Death of Riley (11 page)

“Clean up the place? So it's a Mrs. Mop service you're running now, is it? Who asked you to clean up the place, I'd like to know?”

“The police, if you must know.” I started brushing myself down. A lot of dirt had accumulated on that floor in the past couple of days. Also brushing down my skirt meant that I didn't have to look at him.

“And why would they have asked you in particular?” He came to stand very close to me, his presence still unnerving. But I wasn't going to be unnerved.

“I worked for Paddy,” I said. “I kept the place clean for him. I was just doing my job.”

Daniel looked amused. “You worked for Paddy?” “I did indeed. I was fast becoming his right-hand woman.”

“Now I've heard everything. Paddy hated women. He wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole.”

“Ah, well, he didn't actually touch me,” I said, “but he liked me well enough. I was helping him around the office. He was showing me the tricks of the trade.”

I could see this sinking in. “So it was Paddy who taught you how to throw that cape over someone's head?”

“No, I invented that for myself when I couldn't find anything I could use as a weapon.”

“It was quite effective.”

“Not effective enough. You still got me.”

Daniel stared at me long and hard, then shook his head. “So you were serious when you said you were going to be an investigator.”

“I'm always serious. And I don't toy with other people's affections either.” I had recovered my equilibrium enough to remember that I shouldn't be glad to be talking to Daniel.

“Molly, I'm really sorry,” he said. He reached out to touch my arm. I shrank away. “I wasn't trifling with your affections. Everything I felt for you—feel for you—was genuine.”

“And yet you're betrothed to another woman. So what were you waiting for, enough money to set me up in a quiet little flat somewhere as your mistress? I hear it's all the rage in polite society. But I wouldn't know. I'm only a peasant girl. Where I come from, if you dally with a woman's affections, you're expected to marry her.”

“Damn it, Molly. You know it's not like that.” He reached out to grab my arm. I neatly sidestepped away.

“What other choices are there? Unless you're about to drag me out west with the Mormons where they can have two wives, although I can't see Miss Arabella Norton in a covered wagon, somehow.”

I thought I saw the twitch of a smile on his lips. “If you'd let me try to explain.”

I brushed him away. “Either you're betrothed or you're not. It's as simple as that. And if you are betrothed to another woman, then there is no place for me in your life.” He tried to say something but I held up my hand. “If you want to explain something, you might tell me why you were creeping in here like a thief in the night, frightening me out of my wits.”

“Ah, good question/' he said.

“And the good answer is?”

He looked at my face and laughed. “All right, you've caught me. I was snooping. Paddy was doing a spot of work for me, on the quiet. I was distressed to hear he had been killed, so I thought I'd come by to take a look for myself. Wolski doesn't take kindly to interference.”

“But you're his superior officer. Why didn't you take the case yourself?”

“I'm in the middle of another investigation and I wasn't on the spot, so Wolski was assigned to this one. I can't officially step on his toes.”

“I wish you would,” I said. I pulled out the chair and was about to sit on it when I remembered the blood and hastily stood up again. “Sergeant Wolski seems to think that Paddy deserved to be killed because he worked with both the police and the gangs. He thinks it was a revenge killing.”

“He confided all this to you? You've become
his
righthand woman too?”

“I happened to be here when he arrived. I was the one who found Paddy.”

“You found him dead?”

“Dying. The killer was still here, hidden in the back room, just like I was just now.”

“Holy Mother,” Daniel muttered. “He could have killed you too.”

“Easily. I thought Paddy was asleep, you see. I heard a noise and went to investigate. He knocked me over, like you did, only a little more violently, as you can see from the bruise on my face, and made his getaway through that window.”

He reacted as if he had only just noticed the bruises. He took my chin in his hand and turned the discolored side toward him, wincing as he touched the swollen area around my lip. “I seem to make a habit of meeting you after men have beaten you up. You live a charmed life, my dear.”

I moved hastily out of reach of his touch. “I must have been a cat in a former existence,” I said breezily. “Don't they say cats have nine lives?”

“You've already used up several of yours,” he said. “Be careful.”

