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

“We’ll never get you into his jacket in time. When you hear the blast, I’m going to yell, ‘Run, Joe, run,’ but you stay hidden. Then we’ll try to sneak out in the confusion. As soon as you get out, run like hell. Go through the Liberties and make for the river. At the docks by theGrand Canal, look for a fishing boat flying a green flag. It will take you to France.”


“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” He crossed himself. “I can’t believe it's my own sister telling me this.”

“I wish I could get these dratted handcuffs off you. You’ll be so obvious running with handcuffs on,” I said. “Maybe I should take the guard's jacket off and put it over your shoulders.”

“I don’t know, Molly,” he said.

“Here, take the basket. You can hide your hands in it as you run.”

“I’d look stupid with a woman's basket,” he commented.

“Better stupid than dead,” I snapped, remembering suddenly how very annoying my brothers used to be. “At least I’ve got the keys to hand over to our boys. Where are the political prisoners kept?”

“Second level, like me. There's a whole string of us.”

“That's good. Then we’ve the right keys.”

I glanced down nervously at the guard, who was still lying there. Shouldn’t we tie him up or something? Then another chilling thought came to me—the attempt outside the door had failed, and Joe and I were sitting ducks. I had just chloroformed a guard. The penalty for that would be tremendous. I couldn’t stand being shut in that little room a moment longer. Surely ten minutes must have passed long ago.

“I’m going to take a peek outside,” I said. “If all's clear we can sneak toward the front door, and be ready when they blast it out.”

I opened the door a few inches and peered out cautiously. I found myself staring into another face—a face I recognized but failed to put a name to right away.

“Well done, Miss Murphy. I have to congratulate you,” a voice said, and I realized who he was. It was the detective inspector from the ship—the one in the tweed jacket who had followed me around. And behind him stood another familiar figure—Detective Inspector Harris.





Thirty-two


The door of the cell was flung open and a uniformed constable grabbed Joseph, while the first detective took me by the arm. “How did you know I’d be here?” I demanded. “How did

you find out?”

“It was elementary, my dear Watson, as the fictional Mr. Holmes would say,” the detective said, holding me with my arm twisted behind my back. “We have been tailing you since the ship. We’d had Oona Sheehan in our sights for quite a while, you know. And when we found out that she was leaving the ship in a hurry at the last moment, and leaving all her luggage behind, we thought it expedient to examine that luggage. Very interesting personal belongings, wouldn’t you say?”

“You knew about the guns in the trunks?” I stared, openmouthed.

“Oh, indeed we did.”

“Then why did you do nothing?”

“Because, my dear, we were anxious to know for whom they were intended. So all we had to do was wait and watch. I must say we were concerned when you vanished for a while. But we received a telephone call at headquarters a few minutes ago to say that you’d shown up here, so here we all are. Now, I presume you are not a major player in this little farce, in fact likely as not you’ve been suckered into it, so we’ll just wait for your little pals to show up, shall we?”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” I said defiantly. “When I heard that my brother was in jail here, I just wanted to see him one last time. And itwas only at the last second that I decided to have a go at that guard and see if there was any way I could help Joseph escape.”

“Pull the other one,- it's got bells on,” Inspector Harris said with a chuckle. “So the maid got wind of what was being shipped in those trunks, did she? What was it, blackmail? You decided she was a danger to your little scheme, and you had to finish her off? Did you do it alone, or did you have an accomplice on board?”

“Look, Inspector.” I could hear my voice rising. “Everything I told you before is true. I had no idea I was being tricked on that boat. I had no idea those trunks contained guns until I tried to move them in my hotel room and they clanked. I had no idea for whom those guns were destined. And what's more I’m fed up with being used and manipulated for other people's purposes. I know who killed Rose McCreedy although I’ll never be able to prove it now, but I can assure you it wasn’t me.”