Page 25 of Break Me: Smith and Belle

“She hit her head. Some say she forgot things after that. I suppose it hardly matters. She’s gone now.”

“Do you know where they went?” Georgia asked innocently.

A muscle in his jaw ticked as he shrugged. “I suppose that’s what they found in your basement. Everyone always suspected they were dead. They think it was the mother that did it.”

“Her bones weren’t down there,” I confirmed. “And I know people around the village claim to have seen her over the years.”

“That’s rubbish.” Rowan laughed and resumed shoveling.

His reaction struck me as odd. He clearly put some stock in the rumors about the Thorne family.”Why’s that?”

“Because they couldn’t have seen her. But that won’t stop the village from talking. Nobody has anything better to do than imagine wild stories.”

“How do you know?” I asked carefully.

He stopped and looked me in the eye. “Because Miranda Thorne is in an insane asylum in Brighton.”

I was still processing Rowan’s revelation when I reached the house, realizing we had new company. I tore inside the house. Racing upstairs, I found the doctor leaving my bedroom. He stepped through the door and shut it with a gentle smile.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“I was just here checking on Mrs. Price. I’m sorry it took me so long to get by. With the holidays I’m stretched a little thin.”

I found myself making a mental note to make a financial contribution to the local clinic that would ensure we found ourselves on the top of his list in the future.

He looked at me for a moment, then turned and made sure the bedroom door was completely closed behind him. Lowering his voice, he said, “Can you tell me about what happened the other day? Mrs. Price’s recollection of the event seems to be a little fuzzy.”

I filled the doctor in on what I remembered from that day, everything from the milk supply all the way to finding her on the ice, and how concerned she’d been to be with Penny alone after that. He listened without comment until I stopped.

Then he nodded his head thoughtfully. “Mrs. Price seems concerned that it’s down to her antidepressant, but it shouldn’t be causing that. It is possible that it’s a side effect of the sleeping tablets I gave her, but she claims she’s not taking them very often.”

“I think she took one that morning.” She’d been in a state after Penny had been inconsolable. I hadn’t thought anything of it.

“Then it’s best for her to avoid them. Some people are known to sleepwalk while taking them. It’s very rare,” he added quickly when he saw my face. “Although, I did have a patient drive all the way to Surrey without realizing it once.”

I stared at him, wondering if he had earned his medical degree online, but kept the thought to myself. “We’ll definitely avoid it. Is there anything she can take to help her sleep?”

“Best stick to an herbal tea. I’m sure she’ll recognize a camomile properly,” he said with a wink.

“I’m sure she will, too,” I said, not hiding a caustic note in my voice. I was beginning to rethink my donation to the local clinic. Maybe it was best if I took Belle to see a doctor in London in the future. She certainly didn’t need an old wanker condescending to her.

“I left a week’s supply of her new medication for her,” he told me, missing my anger entirely. “You’ll need to have the rest picked up at the pharmacy.”

I nodded, moving closer to the door. I wanted to check on her and see if the good doctor had irritated her as much as he did me.

“Mr. Price,” he said, stopping at the top of the staircase. “Detective Longborn mentioned you were looking into the Thornes.”

My hand froze on the nob, and I nodded.

“I treated Mrs. Thorne, too. Small village.”

“Was what they say about her true?” I asked.

“Some called her crazy,” he said, saying what I hadn’t. “I don’t like to use that term, but that’s as close as I’ve ever come to true insanity.”

I studied him for a moment, an icy hand wrapping itself around my heart as I considered what he was really saying. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I had the chance fifty years ago to intervene,” he said sadly, “but I was young and foolish, so I didn’t. The accidents. The stories we heard. Someone should have done something then. Just like someone has to do something now.”