Twenty–Four
“I wonder what he was trying to steal?” Gus said as she attended to Sid's cut Up with warm water and iodine. I, amazingly, had come through my ordeal almost unscathed, apart from a bump on the back of my head and a nick on my upper arm where the intruder had succeeded in stabbing my sleeve. But I was just now beginning to face the reality of the attack and felt decidedly wobbly.
“As soon as I've done your lip, I'll scout around and see if anything has been moved,” Gus went on, dabbing efficiently as she talked. “Of course, Molly could have surprised him too soon, when he'd just got here.”
I sat in a turmoil of indecision. Should I let them go on thinking it was an attempted burglary, or should I tell them the truth? I decided they had a right to know. Their lives might have been at stake, might still be at stake if I didn't take action.
“It was no burglary attempt,” I said, sitting up and removing the ice pack from my head. “I'm afraid I have been less than honest with you. You have just saved my life. I owe you the truth.”
“You're really a gangster's moll,” Sid exclaimed delightedly.
“No, I'm really a private investigator,” I said. “Well, that's a slight exaggeration. I was working for a private investigator and I was there when he was murdered. My attacker tonight was the same man who killed my employer.”
“Do you know who he was?”
“No and I've spent the past few weeks trying to figure out who might have wanted to kill Mr. Riley.”
“And what conclusion have you come to?”
“I thought I was no nearer to solving the case. The police sergeant assigned to it decided that it might be a gang's retaliation. I didn't believe that, because I surprised the killer ransacking Paddy's office, and I know he returned on a later date, still looking for something.”
“How dashed exciting.” Sid perched on the table beside me. “So who do you think the killer might be, Molly?”
“I'm still not sure, but this isn't the first attack on me. Someone followed me into the theater the other night.” Then something else struck me. “And this only started after I went with Ryan to visit the group run by that strange Emma person.”
“Emma the anarchist?” Sid asked. “I met her once. She tried to recruit me to write articles for a radical journal she was editing. It was a little too radical, even for me.”
“You think Emma could be behind this, do you, Molly?” Gus asked. “You think she might have sent someone to murder your employer?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “All I know is that I wasn't personally threatened until I went to her meeting. It could easily have been one of the young men I met there who attacked me. They all looked very much like the man tonight.” Again I remembered the uneasiness that had grown during that evening at Schwab's, the feeling that I was being watched as I left with Ryan.
“So why won't you go to the police?” Gus asked. “If someone is threatening your life, they should do something.”
“Because I have no facts yet, just a lot of suppositions.”
“Someone tried to kill you,” Gus said. “I'd say that was a pretty conclusive fact.”
“What will you do now?” Sid asked.
“I must move out of here in the morning,” I said. “I have already abused your hospitality by staying as long as this, and now I have put you in danger. I'm very sorry. It was selfish of me.”
“Move away just when things are getting exciting?” Sid demanded. “You don't think we'll let you escape now, do you? Besides, you need two efficient bodyguards like us.”
“You were wonderful,” I said. “The way you held that knife to his throat.”
“Thank God I didn't know I was wielding a fish sheer or I might not have sounded so confident.” Sid broke into laughter again. “Will you try and find him and bring him to justice yourself?”
“I'm going to visit Emma in the morning,” I said. “It's possible that she is involved in this and that she put one of her young men up to it, but it's a risk I've got to take. From what she said, she doesn't believe in violence, so I'm counting on her help.”
In the morning I had to dissuade Gus and Sid from coming with me.
“Three of us might look a little intimidating,” I said.
“Oh, Molly, don't be such a spoilsport,” Gus said. “You know we're dying to be sleuths and bring the criminal to justice.”
“I think I have to visit Emma alone,” I said, “but you could certainly help me by asking at the various neighborhood taverns if a young man in black came in last night, out of breath and distressed. He must have been distressed when he ran away, don't you think?”