The Family Way (Molly Murphy, #12)

“What’s true?”


“So you have returned and it appears I’m the last to know.” His voice was icily cold. “For the second time now I had to hear from John Wilkie that my wife had slunk back into the city and gone to see her brother behind my back. What sort of marriage is this, Molly? Are you constantly going to be sneaking around doing things you know I wouldn’t approve of?”

He was yelling now, his face red with anger. In truth he was rather frightening, but I wasn’t about to let him know I was scared.

“Do you want to hear my side of this story or have you already made up your mind to condemn me without a trial?” I shouted back.

“Your side of it? You came back home without telling me and the first thing you did was to go to your brother. I’d say that pretty much condemns you in any court of law.”

I pushed past him, making for the front door.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“Over to my friends. I’ll stay with them until you can behave like a civilized human being.”

He grabbed my arm. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“You can’t stop me!” I yelled at him. “I’m a free human being. Just because I’m your wife you do not own me. Now let go of me. If you don’t let go I’ll…”

“You’ll do what? Call the police?” He was glaring down at me until suddenly his face twitched in a smile. That was a final straw for me. I swung at him and my hand connected with his cheek in a resounding slap. I stepped back in utter horror at what I had done. He had released my hand and stood stock still.

“Daniel. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … you were laughing at me. Laughing at my helplessness. And I’ve just been through a most harrowing time. I have just watched my brother die.”

“I heard about your brother. I wish it hadn’t had to happen that way.”

“John Wilkie was tailing me,” I said. “I’d never have gone near the place if I’d known Liam was there. I’m responsible for my brother’s death, don’t you see?”

“No, Molly. He brought about his own death by becoming an enemy of the state. It was either now or later. The moment he embarked upon this venture he was a doomed man.”

“I tried to warn him,” I said. “But he wouldn’t listen.”

“So you are trying to say that you didn’t go to that place to see your brother?”

“Of course that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! But apparently you don’t trust me enough to listen to my side of the story.”

“All right. I’m sorry. I’m ready to listen.”

I turned away from him, staring out of the window at the deserted street. “I did not go to see my brother today. I had no idea he was hiding at that convent. I went there to tell one of the nuns that her sister had died at a convent in Tarrytown. And in the darkness she mistook me for my brother, thus betraying that he was hiding there.”

Daniel came up behind me. “You were delivering a message from one convent to another and just happened to bump into your brother who has been eluding the police?”

“That’s right.”

“And exactly why did this convent in Tarrytown happen to ask a complete stranger to deliver such a poignant message?”

“Because I was visiting there,” I said. “Remember I told you that I’d been given a commission to track down a missing Irish girl? You yourself gave me permission to pursue this and ask among our friends, didn’t you? Well, by chance I ran into her employers in Westchester County and learned that she had been taken in by this particular convent to have an illegitimate child.”

“I see. And it was just an amazing coincidence that out of the whole of the New York City area a nun who died in this convent just happened to have a sister who was hiding your brother?”

I turned back to face him. “You still don’t believe me, do you?” I took a deep breath. “I was a little shocked myself, but looking back on it, I can give you the connections. Both sisters were passionate about the Irish freedom movement. They were supplying the Republican Brotherhood with money. So, yes, I knew that the sister in New York might have some ties to the Brotherhood and thus might be a future useful contact for you in your investigation. So when I was asked to take the message to her sister in the city as this nun lay dying, I agreed, thinking that I might learn some information for you and your investigation.”

He was looking at me long and hard, still trying to assess if this could possibly be true and if there was more I wasn’t telling him, I suspect.