Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #7)

I did as he suggested and found the ferry was no bigger than a large row boat. The old man who ferried me grinned as he handed me ashore. “Make sure they don’t lock you up and keep you here,” he said. “It’s a terrible place, right enough. You should hear the cries and the groans sometimes. You can hear them in Manhattan when the wind’s in the right direction.”


I tried not to think about his warning as I marched up to the front entrance of a grim brick building. I couldn’t help noticing the bars on the windows. Inside I was met by a nurse in a crisply starched uniform. “Did you not read the sign?” She tapped at the wall. “Visiting days are the first Saturday of every month, but only for those patients deemed suitable to receive visitors.”

“I’ve come to reclaim a young woman who was admitted here by mistake,” I said. “She would have been brought here within the last three or four days.”

“By mistake, you say?”

“Yes. She was being looked after by myself and treated by an eminent doctor of the mind. She should never have been brought here and I’m here to take her home.”

“I see.” She regarded me coldly. “And the name?”

“I’m not sure under what name she would have been admitted. Probably Anya something.”

“You say you don’t know the person’s name?”

“I know her real name. It’s Jessie Edwards. But I fear she was admitted under a false name or no name at all. Now, can you look in your records and see if a girl was brought here in the past few days?”

“I can do no such thing,” she said. “Our records are confidential.”

“Even if a mistake has been made?”

She glanced down at a book on her desk. “The only person admitted here recently who matches your description was admitted by her family. I take it you are not a family member?”

I was so tempted to lie and say that I was, but I decided this might complicate things even further. “No, I’m not, and neither were they. They had kidnapped her.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You can prove this?”

“No, I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Then what exactly is your interest in this case?”

“I’m a friend of the young woman. I was looking after her until she was kidnapped.”

She frowned at me as if trying to read my mind.

“What was the name of these people who committed a young woman against her will?”

“I don’t know what name they would have used,” I said. “They are really Sicilian gang members. They may have claimed to be Hungarian.”

“Really.” She shook her head in disbelief. “And do you not think that our staff would be aware if a perfectly sane individual was brought here against her will? This is not the dark ages, you know.”

“Unfortunately she is not in her right mind at the moment,” I said. “She has lost her memory and her power of speech.”

“Which would indicate that she actually belongs here, would you not say?”

“She needs treatment, but she was getting good care from me and from a doctor who is a friend of mine.”

She regarded me for a long while then she sniffed and said, “Young woman, you are wasting my time. If you really believe an injustice has happened then come back to me with the authorities and with proof. Personally I think everything you’ve said is a load of baloney.”

“It’s not. They really did kidnap her.”

“Someone whose name you don’t know was brought here by relatives, who are not relatives but you don’t know their names, either, and she really is in a current catatonic state. I don’t think you’re going to find anyone who takes you seriously, miss. I don’t know what your game is, but I suggest you leave.”

“Let me talk to someone in charge,” I begged.

“Until you can show me that the people who signed her over to this institution were not her family members, I am not prepared to mention this to any of my superiors. Until then you have no right to be here. Good day to you.”

“If I could just see her,” I said. “I know she’d want to see me. She’d want to know that something is being done on her behalf.”

“Good day to you, miss.” She deliberately turned her back on me.

“Now look here,” I said angrily. “I’m not leaving until I see someone who will at least listen to me.”

The nurse rang a little bell on her desk. Two large men appeared. “Have this young woman escorted out, please,” she said. “She is trying to make trouble.”





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