something. Then she went in the next morning and found her dead. She’d be pretty upset.”
“It’s possible, I guess. I’d hate to think someone so young could do such a thing, though.”
“You’d be surprised what kids can do,” Malloy said.
“Sometimes they’re worse than adults because they aren’t smart enough yet to even think about the consequences of the things they do.”
Sarah shuddered at the thought.
“So we’ve got Mama Ruocco, Maria and Joe in favor of keeping the baby. Valentina is very much against it.”
“I don’t know how Antonio feels,” Sarah said. “I haven’t heard him say anything on the subject.”
“He wanted to give the baby to Mrs. O’Hara last night when the mob was trying to break down their front door.”
“That seems logical,” Sarah mused. “He wouldn’t feel any connection to the baby, and he wouldn’t be overly concerned about Maria’s happiness. Lorenzo was, though,”
she remembered.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that when Ugo wanted Maria to give up the baby, he stood up for her.”
“When did this happen?” he asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.
She sighed in resignation. “Yesterday. Ugo came to the restaurant in the afternoon. I’m sure he thought all he had to do was tell them to give the baby to Mrs. O’Hara and they’d obey. Maria refused him to his face, though.”
“And Lorenzo defended her?”
“Yes, he and Joe and Mrs. Ruocco, all of them. Lorenzo took the lead, though. He actually shamed Joe into joining him.”
Malloy took a long swig of the cooled coffee and set the cup down with a clunk. “If they didn’t listen to Ugo, they probably won’t listen to anybody else, either.”
“Listen to them about what?”
Malloy gave her a long, level look, as if judging her in some way.
“Malloy, what are you talking about?” she prodded, letting her annoyance show.
“I’m talking about getting them to give the baby to Mrs.
O’Hara to make peace.”
“Mrs. O’Hara can’t take care of an infant,” she protested.
“She couldn’t even support herself and Nainsi.”
“Tammany is going to give her a pension so she can,” he reported.
“Tammany Hall? What do they have to do with this?”
“It’s an Irish baby. They say it was kidnapped by Italians who killed its mother.”
“Nobody kidnapped him!”
“Somebody killed his mother, though.”
“Maria certainly didn’t!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!”
“Who did, then?”
“How should I know?”
Malloy scowled at her. “Then why are you so sure it wasn’t Maria? It could’ve been her just as easy as anyone else.”
Now Sarah rubbed her eyes. “This is crazy, Malloy. First Valentina and now Maria. Next you’ll be accusing the baby!”
“He didn’t have a motive,” Malloy pointed out dryly.
“Neither did anybody else,” she snapped back. “Not enough of one to kill her, at any rate. Antonio was the only one who had a reason to be angry enough. She’d made a fool of him and ruined his life.”
“He was too drunk,” Malloy said.
“How do you know that?”
“Don’t you remember how hungover he and Joe were that morning? Besides, I questioned them both.”
“Then tell me everything you found out. Let’s compare notes and see what we know about the night Nainsi was killed. Maybe we’re missing something.”
Frank glared at her, but after a few seconds, he gave in.
“We both know what happened up until you left that night.”
“That’s right. Maria was with Nainsi, helping her with the baby.”
“According to the ones I questioned, Maria went downstairs with everybody else to help serve dinner to the customers that night. Nainsi was fine then. After the crowd left, Joe and Antonio went to see Ugo, while the rest of the family cleaned up. Then the family went up to the second floor. There’s a parlor there, where they usually sit.”
“Did someone check on Nainsi after they came upstairs?”
Sarah asked.
“Maria said Mrs. Ruocco wouldn’t let them. Valentina had taken some supper up to her earlier, but no one saw her again until Maria went up to bed.”
“But Maria saw her then?”
“She said she looked in and saw the baby was sleeping in his cradle. The room was dark, and she thought Nainsi was asleep, too, so she didn’t say anything to her.”
“Then she could have been dead already,” Sarah said.
“Not according to Maria. She said that when Joe came in later, after she’d gone to sleep, he made some noise and woke her and Nainsi up. Nainsi called out for him to be quiet.”
“That means she was still alive when Joe and Antonio came home. Do we know what time it was?”
“No one paid any attention.”
“Of course they didn’t,” Sarah sighed. “But now we know everyone was at home when she died. What else do we know about Joe and Antonio? You said they went to see Ugo. Do you know why?”
“Joe said he and Antonio went to tell Ugo what had happened and ask him how they could keep the baby for Maria.”
“That doesn’t sound right!” Sarah exclaimed.
“I know. I think Joe’s lying about that. Probably, they went to ask Ugo how to get rid of Nainsi and her baby, but he didn’t want to say that to a cop.”
“We’ll probably never find out for sure what they talked about. Ugo certainly isn’t going to tell you that.”
“No, he won’t. None of them will. They do admit that Antonio drank a lot that night and passed out when he got home. He says he slept on the sofa in the second floor parlor, so he wasn’t anywhere near Nainsi. Maria claims Joe got into bed after Nainsi called out for him to be quiet, and nei-ther of them got up again.”
“Then that’s it. Don’t you see? Joe and Antonio went to Ugo to ask him to get rid of her, and he sent someone over to kill her. You said yourself how easy it would be to sneak up the back staircase.”
“It’s a good theory,” Frank agreed. “The problem is proving it. Ugo isn’t going to tell us who he sent over, and nobody is going to confess. Meanwhile, the Irish will continue thinking the Ruoccos killed the girl and kidnapped her baby, and they’ll keep going down to Little Italy and causing trouble until they get the baby back.”
“That’s ridiculous! They’ll get tired or forget all about it.”
“Not if Tammany Hall keeps them stirred up. It’s politics, Sarah. Tammany wants to put the Italians in their place. They’re going to keep organizing riots—”
“Organizing?” Sarah cried in outrage.
“Yes, the Ward Heelers got that group together last night. And they’ll keep doing it until Roosevelt helps them get what they want.”
“Roosevelt? He’ll never go along with this.” Sarah had known him all her life, and she knew he could never be coerced.
“He can’t stand by and watch people riot in the streets.
He doesn’t have a choice, Sarah. He has to keep the peace, and the Ruoccos don’t have any right to that
