Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue (31 page)

“I never said any such thing!” she said to Felix, whose opinion she seemed to consider most important. “You must believe me. I couldn't possibly love someone like that!”

Eddie cried out in anguish, and before Felix could guess his intent, he grabbed the empty glass from the table and slammed it into Una's face.

Felix and Gino lunged to stop him, but he'd already hit her again by the time they dragged him off her. Gino grabbed Eddie's hand to get the glass away from him, but it had shattered, and the pieces fell onto the floor. His hand was covered with blood, but before Felix could see where he'd been cut, Una began to scream.

She held both hands to her face as blood poured out between her fingers.

“I've got him,” Gino said, so Felix went to where she had collapsed back onto the sofa.

“Dear heaven, what happened?” someone cried.

Felix looked up to see Hattie and another woman had run into the room and were staring in horror at the blood and the sight of Gino still struggling with Eddie.

“Do you know where to find a doctor?” Felix asked.

“And get a policeman if you see one,” added Gino.

Hattie nodded and ran out again.

“I'll get some towels,” the other woman said. Felix recalled vaguely that she was the cook.

Una was still screaming and holding her face. Felix pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and said, “Here, put this on it.”

She instantly stopped screaming and met his gaze with the eye she didn't have covered. “How bad it is?”

“Let me see.”

Slowly, she lowered her bloody hands to reveal a terrible gash from her temple nearly to her lips. His stomach lurched, and she must have seen his horrified reaction on his face because she began to scream again. He placed the handkerchief over the wound as gently as he could, but it was almost instantly soaked with blood.

Fortunately, the cook quickly returned with an armload of towels, and she took over, laying Una down on the sofa and tending to the wound as best she could while calming the injured woman.

Felix turned his attention to Gino and Eddie, and found Gino had everything under control. Eddie had ceased struggling, and Gino had hauled him up from the floor to sit in one of the chairs. The boy had begun to weep as the truth
of his situation began to sink in. Gino was wrapping his own handkerchief around Eddie's bleeding hand.

Felix stood helpless for a while, watching the others, until he heard someone shouting in the hallway. A police officer had wandered in the open front door.

“Has there been another murder?” he asked with a puzzled
frown.

E
lizabeth had wept when Frank and Sarah Malloy first came in the front door. She couldn't believe how happy she was to see them. Or how happy they looked. Part of it was being glad to see Brian and Catherine, she knew, but it was more than that. They were happy with each other in a way she'd never expected to see again. Between that and the approach of Christmas, the joy in their house was almost unbearable.

For this reason, no one spoke a word about the Pollock case to them for several days, until they'd run out of stories about their travels in France and Italy. But then Frank and Sarah began to notice that Felix and Elizabeth had developed a very close relationship with Gino and Maeve and that nothing was quite the same as when they'd left. Elizabeth could see it in their eyes, the way they watched everyone and then exchanged knowing looks.

Finally, on the night before Christmas Eve, after they'd
tucked the children into bed and finished decorating the Christmas tree in preparation for surprising the children tomorrow and had plugged in the electric lights and were sitting marveling at this wonderful new invention, Frank Malloy finally said, “Now tell me what happened to all of you while we were gone.”

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth said with as much innocence as she could muster.

“I think you know what I mean. Gino obviously isn't working for the police department or anybody else anymore. He spends too much time here. And all of you keep smiling at each other like you know a secret that you can't wait to tell.” He glanced at Sarah, who nodded in a way that told Elizabeth they'd discussed this already. “So what have you been up to?”

Elizabeth glanced at the others, wondering which of them should start the tale. Felix chose himself.

“Well, Frank, I've been meaning to offer you a business opportunity.”

“A business opportunity?”

“Yes,” he said. “You see, while you were gone, we've started a private detective agency. We have successfully completed our first case, and we're willing to bring you in as a partner if you're interested.”

The expression on Malloy's face was priceless, and everyone burst out laughing. Then they started telling their story. Elizabeth and Felix and Gino and Maeve took turns telling their parts in the tale, often interrupting or talking over one another in the process. Even Frank's mother chimed in once or twice with her opinions. Frank and Sarah would stop them occasionally to ask a question, but for the most part they listened in fascination.

When they were finally finished, Sarah said, “I have to feel a bit sorry for Una. She must have been truly terrified of Pollock. It's no wonder she did such a desperate thing to escape him.”

“She shouldn't have involved poor Eddie, though,” Elizabeth said. She'd thought a lot about Una's plight in the past few days. “She really was planning to tell the police he killed Pollock and take all the money—which she was going to steal from those people the same way Pollock did—and go off and live a happy life while Eddie went to prison or worse.”

“But if Pollock would have really killed her . . . ,” Sarah said, shaking her head. “Did they find his first wife?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “She was buried in the cellar just like he'd told her. At least Cecelia's family was finally able to mourn her and lay her to rest.”

“So Una was right to be scared of him, at least,” Sarah said, “although she had no right to ruin that poor boy's life to save her own.”

“What's going to happen to Eddie now?” Frank asked.

