The Edge of Dreams (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #14)

“Thank God,” he said again, and his voice cracked this time. “What a terrible business. I came past the site of the accident. When I saw that twisted metal I found it hard to believe that you had survived. What on earth went wrong?”


“I don’t know,” I said. “It was a Ninth Avenue train and it was traveling quite fast and then suddenly it was going around the curve that the Sixth Avenue line takes. Someone must have failed to switch the points back after a Sixth Avenue train went through right before us.”

“There will be hell to pay when we find out who is responsible,” he said. “And it could have been much worse too. The whole train could have fallen. Which car were you in?”

“The one that was hanging in midair, suspended.”

“Oh, my darling. How terrifying that must have been.” He squeezed my hand.

“But I was so lucky, Daniel. I was about to get into the second car, the one that crashed to the street and killed the people inside. It was only because I heard someone coughing, and I didn’t want to risk Liam catching some disease, that I changed my mind at the last second. I could have been still lying in that mangled wreck.”

Daniel’s hand was warm as he continued to hold mine and a spasm of pain crossed his face. “I almost told you to take a cab when you traveled today. Then I thought that the train was just as easy, with stations near either end of the journey. Now I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Daniel, there’s nothing to forgive. How many years have we traveled on the elevated railway, and nothing bad has happened? And we’re both more or less unscathed. I’ll be as right as rain in the morning. I just need to know what to do with Liam today. I don’t like to think of him in a ward full of crying and sick children, but I know that you have an important job to do.”

“I could send a telegram to my mother to come and get him and take him back to her place,” he said. “If I send it now she could be here by this afternoon. It’s a pity she can’t stay with us yet. We don’t have room in the apartment and we don’t have a guest bedroom yet at the house.”

“I don’t think she could manage to take him alone on a train, Daniel. He’s quite a handful and awfully heavy now. Besides, I don’t want to be parted from him.”

“It would only be for one night, Molly. And if they release you in the morning, then you can also go straight up to Westchester and let my mother look after you. You’ll need to rest and recover, you know.”

I was torn between wanting to stay in New York to move back to my own house, and having someone take care of me for a few days until I was back on my feet. Then I decided that the last thing I wanted right now was to be fussed over by Daniel’s mother. I wanted to get on with my own life and be back in my own home as soon as possible.

“You could take Liam down to Sid and Gus’s,” I said, cheering up as the idea occurred to me. “I know they’d love to look after him.”

“What do they know about babies?” Daniel said testily. “They’ll probably feed him frog legs and curry, and let him smoke a hookah or play with their knife collection.”

I had to laugh at this. “Daniel, they looked after him a lot when I was in France.”

“Yes, but with you there with them, surely,” he said.

I was about to say that I’d been running around all over Paris, but then I remembered that I’d been on the trail of a murderer and had wisely kept the information about this from Daniel.

“There were times when I was out alone, and they entertained Liam,” I said cautiously.

“Yes, but keeping him entertained is not the same as knowing when to change his diaper, put him to bed. I’m sure my mother would be glad…”

I touched his hand again. “Daniel, they are expecting to see us this morning, looking forward to seeing Liam again. They’ll be wondering what’s happened to me. Liam and I can both stay with them. And I’d be happier in their house, knowing I was just across the street from my own place. Really I would.”

He frowned. “Very well, I suppose, although I still think it would make more sense to send you both up to Mother’s. I’ll take Liam down with me when I go back to Mulberry Street.”

“Thank you, Daniel.” I smiled at him and he nodded.

“Have there been any developments in your case?” I asked. “Any more notes? Another murder?”

“Not when I left,” he said. “We’re taking any extra precautions we can, because of his threat.”

“You mean ‘saving the best for last’? Is that what he said?”

Daniel nodded. “We’ve got our men guarding prominent people in the city—but it’s hopeless, really. We don’t know who might be important to a warped mind like his—maybe a member of his own family?”

“Do you have any reason to believe that any of the murder victims might have been his own family members?”

Daniel shook his head. “No, absolutely not. In each case, those closest to the murder victim couldn’t think of anybody who might have wanted to harm him or her.”