Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

“I don’t know who would be paying for those,” I said. “I don’t have that kind of money to give you, and I don’t know where Daniel keeps his money.” I put down the glass of water I had been drinking. “It seems to me the first thing for you to do is to talk to Monk Eastman. He knows you. He’s helping set up a fight for you, so you’ll be quite safe with him. He has every reason in the world for wanting you alive and well.”


“You want me to go out and find this Monk person?” A look of alarm shot across his face. “But what if the police are on the lookout for me?”

“You could put on some kind of disguise, if you’re really worried,” I said.

“I don’t think it’s that easy to disguise me,” he said apologetically. Of course I had to agree with him. Stick a beard or false eyebrows on him and he’d be even more conspicuous than he was now. Too bad it wasn’t winter, when he could at least have huddled under a cloak and broad-brimmed hat. In summer shirtsleeves everyone in the world would recognize him.

“You’ll have to take that chance, Jack,” I said. “I can’t go looking for Monk Eastman. I tried that once before, and I’m not sure what might have happened to me if the police hadn’t broken into the Walla Walla.”

“The what?”

“The Walhalla Hall. It’s a social club on Canal Street. Locals call it the Walla Walla. It’s where the Eastmans are often to be found. I expect we could come up with the money for a hansom cab fare between us. Take a cab right to Walhalla Hall and ask to speak to Monk. They’re bound to recognize you, so you won’t come to any harm. When you speak to Monk, tell him about Daniel. Find out, if you can, if it was a member of his gang who met with Daniel and who gave him the envelope. Find out if Monk knows anything about the bribe and exactly where Daniel was arrested. See if he has any suspicions of his own as to who might have planted the money. Have you got that?”

“Not exactly, miss. I’m not sure what envelope we’re talking about.”

“Saints preserve us,” I muttered. “I’ll write it down for you. You can read out the questions.”

“I don’t read and write so good, miss,” he said.

Not the brightest button in the box, Daniel had said. A definite understatement. Wonderful, I thought. Daniel is putting all his hopes on a man who can’t think straight or remember anything for more than a minute. Even if he finds Monk Eastman and asks the right questions, he’d forget the answers by the time he came home. The only alternative was for me to go with him and I was loath to do that.

“I’ll write down the questions and you give the piece of paper to Monk,” I said. “Then have him write down the answers, or, if he doesn’t want to risk doing that, ask him to do what he can to clear Daniel’s name. Maybe he’d be prepared to tell the police that Daniel had never been in the pay of the Eastmans or never taken a bribe from him.”

Even as I said this, I realized that it was a long shot. From the one encounter between Monk and Daniel that I had witnessed, I had detected little love between them. Monk would probably be delighted that there was one senior police officer less to make his life a misery. Our only hope lay in Gentleman Jack and the fight. Monk would want it to take place; and if he needed Daniel to complete the arrangements for it, he might help spring him from jail.

“Tell Monk you’ll not fight unless Daniel is freed,” I said to Jack.

“Very good, miss. I’ll tell him,” Jack said, giving me that strangely ingratiating smile.

I took a piece of notepaper out of Daniel’s desk, dipped the pen in the inkwell, and started to write. “I’m putting down a list of all the questions that Monk could maybe answer,” I said. “Do your best for Daniel, Jack. If you don’t help him now, then nobody else can.”

“I’ll do my best for him, miss,” he said. “I swear it. Should I go now?”

“Better wait until this evening,” I said. “Walhalla Hall is usually deserted during the day. Even if Monk isn’t there tonight, somebody will know where to find him in the neighborhood.” I opened my purse. “Let’s see if we can come up with the cab fare there and back.”

I had about a dollar in change. Daniel’s desk and a jar on his mantelpiece produced another dollar.

“There you are,” I said. “Enough to keep you going. And I’ll leave a note for Mrs. O’Shea about buying you some groceries, although I don’t think you’ll get steaks as big as dinner plates. Maybe you should ask Monk to treat you to one of those.”

He held out his huge red hand for the change. “Much obliged, miss.”

“I have people coming to my house for dinner tonight, or I’d keep you company,” I said. “But I have to get home to cook a chicken. So I’ll come by tomorrow morning, shall I, and see what you’ve found out? I’ll bring you some chicken if there’s any left.”

“Much obliged, miss,” he repeated. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.”

I wrote the note for Mrs. O’Shea, then added a postscript, reminding her to keep Jack’s presence a secret. I felt rather pleased with myself as I let myself out of the house. I had carried out Daniel’s commission. With any luck by tomorrow we’d have Daniel free and out of jail.





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