City of Darkness and Light (7 page)

Alfred stood up, ready for action, but then we heard a maid’s voice, calm and efficient, saying, “I’ll tell the master that you’re here, sir, if you’d care to wait.” Then she appeared and dropped a curtsey. “If you please, sir, ma’am, but Captain Sullivan has come to see his wife.”

“Show him in, Ethel. Don’t keep him waiting,” Dodo said before Alfred could answer. “And bring another cup and brandy glass.”

The maid gave a perfunctory bob again and almost immediately Daniel came into the room. He was still wearing his police uniform and he looked hollow-eyed and exhausted.

“Daniel Sullivan.” He held out his hand to Alfred. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you taking my wife in on such short notice.”

“Not at all. Glad to be of help,” Alfred said gruffly and shook his hand.

“I’m sorry to trouble you at this hour,” Daniel said, and I could see him staring at my new attire with interest, “but I wonder if I might have a word with my wife about arrangements that are being made for her.”

“By all means,” Alfred said. “Ethel, show Captain and Mrs. Sullivan into my study. Can I pour you a brandy first?”

“I won’t take a drink, thank you. I’ve hardly slept in the last day or so and I’d probably fall asleep during the cab ride downtown.”

“A cup of coffee then?” Dodo asked. “Some dessert? Some fruit?”

“I wouldn’t say no to coffee,” Daniel said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll have a tray sent through to the study.” Dodo motioned to the servant, who led us down the hall and into a room lined with bookshelves. There were two leather armchairs on either side of a fireplace. Being May the fire was unlit and the room felt decidedly chilly, but I sat in one of the chairs. Daniel took the other.

“You appear to have settled in remarkably well,” he said. “You look as if you’re about to attend a ball.”

“That was Dodo—Mrs. Phillips’s doing,” I said. “She insisted on plying me with her clothing—a little more fancy than I’m used to.”

“It suits you well,” Daniel said. “And Liam is all right?”

“Never been happier. He has a nurse to watch over him and a small playmate.”

“That’s good.” He still looked worried and distracted, running a hand through unruly hair, some of which had been singed by the fire. “I came to tell you that I’ve secured a passage for you on a French ship. She’s called
La Lorraine
and she sails for Le Havre in a week’s time. I’m afraid the commissioner’s allowance didn’t run to first class, but at least it won’t be steerage and, being French, I’m sure the food will be good. If you’d like to compose a telegram I’ll have a cable sent to your friends in the morning, letting them know when the ship arrives and when you are likely to reach Paris.”

I was on my way over to the desk when a terrible thought struck me. “I don’t know their address, Daniel. The letter burned with everything else.”

He gave a half grin, half grimace. “Actually it didn’t. I went through the house today to see if anything could be saved and there was this letter, a trifle blackened around the edges but lying by the back door.” He rummaged into a pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. It was scorched but still legible.

“How miraculous.” I took it from him, looking at the dear, familiar signature and the address in Paris, written in Sid’s bold black script. I looked up. “So clearly I am meant to go there.”

“I don’t know about miraculous. Fire does strange things. Some of my books are almost untouched while metal candlesticks have melted to a blob.”

“You’ve managed to save some of your books. I’m so glad.”

“I didn’t manage to salvage much else,” he said. “Your teapot. A few items from the kitchen. Some china.”

“My jewelry case?” I didn’t have much jewelry but the few items I had were precious to me.

He shook his head. “Not so far. I’m putting a couple of my men onto a more thorough search when I can spare them. I’m sorry, my darling. I’m really sorry that my actions put you in this danger. That we almost lost—” He broke off and cleared his throat. “Never mind. In a few days you’ll be safely far away.”

“And poor little Aggie? I don’t want her buried in the potter’s field, Daniel. I want her to have a proper funeral.”

“I have someone trying to locate her family,” he said. “If they don’t come to claim the body, I’ll make sure she gets a decent burial.”

“I want to go to her funeral,” I said.

He shook his head. “Out of the question.”

“I want to, Daniel,” I insisted. “It’s important to me. She was important to me. I feel terrible that we let her down.”

“We didn’t let her down, Molly. We didn’t ask anyone to come and bomb our house. You did your best for her. You gave her a home when nobody else would. You gave her a life again.”

