CHAPTER 25: THE WITNESS AT THE INN
Oliver Fenwick returned to Ashford with a letter from Samuel and a confession written by a former carriage driver named Peter Sloane.
Sloane lived near Charlottesville and was seriously ill.
He had agreed to speak to Abigail Mercer after learning that a court had finally ordered an inspection of Willow Creek.
Mercer arranged for two independent witnesses to attend the interview and record his words.
Eleanor traveled with Catherine because Samuel’s name had become inseparable from the mystery.
Daniel accompanied Rusk in a separate carriage.
They arrived at the small inn where Sloane rented a room shortly before noon.
Sloane appeared thin and tired, but he recognized the Whitmore name immediately.
He told them he had driven a carriage away from the ranch on the night Lydia disappeared.
Vane had instructed him to keep the curtains closed and avoid the main road.
A woman lay across the rear seat beneath a heavy blanket.
Sloane could not tell whether she slept or had been given medicine.
He heard her speak once during the journey.
She asked where her brother had gone.
Vane replied that Samuel had already left Virginia.
Sloane said the woman had tried to sit upright, but Vane forced her back against the cushions.
The carriage traveled to a private house outside Staunton rather than toward the river.
A physician met them at the door.
Sloane had not entered the building.
He was paid and ordered never to discuss the journey.
He kept silent until he saw a newspaper notice suggesting Lydia had left voluntarily with a substantial settlement.
He knew the notice did not match what he witnessed.
He wrote his account but lacked the courage to publish it.
Eleanor asked whether Sloane knew the physician’s name.
He said the house belonged to a Dr. Frederick Ames, who treated patients whose families wanted discretion.
Mercer asked whether Sloane could identify the house again.
He said he remembered a stone fountain with two carved birds and a white gate near the road.
Oliver recognized the description from an old letter Samuel had received.
The letter claimed Lydia was resting under medical supervision and did not wish to see her relatives.
Samuel had traveled to the house but was refused admission.
Sloane said he never saw Lydia after that night.
He did not know whether she survived the stay.
The lawyer recorded that limitation clearly.
Eleanor asked why he had waited so long to come forward.
Sloane looked toward the window and said cowardice was easier to confess when there was little time left to hide it.
He had feared losing the only work available to him.
He had also feared Vane, who knew where his family lived.
Eleanor thanked him for speaking now without pretending his silence had been harmless.
After the interview, Mercer contacted the local authorities and requested records from the physician’s former practice.
A clerk found that Ames had died five years earlier.
His property had been sold, but some records had been preserved by his daughter.
The daughter agreed to meet Mercer if the interview remained confidential until the documents were reviewed.
Daniel and Eleanor stood together outside the inn as the others prepared to leave.
He asked whether she felt closer to the truth.
Eleanor said every answer had revealed a harder question.
Daniel replied that the questions no longer belonged solely to Richard.
Eleanor looked toward the road leading back to Willow Creek.
She said that was the first change she had been able to trust.
