Murder in Murray Hill (Gaslight Mystery) (24 page)

“I thought you killed him,” Grace said to Rose, her shoulders sagging.

“I know. That’s why I came, so you’d know it wasn’t me, although I wish I had. I wish I’d thought of it. I . . . I wish I’d been brave enough.”

“But if you didn’t kill him,” Sarah said, “and we know Grace didn’t, then who did? Grace, do you remember anything else about the killer at all? Anything that would help? You said you couldn’t see ‘her’ face. Do you think it was a woman?”

Grace frowned. “It sounds silly, but it’s something I remembered today. At least I think I remembered it. It’s so odd that I can’t be sure I really saw it, though.”

“What is it?”

“I . . . I think the person who cut Pendergast’s throat was a maid.”

T
he hairs on Sarah’s neck stood up. “A maid?”

“I know, it sounds ridiculous, but when I try to remember, that’s what I remember.”

“But Pendergast didn’t have a maid,” Rose said.

“No, he didn’t,” Sarah said. “But someone else did. I think I know who killed him now.”

“Who?” the other two women said in unison.

“She . . . Well, she was another one of Pendergast’s victims. He’d . . .” Sarah hesitated. She didn’t want to tell them Pendergast had sold Joanna to Neth. No use adding to the list of horrors they must try to forget. “He’d released her. She lives with Vernon Neth, the man who argued with Pendergast right before he died.”

“What will happen to her?” Grace asked.

Sarah had no idea. Would Neth help her? Pay for an attorney? Pay bribes to the police? What about her family? She’d been sure they wouldn’t want her back, so what would they do when she was charged with murder? “I don’t know what will happen to her, but if the police try to arrest either one of you, we’ll have to tell them about her. And if they charge her and bring her to trial, the whole story will come out, and you two will probably have to testify in court.”

“Testify? You mean tell what happened to us?” Rose asked.

“In public?” Grace added.

“Yes,” Sarah said, feeling sick as she saw the reality of it dawning on them. “The newspapers will report it, too. They’ll make it sound even worse than it was, and everyone in the city will know what happened to you.”

The two women exchanged a look, and instead of dissolving into tears, as Sarah expected, they appeared to come to another silent agreement. When they turned back to Sarah, Rose said, “Then we have to figure out how to keep her from being arrested.”

• • •

F
rank wasn’T sure where he could find Sarah, but he knew that, eventually, she’d return home, so that’s where he went. Maeve and Catherine greeted him enthusiastically and insisted on feeding him, since he admitted he hadn’t eaten all day. He spent a happy hour with them until Sarah got home.

Catherine beat him to the front door, but Sarah smiled her beautiful smile when she saw him.

“Malloy, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve got so much to tell you.”

He wondered if she’d reached the same conclusion he had, but they couldn’t talk until Catherine had adequately welcomed Sarah home and Maeve had made her a sandwich and then enticed Catherine upstairs so the grown-ups could talk.

“When we’re married, I hope you’ll be easier to find,” he said as she sat down with him at the kitchen table to eat her sandwich.

“At least we’ll always be coming home to the same place.”

“If we ever find a house,” he added with a smile. “Have you made any progress?”

“I haven’t had time. Besides, I’m waiting to see what Mrs. Ellsworth comes up with first.”

“Is she looking?” he asked in amazement.

“Oh, yes. Maeve thinks that if she finds the right house, she might even ask the current owners to move out to make way for us.”

Frank didn’t doubt it for a moment. “So what do you have to tell me?”

“I think I’ve figured out who actually killed Pendergast.”

“Not Grace Livingston or Rose Wolfe,” he guessed.

“How did you know?”

“Because Joanna did it.”

She gaped at him. “How did you figure that out?”

“How did you?” he countered.

“It was easy. When I spoke with Grace, she asked me to tell Rose that she had no memory of who killed Pendergast. That made me think Rose had done it.”

“Which she could have, because she wasn’t really locked in the cellar.”

“Yes, but when I delivered the message to Rose, she realized the same thing, that Grace thought she’d done it, but she knew she hadn’t, so she asked me to take her to see Grace.”

“You’ve had a busy day,” he marveled.

“I certainly have. So I took Rose back to the hotel where Grace is staying, and as soon as Grace saw her, she knew Rose wasn’t the killer.”

“How did she know that?”

