“A group who helps rescue women from the streets. And before you ask, I’ll tell you that they’ve taken Amy to a safe place. I don’t know where it is, so I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to, and I don’t.”
“Where did you take the baby? Jake went back to that mission where he’d dropped you off, but they said the baby wasn’t there.”
“He’s with Amy now. I gave him to . . . to the people who helped her.”
“Who are these people? How do you know they don’t have a brothel of their own? Maybe they rescue whores to take them to their own place!”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Not as ridiculous as you might think. A good whore can earn a lot of money.”
“The people who rescued Amy are a legitimate charity. It’s called Rahab’s Daughters.”
“Rahab,” Mrs. Walker mused. “That’s slick. Oh, don’t look so surprised. I wasn’t born in a whorehouse. I went to Sunday school in my time. Rahab the Harlot. She did all right for herself, if I remember.”
“Yes, she did, and Amy will, too, with Mrs. Van Orner’s help.”
“Whose help?” she asked sharply.
“Mrs. Van Orner. She runs Rahab’s Daughters. Maybe you’ve heard of her.”
“No, never,” Mrs. Walker said quickly, but Sarah could see she was lying.
She remembered what Amy had said about the girls in the brothel always talking about Mrs. Van Orner. Certainly, Mrs. Walker would have heard of her, too.
Mrs. Walker stood abruptly. “I should be going.”
Sarah did want her gone, but something in Mrs. Walker’s manner disturbed her. “You’ll never find Amy,” she tried. “And even if you do, she won’t go back.”
Mrs. Walker sniffed again. “Fat lot you know about whores, Mrs. Brandt. You should stick to midwiving.”
A slender figure suddenly appeared in the front doorway. “What’s going on here?” Mrs. Ellsworth demanded, striding determinedly into the room. “Are you all right, Mrs. Brandt?”
“Of course she’s all right,” Mrs. Walker said haughtily. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
Mrs. Ellsworth looked the woman up and down with exaggerated disdain. “Because there’s no telling what somebody like you might get up to.”
Mrs. Walker flushed crimson, but more from fury than embarrassment, Sarah judged. She lifted her chin and stalked out, taking care to bump into Mrs. Ellsworth, making the older woman gasp with outrage.
“Just who does she think she is?” Mrs. Ellsworth demanded, color blooming in her wrinkled cheeks.
“She thinks she’s better than we are,” Sarah said. “Where are the girls?”
“I made them stay at my house.”
“You should’ve stayed there yourself.”
“I had to make sure you didn’t need help. When Maeve told me what was going on . . .” Mrs. Ellsworth shook her head in dismay.
Sarah’s first instinct was to remind her neighbor that an elderly woman wouldn’t be of much assistance if she really had been in danger, but then she remembered at least one time when Mrs. Ellsworth’s assistance had saved her life. “I appreciate your concern, but I wasn’t in any danger.”
“Is she really a madam?” Mrs. Ellsworth asked, going to close the front door. She stopped when she saw Maeve and Catherine coming up the front steps. “I told you girls to stay put!”
“We saw the carriage pulling away, so we knew it was all right to come home,” Maeve explained. “What did that awful woman say, Mrs. Brandt?”
“Nothing important,” Sarah said.
Catherine came running across the room and threw herself into Sarah’s arms. Sarah lifted the girl up. “There’s nothing to be frightened of, darling.”
“Is the mean lady gone?”
“Yes, and she’s not coming back.”
“I didn’t like her.”
“I didn’t like her either,” Maeve said.
“Well, if she comes back here, don’t open the door,” Mrs. Ellsworth advised.
Catherine didn’t allow Sarah out of her sight for the rest of the evening, and she begged Sarah to stay with her until she fell asleep.
When Sarah came back downstairs after putting Catherine to bed, Mrs. Ellsworth was still keeping Maeve company at the kitchen table. Sarah joined them and took this opportunity to tell them about her conversation with Mrs. Walker.
“I can’t believe that woman thought you would help her,” Mrs. Ellsworth marveled.
“She probably thought she could scare her into it,” Maeve said. “She doesn’t know you very well, Mrs. Brandt.”
“I’m just glad Amy is safe from her now.”
“What will happen to her? To Amy, I mean,” Maeve asked.
“I don’t know. She’ll have to find a way to support herself and her baby.”
“That won’t be easy,” Mrs. Ellsworth said. “What kind of a job can a girl like her do? And who will take care of the baby?”
“Mrs. Walker was right about one thing. Amy thinks her baby’s father is going to help her.”
“How do you know?” Maeve asked in surprise.
“She told me today. She has the idea that once he learns about the baby, he’ll want her back or something.”
Mrs. Ellsworth shook her head. “He doesn’t sound like that kind of man.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Sarah agreed. “But we can’t be sure Mrs. Walker was telling us the truth. And maybe Amy knows him better than she does.”
“I’d say Mrs. Walker only tells the truth when it suits her,” Maeve said. “And it might’ve suited her this time.”
“Yes, it might.”
“Are you going to tell Mr. Malloy that she came to see you tonight?” Maeve asked.
“Oh, yes, that’s a good idea,” Mrs. Ellsworth said. “He’ll make sure she never comes back here.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think he could.” Sarah told them both about her conversation with Frank Malloy earlier in the day.
“You mean the police would actually help her force a girl to go back to her brothel? Against her will?” Mrs. Ellsworth asked.
“So it appears,” Sarah said.
“If he was mad before, he’ll be even madder when he hears that woman showed up on your doorstep,” Maeve pointed out.
“I know, which is why I don’t think I’ll mention it. I doubt she’ll bother us again, at any rate. She knows I can’t help her.”
“Let’s hope,” Mrs. Ellsworth said fervently.
“I just wonder if Mrs. Van Orner and her friends will help Amy get in touch with the baby’s father,” Sarah said.
“If they don’t, will you help her?” Maeve asked.
“I think you should take Mr. Malloy’s advice and keep out of it altogether,” Mrs. Ellsworth said. “You did what she asked you to do and helped her escape from that place. No one can expect anything more.”
Sarah wondered if that were true.
THE NEXT DAY, SARAH WOULD HAVE PAID AMY ANOTHER visit, just to make sure she was doing well, but she was called out on another delivery. When she got back, late the following day, she found a note from Mrs. Van Orner thanking her for her help and telling her Amy was doing fine and Sarah need no longer concern herself. The news made Maeve and Mrs. Ellsworth very happy, and Sarah decided to put the episode out of her mind, as Malloy had begged her to do.
She thought about Amy several times during the next few days, but several more deliveries kept her too busy
