“Not that I know of. Listen, that’s all I know, and I gotta get back. You said you’d pay me…”
Sarah reached into her purse and pulled out five dollars, which was probably what Irene earned here in a week. “Thank you for your help,” she said, slipping the money into Irene’s outstretched hand.
She counted the money and smiled. “Any time.” She stuffed the money down into the bodice of her corset and hurried back to the dressing room without bothering to say good-bye.
Sarah stared after her for a long moment, wondering what, if anything, she had really learned. With a sigh, she made her way back down the corridor to the exit. Maybe, she thought, Malloy had had better luck.
The gaslights were lit by the time Sarah reached Bank Street, and she was wishing she’d worn a heavier coat. Her spirits rose instantly when she saw a man sitting on her front step, waiting for her. She needed to see Malloy and find out what he’d learned. But as she got closer, and the man rose to his feet to meet her, she realized it wasn’t Malloy after all.
“Mrs. Brandt,” he said with a pleasant smile, pulling off his hat.
“Mr. Dennis,” Sarah said, making no attempt to hide her amazement, although she did manage not to sound disappointed. She couldn’t help glancing at the Ellsworth house, but no faces stared out of the front windows. Had Mrs. Ellsworth or Nelson seen him sitting here? They would surely wonder about that. Sarah was wondering herself. “What brings you here?”
His smile vanished. “I wish I could tell you I’d come on a social visit, but I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. I wanted to break it to you myself first.”
“What do you mean, first?” she asked apprehensively.
“I mean, before you read it in the newspaper.” He glanced up and down the street, as if trying to judge whether or not he would be overheard.
“Why don’t you come inside?” she suggested, instinctively knowing she didn’t want anyone else to overhear his news either.
He followed her up the front steps and waited while she unlocked the front door. When they were inside, she removed her jacket and took his hat. He was looking curiously around her office. “This is very impressive. You have quite a bit of equipment here,” he remarked.
“My husband was a physician,” she reminded him. “This was his office originally. I don’t use a lot of it.”
He looked a little ill at ease. Most people were in the presence of such intimidating furnishings, but Sarah did nothing to reassure him. She didn’t want him to feel comfortable if he was bringing her bad news. She bade him be seated in one of the chairs that sat by the front window, and she took the other.
When they were seated, she said, “You came to tell me something.”
His smile was apologetic. “I wish I could have forgotten. This gives me no pleasure, Mrs. Brandt. I know you are a friend to the Ellsworths, and-”
“What is it?” she snapped, her patience stretched to the breaking point after her long and frustrating day.
He blinked in surprise at her tone, but he said, “I had an auditor check our books.”
“What books?”
“Our bank records,” he explained. “Ordinarily, the bank’s records are checked for accuracy only once a year, but in light of what you told me…”
“What did I tell you?” Sarah asked with growing alarm when he hesitated.
“That Nelson Ellsworth was being blackmailed by a woman of ill repute.”
“I didn’t tell you any such thing!” she protested.
He gave her the kind of patronizing look that set her teeth on edge. “You told me that she had demanded money from another man and that he had stolen it from his employer. You also told me this woman had seduced Nelson as well. Mrs. Brandt, I would be foolish indeed-and remiss in my duties-if I didn’t reassure myself that Mr. Ellsworth hadn’t done the same thing that other man did.”
“But Nelson is innocent!”
“Are you saying he didn’t give her money?”
“Well, he did, but-”
“I felt certain he had, and I had to make certain that money didn’t come from the bank,” he said so reasonably she wanted to slap him.
“Nelson would never take anything that didn’t belong to him,” Sarah insisted.
“Your confidence in him is commendable, I’m sure, but the fact is, Mrs. Brandt, that the auditors found money missing.”
“That’s impossible!” Sarah insisted.
“I assure you, it’s very possible. He stole nearly ten thousand dollars.”
11
WHEN MALLOY KNOCKED ON HER DOOR, SARAH WAS still sitting in the chair where she’d been when Richard Dennis had left almost an hour earlier. She forced herself to get up and let him in.
As soon as Malloy saw her face, he frowned. “What happened?”
“I did a very stupid thing,” she said, waiting until he’d hung his hat, then leading him back into the kitchen. She didn’t even bother to ask herself why she took him into the kitchen. It just seemed the right place to go.
“Does this have anything to do with Anna Blake’s murder?” he asked as he seated himself at the table. “Or is this stupid thing something in your regular life?”
“Both,” she said, filling the coffeepot with water. “I can’t believe I did this.” The worst part was that she hadn’t mentioned to Malloy that she was going to meet Richard Dennis and ask for his help because she’d been afraid he wouldn’t approve. If only she’d given him a chance to talk her out of it!
She put some kindling into the stove and lit it, then fed in some wood until the fire was going. Only when she felt the heat did she realize how cold she’d become, sitting alone with her guilt as night settled over the city. When she had put the coffee on to boil and had nothing left to do, she forced herself to take the seat opposite Malloy and look him straight in the eye.
But when she saw his worried frown, she had to cover her face with both hands and groan. She didn’t deserve his concern. At least it would vanish the instant she told him what she’d done. She could deal with his anger. She deserved that, after all.
“I asked Nelson’s employer not to dismiss him,” she said.
“That doesn’t sound so stupid,” Malloy said. “Unless he turned you down.”
Sarah rubbed her temples where a headache was throbbing. “He didn’t turn me down. He promised to help for as long as he could or until Nelson was arrested, which I assured him wouldn’t happen.”
He didn’t say anything, and she hazarded a glance at him. He still looked worried. About her. She wanted to groan again.
“He didn’t dismiss Nelson, but he did have some auditors come in to check the bank’s books. He was just being careful, he said. Because Anna Blake had blackmailed another man who stole money from his employer to pay her.”
“You told him that?” Malloy asked incredulously.
“I warned you this was stupid!” she cried. “I was trying to convince him that Nelson was an innocent victim of a evil woman. I wanted him to know just how evil she really was!”
“So he was afraid Nelson was stealing from the bank to pay her off, too,” Malloy said. “And was he?”
Sarah buried her face in her hands again. “Oh, Malloy, he couldn’t have been! I know Nelson would never steal from anyone!”
“But…?” Malloy said.
She swallowed the bile that rose up in her throat. “But there’s ten thousand dollars missing from the bank.”
“Good God.”
“My reaction exactly.”
“Have you told Nelson all this?”
“I haven’t had the courage to face them yet,” she admitted. “I know he didn’t do it, but…”
“He’ll deny it even if he did,” Malloy pointed out. “Is this bank fellow going to press charges against Nelson?”