“He killed two men,” Gino reminded them. “He might've claimed he was saving Una's life when he killed Pollock, but he killed Truett for no reason at all.”

“Will he go on trial?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, unless his attorney decides he'd be better off to just plead guilty.”

“How can he afford to hire an attorney?” Elizabeth asked.

“The Legal Aid Society provided one for him for free,” Gino said.

“I had no idea. You mean there are attorneys who will work for free?” she asked.

“Occasionally,” Frank said with a small smile. “Is Eddie going to try to blame Una for convincing him to kill Pollock?”

Gino shrugged. “His lawyer doesn't think that's a good idea. Una claims Eddie made the whole thing up and that robbing her and Truett was his idea, too, and the lawyer thinks a jury of white men would believe her instead of him.
Besides, Eddie cut her face pretty badly, and when they see her scar, she'll get a lot of sympathy.”

“How bad is it?” Sarah asked.

“It must be awful,” Maeve said. “I went to see Mrs. O'Neill, and she could hardly talk about it without crying. Not only does Una have a scar, but the whole side of her face droops down.”

“For Una, that's a horrible punishment,” Elizabeth said.

“Yes, Eddie got his revenge,” Maeve said.

“Where is Una now?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, she lives with Mrs. O'Neill,” Maeve said. “I told her once that she could sell the house and the furniture so she could have a little money of her own, but it turns out the house was just rented. She wouldn't even come out of the bedroom when I was there. She still thinks we stole her money.”

“It wasn't her money,” Felix said. “And it wasn't Pollock's either.”

“Did the police ever ask you about it?” Frank asked. “I'm sure Eddie must have mentioned the missing money when he told his story.”

“The police wouldn't dream of asking Felix Decker if he stole Pollock's money,” Gino reported with a grin. “They did ask
me
, though, and I told them I never saw any money at Pollock's place, which was true. I left them with the impression that Pollock had lied to his wife about having a lot of money.”

“And now it's all back where it belongs,” Felix said. “None of the investors want anyone to know they were defrauded, naturally, and they're not connected to the murders in any way, so there's no reason to reveal their identities.”

“But one good thing came out of all of it,” Mrs. Malloy said. “We got a maid and a cook.”

Sarah gaped at her. “Are you telling me our new servants worked for Pollock?”

“Yes, and they were very relieved to find new positions so
quickly,” Elizabeth said, proud of the way they had solved both Sarah's need for servants and the servants' need for work. “Maeve was afraid Mrs. Malloy wouldn't want someone to take over the cooking, but—”

“—but Maeve was wrong,” Mrs. Malloy said, making everyone laugh. “I like being able to sit down and put my feet up when I bring Brian home from school instead of having to cook supper.”

“So what do you think about my business proposition, Frank?” Felix asked.

Frank leaned back in his chair. “Tell me again how much money you made from this case.”

Felix didn't bat an eye. “We'll be more careful in the future to take clients who can actually pay.”

Frank gave Gino a considering look. “And I suppose you're willing to work for this detective agency.”

“I already do,” Gino told him cheerfully. “But I would like to start getting paid for it.”

Frank turned to Maeve. “And what about you? Do we need to hire a new nursemaid for Catherine?”

Elizabeth knew Maeve had given this matter a lot of thought, too, and she was glad to hear her reply. “No, at least not yet. I can't bear to leave Catherine now. She'd be so sad. But I'll help out when you need me.”

Then Frank looked at Elizabeth and before she could say a word, he said, “I'm not hiring you no matter what, because your husband would kill me.”

Elizabeth smiled serenely. She didn't need to be “hired” to do detective work.

“So we're starting a detective agency?” Sarah asked.

“I suppose we are,” Frank said. “Merry Christmas,
everyone.”

I
hope you enjoyed this Gaslight Mystery “extra” story. My publisher asked me to do a Christmas story featuring some of the secondary characters from the series; fans have been nagging me to get Gino and Maeve together, and Frank and Sarah were away on their honeymoon, so this seemed like perfect timing. Don't worry, Frank and Sarah are back and better than ever, and they will be leading future investigations as before, only as part of Frank's new “private inquiries” business.

I had fun investigating Christmas traditions in America during this time period. To my surprise, I learned that Christmas wasn't celebrated much at all in America until around the time of the Civil War. The first Christmas tree lot in New York City was set up in 1851. Christmas tree lights first appeared in 1882, but they were too costly for most Americans, who used candles instead. At the turn of the nineteenth
century, only about one in five Americans had a Christmas tree. The first department store Santa appeared in 1890 and would wander around the store, greeting children.

I mention the Legal Aid Society, which was established in New York in 1890 to provide legal representation to indigent defendants. Attorneys had been providing pro bono representation for a long time, and this agency merely formalized that process.

Please let me know how you liked this book by contacting me through my website victoriathompson.com or “like” me on Facebook, facebook.com/Victoria.Thompson.Author, or follow me on Twitter @gaslightvt. I'll send you a reminder whenever I have a new book
out.

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