Oh Danny Boy (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #5)

“I realize that,” he said. “Molly, I haven’t been fair to you before, but this time I’ve tried to do right by you. I broke off my engagement as I promised, didn’t I?”


Until now we had been having a polite and reserved conversation. Suddenly Daniel cracked. He reached for me, grabbing at the bars that separated us. “For God’s sake, please don’t desert me, Molly. I need you. Help Jack get me out before it’s too late. Even if you don’t want me as a suitor anymore, then as a friend.”

I swallowed hard. “All right,” I said. “I’ll give it a try.”

As if on cue the door behind me opened. “Ten minutes and no more, I said,” the warder’s voice boomed out. Hands grabbed at Daniel’s shoulders. The partition started to close.

“Wait,” I called. There were so many facts I needed to know. “Just a minute. Let me talk to him.” I tried to shake myself free as I was escorted from the room. The partition slid shut and Daniel was gone.





FOUR




I was led out of The Tombs by the young constable Byrne and stood blinking in the fierce sunlight while the brick dust floated in a haze around us.

“He says you’re still his friend.” I turned to the constable. “How many friends does he still have?”

“Hard to say, miss,” he said. “The problem is that rumors are flying around. Nobody knows what to believe. There’s talk that Captain Sullivan is in the pay of a gang. They say he tipped off the gang that a police raid was coming and one of our men copped it. Our boys don’t take kindly to being betrayed by one of their own.”

I stared at him in horror. “You know very well that Daniel would never do that. He told me he’s never even accepted a bribe. This was all arranged to discredit him, Constable Byrne.”

Byrne nodded. “Quite possibly.”

“By whom? Do you have any ideas at all?”

His young, fresh face flushed red. “I’m only a constable, miss. I do my job, take my orders, and mind my own business. Captain Sullivan was good to me when I first joined the police. Set me straight on a lot of things. So I feel I owe it to him to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’d help him if I could, but I don’t see how.”

I put my hand on his arm. “Can you tell me the names of more senior officers that Daniel can trust—men who might be able to help him?”

He shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t know what goes on among the top brass, miss.”

The message was coming through loud and clear. In theory he wanted to help Daniel, but he wasn’t going to stick his neck out and lose his own job doing so. I could understand him. A New York policeman was a good, secure job for an Irish person. Tammany Hall and the police were thick as thieves. It wouldn’t pay to get on the wrong side of either, and that was just what Daniel had done, apparently.

“Can I ask you to do one thing, Constable Byrne?” I said. “Could you at least keep your ear to the ground? If you hear anything, anything at all that might help Daniel, come and tell me. Daniel gave you my address, didn’t he?”

“Yes, miss,” he said. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Then I’ll be on my way, if I’m not still under arrest.”

He grinned. “No, miss, you’re free to go.”

“Thank you.” I smiled back at him. He might turn out to be the only ally I had among the police.

“One thing, Miss Murphy,” he called after me. “How does Captain Sullivan think that you can help him? Do you have friends in high places or what?”

My smile had faded. “I’m an investigator, Constable,” I said. “He expects me to prove his innocence.”