Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

“It’s true, Ryan,” Sid said. She had perched herself on one of the kitchen chairs. “It’s not yours until you’ve applied for copyright, surely.”


“I still want to know,” he said sullenly. “I won’t rest until I know who betrayed me. There is no way in Hades that a buffoon like Ben Archer could have come up with anything as witty and sophisticated as my play. In fact, there are few in the civilized world who can match my wit and wisdom.”

I glanced across at Sid and shared a smile. Modesty was never Ryan’s strong point.

“Have you engaged a lawyer, Ryan?” Sid asked. “I should have thought that was the obvious thing to do.”

Ryan spread his hands in a dramatically hopeless gesture. “Alas, one needs funds to retain a lawyer. At this moment I am not exactly flush.”

“Can’t you do anything to help him, Molly?” Gus asked. “You are an investigator, after all. And what is this big case you’re working on? You haven’t mentioned it to us. In fact, only this morning you were talking of becoming a schoolmarm in Nebraska.”

“Molly, a schoolmarm in Nebraska? Never!” Ryan said. “I won’t allow you to leave civilization for life in the wilderness. You can’t dislike our company that much, surely.”

“I adore your company, as you very well know,” I said. “There seemed to be too many other complications here in New York. Now I fear my complications have only increased. Daniel Sullivan is in jail.”

I hadn’t meant to tell them. It just slipped out.

“Daniel the Deceiver in jail?” Gus asked. “What on earth has he done? Or has Miss Norton had him rounded up for not paying enough attention to her?”

Which shows that we women all had the same suspicious minds. Their thoughts had also gone immediately to Arabella.

“It’s a trumped-up charge,” I said. “He was caught accepting what looked like a bribe from a gang member, but he says he never accepts bribes. Someone is out to have him ruined.”

Sid’s face became grave. “And you are making it your mission to rescue him? Oh no, Molly. No, no, no. Please tell me this is not the big case you’ve just mentioned. You are not thinking of helping him?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to.”

“I don’t understand you, Molly,” Sid said. “One minute you tell us that he is the most odious man on earth and you never want to see him again, then you go running to his side the moment he summons you. That is how I expect the weaker members of our sex to behave, but not you.”

I flushed. “I can’t turn my back on him when he needs my help, Sid.”

“I should have thought a spell in jail would be good for him. Give him time to mull over his failings.” Sid crossed her legs with finality.

“People die in The Tombs.” I was conscious of raising my voice. “The conditions are awful in there, and I’m not going to let him die.”

“And what about you, Molly?” Gus asked in her calm, sweet voice. “Surely Daniel Sullivan wouldn’t expect you to put your own safety at risk? Gangs, bribes, false evidence—it all sounds highly dangerous and quite beyond your sphere of experience. Your common sense must tell you that you can’t get yourself mixed up in this kind of thing.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be personally involved in that side of it. Daniel has a friend who is going to talk to the gang tonight. By tomorrow I should know more.”

Gus reached across and took my hand. “Promise me you won’t do anything foolish,” she said. “Apart from everything else, there is a maniac at work on the Lower East Side, killing young women and dumping their bodies in the street, in case you’ve forgotten. There was another one in The Times today.”

“Prostitutes, Gus, dear,” Ryan said, waving a frilled wrist. “Nobody could ever mistake our Molly for one of those.”

“If she’s snooping in the wrong place at the wrong time they could,” Gus said, fixing me with a firm stare. “Leave it to his lawyers and his friends in the police force, Molly.”

“But he has no friends in the police force, that’s the trouble,” I said. “They’ve all deserted him. There’s no one except for a half-addled prizefighter and me.” Then, to my horror, I did what I had never done in public. I started to cry. This whole day had been too much for me.

Of course after that they were instantly kind and sweet, fussing over me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, hastily collecting myself. “I don’t know what came over me. Let’s have Ryan pour the wine and sit down to dinner, shall we? I’m sure I’m worrying over nothing and everything will sort itself out just fine.”

Unfortunately I didn’t believe my own words.





EIGHT