Murder on Sisters' Row

alarm.

“No, of course not! I wouldn’t put Catherine and Maeve in jeopardy.”

“Thank God you thought of that. So where is she?”

“Mrs. Van Orner has a house where she takes the girls. They stay there until they can make their own way in the world.”

“If they could make their own way in the world, they wouldn’t have ended up in a brothel in the first place.”

“Mrs. Van Orner did say that many of the women end up back on the streets. It’s very difficult for them to find honest work.”

“Honest work that will keep them from starving.”

They both knew how little women got paid in factories and sweatshops.

“Yes, a woman needs a husband to support her, but as Mrs. Van Orner pointed out, few men are willing to marry a woman who has been a prostitute.”

“Sounds like this Mrs. Van Orner has chosen a pretty thankless job.”

“Yes, she has. I wonder why she hasn’t given it up by now. I don’t think I could do it myself.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Malloy, I know you didn’t want me to get involved, but how could I have refused to help that poor girl?”

“You didn’t have to get the baby out yourself.”

“I had to make sure he didn’t get sold or shipped out West or something.”

“No, you didn’t, but that’s an argument for another day. Today, I have to figure out what I’m going to tell O’Brien and Mrs. Walker.”

“Tell them the truth. I’m not going to betray Mrs. Van Orner.”

“Who is this Mrs. Van Orner?”

“Her husband is Gregory Van Orner. I don’t know much about them except that they’re very wealthy. I could ask my mother—”

“No!” he nearly shouted. “Don’t ask your mother anything. I don’t need her involved in this, too.”

Sarah bit back a smile. Mrs. Decker had occasionally assisted in investigations, but without her husband’s knowledge. Obviously, Malloy didn’t want to risk him ever finding out.

“Then you’ll have to be satisfied with what I know,” Sarah said. “She has an office for Rahab’s Daughters in the United Charities Building on Twenty-second Street, and she has a group of people who work with her and help her rescue prostitutes.”

“Who are these other people?”

“A Mrs. Spratt-Williams, Mr. Porter, Mr. Quimby, and a Miss Yingling, who serves as her secretary. I don’t know anything about any of them either, except that they’ve done this before.”

“They’ve broken into a brothel and kidnapped a prostitute before?” he asked in amazement.

“Yes, but not often. It’s dangerous, I’m told.”

Malloy didn’t appreciate her attempt at humor. “I’m told the same thing. If they don’t break into brothels very often, how do they do all this rescuing?”

“They find girls on the street and take them to the house I told you about, where they’ll be safe.”

Malloy sipped his coffee and considered what she had told him.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked after a moment.

“I’m going to tell O’Brien that Mrs. Van Orner is married to a rich and important man, so we can’t touch her either.”

“Either?” Sarah echoed. “Who else can’t you touch?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, O’Brien wanted me to drag you down to Headquarters to be questioned. I told him who your father is, though, and he changed his mind.”

“So he sent you here instead. I’m truly sorry, Malloy.”

“Yeah, well, so am I, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I’ll tell O’Brien what you told me about Mrs. Van Orner and her friends. If O’Brien wants to take on the Van Orner woman and her husband, he’s welcome to it.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone where that house is,” Sarah warned.

“Nobody’s going to ask you. I’ll tell them you don’t know, that you turned the baby over to Mrs. Van Orner and she took it to the mother. If anybody asks you, you should say the same thing.”

“Can this Mrs. Walker really take Amy back to her house?”

“If she can find her, she can try.” Malloy ran a hand over his face. “Please don’t have anything else to do with this, Sarah. People like Mrs. Walker are dangerous, and I can’t protect you from her, not when she’s got my boss on her payroll.”

“I understand.” Sarah reached across the table and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry you got involved in all of this.”

His gaze met hers and held for a long moment, but before either of them could say anything, the clatter of small, running feet alerted them to the fact that Catherine was about to join them. Sarah withdrew her hand just as Catherine burst into the kitchen.

“Are you still mad?” she asked Malloy.

“No,” he said, taking her up into his lap.

She smiled up at him beatifically. “I’m glad.”

LATER THAT EVENING, LONG AFTER MALLOY HAD GONE, Sarah and the girls were cleaning up the supper dishes when someone rang her bell. Maeve and Catherine went to answer it while Sarah dried her hands and removed her apron. She was already mentally taking inventory of her medical bag in preparation for going out on a delivery when she heard what sounded like a disturbance in the front room. She was already hurrying out when she heard Maeve say, “You can’t come in here!”

When Sarah reached the office, she saw that her visitors had already come in and were facing off with a defiant Maeve and a cowering Catherine, who clung to her skirts and gazed up at them in alarm.

“Mrs. Walker, what are you doing here?” Sarah demanded, quickly stepping between the woman and Maeve. She was only too aware that Jake stood behind the woman, frowning menacingly.

“I came to find Amy, and you’re the only one who knows where she is.”

“But I don’t know where she is, and I can’t help you, so I must ask you to leave.”

The woman jutted her chin out defiantly. “I ain’t going anyplace until you hear what I have to tell you.”

“Then we will leave and go straight to the police,” Sarah said, motioning for Maeve and Catherine to move in the direction of the front door, which still stood open.

“The police won’t help you none,” Mrs. Walker scoffed.

Luckily, Sarah remembered her advantage over Mrs. Walker. “If you think they’ll take your side because of the bribes you pay them, let me assure you that my father’s influence reaches all the way to the mayor and beyond. Closing down one house of ill repute in the city won’t cause much concern to anyone, unless of course you happen to be the owner.”

Jake made a threatening noise in his throat and took a step forward, but Mrs. Walker stopped him with an impatient gesture. Then she took a deep breath and lifted a hand to her head, as if she were suffering some sort of distress. “I . . . Mrs. Brandt, I didn’t come here to trade threats with you.”

“Why did you come, then?”

“To . . . I wanted to talk to you . . . about Amy.”

“There’s nothing you can tell me about her that I don’t already know.”

“That isn’t true. I think if you know the whole story, you’ll change your mind about helping her.”

“I doubt that.”

Mrs. Walker lifted her chin again. Her eyes were like chips of flint. “Then you shouldn’t be afraid to hear me out.”

“And if I refuse, will you have your man here force me to listen?” She gave Jake a meaningful glare that he