Murder on Mulberry Bend (10 page)

“You ghoul!” Sarah shouted in outrage, but Malloy was faster. He slammed the attendant against the wall.

“You jackass!” Malloy was saying, his forearm pressed against the fellow’s throat in a very threatening way. “Haynes will hear about this. Now get out of here, before I put you on one of these slabs.”

The attendant had undergone a complete transformation. Stricken with terror over what Malloy might do to him, he’d suddenly found his manners. “I ... I’m sorry, ma’am,” he stammered when Malloy released him and gave him a shove toward the door. “I didn’t mean no harm. Please don’t say nothing to Doc Haynes,” he added as he backed out of the room.

Sarah was too busy gathering up the sheet and spreading it over Emilia again to respond. Malloy made a move, as if to go after the fellow, and he scampered away, slamming the door behind him.

“I’m sorry for that,” Malloy said when he was gone. “This kind of work... Well, the best people don’t choose a job like this.”

Sarah could imagine. “This poor girl had little enough dignity in life. I hate the thought of that ... that creature looking at her now.”

“He won’t be looking at anything around here anymore. I’ll see to that.”

She looked up from arranging the sheet and gave Malloy a grateful smile. “Do you think it would be all right if I examined her?”

“You don’t have to. Haynes will be doing an autopsy, like that idiot said. He’ll figure it out.”

Sarah sighed. “It’s just... I feel responsible somehow.”

“Because she was wearing your clothes?” he asked with a frown.

“I don’t know why. I just do. Please, I’ll only need a minute.”

He sighed in resignation. “Take as long as you need.” He walked to the other side of the room and sat down in the attendant’s chair. She noticed he carefully turned his back, giving the girl some privacy even in death, and she smiled at his consideration.

Without really knowing what she was doing, Sarah carefully examined every inch of Emilia’s body. Except for more of the red marks on her arm and hip and knee, from where the blood had pooled when she’d been lying dead in the park, she found nothing unusual. Covering her with the sheet again, she called, “Malloy, could you help me turn her over?”

He wasn’t happy about it, but he did, lifting the slight girl as if she’d been a straw dummy and placing her gently on her stomach. “You’re wasting your time,” he said as she pulled the sheet down to check the skin of the girl’s back. “Haynes will probably find out she had some disease and just picked this morning to drop dead.”

“She didn’t look sick when I saw her,” Sarah argued.

The girl’s hair had come undone and was in a hopeless tangle around her shoulders, bits of dead leaves clinging to it. From this angle, Sarah realized with a start why Malloy had thought Sarah’s was the dead body lying in the park. Emilia’s hair was almost the same color as hers.

A wave of pity washed over her, bringing tears to her eyes. She wanted to go back in time. She wanted to change things so that Emilia would still be alive, a young girl full of hope, perhaps for the first time in her life.

Tenderly, she touched the tangle of golden hair in a feeble attempt to smooth it. She found a stray hairpin and pulled it out. As if of their own accord, her fingers began searching for others, combing through the silken locks and pulling out the bits of leaf and dead grass, the way she would have if it had been her own hair.

When she’d done what she could, she twisted the mass back into the semblance of a bun and began securing it with the pins she’d salvaged. She didn’t realize she was crying until a tear dropped onto Emilia’s shoulder, but she didn’t bother to wipe her eyes until she’d finished with her futile task.

Only when Emilia’s hair was tidy again — or as tidy as it could be under the circumstances, did Sarah reach for the handkerchief that all well-bred ladies carried tucked into their sleeves. Emilia’s image blurred, but Sarah resolutely blotted away her tears, until she could see the girl clearly again.

“You can leave her for Dr. Haynes now,” Malloy said quietly, gently. She couldn’t remember ever hearing that tone in his voice. She wanted to look up and see the expression on his face, but something else had caught her attention.

“What’s that?” she asked of no one in particular, leaning down to peer more closely at the hollow on the back of the girl’s neck that was now exposed.

“What’s what?” Malloy asked, but she didn’t answer. She was tracing the small mark with her finger.

“Look, there’s a little dried blood here,” she said, pointing at a spot just at the base of the girl’s skull, where her hair almost hid it.

Malloy examined the spot she’d found. He wasn’t impressed. “You don’t die from a scratch on the neck.”

“It’s more than a scratch,” she insisted. “It looks as if someone stuck something in there. See, the skin closed over it because the wound is so small.”

He looked again. “Could a wound like that kill someone?”

Sarah tried to remember her anatomy classes, and what she remembered alarmed her. “The brain is just inches from this spot. If the knife or whatever it was went straight in, it would sever the spinal cord. If it went upward at an angle, it would plunge right into the brain.”

Malloy still wasn’t convinced. “I thought you said she suffocated.”

“I said she stopped breathing against her will. We don’t know much about how the brain works, but we do know that injuries to it can stop various bodily functions.”

“Like breathing?”

“Like breathing,” she confirmed.

Malloy stepped back from the table, thumbs hooked into his vest pockets, and considered her theory. “Wouldn’t there have been a lot of blood?”

Sarah couldn’t imagine they’d missed blood on the girl’s clothing when they’d removed it. “Where are her things?” she asked, looking around.

Malloy found them under the table, in a sack. Sarah removed each item carefully, trying not to remember that some of these things had touched her own body so recently. She didn’t recognize the shoes and the undergarments. They would have belonged to Emilia. Then she pulled out the jacket of the suit she’d bought at Lord & Taylor just a few short months ago. They’d been having a sale, and she’d been pleased to improve her wardrobe for the reasonable sum of seven dollars. Carefully, hating the very feel of the fabric, she turned the jacket and examined the neckline. She saw no trace of blood.

