“That wouldn’t be proper, would it? Word might get back to my fiancé.”
As I went to walk past him he grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him. “Don’t do this to me, Molly. Don’t taunt me this way.”
“I assure you, sir, that I take matters of the heart very earnestly. If you think my decision to marry Jacob is merely to taunt you, then you are wrong. If I commit to him, I commit whole-heartedly, and with full knowledge of what I am giving up.”
He grasped at my shoulders, his fingers digging into my flesh. “Don’t give up on me, Molly, please.”
“Let go of me.” I shook myself free. “You’re not going to soften me up with your sweet-talking blarney anymore. I’m getting on with my own life without you and I’m doing just fine.”
“Apart from almost getting yourself burned to death in a fire, shot at, captured by gangster, and arrested for prostitution?”
“Apart from those, yes.”
I looked at him and he started to laugh. I had to smile too.
“I love you, Molly Murphy,” he said softly, then he reached out to stroke my cheek.
“Good night, Daniel,” I said somewhat shakily, then I fled inside the door before I could weaken. Once inside I stood in the doorway with my hand to that cheek where his hand had been.
Twenty-seven
It was an unaccustomed luxury to rise with the sun the next morning, to dress and breakfast in leisure, and to get a kiss from the children as they went off to school.
“I’m glad you’re not going to that horrid place anymore, Molly,” Bridie said, wrapping her little arms around my neck. “It was no fun when you weren’t here. All we had to eat was dripping toast and Shamey bullied me.”
“Well, I’m going to bully you now,” I said, stroking her hair fondly. “And my first command is to bring me your hairbrush. You have a knot the size of Galway Bay in the back of your hair. And you, Shamey, haven’t washed your neck in a week. Go and do it now.”
“Tough guys don’t need to wash their necks,” he muttered as he made for the scullery.
I waved as they ran off to school.
“They’re turning out just grand, aren’t they?” I asked Seamus, who had come into the room.
“Thanks to your help. Who knows where they’d have been if we had stayed with Nuala in the tenement? I wish there was some way to repay you, Molly. I’m doing my best to find a job, really I am. I’m seeing a man today at the department store called Macy’s. Do you know of it? They say it’s very grand. They take on extra help for the Christmas season—carrying packages for ladies and the like.”
“You’ll be back on your feet soon enough.”
He nodded as if he didn’t really believe this. “I’ve only ever been a laborer, you see, and now I don’t think I’ve the strength to swing a pick and shovel.”
“You’ll find something, Seamus. Don’t worry about it. I’ve just concluded two cases, so I’ll have money coming in.”
As I said that, a smile spread across my face. Two cases solved. I had become a real detective. I would go and collect my fee today. I thought it only fair to confront Sarah first and verify the truth about those papers I had seen. I had been wrong about things before—just occasionally.
I had no idea where Sarah lived, or Mr. Mostel either. I headed for the garment factory because I couldn’t think of any other sensible starting point. As I approached along Canal Street I saw that a small crowd was still gathered around the burned-out shell of the building. Men were dragging out sorry-looking pieces of furniture from the cabinetmaker on the ground floor. On the sidewalk were stacked bolts of waterlogged, singed cloth. It was a sorry sight. I noticed that several of my fellow workers were standing among the crowd, staring at the building as if they couldn’t believe what they saw. Then Seedy Sam emerged from the ruined doorway, shaking his head. He spotted me and pointed his finger accusingly.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You and that Sadie girl—you started the fire deliberately because I locked you in. I knew you were trouble from the first day.”
I marched right up to him. “We started the fire?” I demanded “Is that what your addled brain has been thinking? We were almost burned alive in that firetrap. It was only sheer luck that we got out.”
“You probably didn’t mean it to burn up the whole building—just drawing attention to yourselves.”
“The fire started because one of the little girls panicked at the thought of being locked in and she knocked over one of those unsafe oil stoves. You’ll be lucky that you’re not arrested after we’ve told the police how you locked us in.”
“Me—arrested?” He stepped away, his eyes darting around the crowd. “I didn’t do anything against the law.”
“I’d say holding people prisoner against their will might be grounds for arrest,” I said, looking at the other girls in the crowd. “What do you think?”
The crowd made angry murmurs.