Read Online Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson - Free Book Online Page B

one.
    “What is all this about?” her father asked when they were settled.
    Even though he had addressed the question to Malloy, Sarah said, “It’s about Catherine.”
    Her father frowned. “Catherine? The little girl?”
    Sarah wanted to say, “
My
little girl,” but she knew this was no longer true. “Yes, the other day a woman went to the Mission looking for her. She claimed she was the child’s nursemaid and was returning to claim her.”
    Her father considered this information for a moment, then turned back to Malloy. “I thought perhaps you were here because you’d changed your mind.”
    Changed his mind about what? Sarah wondered, but before she could ask, her father said, “Elizabeth, we’ll discuss why you chose to keep this information from me at a later time. For now, I think you had better tell me everything, Sarah.”
    Sarah did, beginning with her meeting with Mrs. Keller up to her and Maeve’s visit with Anne Murphy. He listened patiently to that point, then turned to Malloy, furious. “And you permitted her to see this woman alone?”
    Malloy never batted an eye. “What makes you think I have any more control over her than you do?”
    Her mother made a strange little choking sound that might have been a smothered laugh and which Sarah refused to acknowledge.
    “Malloy didn’t know about it,” Sarah said. “I didn’t tell him anything at all until I’d already met with Miss Murphy.”
    This had the desired effect of drawing her father’s ire back to her. Ignoring his scowling disapproval, she continued the story, telling him everything she had learned from Anne Murphy. “That was when I decided to ask Mr. Malloy for assistance.”
    Her father seemed almost relieved. “And what have you done about this woman?” he asked Malloy.
    “I went to see her yesterday.”
    “And?”
    Malloy glanced apologetically at her mother. “She was dead. Somebody had murdered her.”
    Sarah had underestimated the horror her parents would feel at this news. They naturally assumed that Sarah had come perilously close to meeting the same fate with her reckless disregard for her own safety in visiting Miss Murphy unprotected. She had to allow them to be furious with her for several minutes before they could continue.
    “You’re absolutely right, I should never have done it,” she said at last, “and Mr. Malloy has already taken me to task for it. However, I was not murdered along with Miss Murphy, and along with the question of who murdered her, I still have the problem of Catherine’s parents wanting to claim her.”
    “Parents?” her father said. “I thought it was just her mother.”
    Malloy picked up the story from there and told them about finding the letters and going to meet David Wilbanks. “Do you know him?” he asked her parents.
    Her mother shook her head. Her father said, “I’ve heard of him.”
    “Good things or bad?” Sarah asked.
    “Business things. I don’t know the man himself, but I will by tonight. I suppose he wants Catherine back.”
    “He does, but he also told me he’s dying. He has cancer, and he said he only has a few months to live.”
    Sarah could actually see her father registering this weakness as something to use to their advantage. “He can’t possibly imagine he can take care of a young child then.”
    Malloy explained Wilbanks’s plan to marry Emma Hardy and give Catherine a life of privilege.
    “I’m afraid we must admire him for that,” her mother said.
    “If we can admire a man who broke his marriage vows with a strumpet, then I suppose we must,” her father said. “Mr. Malloy, will you be the one to investigate this woman’s murder?”
    “I’ve gotten myself assigned to the case, yes. No one else is interested in it, so I’m not sure how long they’ll let me work on it, but I’ll have a few days, at least.”
    “I don’t suppose this Wilbanks would use his influence.” This, Sarah knew, was a polite way of asking if Wilbanks would pay