Victoria Thompson - Murder On Astor Place

Frank didn’t return the compliment, although he did hold the door open for her, if only to hurry her on her way. No one spoke until the old woman was gone.

“Mr. Malloy,” Mrs. Brandt said again, but this time she wasn’t surprised. This time she was eager, if only to learn why Frank had come barging into her office. “What is it? Have you found out something?”

“You could say that, but I doubt it’s what you think.”

Now she was intrigued. “Please, sit down,” she said, offering him the chair in which the old woman had been sitting a moment ago.

Frank didn’t much like the idea of sitting in a chair reserved for her patients, and he didn’t feel much like sitting anyway. He wouldn’t be here that long anyway.

“They’ve taken me off the case,” he announced baldly.

“What? Who did it? The VanDamms? Surely, they don’t have the authority-”

“It was probably them behind it, but the order came from the Superintendent. Directly. I’m not to do any more investigation. The VanDamms don’t care who killed their daughter, and they don’t want her memory tarnished by me finding him.”

“That’s preposterous!”

Her outrage made him realize that he’d sought her out as much to share his own fury as to inform her of the circumstances that had caused it. “I thought so, but my opinion didn’t count for much.” Frank wanted to pace, but space in the small office was at a premium. He could only manage a few steps in any direction before encountering something too substantial to push out of the way.

“But surely… I mean… Oh, dear…” she stammered, bringing Frank up short. For the first time he really looked at her. She seemed stricken.

“What is it?”

“I… I learned something about Alicia and… and Sylvester Mattingly. Did you get my note?”

“Yeah, I got it. In fact, I’m pretty sure Mattingly is why I was taken off the case. I went to see him yesterday, at his office.”

“Yesterday? That was even before I knew about him and Alicia. Why did you…? Oh, to ask him about Hamilton Fisher,” she recalled. “Why, he might have hired Fisher to find Alicia for himself and not for the family at all! What did he say when you questioned him?”

“Nothing. He’s a lawyer. They don’t tell the police anything, as a general rule, and especially not if it would hurt them. Who told you about this marriage business? Any chance it isn’t true?”

“I told you, it was a rumor, but my… my mother told me about it. She didn’t really believe it, but everyone had heard it. Everyone in her social circle, that is,” she clarified when he frowned at her.

Things were starting to fall into place. “All right, this is what happened: The girl found out her father was going to marry her off to an old geezer-somebody she hated, according to Harvey the groom, who knew her pretty well-so she runs away and hides, hoping her father will change his mind. No wonder Mattingly didn’t tell me anything. Not many men would want a story like that going around.”

“Maybe it’s even worse than that,” she said, surprising him.

“What could be worse?”

“Have you forgotten Alicia was with child? Who was the father of that child?”

Frank hadn’t forgotten. Well, maybe just for a second. “Probably the groom, Harvey. It has to be. Nobody else ever got near her.”

“What about her fiancé?”

“Mattingly?” Frank was incredulous. “Why would he…?”

“To force her to marry him,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the first time a reluctant woman has been persuaded to marry a man she wouldn’t otherwise choose. He ruins her and makes her believe no other man will ever have her. And if she conceives a child, she has no choice but to accept him.”

“But she did conceive a child,” Malloy said, forgetting in the heat of the moment to be embarrassed by the subject. “And her family knew it. If that’s what happened, why didn’t she marry Mattingly?”

“Perhaps she kept it a secret until it was too late. By the time she ran away, she was too far along to pretend the child was conceived in wedlock, so her family had sent her to the country until after it was born. They could dispose of the child and still marry her to Mattingly. She’d be even more compliant, knowing the price she’d already paid.”

“That’s crazy,” Frank protested. “Why would they be that eager for her to marry that old son of a…” He caught himself just in time, although he doubted Sarah Brandt would be too shocked to hear him swear.

“I suspect it’s some kind of a debt. A debt of honor, perhaps, that would be even more binding than a financial debt. Or it might even be some type of blackmail. If Mattingly handles Mr. VanDamm’s business affairs, he would know things that might better be kept secret. Powerful men have been using their daughters to settle business arrangements for centuries, Mr. Malloy.”

Frank pushed his hat back on his head and took a few more paces, wishing he had some room to really walk. He needed to walk to figure this out. None of it was making any sense, at least to him.

“But it’s useless to think about it now,” she said after a moment.

He looked up in surprise, pausing in mid-stride. “Why?”

She looked just as surprised. “Because you’ve been taken off the case. I guess this means that no one else will be investigating it, either.”

“No one in the department,” he said, watching her closely to see if she would get the implication.

Another woman would have looked away, but Sarah Brandt met his gaze steadily, her blue-gray eyes dark with questions. She did not disappoint him. “Who else would be investigating it, then?”

“Maybe somebody who has a personal interest in finding Alicia VanDamm’s killer. Somebody who wants to see justice done and who maybe wants a little revenge, too. Somebody who knew her when she was a kid.”

Her eyes grew wide with surprise. “I’m not a detective!”

Frank couldn’t hide his disgust. “You’ve been working as hard on this case as I have,” he reminded her. “Finding out a lot of information, too.” He was amazed to realize that admitting this caused him no discomfort at all.

And she wasn’t as difficult to convince as he had thought. In fact, she seemed pleased. “Do you really think…? I mean, what could I do?”

That was the question, of course. Frank scratched his head, then settled his hat more firmly. “You could keep asking questions, just like you have been. You could go back to the VanDamms and find out what they’re saying. Tell them how distressed you are that the police aren’t looking for Alicia’s killer anymore. You could even go to some of the abortionists and see if they’ll tell you anything they wouldn’t tell me.”

She was staring at him now. Not merely listening intently to what he was saying but openly staring, as if she’d suddenly noticed something about him she’d never seen before. Somehow resisting the urge to make sure he was all buttoned up properly, he glared at her. “What’s the matter?”

She smiled like a cat with its head in the cream pitcher, setting Frank’s teeth on edge. “I just realized that you must want to see Alicia’s murder solved as much as I do.”

“Is that so hard to believe?” Frank hated the tone of defensiveness he heard in his own voice.

“I already told you, I know how the police work, Mr. Malloy. They aren’t interested in solving crimes unless there’s something in it for them. I’m not accusing you of anything,” she said quickly, when he would have protested. “I’m just stating a fact. I even understand it. Police officers aren’t paid very handsomely, so naturally, ambitious men will always be eager to improve their lot. Didn’t you say something about making Captain?”