looked at Alec. “I’m sorry about Gabriel.”
Pain flickered in his gaze. “Gabriel and I were estranged for years. Perhaps if I had reached out to him before, tried to understand what demons were driving him—”
“You cannot blame yourself, my boy,” Aldridge cut in. “In fact, I bear an even greater responsibility. I should have done something, used my authority with Lady Emily.”
There was an uncomfortable silence, weighed down by guilt and sorrow. Everyone was reviewing their choices, Kendra knew. Life’s odd twists and turns. Wondering if they could’ve done some differently to change the outcome.
Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve.
Sam cleared his throat. “I won’t be staying long, lass. I . . . I just wanted ter see how you’re doin’. And ter say that you’ve got pluck ter the backbone. Female or not, you’d make a damn fine Bow Street Runner.”
Kendra stared at him in surprise. “Why, thank you, Mr. Kelly.”
“And I thought you’d want ter know that me man got back from the north. Mr. Dalton’s wife looked nothin’ like the other lasses. He also discovered a bit of gossip. Mr. Dalton’s wife died giving birth ter her lover’s child in Geneva.”
Rebecca put a hand to her throat. “Oh, how dreadful. ’Tis little wonder that Mr. Dalton did not want to discuss what had happened to her.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll be taking Thomas’s body back ter London for Dr. Munroe’s anatomy school. He never can find enough specimens.”
“’Tis that ridiculous law,” the Duke muttered angrily. “To restrict surgeons to only criminals who have swung in the gallows is the height of stupidity. How else can they expect to refine their skills if they aren’t given a broader selection?”
“Well, it won’t be a problem with Thomas since he’d have hung at Newgate,” Sam remarked cheerfully.
“I daresay Thomas will serve a better purpose for Dr. Munroe in death than he ever did in his miserable life,” Rebecca added. When the men gaped at her, she lifted her brows haughtily. “What? I am not to offer my honest opinion?”
Kendra suppressed a smile. She wasn’t the only female in the room that had pluck.
“What about Morland?” she asked. Something inside her tightened when she saw the men exchange glances.
Aldridge was the one who answered. “He will be buried in his family crypt at Tinley Park.”
Kendra fixed her good eye on him. And knew. “No one will know the truth, will they? He’ll be buried without anyone knowing that he was responsible for the death of those women. The death of Rose.”
“’Tis for the best.”
“Whose best?” she wondered aloud, bitterly.
Aldridge spread his hands. “My dear . . . there are innocent people to consider. Lady Anne may not be in her right mind, but she does not deserve to live out the remainder of her days under a cloud of suspicion.”
Kendra thought of Lady Anne. Had she ever been innocent? Morland had been born out of an incestuous relationship between Lady Anne and her father. Morland had implied that she’d been a willing participant and even continued the incest with the son, an abuse that had helped shape the monster that he’d become.