William Monk 13 - Death of a Stranger

delicacy to Miss Ballinger’s feelings.” She indicated Margaret, a look of sorrow in her face. “She has just returned from abroad, visiting her mother, who has gone to a warmer climate—for her health, you understand.” She bit her lip. “Only to hear of her uncle’s most terrible and tragic death.” She waited to see if he showed any sign of sympathy, but she waited in vain. She did not dare to look at Margaret in case she drew attention to her startled expression.
    The morgue attendant cleared his throat. “Yes?”
    “I have accompanied her so she can pay her last respects to her uncle, Mr. Nolan Baltimore,” Hester continued. “She is not able to remain until the funeral. Heaven knows when that will be.”
    “Yer want ter see one o’ our bodies?” He shook his head. “I’d advise agin’ it, ladies. Won’t be nice. Best remember’im as ’e was, if I were you.”
    “My mother will ask me,” Margaret spoke at last, her voice husky.
    “Tell ’er ’e were restin’ peaceful,” the attendant said almost expressionlessly. “She won’t know different.”
    Margaret managed to look shocked. “Oh, I couldn’t do that!” she said hastily. “Besides . . . she might ask me to describe him, and it is so long since I saw him I might make a mistake. Then I should feel dreadful. I . . . I would be most grateful if you would simply allow me to have a few moments. You may be with us at all times, of course, if you feel that is the correct thing to do.”
    Hester gritted her teeth and swore under her breath. A verbal description of Nolan Baltimore would be of no use. They needed sketches to show people! How could Margaret not have understood that? She tried to catch Margaret’s eye, but Margaret would not look back at her; she was concentrating totally on the attendant, and perhaps on controlling her awareness of the damp, faintly sickly smell in the air.
    “Well . . .” he said thoughtfully. “I suppose it’d make no odds ter me, nor to’im, fer that matter. But don’t ’old me to account if yer pass out, mind!” He looked at Hester. “Yer’d better come an’ stand beside ’er. If she falls over, or yer do either, I’m not fetchin’ a quack fer yer. Yer pick yerself up again, understand?”
    “Certainly,” Hester said with considerable asperity. Then she remembered the role she had cast herself in and changed her attitude. “Certainly,” she repeated, with considerably more respect. “You are quite right. We shall conduct ourselves appropriately.”
    “Right y’are.” He turned around and led the way through the door and along the passage to the ice room, where corpses were stored if required to be kept for any extended period.
    “Why did you ask him to stay?” Hester said in an almost stifled whisper.
    The attendant stopped and turned around. “Beg pardon?”
    Hester felt herself flush hot. “I . . . I said it was nice of you to say you would stay,” she lied.
    “Gotter,” he said grudgingly. “The cadavers ’ere are in my charge. Some people don’t think as it matters very much, but yer’d be surprised wot some folks get up ter wif bodies. There’s mad people around, an’ that’s a fact!” He snorted. “An’ people will steal bodies ter cut up, Gawd ’elp us!”
    Margaret gulped, her face pale, but she kept her composure admirably. “All I wish to do is look at Uncle Nolan,” she said huskily. “I would be obliged if I might do so without hearing more of such . . . atrocities. I quite appreciate why your care . . . and . . . and diligence are necessary. I am grateful for them.”
    “Jus’ doin’ me duty,” he said stiffly, and opened the next door, ushering them into a small, very cold room with bare, whitewashed walls. “You said Nolan Baltimore? Last one over there.” He walked across the damp stone floor to the fourth table, where a figure lay supine, covered by a large unbleached cotton sheet. The attendant looked at Margaret skeptically, as if to assess the likelihood of her fainting or otherwise making a nuisance of herself. He gave up the struggle and with a sigh of resignation pulled the sheet off the head and shoulders of the corpse.
    Margaret made a little hissing sound of breath between her teeth, and swayed as if the floor beneath her were the deck of a ship.
    Hester moved forward quickly and put her arms tightly around her, holding her hard enough to cause pain.
    Margaret gave a little yelp, but the sharpness of Hester’s grip seemed