In Dublin's Fair City (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #6)

In the light of day my brave offer to help rescue Joseph seemed overdramatic and ridiculous. How could I possibly help break into a jail? Exploits like that should be left to trained men. In truth I wanted no part of it, much as I hoped Joseph could be rescued. I didn’t feel that patriotic fire burning in my belly. I wandered around the room and considered how I might escape.

It occurred to me that Inspector Harris might have been keeping an eye on me at the Shelbourne and would notice I was missing. But what good would that do me, unless he’d actually had a man following me to witness my kidnapping. And he wasn’t likely to have had me followed, was he? Not when it appeared I was no longer a suspect. Then, for some reason, I thought of Mr. Fitzpatrick, appearing out of the blue and seeming so interested in striking up a friendship. I was hardly a Dublin beauty, when compared to Grania, and I certainly wasn’t an heiress...so was it possible that he was working with the police and keeping an eye on me for them?

In which case I was probably now in worse trouble than before. Inspector Harris might construe this to mean that I was trying to give him the slip. And what about Mary Ann? How could I look for her when I was cooped up here? She was the only reason I was in Ireland, after all. But then I figured that Tom Burke had given me no time frame. As long as I was not living off his money, then my time was my own. If I had to spend a few days at the pleasure of Grania Hyde-Borne, then it wasn’t really the worst fate in the world, was it? The most sensible thing was to stop worrying and see what happened next. Having talked myself into not feeling guilty, I washed, dressed, and went down to a good breakfast of smoked haddock, scrambled eggs, and kidneys.

I was on the toast and marmalade when Grania came to join me. “Your things have been collected from the Shelbourne and they have been told that you will not be returning,” she said. “You have received unexpected news from America and are traveling home on the next boat.”

“I see,” I said. “So I am to be kept here as a prisoner?”

“Not a prisoner. Heavens, no. A welcome houseguest,” she said. “I trust you found the room to your liking?”

“It's a lovely room,” I said, “and I have been made most comfortable. But I do have a job to do in Ireland. I’m being paid to find Mary Ann Burke.”

“I tell you what,” she said, moving her chair confidentially closer to me. “I’ll send out my spies, if you like. I know Cullen won’t approve of our drawing attention to ourselves around the city by asking questions at this point, but I’ll use the most discreet of the Daughters of Erin. They may be able to find out if your Mary Ann is still in the city and what happened to her after Terrence died.”

“Would you do that?” I beamed at her. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“I’m only too happy to help.” She patted my shoulder as if I was a cherished pet.

“Grania, why are you doing all this?” I asked.

“Helping you? Because you need help.”

“No, I meant working with the Brotherhood, taking terrible risks?”

She laughed merrily. “As for the terrible risks, I’m afraid you overestimate my part. I am merely a facilitator. I bring people together, I pass along messages. I know everybody, you see. I present a wonderfully visible, respectable face to the world. And I have a big house where secret meetings can be held when my husband is away.”

“Your husband is away a lot?”

“He finds Ireland deadly dull,” she said, “so he prefers to spend his winters at our London home and springtime in Paris. Usually I join him, only this year, knowing Cullen was to return, I pleaded ill health. When the prison break actually occurs, I shall be on the boat bound for Liverpool, on my way to join my husband.”

“But you still haven’t answered my question,” I said. “Are you doing it for Cullen?”

“For Cullen?” she asked, looking amused if anything. “Why would I be doing it for Cullen? I’m not under his command.”

“But under his spell?” I said cautiously. “You yourself suggested that Oona Sheehan only agreed to the little scheme with the trunks because she still carried a torch for Cullen.”

She laughed merrily. “And you think I still carry a torch for him? How sweet you are. Darling, I’m a married woman.”

“That hasn’t exactly prevented other people from falling in love.”

“I’ll be quite honest with you,” she said. “I’m certainly not in love with my husband. I married him because of what he could offer— money, power, a chance to travel, to live well. And I did have a brief and heady romance with Cullen when we were considerably younger. But Cullen is only in love with one thing—Ireland. I need someone who will adore me for myself, not for what I can offer. So Cullen and I remain devoted friends, no more.”