“Because Rose is so tall. That’s the first thing Grace said when we walked into the room. She told us that she couldn’t see the face of the person who had killed Pendergast because that person was too short. Rose’s face would have been visible above Pendergast’s shoulder.”

“But if she didn’t see the killer’s face, how do you know it was Joanna?”

“Because Grace remembered an impression she had of the killer, one that didn’t make any sense to her. She thought the killer was a maid.”

“And Joanna was dressed like a maid that day,” Frank remembered.

“Yes. She’d taken off her apron and cap, but that black uniform dress is unmistakable. So what made
you
think Joanna was the killer?”

“I tried to see the men Andy had been blackmailing. I found only one at home today, but that turned out to be enough. He told me Andy’s letter had mentioned that he knew who had killed Pendergast.”

“But he wasn’t even in the house when Pendergast was killed,” Sarah said. “Rose heard him run out when Neth got there and started shouting at Pendergast.”

“Then we’re sure it was Neth?”

“Grace heard them arguing. She said the man told Pendergast someone’s father had followed him to his house. That could only be Neth.”

Frank nodded. “So, even though he couldn’t have, Andy’s letter said that he knew who the killer was, which I thought was odd, because this fellow I visited, Traynor, didn’t kill Andy, so he probably didn’t kill Pendergast either.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he went to see Andy earlier in the day, before I got there, and when I got there, the door was locked. That means Andy locked it behind Traynor and whoever else had visited him that day, but when the killer left, it was unlocked because it couldn’t be locked from the outside.”

Sarah nodded. “That makes sense, I guess, but why was it odd that Andy told him he knew who the killer was?”

“You mean besides putting himself in danger from the real killer? He was obviously too stupid to realize that part, but he may have thought the killer would pay more or something. So I’m guessing he put that in all the letters he sent, hoping to scare the real killer.”

“Including the letter he sent to Neth.”

“
Especially
the one he sent to Neth, because he must have known it was Neth who’d come to the house and was furious at Pendergast for getting him in trouble.”

“So Neth was the most likely prospect,” Sarah said.

“And he would’ve been for us, too, except we knew Neth never even saw Andy’s letter.”

“But Joanna did and, unfortunately for Andy, she believed him when he said he knew who the killer was.”

“When we were there, she told me Neth was home with her all evening,” Frank recalled. “He’d already told me he was at his club, though. At the time, I just thought she was trying to protect Neth, but she was really trying to give herself an alibi.”

“And she may not have thought she needed one for Pendergast’s death, because Grace wouldn’t have known who she was, so she couldn’t identify her.”

“What I don’t understand is why she killed Pendergast in the first place. I can understand why she’d want to, of course, but why do it then, when she was already free of him?”

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since I figured out she was the one,” Sarah said. “I think she must have been trying to protect Neth.”

“Neth? Why would she want to protect him?”

“He’s certainly no prize, as you’ve pointed out, but he’d gotten her away from Pendergast. Joanna seemed very sure that her family wouldn’t have taken her back after what happened to her, so she must see Neth as her salvation.”

Frank snorted his disgust.

“Well, think about it. If her family wouldn’t take her back, what would have become of her? Neth gave her a home. She probably felt safe there, at least until we barged in telling her Neth was trying to kidnap a young woman.”

Frank could see it now. “She must’ve been furious at Pendergast for putting Neth in a position to get caught by the police.”

“Or maybe she was just furious because Pendergast seemed to have convinced him to start his own kidnapping operation. I think that might have been more threatening to her even than seeing Neth arrested.”

“You think she was jealous?”

“Not jealous.” Sarah thought about it for a moment. “She must have convinced herself Neth was a better man than Pendergast, which is why she could stay with someone she knew had participated in humiliating the women Pendergast had kidnapped. If Neth was going to start kidnapping his own women, though, she’d have to admit he was no better than Pendergast.”

Frank sighed. “So now we know who killed Pendergast and his man, but what are we supposed to do about it?”

Sarah sighed, too. “I know. We wanted to protect Grace and then Rose, but doesn’t Joanna deserve to be protected, too? She was a prisoner in that house, just like they were. Besides, if Joanna is tried for murder, the other two women will be dragged into it along with her. They’ll be ruined just as thoroughly as if they had actually killed Pendergast themselves. And for what? Didn’t Pendergast deserve to die?”

“Mrs. Brandt,” Frank said in mock outrage, “since when did you become so bloodthirsty?”

