landing corridor to Ramsay Parmenter’s study. He opened the door and saw Dominic sitting behind the desk, white-faced, his dark hair, flecked with tiny threads of gray, falling forward over his brow. He looked ill.
“Thank God you’re here.” He stood up shakily, turning sideways, compelled to stare beyond the desk and down, where Pitt could not see.
Pitt closed the door behind him and walked around the chair. Ramsay Parmenter was crumpled on the floor where he had fallen, a huge pool of blood soaked deep into the carpet near his neck, which was gashed with a fearful wound. It must have been a very violent struggle. His shirt was torn at the front, and there were two buttons ripped off his jacket, as if someone had tried desperately to pull him by his clothes. His eyes were closed, but there was no peace in his face, only a sense of amazement, as if at the very last moment he had realized what he was doing and the horror of it had overwhelmed him.
“I—I closed his eyes,” Dominic said apologetically. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t bear to leave him lying staring like that. They were open. Does it matter?”
“I don’t think so. Did the doctor see him? Emsley said the doctor was here.”
“No … not yet. He’s with Vita … Mrs. Parmenter.”
“How is she?”
“I don’t know. She seemed to be all right; I mean, she wasn’t injured, at least not seriously. I’m sorry, I am not being very lucid.” He looked at Pitt desperately. “I feel as if I failed about as thoroughly as I could.” His face puckered. “Why couldn’t I help him before it got to this? What happened? Why didn’t I see it was so—so … that he was drowning? I should have been able to give him enough faith to hold on, to let someone understand. We shouldn’t any of us, least of all me, who professes to be a pastor of souls, we shouldn’t let anyone be this utterly alone!” He shook his head a little. “What’s the matter with us? How can we live in the same house, sit at the same table, for God’s sake, and let one of us die of loneliness?”
“ ‘That is usually where it happens,” Pitt said realistically. “It is in being hemmed in by others who see only the outside of you, the image of you they have painted from their own minds, that you suffocate. Shepherds and woodsmen don’t die of loneliness; it’s people in cities. It is the invisible walls that we can’t see that prevent us touching. Don’t blame yourself.” He looked at Dominic closely. “Sit down. Perhaps you had better take a good stiff brandy. It won’t help anyone if you are taken ill.”
Dominic retreated to the chair beyond the desk and sat down heavily. “Can you keep the details out of the newspapers? I suppose I shall have to tell the bishop.”
“No, you won’t. We’ll let Commissioner Cornwallis do that.” Pitt was still standing over Ramsay’s body. “What was the quarrel about, do you know?”
“No. I can’t remember whether she said.”
“Did anybody hear it?”
“No. No, the first thing we knew was when Mrs. Parmenter came into the withdrawing room. Or more exactly”—he screwed up his face with the effort to clear his mind and speak coherently—“I was in the conservatory with Mallory. We were talking. I heard—we heard … a scream. We both got up and went back to the withdrawing room. It was Tryphena who had screamed, but she had fainted by then … at seeing the blood, I suppose.”
“I was thinking of the servants.”
“Oh. I don’t know. It was close to the time the servants have dinner. I expect they were in their hall. I didn’t think to ask.”
“Probably just as well. I’ll come to it fresh.” Pitt turned and looked at the door. There was a key in the lock. “If you would prefer to go to your own room, or see if you can help downstairs, I’ll secure it here.”
“Oh.” Dominic hesitated, staring down at Ramsay on the floor. “I feel … can’t we move him now you’ve seen him?”
“Not until the doctor has.”
“Well, cover him up, at least,” Dominic protested. “What can the doctor tell you? It’s pretty obvious what happened, isn’t it?” He was taking his jacket off as he spoke.
Pitt put out his hand to restrain him. “When the doctor’s seen him. Then you can take him to his own room and lay him out