Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

“Good-bye then,” I said, pulling away from him.


Reluctantly his fingers released mine.

“Take good care of yourself, Molly,” he called after me. “Don’t do anything stupid, do you hear me?”





FOURTEEN




When I got home, around midday, having bought veal bones and vegetables to make myself a healthy soup, I found a note on my front door.

“Molly, you have a visitor. We are entertaining her to lunch until you return.” It was signed “Augusta.” It wasn’t very often that Gus used her formal name and I was intrigued enough to brush my hair, wash the grime of the sidewalks from my face, and generally spruce myself up before I presented myself at Number Nine.

“Ah, Molly, you’re back. Do come on through. We’re having lentil salad in the conservatory.” Sid greeted me with an enigmatic smile. “A young lady has called upon you.”

We came out into the bright noontime light of the kitchen with its conservatory beyond. A lace cloth had been laid at the wicker table and Gus now sat in one of the wicker chairs. So did another woman with her back to me. At the sound of our voices, she rose to her feet and turned to face me.

It was Arabella Norton. I had never seen her dressed in such a somber manner before. Usually she was all pink and white and frills. Today she was wearing a lilac silk traveling costume, buttoned up to the throat. Her curls were piled up on her head and topped with a jaunty little purple hat with just a wisp of veil at the front and one of those V-tipped peacock feathers sprouting from it. Of course I’m sure the overall effect was delightful, as always, but I was too startled to take in much. In fact, I couldn’t have been much more surprised if Old Nick himself had come to visit.

“Miss Norton,” I stammered, “to what do I owe this honor?”

“You have delightful friends, Miss Murphy,” she said. “They have been entertaining me most engagingly. I am sorry to drop in on you without any notice, but it is a matter of some urgency and Mama and I leave for Europe in a week’s time.”

“You have news about Daniel?” I blurted out.

“Oh dear, no. I’m sorry,” she said. “So Daniel is still in jail? How terrible for him. I wish I could be of help, but I can’t. I’m afraid I’m here on quite another matter.”

“Pull up a chair, Molly. Join us for lunch and then you and Miss Norton can do your chatting in peace,” Gus said.

I had no wish to eat in the presence of Arabella Norton, but I could hardly refuse Gus’s invitation, and Arabella was halfway through her own meal. So I was forced to sit beside her at the little table and face a plate of brown lentils and lettuce leaves, which would not have seemed too appetizing at the best of times. For my stomach, having not eaten for several hours, this was definitely not the best of times. I ate bread and butter, which I knew I could tolerate, and worked at hiding the rest under a lettuce leaf again.

Fortunately Sid and Gus were amazing. The way they engaged in polite conversation made me realize that they moved in the same circles as someone like Arabella. They knew the right things to say and had sufficient connections in common that I got through the meal without having to do more than nod my head.

I refused their offer of Turkish coffee, however.

“I am sure Miss Norton has a thousand and one things to do if she’s leaving for Europe soon,” I said. “And I know it must have been a most pressing matter that brought her to visit me.”

Actually I was all but bursting with curiosity. If Daniel wasn’t involved, what on earth did Arabella want with me? I led her across to my house and seated her in the one armchair, while I put the kettle on for a cup of tea.

“I must apologize for bursting in on you like this, Miss Murphy,” she repeated. “How charming your friends are. So intellectual. So cultured. I felt like a philistine country bumpkin beside them. Still, they had the benefit of a Vassar education. Papa wouldn’t hear of my going to a women’s college. I’m afraid he’s of the old school and believes that women learn all they need to know in the kitchen and by observing their mothers.”

I had had enough of small talk. My curiosity was now positively bubbling over.

“I don’t wish to rush you, Miss Norton, but I can’t imagine that you have come to see me on purely a social call. If it’s not Daniel that brings you here, then in heaven’s name what is it?”

“It is a matter of some delicacy, Miss Murphy,” she said, lowering her voice even though we were alone in the house. “Daniel mentioned that you were a lady investigator. Is that really true?”

“Yes, I do run a small detective agency,” I said.