Murder On Astor Place

“I believe someone must have helped her,” Sarah said, deciding not to reveal everything she knew. Her mother had been known to gossip, and Sarah didn’t want to be the cause of the groom Harvey getting fired. “The police think she must have had a lover. Perhaps he helped her get away.”

“That’s nonsense,” her mother insisted. “Alicia was just a child. She wouldn’t even know any young men.”

“She knew at least one,” Sarah said. “She was expecting a baby.”

If her mother had been shocked before, she was stunned now. Speechless, she could only stare at Sarah for a long moment. Finally, she asked, “You’re sure? There could be no mistake?”

“No mistake. She was already six months along.”

Her mother considered this information, weighing it with the facts Sarah had already told her. “Of course, that would explain why they sent her to the country. So she could have the baby secretly.”

Then they both remembered a girl who had been sent to France for the very same reason, a girl who had escaped to die as well. But neither of them was ready to speak of Maggie, not when their reconciliation was so new. They looked away, not wanting to meet each other’s eyes while those memories were still in their minds.

“What I don’t understand,” Sarah said determinedly, hoping to steer them both away from their painful memories, “is why wouldn’t they have just arranged a marriage for her with the baby’s father?”

“Oh, my, any number of reasons. If he was unsuitable…” Her voice trailed off as they once again remembered Maggie and her unsuitable match. “Or perhaps he was already married,” she added after an awkward moment.

This was something Sarah hadn’t considered. But she couldn’t believe that Alicia could have been discreet enough to be impregnated without stirring at least a whiff of scandal.

“Surely, someone would know if that were the case. Have you heard anything about her? Anything at all that might explain what happened? Perhaps she was engaged, or her parents were arranging a marriage for her,” she added, recalling the groom’s reason for helping Alicia run away.

Her mother considered again, and Sarah waited patiently. Women like her mother, intelligent, talented women who had no socially acceptable outlet for their energies, filled their idle hours by visiting and learning as much about their neighbors as they could. In less elegant circles, this would have been called gossiping, but no one in her mother’s social circle would have used so vulgar a word to describe their activities. Still, that was what they did, day after day and year after year. No word or deed was too insignificant to escape their attentions, and they spent their entire lives analyzing one another’s behavior. This was why Sarah was certain that if Alicia VanDamm had become pregnant, which she most certainly had, someone would know something about it.

“There was one thing,” her mother said at last, “but it was so fantastic, I didn’t credit it. And I don’t think anyone else did, either.”

“What was it?” Sarah asked, unable to disguise her eagerness.

“You understand that I don’t believe in gossiping about my neighbors,” she said primly, and Sarah forced herself not to smile.

“Of course not, but any information you have might help us find out who killed her.”

“Us?” her mother echoed in surprise. “Sarah, just how does all this concern you, and who else would it involve?”

Sarah could have bitten her tongue. Good thing Malloy hadn’t heard her slip. She was getting a little tired of his lectures about how she really wasn’t investigating this case. “I was able to help the police in their investigation. Because I knew Alicia,” she added at her mother’s frown of disapproval.

“The police?” she sniffed. “Really, dear, you shouldn’t become involved with the police. You know the kind of men who are drawn to that profession. They’re hardly the sort of people with whom you should associate.”

Her mother would probably faint if she saw some of the people with whom Sarah associated quite intimately every day of her life, but she decided not to mention that.

“Surely, Mother, you know that the Roosevelt’s son, Theodore, is a police commissioner now. He’s done a lot to reform the police force.”

“Yes, and I know someone sent him a bomb in the mail the other day, too. Can you imagine such a thing? So much for his efforts at reform!”

Sarah decided to take another tack. “In any case, the detective who is working on Alicia’s case is quite… respectable, I’m sure,” she tried lamely, trying not to choke on all the lies. Roosevelt’s reforms hadn’t changed very much about the department yet, except to make people angry at not being able to go to a saloon on Sunday, and even worse was knowing Malloy wouldn’t exactly be flattered by her description of him. “And I just want to know for my own satisfaction who killed Alicia. I can’t stand the thought of the person who snuffed out her life walking around a free man while she lies cold in the ground.”

The thought seemed to disturb her mother as well, although it could simply have been the ugliness of the image that upset her. Whatever it was, it provided the incentive Sarah needed.

“As I said, I hardly credit this story about Alicia, but if you think it might help…”

“I’m sure anything would help,” Sarah said.

Her mother frowned again, uncertain this time. “There was a rumor-and mind you, it was only a rumor; I never heard it from anyone who actually knew it to be true-that Cornelius was trying to arrange a marriage for Alicia.”

“Whom did they want her to marry?” Sarah asked, trying not to sound too eager.

“That’s the strange part. You see, Alicia was quite pretty and would have had many suitors as soon as she was out. There would be no reason to arrange something ahead of time, as one would with a daughter less… desirable.”

She didn’t have to explain to Sarah, who had been quite eligible herself at one time, although she had chosen another destiny. Sarah nodded encouragingly.

“Which was why no one could believe that Cornelius would waste such a prize on… on Sylvester Mattingly.”

8

Now IT WAS SARAH’S TURN TO BE STUNNED. SYLVESTER Mattingly! A vision of the man she had seen on the VanDamm’s doorstep such a short time ago flickered before her mind’s eye. Then she tried to picture that elderly gentleman with dewy, young Alicia VanDamm, but even her usually vivid imagination rebelled at such a blasphemy.

“Good heavens,” she murmured.

“Exactly,” her mother said. “I take it you are acquainted with Mr. Mattingly.”

“I’ve… seen him.”

“He’s old enough to be Alicia’s grandfather,” her mother said, confirming Sarah’s impression. “No one could believe her family was seriously considering a marriage between them, which is why no one did believe it. Someone must have started the rumor as some sort of joke. At least that’s what we decided. And when there was no engagement announced, we were sure of it.”

Sarah’s mind was reeling. She could hardly think what to ask next. “Was there…? Did anyone know Alicia had disappeared?”

“I hadn’t heard anything, and I doubt anyone else had, either. She wasn’t out yet, so she would hardly be missed from society. Many families send their young daughters away for months at a time, to school and such. No one would even notice her absence. Oh, Sarah, this business with Alicia is all so horrible,” she said, taking Sarah’s hand in hers. “But I don’t care how awful the tragedy was if it brought you back to us. Does that make me evil?”

Sarah smiled and squeezed her mother’s hand. “I don’t think so. Bringing us back together again might be the one good thing to come from Alicia’s death.”

Her mother stared at her for a long moment, giving Sarah the opportunity to notice subtle changes that she’d been too preoccupied to observe before. Her mother had always been plump, as women of her class were expected to be, but she seemed thinner now, as if time had chiseled off the outer layer of softness. Her eyes were still blue but not as bright as Sarah remembered, and the gold of her hair was now mixed with a generous amount of silver.