Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

I looked at it, then carefully folded the letter back into its envelope. So the commissioner of police was planning to visit The Tombs, was he? It might just be coincidence. On the other hand, maybe my first instincts had been right after all, and he was the one who had orchestrated Daniel’s betrayal himself. What could have been easier than having those dollar bills hidden in his own fist, ready to scatter as the letter was opened?

So I might have been wasting valuable time looking into a series of sordid murders when my investigations should have gone in quite a different direction. Daniel himself knew of no particular reason why Mr. Partridge should want him out of the way, but that didn’t mean that one didn’t exist. Had that man of moral rectitude something he wished to keep hidden? It seemed that my next task should be to look into Mr. Partridge’s life and affairs. I had no idea how I might do that, but maybe Sabella Goodwin could help me get started when I next saw her. She was in a position to nose around at police headquarters and pick up on any rumors.

Then I remembered what else would happen when I next saw her. She’d bring me news of a woman who might be able to end my current predicament. I felt hot and clammy all over, just at the thought of it. She was right about that Irish upbringing. If ever there were mortal sins, that was surely one of them.

I opened the second note, with some trepidation. Most letters these days did not seem to be bringing me good news. I saw from the neat signature that this one was from Dr. Birnbaum.

My dear Miss Murphy:

In truth I was much relieved that you were not allowed to accompany me to the morgue this morning. The sight of the young girl was most distressing, even to a hardened medical man like myself. I am sure you would not have been able to endure it, and it would have left a lasting impression of horror on your delicate psyche. And in truth, not much was gained from my visit or my discussion with the two detectives.

They are deeply baffled by a man who can apparently drop girls on crowded streets under the very eyes of the police. Of course, they did point out to me that they had only just been assigned this case when Captain Sullivan was removed from his post, so have little to go on.

All I could tell from viewing the corpse was that she was killed by a man of considerable strength and brutality. The thumb marks on her neck were impressive as was the force of the blows to her face. So we are dealing with a man who is not only powerful but enjoys taking tremendous risks. He probably realizes that his desire to kill is now out of control. Sooner or later it will drive him to take one risk too many.

I don’t know if this helps you at all in your own quest. I fear not. We have so little to go on. We could be looking for any man in the Greater New York area.

I regret that I can’t be of more assistance to you,

Your faithful servant,

Frederick Birnbaum, Doctor of Medicine



I had to smile at such a correct and perfectly executed missive and found myself wondering what he and the flamboyant Ryan could possibly have in common. Then the smile faded. Another dead end, it would appear. I had learned nothing new from his note—or had I? It struck me that the two officers in question claimed they had just taken over the case from Daniel. But I seemed to remember it was the other way around—hadn’t Daniel been assigned to the case over them? So why make this false claim to Dr. Birnbaum?

I could come up with a perfectly good answer, of course—they were ambitious, according to Mrs. Goodwin. They didn’t want to lose face by admitting how little they had achieved so far. Or Birnbaum, not being a native English speaker, might just have misunderstood. Besides, I couldn’t see Quigley and McIver scheming to have Daniel removed from this case just so that they could get all the glory for themselves. As Mrs. Goodwin had commented, it was a devilish puzzle with no guarantee of a successful outcome.

So far my bet was on John Partridge. Men who rise to positions of power often have shady secrets in their past, secrets they’d rather didn’t come out. If John Partridge had such a secret and Daniel had inadvertently stumbled upon it, then the commissioner might feel himself threatened. But since Daniel had no idea himself what he could have done to antagonize Mr. Partridge, I wasn’t sure how I could unearth any deep, dark secrets in Partridge’s past. Still, I had to try. Who might possibly know details of Mr. Partridge’s past life and indiscretions? Nobody in my circle of friends. Then it occurred to me—newspapers! They loved to dig up dirt on political figures, didn’t they? A visit to the archives at The Times or the Herald might at least set me in the right direction. At the very least they’d have his biography on file.