He slipped his arms around my waist. “Are you as impatient as I am to be making use of it?”
“You know I am.”
He kissed me. It felt wonderful, but as I melted into his arms I felt a shiver of guilt that I was deceiving him by taking on this case. Maybe it was a good thing that I hadn’t succeeded completely. A couple can’t start off life together with deception.
“So how are the preparations progressing at my mother’s house?” he asked.
“She has everything under control,” I said. “The invitations have been sent, the menu for the wedding breakfast planned, and she is sewing my wedding dress as we speak.”
“Splendid. So you’re getting along well, are you?”
“She’s being kind,” I said diplomatically, “and very patient. My sewing skills are sadly lacking and she’s had to take over the brunt of the work.”
“She won’t mind that.” His arm was still around my waist as we came down the stairs together. “She needs something to keep her occupied. She still misses my father terribly. Maybe one day we can find a bigger house and she can join us.”
I tried not to let my alarm show. “One day,” I said. “I think it’s important to start our marriage on our own, don’t you?”
“Oh, absolutely,” he said.
“And we will go and visit her regularly,” I went on.
We reached the street. “So you’ll be going back to her later this week?”
“After the party,” I said. “I have to do a little shopping for my trousseau. My attempts at undergarments have turned out rather disastrously.”
He actually laughed at this. “I can imagine. How fortunate that we live in a big city, isn’t it?”
We came out onto the street. The dying twilight had streaked the western sky with pink and the houses stood as dark silhouettes.
“Take care of yourself, Daniel,” I said, slipping my hand into his.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“You know I do,” I said.
The door opposite opened at that moment and Sarah came out, accompanied by a tall, angular young man with light ash-blond hair. His face was fine-boned and his hollow cheeks made him look almost frail. However, I presumed this was a normal quality of aristocrats. In fact his face was so pale that in the semidarkness he looked like a ghost. Sarah smiled when she saw us.
“Oh, Molly, there you are. I didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye to you. And now I can introduce you to my fiancé. Monty, this is my new friend, Molly Murphy. And Molly, this is my future bridegroom, Montague Warrington-Chase.”
“How do you do, sir.” I nodded politely. “And this is my future bridegroom, Captain Daniel Sullivan,” I said.
The men shook hands.
“Dashed annoying, this wedding business, isn’t it?” Monty said in drawling upper-class English tones. “I’m rather of the opinion that an elopement might have been the best idea.”
“Oh, Monty.” Sarah slapped his hand. “You know our families would have been furious if we’d deprived them of a proper wedding with all the relatives and all the trimmings.”
“Luckily our wedding will be a modest affair,” Daniel said, “and my mother is organizing most of it. I have the excuse of being stuck in New York on a case.”
“A case?” Monty’s voice sounded sharp. “You’re a lawyer, sir?”
“Daniel is a police captain,” I said.
Monty gave a brittle laugh. “Silly of me. When we were introduced, I assumed you were a sea captain. But then you don’t have the requisite beard, do you?” He tipped his hat to us. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I have to take Sarah home to change. We are expected at the Waldorf. I wish you all the best for your future—Miss Murphy, Captain Sullivan.”
We parted with additional pleasantries. Halfway down Patchin Place, Sarah looked back. “Come and visit me at work, Molly. I’d love to show you what we’ve accomplished.”
“I will,” I promised.
“Sarah, I thought I made it clear that I want you to stop working,” came Monty’s voice as they walked down the alley.
“Now does that sound familiar?” I looked up at Daniel with a grin. “Is that something that all bridegrooms say to their brides?”
“She works? Where does she work?” Daniel asked.
“She volunteers at a settlement house on Elizabeth Street.”
Daniel gave a snort. “Then I can understand why he wants her to stop. I would too. That’s a rough part of the city for such a delicate-looking little thing.”
“I know, that’s what I thought.”
Daniel continued to stare after them. “You know, I’ve seen that English fellow somewhere before,” he said. “Somewhere I wouldn’t have expected.…”
“Where?”
He frowned, then shook his head. “Can’t remember. No matter. I expect it will come to me. I should be getting back to work. No peace for the wicked.”
“Oh, are you wicked? I didn’t know I was marrying a wicked man. What fun.”
He laughed and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Enjoy your party with your lady friends. I’ll be in touch.” Then he was gone.
Seven
The next morning I rose to the smell of fresh brewing coffee and came down to find that Gus had been to the French bakery on Greenwich Avenue and had returned with the morning papers, croissants, and brioches. If Sid hadn’t insisted on making Turkish coffee so thick that the spoon stood up in it, the breakfast would have been perfect. As it was, sitting with my friends amid the exotic plants of their conservatory, I thought eating fresh pastries and reading the paper a fine way to start the day. I scoured the papers to see if there was any hint of this big case that Daniel was working on, but there were only the usual petty crimes.
“So you’ll be going back to work for your Chinese gentleman, I take it, Molly?” Gus asked.
“I’ll have to go back and report to him, but when he hears that I’ve scoured the pawnshops and jewelers, I think he’ll have no further use of my services.”
“Maybe that’s for the best, now that you’ve seen Daniel’s face yesterday when he learned you were staying with us,” Sid said, tearing off a hunk of croissant and dipping it in her coffee.
“I know. That’s what I was thinking,” I said. “I’ve got to admit that my career as a lady detective is over and a life of domesticity looms ahead.”
“You make it sound like banishment to a penal colony.” Gus laughed.
“Not as long as the two of you are across the street,” I said. “I’ll enjoy having more time to spend with you.”
“So will we,” Sid said.
“By the way,” I said, remembering what had been forgotten in the fluster of the previous evening, “you’ll never guess who I ran into on the Lower East Side? Seamus and the children.”
“They’re back in New York? That should make you happy.”
“Indeed it does not,” I said, and related the full story.
“Panama—now that sounds like an adventure,” Sid said. “I’ve always wanted to cut a path through the jungle and meet anacondas and jaguars.”
“But not with a small boy in tow,” I said.
“They’re surely not taking the little girl with them?” Gus asked.
I shook my head. “They want me to find her a position in service—nanny’s helper or the like. Poor little thing. I think she’s far too young for that. I’d take her in myself only I don’t think Daniel would approve and it’s no way to start a marriage.”
“We’ll put on our thinking caps,” Sid said. “Maybe Gus knows a family who would like a companion to an only child. But I’m afraid the thinking will just have to wait until after the party. We still haven’t settled on our theme, have we?”
I left them heatedly discussing the theme for my party and made my way down to Mr. Frederick Lee’s office. He had an expectant, worried look on his face as he admitted me.
“Any luck, Miss Murphy? Did you find the missing item?”