say this to him. Instead I went to see this woman. She told me a very different story, and I believed her.”
“So she’s still alive.”
“She was when I last saw her.”
“When was that?”
“A few days ago. Then Mr. Devries came to see me yesterday. He was going to pay me for killing this woman, but I told him I did not kill her. I told him he was a liar.”
Frank couldn’t help grinning at the image of Angotti calling Devries a liar. “I guess he was mad.”
“Yes, but he could do nothing about it.” Angotti gestured to indicate the men standing around the room.
“And a few hours later, he was dead.” Then Frank had an unsettling thought. “Could he have gone to see this woman himself?”
Angotti’s eyes widened. “You think he may have killed her himself?”
“And maybe she was the one who stabbed him. Do you remember what time he left here?”
Angotti looked over at his men, who had a brief discussion in Italian. “Around noon.”
Frank wasn’t sure exactly when Devries had arrived at his club, but if he’d had the time…“Can you tell me where to find this woman?”
Angotti gestured to one of his men who gave Frank an address not too far from where Norah English lived.
“What is this woman’s name?” Frank asked.
“Mrs. Richmond. I am sure you will enjoy her story as much as I did.”
FRANK DIDN’T REALLY EXPECT FELIX DECKER TO BE AT home yet. In fact, he was hoping he wasn’t. He really wanted to talk to Mrs. Decker. She apparently wanted to speak to him, too, because she only kept him waiting a few minutes in the small receiving room before the maid escorted him up to the parlor. Not the front parlor, either, but the one the family used for every day. Mrs. Decker no longer considered him company.
“Mr. Malloy, how delightful to see you,” she said, giving him her hand when the maid had shown him in. “I’m sorry my husband isn’t home yet, but I expect him within the hour if you’d like to wait.”
“Thank you, I would.”
She smiled conspiratorially. “Good. I ordered coffee, unless you’d like something stronger.”
“Coffee is fine.”
“Please, have a seat and tell me what you’ve been up to. I went to Sarah’s house earlier today, but she’s out on a delivery.”
She sat with him on one of the comfortable sofas, her lovely face alight with interest. Frank couldn’t help noticing how much she and Sarah looked alike, except for the spark of spirit that made Sarah different from all the other rich women he’d met. He thought maybe living a lifetime in luxury killed that spirit, and Sarah had escaped just in time. Then again, maybe she was the only one who had it, and that’s why she had escaped in the first place.
“I’ve been learning some things about Mr. Devries that aren’t very nice.”
“Oh, dear. But I guess that isn’t surprising. Nice people seldom get murdered, do they?”
Frank couldn’t help grinning. “No, they don’t. I haven’t had a chance to find out how your visit with Mrs. Devries went.”
“I’m afraid we didn’t learn very much that will be of use to you.”
“Did you learn anything at all?”
Mrs. Decker frowned. “Let me see. We learned that Garnet and Paul have been married for two years but have no children. This is a source of disappointment for Mrs. Devries, who wants to see the family name continue. Oh, and Garnet expressed a desire to get to know Sarah better. She was very interested in Sarah’s work.”
“Her work as a midwife?”
“Yes, she may hope Sarah can help her have a child, although Sarah insists she can’t.”
“Did she tell Garnet Devries that?”
“No. We didn’t actually discuss the subject, you understand. This is all conjecture, the part about her wanting Sarah’s help, I mean. Sarah disagrees.”
“What does she think Garnet wants?”
“She doesn’t know, but Maeve told me Garnet visited her earlier today, just before Sarah went out to the delivery, so perhaps we’ll find out when she returns. Oh, and we learned Garnet’s family is from the south, Virginia I believe she said. Her father moved the family here because of his business and tried to join the Knickerbocker Club, which is how he met Chilton. I gather Chilton met the rest of the family and decided Garnet would be a suitable wife for Paul.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“What? Trying to join the Knickerbocker?”
“No, parents choosing a mate for their child. I thought only kings and queens did that.”
Mrs. Decker smiled. “I never thought of it that way, although…Well, you probably remember poor Consuelo Vanderbilt’s marriage to an English duke last year. That was certainly an arranged marriage. Consuelo was only eighteen and most likely had no desire to marry a man a foot shorter than she was who lived all the way across the ocean from her friends and family, but Alva—Alva is her mother, you know—insisted she was doing it so Consuelo would have an opportunity to live a much more interesting life.”
“How would her life be more interesting?”
Mrs. Decker shrugged delicately. “I’m not sure, having never actually met a duchess, you understand, but according to Alva, upper-class women in Europe have many more interests than American women. They are even active in politics. Maybe …”
“Maybe what?”
“This will sound silly, but maybe I should have married Sarah off to a duke.”
Frank could see her point. If Sarah had found her prospects as the wife of a rich man the least bit interesting, she probably wouldn’t have married a poor doctor and become a midwife. “And she wouldn’t be an embarrassment to you now.”
“Oh, Mr. Malloy, you mustn’t think I’m ashamed of her,” she said, the color rising in her fair cheeks. “I’m very proud of her, in fact. I just…I worry about her, you know, traveling around the city at all hours. She does without so many things, too.”
“I don’t think she minds.”
“Of course she doesn’t, but…You must think me very shallow.”
“No, not at all.” Once he had. Now he knew her better.
“I didn’t really mean that, about marrying her to a duke. But sometimes I think how different things might have been if she could have been content with her lot in life. But you didn’t come here to listen to my regrets. To answer your question, no, we don’t typically arrange marriages, at least not in America, but parents do take a hand in these matters.”
“How?”
“By making sure our children socialize with only the right people. By pointing out a certain young man’s good qualities. By letting the child know how happy such a union would make us. Parents can be very influential.”
“So you think that’s what happened with Paul and Garnet Devries?”
She had to consider this. “I suppose at first I just assumed that when Chilton met Garnet, he thought Paul would like her, too, so he brought them together. Then the two young people fell in love on their own, as attractive young people often do.”
“Do you still think that?”
“Now that you’ve asked me about it, no, I don’t. The way Garnet told it, I got the idea she and Paul—or at least
“I have, and he’s sure not doing much to help.”
Before she could reply, the coffee arrived. Mrs. Decker served them both, and then said, “I know you’ve been investigating, too. What have you discovered?”
Which reminded Frank of why he’d come here in the first place. “Do you know a woman named Mrs.
