The Family Way (Molly Murphy, #12)

“Thank God for that,” Gus said. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. You’re as white as a sheet.”


A ghost. Images flashed through my mind—the disembodied face of Sister Mary Vincent floating toward me down the hallway and her expression when she saw me. Almost as if she was seeing a ghost. Why was she so shocked to see me? Who did she think?…

“Oh, no,” I said, looking back up those steps. “I have to go back into the convent. I’ve just realized something.”

“What?”

“I think that my brother might be hiding in there.”

“In that convent?” Gus sounded shocked. “Don’t you think the nuns might have found him by now?”

“Oh, I think at least one of the nuns knows quite well that he’s there,” I said. “Sister Mary Vincent mistook me for someone else when she came upon me in the darkness. She thought she was looking at my brother. We look very alike. And she said, ‘What are you doing up here in the daylight?’ Up here, she said. That must mean that he’s supposed to stay down in a basement during the day. I’ve got to go down and find out.”

“Molly, is that wise?” Gus said.

“He’s my brother, Gus. I don’t want him captured and arrested and killed. I’ve got to try to persuade him to leave the country, or at least leave New York, before the police find him. And I should also make him see that he’s placing a group of nuns in danger.”

“But what if he’s with a group of ruffians down there,” Gus said. “Didn’t you say that he was working with anarchists? Those men wouldn’t think twice about killing you.”

“I can’t believe that nuns would let a group of anarchists hide out in their convent. This particular sister is passionate about the Irish cause and that’s why she must be hiding Liam. I’ll go cautiously.”

“We’re coming with you,” Sid said.

I shook my head. “Liam would surely hear more than one person coming. He’d hide or escape.”

“If you think we’re letting you go down into the bowels of a building alone, you can think again,” Sid said.

“I must speak with him alone. Don’t you see that?” I pleaded. “I tell you what. You can stand at the top of the stairs and watch out for me. You can delay any nun who might want to go down to the basement. And you can hear me if I call for help.”

“I suppose so,” Sid admitted grudgingly. She looked across for affirmation to Gus.

“I think Molly has to go the last bit alone,” she agreed. “And we don’t even know that he really is down there. It’s just Molly’s hunch.”

We went back up the steps. I had seen Sister closing the front door behind us and was pretty sure it wasn’t locked. We turned the handle and stepped back inside to the cool gloom.

“What do we say if one of the nuns catches us?” Gus whispered.

“We’ll tell them we’ve come to inspect the place as our ladies club is considering a charitable donation,” Sid said breezily. “People are always pleasant if they think you’re going to give them money.”

There was a flight of stairs going down where I had previously gone up. I glanced back at my friends then began to descend. At the bottom were several doors, and I heard women’s voices coming from what had to be a laundry judging by the sounds and smells. This was only the floor halfway below street level, I concluded. It probably housed the kitchen and scullery as well as the laundry. I moved along as silently as I could, looking for the way down to a floor below this. I didn’t think it was likely that anybody would choose to hide here, when this level was so obviously in use. I prowled most of the hallway, but discovered no stairs. I opened one door quietly and found myself staring at a broom closet. Another room had chairs stacked up in it. I had almost given up when I peered into a scullery and saw what looked like more steps in a far corner. I crept across, realizing that it would be increasingly difficult to explain my presence if I was spotted now. The stone steps did indeed go down into darkness, turning a corner so that I couldn’t see what lay beyond. The wall felt cold and damp to the touch as I inched my way down. The small square hallway at the bottom was in almost complete darkness, the only light coming from a tiny grating up at the top of the wall. I stood still, wondering what to do next. I felt my way along the right-hand wall until I made out the shape of a doorway. I tried the handle. It was locked. I tried a second doorway. Also locked.

Of course, I thought. If I were hiding out from the authorities, I’d keep the door locked too. I was just about to give up in frustration when I heard soft footsteps approaching. I stepped back hastily up into the stairwell and pressed myself against the wall as I heard one of the doors open with a click.

“Don’t stay outside too long this time,” a voice whispered. “Sister said you were almost spotted.”