“But I have to say good-bye to her.”

“The answer is no, Molly,” he said firmly. “You cannot be seen anywhere near the city. If they find out where you are they could try again. I’m not risking your life for the sake of a dead servant. Now please don’t mention this again.”

This attitude fired my fighting Irish spirit. I opened my mouth to tell him that he couldn’t order me around like this, but then I realized that he could. He was the husband and he had the final say, however unjust that seemed. Also I realized that he was probably right. I couldn’t do anything to risk Liam’s life.

“Now let’s compose that cable, shall we,” Daniel went on in a calm, reasonable voice. “I’m in great need of a bed and sleep.”

We wrote the cable together, asking if I might take up their kind invitation to stay, then composed a second one giving the time and date of the arrival of
La Lorraine
. A tray of coffee, a cheese board, crackers, and assorted pastries was delivered, and Daniel ate hungrily. Then he stood up. “I really must go. Please thank the Phillipses for me.”

“Have you made any progress in finding out who did this?” I followed him to the door, not wanting him to go. “Are there any suspects?”

He turned back to me. “We’ve rounded up anyone who might have connections to the Cosa Nostra and locked them up in the Tombs. We’ll see if a few nights in a cold cell might persuade one of them to talk, but I doubt it. They fear their gang bosses more than they fear us.”

“I hate to think of someone getting away with this,” I said. “It’s not fair.”

He reached out to me and stroked my cheek. “Life isn’t fair, my darling. Surely you know that by now. But if we can finally pin a conviction on their leader and have him shut away in Sing Sing, then it might have been worth it.” At the front door he took me in his arms and kissed me, hard and demandingly on the mouth. “And in the meantime,” he said, “you’ll be living it up in ‘Gay Paree.’”

Seven

On May 21, 1905, Daniel, Liam, and I traveled to the Hudson Piers in a closed carriage. I carried with me one trunk of clothing, containing the most suitable items donated by Dodo Phillips. She was horrified that I planned to travel with only one trunk and so few items of clothing. I assured her that I would have no need of her more extravagant gowns, however lovely they were. Of course I couldn’t tell her I was off to Paris and made her think I was heading for a remote location in the country. She had also given Liam enough gowns, capes, caps, and blankets to keep him well-dressed until he progressed to wearing pants. I was extremely grateful to her, of course. She had tried hard to keep me amused and entertained, giving up some of her own social engagements to stay with me and teaching me how to play mah-jongg. But her bubbly chatting was hard to take when I was trying to come to terms with my own reduced circumstances, not knowing whether my house could be rebuilt or where we’d go when I returned from Paris. And God knew when that would be.

The one remarkable thing that had happened during the week was that Aggie’s relatives had been located and had come to claim her body. It turned out that her mother had never wanted to turn her out, but had been overruled by a stern and strict husband. It was pitiful to witness her grief now, Daniel had said. I hoped that her father would have his share of suffering eventually.

A cable had also come from Sid and Gus, more long-winded than mine had been, saying how excited they were and that I must send a telegram when I knew which boat train I was catching so that they could meet me at the station. I pictured seeing their familiar faces, beaming at me as the train pulled in, and I felt a bubble of hope for the first time in days.

“Here we are,” Daniel said as the carriage turned in at the Twenty-fourth Street pier. “Wait here while I find a porter to take your belongings on board.”

I looked out to see a sleek liner with two big red funnels and two tall masts. She wasn’t as big as the
Majestic
had been, on which I had traveled from Liverpool in steerage, but she looked elegant enough and large enough to brave the Atlantic waves. Daniel carried Liam and swept us quickly up the gangplank.

“Surely you don’t think that I’ll be in danger traveling to Europe?” I said.

“I don’t believe so,” Daniel answered, “but these men do still have connections with other ruffians in the south of Italy.” He sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe we are making too much of their skills and their reach. Maybe the bomb was a lucky accident for them and they only intended to give me a warning, not burn down our house. It’s hard to tell. They may just be a gang of local thugs after all. Still, I’m not prepared to run any risks with my wife and child. Don’t forget to send me a cable the moment you arrive.”

