They came and stood behind me, one at each shoulder. I pushed the paper so they could read it.
71912141181213
214269241905
912822 241277262022
7418138
200
*
THOMPSON
2 MARCH 05
ROSE COTTAGE
TWINS
200
‘It w
as the one thing we didn’t try because we were looking for complexity. He simply inverted the alphabet – we should have been looking at it upside down. As James said, we were the wrong way up. A equals 26, Z equals 1. What Talbot wanted was something to confuse anyone who caught an accidental glimpse of the ledgers if he left one out by accident – perhaps Bromley or a maid. After all, he had them very securely hidden – he didn’t need to use some uncrackable code.
‘So, we have the surname of the patient, the date, the place where he sent them to have the baby, the outcome and, I’d guess the 200 is the fee. Two hundred pounds or guineas.’
‘Brilliant,’ Luc said, bending to kiss me. ‘But why are we looking for Miss Reece? We know she was a patient, she admitted it openly.’
‘I think she’s the missing corner of the puzzle that James mentioned. You carry on searching – it is important to find her.’
Now I knew what I was looking for I wrote out a coded word, took the newest ledger, and began to scan it looking for that word. I had no desire to know anyone else’s secrets.
I found it quite quickly. 922222422 – REECE. I deciphered the rest and waited until the men had finished their check.
‘Miss Reece is definitely not in the ledgers of patients,’ Luc said.
‘But she is in here. Look.’ I ran one finger along the entry. ‘Reece, 15 Feb 07. Travis House. Boy. 250.’
Luc swore softly under his breath. ‘So why did she say she was a patient?’
‘She was covering herself in case she let something slip. She explained knowing him by saying she had consulted him over a very common complaint, something she could speak about from personal knowledge. All women have painful periods now and again. And she was the only one of the ladies who said they didn’t like Talbot. Everyone else said he was sympathetic, had a good bedside manner.’
‘Her parents presumably know?’ Luc asked.
‘Oh yes. This story about being sent off in disgrace because she was refusing a marriage arrangement is brilliant. It would account for any amount of miserable looks on one side and disapproval on the other and both Annabelle and her mother could mention it freely and get nothing but sympathy from their respective peer groups. No wonder she got the weather in Harrogate wrong and had nothing to say about the entertainments and sights up there – she has never set foot in the place.’
Something else occurred to me. ‘Luc – your mother said Annabelle’s looks had improved, that she’d not had a good figure. Now she has a well-developed bust, just as you’d expect after she’d had a baby.’
‘That links the Reeces to Talbot,’ Garrick said, sitting down and shuffling the lists of patients back into order. ‘But why would they murder him? Those secret ledgers seem to go back years – he must have a reputation for absolute discretion or these people wouldn’t trust him to look at their wives’ cracked nipples, let alone deal with illegitimate grandchildren. Surely better to do nothing to draw attention to the man, not have Coroners and constables trampling about his offices.’
‘I don’t think Sir Thomas or Lady Reece, or even Elliott, killed Talbot,’ I said slowly. ‘I think Annabelle fell in love with him. And Annabelle murdered him.’
Chapter Twenty Two
‘Annabelle Reece?’ James stared at us blankly. He had come in half an hour after I had cracked the code and found us sitting over cups of coffee coming to terms with the idea. Now he had to grasp it. ‘You are saying that young lady took a poker and beat Philip’s head in?’