Before he finds Arthur, or anyone else, he didn’t have to add. Arthur would carry the claw marks from Hyde’s interrogation forever. If he was loose, everyone was in danger.
The drive took nearly two hours, through villages and past farms. Finally, Wesley directed him down a gravel road. Sebastian could see a sprawling complex of buildings up ahead as he idled the car for a moment in front of an iron gate that was wide open.
Seward Mental Hospital, read the large sign in the middle of the gate.Visiting hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Visiting hours? More of a hospital than a holding institution, then. “So Hyde’s doctor also worked here?”
“Yes.” From the backseat, Arthur sounded pensive. “Doesn’t strike one as a particularly secure facility, does it? Patients could simply stroll out of the gate.”
“Good thing Hyde was never here,” Rory said.
There was a moment of silence.
Sebastian frowned. “Surely Hyde’s doctor would not have moved him to a different hospital?”
“He better not have,” Rory muttered. “But you better believe I’m gonna find out.”
Sebastian brought the Bentley up the drive. Closer in, some of the buildings showed the compound’s patchwork of centuries—walls of newer brick and wood, built off of older, more crumbly gray stone. To the right, a small cluster of bare-branched trees stood next to a pond with its surface frozen, and beyond that was a building that looked older than the others that might have once been a chapel.
The gravel drive ended in a small lot, where half a dozen other cars were already parked. Sebastian pulled in next to an Austin 7 and glanced over his shoulder at the backseat. “How do we do this?”
Arthur had an arm draped over the back of the benchseat, forming a protective wall around Rory, who looked on edge, his eyes shuttered behind his glasses. But then, Rory had once been stuck in his magic and committed to an asylum against his will. Sympathy flooded Sebastian’s chest at the bad memories this must have been pulling up; hopefully they could get out of here quickly.
“I say I go into the lobby.” Wesley was eying the main door. “We’re past visiting hours but they’ve left the gate wide open. You said Mr. Hyde was a defector during the war? I can use that.”
“I’ll come with you,” Arthur said. “But I’ll let you do the talking; we want results fast, and you’re so good at being a complete prick.”
“Thank you, Arthur,” Wesley said dryly.
“And what’re we supposed to do while you’re asking the questions?” Rory said tightly.
“You can wait here,” Arthur said softly.
“No, I can’t.” Rory’s jaw was clenched. “We want to know what happened, right? I’m the one who can see the history of this place. Maybe I can find out something about Hyde’s doctor.”
“Then I’m going to stay with you.” Sebastian cut the engine. “Let’s see what we can learn.”
Chapter Thirteen
Wesley entered the asylum’s lobby, Arthur behind him. It was a small, somewhat cramped space, with several empty chairs lining the walls and a large carpet on the floor. A clerk was sitting at a desk at the far end, and seeing them, he straightened up in confusion. “Gentlemen, may I help you?”
“I should bloody hope so,” Wesley said curtly. “Do you think I put my life on the line for crown and country just to see the very traitors who endangered us all now receive better care than my former soldiers?”
“Sir?” the clerk said helplessly. He looked young, probably Brodigan’s age, too young to have gone to war himself.
Wesley placed a hand on the man’s desk. “I’ve been informed that a doctor at this very hospital provided the most advanced of treatments to a notorious defector to Germany. Care to explain yourself?”
“Defector?” The poor clerk looked completely lost. “I don’t know anything about that. We’re an asylum, sir, some of our patients might believe they did such a thing—”
Arthur leaned in. “My viscount friend here was a decorated captain on the front,” he said, as if impartinga secret to the young man. “And I’m afraid he’s quite upset at learning a man who switched sides during the war is now receiving care from your doctors.”
“Viscount?” The man’s gaze was darting between Arthur and Wesley. “Um. Perhaps you need my supervisor?”
“Perhaps we needrecords,” Wesley said testily. “Pull them at once.”
“Yes, sir,” the man said meekly.
Arthur gave the man the details about Hyde and his doctor, and then the young man disappeared through a doorway. Arthur let out a long breath. “I hope Rory’s holding up all right,” he murmured.
