Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

“He confessed all this to you?”


“Some of it I pieced together myself,” I said.

“Then he can’t risk keeping you alive.” Mrs. Goodwin put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my goodness, now I see what he was hinting at last night as we drove you away.”

“What was he saying?” My mouth was so dry the words would hardly come out.

“He claimed that your mind had gone. Your ordeal with the monster had made you insane.”

“And he’ll have me locked away, and nobody will believe me.” I tried to digest these words and saw how easily they could come to fruition. “We’ll have to stop him before it’s too late.”

She nodded, a deep frown creasing her forehead. “We must come up with our own proof of his guilt before he has time to act,” she said.

“The first thing we must do is get me out of here,” I said. “I don’t want to be a sitting duck where he can find me—and already helpless in a hospital bed.”

“Are you well enough to be moved?” she asked. “I thought you were badly injured last night. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I wasn’t injured. I miscarried the baby,” I said. “I suppose that jumping off the pier and into the ocean wasn’t the wisest thing to do. But I had no choice. He was after me. They were both after me….”

She put a hand on my shoulder. “In many ways it’s for the best right now, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. For the best,” I said, and burst into tears.



Mrs. Goodwin was wonderful. With her naturally bossy personality and her police badge she had me out of there and taken home in Bert’s automobile.

“Is there anyone who could stay with you?” she asked. “I have things that I should be doing, but I want to make sure you are protected.”

Before I could answer, the door across the street opened and Sid and Gus came rushing out.

“Molly, we were sick with worry,” Sid exclaimed. “What happened? Where were you?”

“She’s been in the hospital,” Mrs. Goodwin said. “She got hurt trying to apprehend a desperate man.”

“Molly, I do wish you’d take a sensible job and leave this sort of activity to the police,” Gus said, helping me from the car. “You look white as a sheet. You’re coming to us, and we’re putting you to bed and no arguments.”

I wasn’t about to argue for once.

“Are you all right now?” Sid asked, steering me in through their front door.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m all right now.”

“I’m so relieved you’ll be looking after her,” Mrs. Goodwin said. “She’s still in danger. It’s important nobody knows where she is.”

My friends looked from me to Sabella.

“This is my friend Mrs. Sabella Goodwin,” I said. “She’s a lady policeman.”

They laughed at the description.

“And right now I have more work to do,” Sabella said. “Take good care of her. Don’t let her go with anyone.”

“We’ll guard her with our lives,” Gus said. “Oh dear, Sid. We really should have bought that dog we saw in Macy’s window the other day.”

“It was a Pekinese, Gus.” Sid started to laugh. “As a guard dog I fear it would be sadly lacking.”

Mrs. Goodwin was about to go when something occurred to me. “Did Dr. Birnbaum come by while I was away?”

“Yes, he did,” Sid said. “He pushed something through your letter box. We were curious.”

I handed her my key and soon she was back with the letter.

My dear Miss Murphy.

I have conducted the most rigorous inspection of the two hair samples, and I think I would be prepared to stand up in court and testify under oath that they came from the same head.



I beamed at them. “We’ve got him. We can prove that one of the bodies is Letitia.”

“We’ll need more than that,” Mrs. Goodwin said. “This just proves that Letitia was killed, not that Quigley had any part in her killing. He can act the bereaved sweetheart. We need to put him at the scene. We need to link him to the transportation of the girls.”

“You’re with the police,” I said. “Can’t you search the various police wagons? There must be some evidence left behind—a blood spot, another hair we could match.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said. “In the meantime you rest.”