He was looking at me tenderly again, which I found distinctly unnerving. “Don't worry. I plan to be.” I brushed a last speck from my skirt and straightened my blouse. “So what is it you were looking for?”

“I don't know, really. I just wanted to take a look for myself, to see if Paddy had left any notes on—” He broke off.

“On what?”

“On the little matter I'd asked him to check into.”

“His cases are all in that file cabinet. The police didn't bother to try to open it.”

He looked at the open cabinet, the files on the floor and then at me. “Oh, no,” he said. “You weren't getting any stupid ideas about investigating this yourself, were you?”

“I just thought I'd see if there was anything the police had overlooked and they should know about. That's all.”

He took a step closer and loomed over me. “Stay out of this, Molly. This is not child's play. Paddy was a cunning old man who knew how to take care of himself. If someone managed to kill him—”

“Wolski thinks it was a hired assassin,” I said.

Daniel nodded. “Could be.”

I looked around the room, remembering the chaos, the file cabinet on its side. “But not a revenge killing. If you were hired to kill someone in revenge, you'd stab them and go. The killer was still here, remember. He was still looking for something.”

“And you were having your own little snoop to find out what?”

“And what if I was? Someone has to use their brains around here. That pale, arrogant Wolski wasn't making much effort to get to the truth. Couldn't you get someone else assigned to the case?”

“Ah, well, that wouldn't be easy. Take an officer off a case and you're saying essentially that he's not up to the job. One day you may need that officer to cover your back. And I don't think I could drum up much enthusiasm for a full-scale investigation anyway. Everyone at Mulberry Street HQ expected to find Paddy's body floating in the Hudson one day, given the life he led.”

“But you—you must think it's worth investigating, or you wouldn't be here.”

“As I said, Paddy was doing a little business for me. If he had managed to come up with the facts I wanted— they might be around here somewhere and I'd sure like to have them.”

“What kind of facts?”

“I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything at all. More than my job's worth. It was strictly hush-hush, between Paddy and me.” He glanced around the room.

I remembered something I had forgotten until now. “The day before he was killed he told me he'd like to speak to you.”

“And you didn't pass on the message?” he demanded angrily.

“It wasn't put like that. He just mentioned, casually, as I was going out of the door,‘Oh, and if you happen to see Captain Sullivan, you might tell him I'd like a word with him.’ Something like that. Of course, he didn't know that it wasn't likely I'd be seeing you in the future. I didn't think any more of it at the time.”

“Damn,” he muttered, then cleared his throat. “Sorry for the bad language. It just slips out occasionally. So he
had
found something.”

“He certainly had,” I said. “He spent the evening at Delmonico's, spying on a couple in a private dining room, I think. But then, on his way home he overheard something that really rattled him. He babbled on to me, which wasn't like him. Usually he wouldn't discuss his cases with me.”

“Did he say what it was that had rattled him?”

I shook my head. “I can't even remember the words he used now. I got the impression he'd seen someone he recognized, but the person hadn't recognized him because he was in one of his disguises. And the person didn't think he could be overheard. I think he said‘he.’ That's right. He said‘Him of all people.’ He said things had taken an unexpected turn and he'd need to look into it further. He sent me away. He didn't want me around.”

“He was on to something dangerous then,” Daniel said, and nodded as if confirming his own suspicions. “He wanted you to stay away and I'm telling you the same thing now. I want you to go home now and stay there. No more thoughts of snooping, or even of cleaning up until we know what we're dealing with.”

“So you will be looking into this yourself?”

“I'm going to have my own little snoop around here, ask some discreet questions in the right places, but it's still Sergeant Wolksi's investigation, and he certainly wouldn't take kindly to any interference from a woman.”

“Sergeant Wolski couldn't detect his own nose on a foggy day. He didn't even bother to search the room properly.”

“May not have been necessary. The police have feelers in a lot of places. If it was anything to do with the gangs, one of our informants will tip us off.”

“And then what will you do?”

“Probably just let it go. No, don't look like that—we probably don't have a hope in Hades of pinning it on anyone.”