“Of course I will,” I said. I looked at his face with longing. How could I bear to be parted from him for so long?

His eyes met mine. “How can I bear to be parted from you both?” he said, echoing my thoughts. “But we’ll get through it, because we’re both brave and strong and we want what’s best for our son.”

I nodded, biting my lip and not trusting myself to speak. A steward came up to us and asked for my cabin number. Then he led us along narrow passageways to my cabin. He was very French-looking with slicked black hair and a jaunty black mustache.

“I ’ope madame will ’ave ’appy voyage wiz us,” he said.

I noticed that other passengers who passed us were also speaking French. I wished that I had brushed up on my French during that week with Dodo rather than learning mah-jongg and studying dress patterns for Dodo’s future soirees. When I had taken my lessons with the Hartley girls at the big house my French had been quite good. The governess insisted that young ladies of good family should be fluent in French and we had conversation practice every day. I seemed to have a natural facility for language and was better at it than Miss Henrietta and Miss Vanessa. A lot had happened since I sat in the schoolroom at the Hartleys’ mansion. I wondered how much French I would remember. I’d have to get in some practice during the crossing.

The steward let us in to my cabin. It was not the luxury I had experienced the last time I crossed the Atlantic from New York, but then that cabin had been first class. This one had a bunk bed on one wall, a built-in closet on the other with a small crib crammed in beside it. My trunk had been delivered and was taking up much of the remaining floor space.

“Zee bathrooms are to your right,” the steward said. “I leave you now and bid you bon voyage.”

Daniel shot me a worried glance. “It’s not exactly the Ritz, is it? Will you be all right?”

“It’s only for a few days, isn’t it?” I tried to put on a brave face because there really was no alternative.

Liam was wiggling to get down. I realized that I’d have my hands full watching over him on a ship in the ocean, with no Aggie to help me.

“I really should be getting back,” Daniel said. I knew that he hated emotional scenes and a long drawn-out good-bye was to be avoided at all costs.

I nodded. “Yes, I’d better unpack. Liam will want nursing soon.”

“Don’t come and see me off,” he said. “Better that way.”

I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak now. He took Liam from me, kissed him then held him out, looking at him. “Good-bye, son,” he said and put him into the crib. Then he took me into his arms. “Good-bye, my darling,” he whispered. “Take care of yourself.”

“And you too,” I whispered back and kissed him. The kiss conveyed all the passion and longing we couldn’t express in words. Then Liam started to cry and we broke apart.

“Watch out for those Frenchmen,” Daniel said, attempting to be jaunty now. “They can be very fresh, I hear.”

“I’ll look forward to the challenge. And what you don’t know can’t hurt you,” I teased back.

“I have to go,” he said again. As he opened the door I called after him. “Daniel. Take care. Don’t take any risks, please. I love you.”

He blew me a kiss and hurried off down the hall and out of sight. Liam was bawling lustily now, holding out his arms to be picked up. I wanted to be on deck and watch as we sailed out of New York harbor, but I had to put my child’s needs first. I picked him up, sat on the bottom bunk, opened my blouse front and put him to the breast. I felt the tension leave his body, and some of the tension left my own.

Suddenly the cabin door was flung open. I tried to jump up, bumping my head against the upper bunk, then tried to cover myself as an elderly woman came in. She stopped and stared when she saw me.

“What in God’s name?” she demanded. “What are you doing in my cabin?”

“I’m sorry but you’ve made a mistake. This is my cabin,” I said. “Cabin thirty-four, C deck. I have my ticket here.”

“There must be some mistake,” she said in a haughty voice. “This is definitely the cabin I was given because my friends are just across the hall. We asked for rooms together, you see. We’re traveling as a group, but there are five of us and I was the odd man out.”

“Maybe we’re supposed to be sharing,” I suggested, the thought not having occurred to me before. There were two bunks.

She stared down at me and my still-nursing baby, only partially covered by his robes that I had hastily pulled over me with distaste. “But they promised me,” she said. “I know it was supposed to be a two-berth cabin, but they told me the other berth would be unoccupied.”

“I’m afraid my decision to sail on this ship was made at the very last minute. The cabin would have been unoccupied when you booked it.”