Victoria Thompson - Murder On Waverly Place

“But you do not know it is Nicola,” Serafina said, clinging desperately to his sleeve. “You said this yourself.”

“That’s right, I don’t, but Donatelli is the one who found him, and he saw him in person. He’s the right size and hair color, and Donatelli found him not too far from Waverly Place.”

Serafina was shaking her head in silent denial.

“Why are you telling her this if you aren’t sure?” Sarah asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance at him.

He gave her an apologetic look. “We need to see if she can identify him.”

Serafina made a moaning sound.

Sarah glared at him. “But you said his face…”

“The body,” he quickly explained. “See if she can recognize the body. They were lovers,” he added. “She should be able to tell if it’s him.”

Tears were streaming down the girl’s face now, and her expression was painful to behold. “He killed him! He killed my Nicola!”

“Who did?” Malloy asked in surprise. “Who killed him?”

“The Professor. I know he did it.”

“Why would he kill Nicola?”

“For stealing the money.”

“And maybe to avenge Mrs. Gittings,” Sarah suggested. “He was the one who thought Nicola had killed her.”

“He would have had to find him first,” Malloy pointed out.

“Maybe he came back to the house looking for Serafina,” Sarah said.

“Maybe,” Malloy allowed. “Serafina, will you come with me to see if this is him?”

Serafina looked beseechingly at Sarah.

“It might not be him,” Sarah said reasonably. “You’d want to know if it isn’t him, wouldn’t you?”

“And if it is him?” she asked in a small voice.

Sarah patted her shoulder. “You’ll want to know that, too.”

The girl covered her face and wept for a few minutes before pulling herself together. When she looked back up at Sarah, her eyes were red-rimmed but determined. “I will go.” She pushed herself to her feet.

“And I will go with you,” Sarah said.

Sarah had to explain to Maeve and her mother what had happened. They both expressed their sympathy to Serafina, who somehow managed to hold herself together.

“Take my carriage,” Mrs. Decker offered, and she went out and instructed the driver.

Sarah was grateful that they didn’t have to find a cab or, even worse, take the Elevated Train, where they would be an object of curiosity, especially if the body really was Nicola and Serafina was grieving when they returned.

When they were securely inside the carriage and on their way to the morgue, Sarah knew they couldn’t just sit there in silence during the whole trip, letting Serafina’s imagination conjure visions of her beaten lover. She caught Malloy’s eye, sent him a silent message, and asked, “Did you find out anything useful today?”

He understood her instantly and played along. “Not much, except that everything Serafina told us about Sharpe and Cunningham was true.”

“I would not lie to you, Mr. Malloy,” the girl said, surprising them both. Plainly, she was willing to be distracted.

“Do you think either of them could have killed Mrs. Gittings?” Sarah asked him.

“I’m sure either one of them could have, but I’m not sure either of them did. They didn’t like her much, but from what I gathered, Cunningham didn’t know she was the one behind the phony investment scheme where he got cheated. He didn’t even know he’d gotten cheated.”

Serafina smiled grimly. “Mrs. Gittings would be happy to know that. She thought he could be cheated at least three times before he realized it.”

Sarah gasped in outrage, but Malloy chuckled his appreciation.

“She might’ve gotten him even more times than that. He’s not very bright.”

“But if he didn’t know he’d been cheated, why would he have wanted to kill Mrs. Gittings?” Sarah asked.

“Because she wouldn’t give him Serafina,” Malloy said baldly. “He wanted her, and he was angry because Mrs. Gittings wanted him to give her money. After he lost what money he had on the phony investment, he was starting to feel desperate.”

“Did you ask him about freeing his hands during the séance?” Sarah asked.

“Yes. He pretended he didn’t know the trick, but he’s not a very good liar. That still doesn’t prove he did it, though.”

“What about Mr. Sharpe?” Sarah asked with a glance at Serafina. She was staring blankly out the window now. Sarah wasn’t sure she was even listening to them anymore.

“He was just as angry at Mrs. Gittings. She wasn’t going to let him take Serafina either. She wasn’t going to lose her meal ticket.”

“Was he angry enough to kill Mrs. Gittings?”

“If he was, he didn’t let on. He’s too smart for that. So what about you? Did you find out anything from Mrs. Burke?”

“Just that she hated Mrs. Gittings, too. And she was terrified that her husband was going to find out she’d been selling her jewelry to pay for the séances.”

“We already knew that,” Malloy reminded her.

“Yes, but we didn’t know she was actually giving the jewelry to Mrs. Gittings to sell for her. She said she thought Mrs. Gittings was cheating her.”

“She probably was,” Malloy said. “Did she say anything else?”

“Not much before she fainted,” Sarah said dryly.

“She fainted?” Malloy and Serafina echoed in unison. At least Serafina was listening again.

“Yes, she did. Apparently, talking about Mrs. Gittings’s murder upsets her, although Mother thinks she might have been pretending. According to her, ladies often use a fainting spell to end an unpleasant scene.”

“Really?” Serafina asked with credible disbelief, but when Sarah looked at her, she saw a knowing gleam in her eye. That’s when she remembered how Serafina had fainted at the séance she’d attended.

“Yes, really,” Sarah confirmed with a grim smile of her own.

“Didn’t she tell you anything you didn’t know before?” Malloy prodded.

“Just that Mrs. Gittings and the Professor seemed angry with each other that day. She thought they must have had an argument.”

“Did they?” Malloy asked Serafina.

“Yes, I told you, they argued every day. He wanted to use the money from the séances to do something else, but she wanted to keep doing the séances. It was so easy, she said, and so safe.”

“Did she think what the Professor wanted to do wasn’t safe?” Sarah asked curiously.

“It was dangerous, she said. She said it many times, but he would not listen. He kept saying how much money they would have.”

“What does it matter?” Malloy asked impatiently. “The Professor wasn’t even in the room when she was killed, remember?”

“Are you absolutely sure he wasn’t?” Sarah asked, including both of them in the question.

“I did not see him,” Serafina said with a shrug.

“And neither did anybody else,” Malloy added. “I asked all of them when they saw him after the murder, and he was in the doorway, so he must have just come in.”

“When did they see him come into the room?” Serafina asked with a frown, surprising both of them with her interest.

“Nobody was really sure,” Malloy said. “They didn’t notice him until they started to leave the room. I guess he came when you called for him and was just standing there, trying to figure out what had happened while everybody else was looking at Mrs. Gittings.”

Serafina frowned, as if this information displeased her somehow.

Sarah sighed. “That’s really too bad. It would so nice if he was the killer.”

“Yes, it would,” Malloy agreed. Sarah knew he was thinking of the difficulties he would face if one of Serafina’s wealthy clients was guilty.