“And if it wasn't a gang killing?”

“We'll look into it. In our own way. In our own time.” He grabbed me suddenly by the shoulders. “Either way you are to stay out of it. It's police business, do you hear me?”

I shook myself free from him. “You can't tell me what to do. I work here. I have every right to come and clean up this office as soon as the police have released it as a crime scene. And they took one evening to do that. They didn't even bother to pick up the papers on the floor. They are not going to take die trouble to find his killer, Daniel.”

“And neither are you!” His voice had been getting louder and angrier. “Go home, Molly. That's an order.” He grabbed my shoulders again. “My God, I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

“You don't care a damn about me!” I shouted back.

Then, without warning, he pulled me to him and kissed me hungrily. I had a moment of pure delight at the feel of his mouth crushing against mine again, until I came to my senses and wrenched myself free. “Just leave me alone, Daniel Sullivan. I can take care of myself,” I shouted, dangerously close to tears now. I picked up my skirts and ran for the door.

“Molly, please, listen to me,” he called after me.

“Thank heavens I never was your wife,” I retorted. “You'd have made an awful bossy husband.”

As I ran down the steps I was conscious of him standing at the top, watching me go. I fought to appear calm. He wasn't going to see how badly he affected me.

“And make sure you lock that door behind you when you leave,” I called up to him before I strode off down the mews.

El
even

I turned onto Fifth Avenue but I'd only gone as far as the sidewalk cafe outside the Brevoort Hotel before I stopped. I wasn't just going to go home like a good girl. I could remember most of the details of Paddy's most recent cases, but I wanted to take them all down, just in case. I decided to go back and keep watch on the mews— good experience for my professional future. When Daniel left I'd go back in. I'd be able to see which case folders he'd taken with him and which he'd left. Maybe I'd get a clue from that the way his mind was working. And as to my own safety—what safer time to be in the place than right after a policeman?

I went back cautiously and passed the alleyway, crossing into Washington Square itself. I positioned myself in the shadow of the great marble arch where I could see the entrance to the mews. I waited and waited. It was hot, and what seemed like an eternity was, on hearing a neighboring clock chime, only half an hour. Maybe I wasn't going to be any good at this job after all. I couldn't see myself standing for three days like a statue, as Paddy had done in Gramercy Park. My mother said I was born impatient, along with all my other faults.

My attention began to wander. I watched some little girls turning a jump rope and chanting as they took turns to run in and out. “She made a drip drop. Dripping in the sea. Please turn the rope for me…” It was almost the same as the nonsense rhyme we had chanted at home and I listened, entranced. Luckily I remembered my mission in time and looked back to see Daniel striding out along the north side of the square, then crossing University Place. He didn't seem to be carrying anything. I waited until he was out of sight then headed back to Paddy's. For a moment it all seemed like a great lark, until I remembered that Paddy was dead and that the man I had been spying on was the one I had loved and lost.

Daniel had, indeed, locked the door behind him. I turned my key in the lock and went back inside. From what I could see, he hadn't moved anything. The folders from the file cabinet still lay on the floor. I picked them up and placed them on the table, ready to take them home with me. Then I went through the rest of the top drawer. Farther back I found several folders stamped CASE CLOSED, EVIDENCE DELIVERED, and a date, BILL SUBMITTED, and a date, but no stamp saying
PAID IN FULL
.

So not all of these big nobs were speedy about paying their accounts, I decided. Then something else struck me. I still worked here until somebody told me I didn't. There was no reason these people should get away without paying their bills just because Paddy was dead. P. Riley, Discreet Investigations still existed. It was up to the junior partner to collect what was owed.

I spent some time in a rather fruitless attempt at cleaning Paddy's chair, then I placed a towel on it before I sat. It didn't seem right to be sitting on his bloodstains, but there was no other chair in the place. I found clean writing paper and wrote, in my best penmanship, “It has come to our attention that our business with you was concluded three months ago and that the account is outstanding. We would appreciate payment at your earliest convenience.” I signed it “M. Murphy, junior partner, P. Riley Investigations.”