out to tell Maeve and Catherine she was home. As always, Catherine came running to meet her, emerging from the kitchen and racing through the front room, which served as Sarah’s office, and straight into her arms. Sarah hugged her tightly, inhaling her sweet scent and silently vowing never to let anything bad happen to this precious little girl.
When Catherine had given and received the proper number of hugs and kisses, she leaned away so she could see Sarah’s face and said, “We have company.”
“We do?” Sarah asked, playing along. “Is Mrs. Ellsworth here?” Sarah’s elderly neighbor spent most of her free time with the girls.
Catherine shook her head, smiling smugly. “Guess again.”
Sarah scrunched up her face, pretending to think very hard. “Mrs. Decker?” she asked. Sarah’s mother also enjoyed visiting the girls.
Catherine shook her head vigorously, grinning broadly now.
“Oh, dear, I don’t know,” Sarah said. “Can you give me a hint?”
Catherine pursed her lips as she considered. After a moment, she said, “He’s mad at you.”
“He’s
Sarah looked up to see Frank Malloy standing in the kitchen doorway. He obviously knew what she’d been up to this morning, although how he could have heard about it already, she had no idea. He must be ready to throttle her, but even still, she found herself embarrassingly happy to see him.
“Malloy,” she said by way of greeting.
He didn’t return her smile. He really was angry.
Maeve was hovering behind him, plainly at a loss as to how to act. “Girls, could you go upstairs while Mr. Malloy and I talk?”
“I told him he shouldn’t be mad at you,” Catherine informed her importantly.
“Then I’m sure he won’t be for very long,” Sarah said, setting the girl down on her feet.
Maeve came over and took her hand. “Come on, we’ll play with your dollhouse.”
They started for the stairs, but Catherine stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “You’ll call us when he’s not mad anymore?”
“Oh, yes,” Sarah promised, not daring to look at Malloy for confirmation.
She waited until the girls were out of sight, then took her time removing her hat and gloves. When she looked up again, he hadn’t moved, and he was still glaring at her. She tried another smile. “At least no one’s dead,” she pointed out.
“Not yet,” he replied grimly.
5
“DID THE GIRLS FEED YOU?” SHE ASKED, WALKING TOWARD him.
“They made me a sandwich.”
“Is there anything left? I’m starving.”
He stood aside and let her precede him into the kitchen. She saw the loaf of bread still on the cutting board. She sliced herself two pieces and found the cheese in the icebox and cut some. Malloy had found a cup and poured her some coffee from the pot on the stove and refilled his own cup. He waited until she was seated and halfway through her sandwich before he started in on her.
“I warned you not to get involved with that madam.”
Sarah sighed with resignation. “I told you, I couldn’t refuse to help that girl. Besides, all I did was take the baby, and the madam had already given me her permission to do that.”
“You also made sure the bouncer wasn’t there when those rich do-gooders got there to take the girl away.”
Sarah tried not to show him how surprised she was. “How did you know that?”
“Mrs. Walker told me.”
Sarah gaped at him, giving up all semblance of dignity. “When did you see Mrs. Walker?”
“When she came to Police Headquarters to complain to the chief of detectives that someone had kidnapped one of her girls.”
“Oh, dear!”
“Yes, oh, dear. She made sure to complain about you by name, so of course O’Brien sent for me right off.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He gave her a look that said she shouldn’t lie to him, so she took another bite of her sandwich.
“She told me what happened. Whose idea was it to get the bouncer away?”
“Theirs,” Sarah said when she’d swallowed. “Mrs. Van Orner and her friends at Rahab’s Daughters.”
“Whose daughters?”
“Rahab’s. You remember the Bible story about Joshua and Jericho and how they sent in the spies and she was a harlot and—”
Malloy was waving his hand. “Never mind. So you went to this Mrs. Van-what’s-her-name—”
“Van Orner.”
“Van Orner,” he repeated patiently. “And she and her friends came up with this plan?”
“Yes, they told me exactly what to do. They knew Mrs. Walker would have a man there to keep order when necessary, and if they could just get him away from the house, they thought they could get Amy out without too much trouble.”
“Mrs. Walker has accused you of kidnapping one of her girls.”
“I wasn’t even there.”
“You organized it.”
“No, I didn’t. I told Mrs. Van Orner that a young woman needed help, and she did the rest. All I did was take the baby, and Mrs. Walker had told me I could.”
Malloy looked around meaningfully. “If you took the baby, where is it?”
“He’s with his mother.”
“And where is that?”
Sarah opened her mouth to reply and caught herself just in time. “Why do you want to know?”
Malloy sighed. “Because the chief of detectives has ordered me to find her and take her back to Mrs. Walker.”
“You can’t be serious!” Sarah cried, nearly choking on the last bite of her sandwich.
“I’m perfectly serious. The girl is Mrs. Walker’s property, and she wants her back.”
“The girl isn’t anyone’s property,” Sarah insisted. “We abolished slavery in the United States thirty years ago!”
“That’s the rumor,” Malloy said blandly.
“And I can’t believe the police are helping a madam force a young woman back into prostitution!”
“Mrs. Walker pays a lot of money to make sure the police do whatever she wants, and they usually oblige her.”
“Well, I have no intention of telling you where she is.”
“I know you don’t.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” he said with some exasperation.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because if I didn’t come and ask you, I’d lose my job. I’ve got a mother and a son and a very expensive school to support, if you’ll recall, so I need my job.”
Malloy’s son Brian was deaf and attended a special school. Sarah tried not to feel guilty. “I don’t want you to lose your job, but I can’t let you take Amy back to that place.”
“Where is she now?” Malloy held up his hand when she would have protested. “You don’t have to tell me the address. I just need to know if she’s someplace safe. Good God, she’s not here, is she?” He looked around in
