Murphy's Law (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #1)

"Eventually," I said. "Let them go on hoping for now, until they're settled in at least."

He nodded, still fighting back tears. "She didn't say a thing when she wrote to me," he said and he stared out across the bleak waters. "Why didn't she tell me?"

"She only just found out when she had the medical exam. She didn't know herself before that."

"Oh, so she's not suffering very much yet, then?" "She seems just fine," I lied, remembering the hollow eyes and the cough. "Who knows, maybe she'll get better yet."

Young Seamus pushed his way through the crowd, followed by a disheveled Bridie. "We saw it--New York City and there was a building with hundreds and hundreds of floors."

"It went right up to the clouds," Bridie added.

"It did not!" Seamus said scornfully. "But it was taller than the church spire at home. Are we going to live in a building like that, Daddy?"

"Almost like that," Seamus the elder said. "We are up on the fourth floor. I hope you've got good strong legs because there's a lot of stairs."

"They must have very good legs to walk up to the top of those buildings," young Seamus commented.

His father reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "They have things called elevators in those grand buildings. I saw one for myself the other day. You'll not believe it. You step in this little box and it takes you up, like by magic. You don't even feel it, but when you get out, you're at the top of the building."

"By magic?" Bridie looked excited.

"Is this a magic city, Daddy?" "Absolutely. Any dream can come true here, so they say. You just have to work at it for a while ... sometimes for quite a while," he added under his breath.

The ferry boat was coming in to its dock. We jostled our way up the gangplank and then we were on shore. I was standing in America, a free woman with a whole new life ahead of me.

Seamus took his son's hand. "Come on, young'un," he said with a crack in his voice. "Let's go home, shall we?"

The sun had set while we had crossed on the ferry and the city was plunged into twilight. As we left the dock and went among those tall buildings we were in nighttime gloom. Gas lamps cast anemic pools of light, but between them lurked frightening shadows. A clock on a church tower chimed five.

"Daddy, how soon do we get to your house?"

Seamus's little voice echoed my own uneasiness.

"We have to cross to the other side of town," Seamus the father said. "This is the West Side and we live on the East Side. It's a fair walk but you can do it, I know. And it starts getting brighter, too, as we get toward the middle--electric lights they've got now on the Bowery. 'Tis a sight to behold all right."

One dark street led into another. If Seamus hadn't been guiding us, we'd have been hopelessly lost, and probably at the mercy of criminals, too. I noticed several unsavory types eyeing us from the shadows. Sometimes there were saloons on street corners with men coming in and out of them. Then there began to be more lights--open shop fronts with kerosene lanterns hissing away. And then, mercy of mercies--we came to the broadest street of all, and here all was full of life. The stores were all open, and there were bright electric lamps in the streets that made it look almost like day. Cabs and carriages clattered past, and then, with a clang clanging of its bell, a streetcar came toward us, gliding on silvery tracks. We just stood and stared--those of us who had never seen an electric streetcar before, that is. I've no doubt that Seamus was used to it by now.

"How does it go, Daddy--there are no horses," little Seamus gasped.

"Electricity," Big Seamus said grandly. "See, it runs on those tracks, like a small train. New York City is full of marvels, my boy. Full of marvels. Tomorrow, if you're good, I'll show you a big hole in the ground and do you know what they're doing there? There building a railway to run under the city. Imagine that. Oh yes, this is the place to be all right."

I was still staring like a delighted child at the shops full of merchandise, the streetcars, the electric lights, taverns, eating rooms, and even theaters. There was everything you might need or dream about right there on that one street. I decided I was going to like living in a city.

We crossed that wide street, staying close to Seamus as we dodged through the traffic. Then we walked by a brightly lit theater. Flannagan's Irish Delight was the sign in winking lights. On a billboard outside was plastered ""When Irish Eyes Are Smiling!" An all-new