“Since I’ve seen how seldom men like Pendergast get the punishment they deserve and how often women like his victims get blamed for his crimes.”

Frank had to admit she was right. Too often, the law didn’t provide true justice. “All right, but do you have any idea how we can manage to protect all three of them?”

Sarah smiled apologetically. “You’re rich now. Could you bribe Broghan?”

“I honestly don’t know. His nose is out of joint already because he thinks I butted into his case.”

“Probably because you did.”

“Well, yes, but he might be mad enough about it that he wants to show me up more than he wants me to bribe him.”

“And if you make him an offer and make him madder . . .”

“He’ll take it out on those poor women.”

“What are we going to do?”

Before Frank could answer, someone rang Sarah’s front doorbell.

“Maybe it’s Mrs. Ellsworth, come to tell us she found a house,” Sarah said with a small smile, although they both knew it was probably a summons to a birth.

They heard Maeve and Catherine clattering down the stairs to answer it, but no one called her to the door. Instead, Maeve and Catherine came into the kitchen.

“This came for you,” Maeve said, handing Sarah an envelope bearing her name and address but no stamp.

“Someone delivered it?” Sarah asked, tearing it open.

“Yes, and he’s waiting,” Maeve said.

“It’s from Mrs. Wolfe. Franchesca,” she added, in case Malloy was confused. “I completely forgot to tell you, she was going to see an attorney this afternoon.”

“An attorney? What for?”

“For Rose, in case they tried to arrest her for killing Pendergast.”

“That was probably a good idea. What does she say?”

“She says she found out something very important and wants to tell me about it. She also says she sent her carriage to bring me back.”

“That was thoughtful,” Frank said. “Am I invited, too?”

“She doesn’t say, but I’m sure she would be glad to see you.”

“I hope so, because I’m going.”

In a few short minutes, they were in the Wolfes’ carriage on their way to see Franchesca Wolfe.

• • •

O
H, Mr. Malloy, how fortunate that you’re here, too,” Franchesca Wolfe said as she welcomed them into her parlor.

Frank didn’t think anyone had ever greeted him like that, so he smiled, then nodded to Rose Wolfe, who stood beside her and looked almost as delighted to see him.

Franchesca invited them to be seated, served them tea, then sent the maid away.

“Rose tells me that you think you know who killed that horrible man and his servant,” she said to Sarah when the door was closed.

Sarah glanced at him. “Yes, and Mr. Malloy agrees. In fact, he’d reached the same conclusion himself today for entirely different reasons.”

“And this woman was also deceived by the dead man the way Rose was?”

“Deceived and held prisoner, yes,” Sarah said.

Franchesca nodded. “Mr. Malloy, did Mrs. Brandt tell you that I went to see an attorney today?”

“Yes, she did.”

“He was very informative.”

“That’s unusual for an attorney,” Frank said.

“Perhaps you’ve never seen an attorney as a paying client,” Franchesca said with a smile.

“Not often,” he conceded.

“Mr. Pennyworth had many questions for me, some of which I was unable to answer because I don’t know all the details of Rose’s ordeal, but he did grasp the importance of protecting Rose—not only from being charged with murdering that awful man but also from being called as a witness if some other poor female is charged.”

“Franchesca didn’t know that we had figured out who the killer was,” Rose added, “but she did know that there were at least two of us who might be suspected, so Mr. Pennyworth’s advice still applies.”

“It will depend upon Miss Livingston’s willingness to assist us,” Franchesca said, “but of course it is in her best interest to do so.”

“And Joanna will also have to agree,” Rose added.

“She might be more difficult to convince, since she’s actually guilty,” Franchesca said. “But on the other hand, she has the most to lose, too.”

Frank nodded. “So we’re all agreed we need to do something, but you haven’t told us what it is yet.”

“Oh my, yes,” Franchesca said. “Let me explain.”

When she was finished, Frank gaped at her. Sarah was gaping, too. It was fiendishly clever, just what he should have expected from an attorney. Justice could be maneuvered in so many ways if you had the mind for it.

Sarah turned to him. “Do you think it could work?”

“Yes, I do. I think it could work even if Joanna doesn’t want to cooperate. If she doesn’t, this could save her from herself, in fact. We have to convince Grace Livingston first, of course.”

“Will her father object?” Rose asked. “He’s very protective of her.”

“I’ll convince him,” Frank said. “When he understands it’s our only hope for keeping Grace’s name out of the newspapers, I think he’ll go along.”