“I don’t see anything, but a deep puncture wound probably wouldn’t have bled very much,” she said, handing it to Malloy and reaching into the bag for something else. She pulled out the hat she’d worn for so long that she’d stopped noticing it. Malloy had called it ugly, and indeed it was. She tried to imagine anyone being pleased to receive such a worn and shabby thing or wearing it proudly, as Emilia must have done. The thought was too painful to bear.

“What’s this?” Malloy asked and showed her the jacket again. Sarah took it and looked closely at the spot he indicated. She’d missed it because it blended with the dark color of the material, but there, about halfway down, below where the right shoulder blade would have been, was a curiously shaped stain.

“Is it blood?” she asked.

“Looks like it.”

Sarah stared more closely, holding it up to the feeble light. “It’s not from a wound,” she said.

“No,” he said grimly.

“What is it, then?”

“She must have been stabbed with something thin, right?”

“Right.”

“The killer pulled it out and wiped the blood off on her back before he walked away.”

Sarah shuddered in horror. “Dear heaven,” she murmured. “What could they have used to kill her?”

“You said she was Italian?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m sure she was.”

“I’d say it was a stiletto.”

“A
STILETTO?” SHE REPEATED, AS IF SHE’D NEVER heard the word before. Maybe she hadn’t, Frank thought.

“It’s a long, thin-bladed knife. The Italians like it, for some reason. Probably because it goes in so easily.”

She flinched at the image, and he instantly regretted drawing it for her. “Here, let’s put her clothes back in the bag. I’ll tell Haynes your theory. He can check to see exactly what happened.”

He took the jacket from her and began stuffing it into the bag, but she made a sound of protest and snatched both of them away from him. Probably, she didn’t think he was showing enough respect. She carefully folded the jacket and placed it into the bag along with the rest of her things. When everything was tucked away, she gently pulled the sheet back up over the dead girl, preserving what little was left of her privacy. Her hand lingered for a moment, smoothing the girl’s hair one last time.

“Come on,” he said, his voice sounding a little gravelly to his own ears. “Let’s get some fresh air.”

“Aren’t you going to speak to the coroner first?”

“He’s not here right now. I’ll come back later.”

He took her arm when she hesitated. He certainly didn’t mind touching her, and she didn’t resist when he led her to the door and out into the hallway and up the stairs. When they emerged into the crisp, sunny afternoon, they stopped as if by mutual consent to take a deep breath.

Malloy looked down at her. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. He’d never seen her cry before. They’d been through a lot together, including several attempts on her life, and none of those adventures had brought her even close to tears. Who would have guessed the death of a girl she hardly knew would do it? He certainly hoped he’d never have to witness such a sight again. It had nearly unmanned him. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, looking up at him. “I’m furious.” She looked it, too.

Greatly relieved, he asked, “At who?”

“At whoever killed that girl. Do you think it was the Black Hand?”

“How do you know about the Black Hand?” he challenged.

“Everyone knows about the Black Hand. They’re the most despicable creatures on earth. Imagine blackmailing your own kind, people who are slaving away just to make a living.”

The members of this secret society sold “protection” to their fellows. The police did pretty much the same thing, except if you didn’t pay the police, you were simply at the mercy of the laws you were already breaking. The Black Hand sold you protection from themselves. If you didn’t pay, they’d beat you or damage your business or burn it to the ground. Sometimes they even used bombs, if they wanted to make a particular example of someone. Killing people also set an example, although you couldn’t collect money from a dead person, so murder was only used as a last resort. A very nasty bunch.

“Why would the Black Hand want to kill this girl?” he asked, taking her elbow again to encourage her on her way.

“I have no idea. That’s what we have to find out.”

And
that’s
what he’d been afraid of. “I can’t help thinking that if Commissioner Roosevelt had appointed you to the police department, it would have been in all the newspapers.”

She gave him a look that told him she didn’t appreciate his attempt at humor. “Do you really think you’ll find out anything useful from the girls at the mission? They’ll be too frightened of you to say a word.”

“I’m sure those girls have seen much worse things than a police detective, Mrs. Brandt. Don’t forget where they came from before they got to the mission.”

She was glaring at him now, her blue eyes flashing fire. For a moment he thought of Kathleen. If she’d even
thought
about crying, her eyes and nose would turn beet red for hours. Sarah Brandt’s fair complexion showed no trace of the tears she’d shed over the dead girl. He wondered vaguely if that was because she’d been born rich.

“Malloy, you know I can help you with this,” she argued.

“Nobody can help me if it’s the Black Hand. Even if somebody knows who killed her, they’ll never tell. They’re all too scared... and they should be.”

“That’s terrible! How will they ever be free of those devils if no one speaks against them?”

“How will somebody ever speak against them if they’re dead?” he replied quite reasonably, if she’d just admit it.

She wouldn’t. “The police should do something then!”

“Like what? Arrest everybody in Little Italy?”

“You must have an idea who the ring leaders are,” she insisted.

“Even if we did — and didn’t anybody tell you that it’s a
secret
society? — what would we do with them?”

“Put them on trial!”

“For what? And who would testify against them? You can’t just lock somebody up because you think they deserve it. If you could, this world would be a better place.”

Even she didn’t have an answer for that. Or at least he didn’t think she did. He was busy looking for a Hansom cab to take her home when she said, “
I
wouldn’t be afraid to testify against them. That’s why you should let me help you with this case.”

He turned on her the look that made hardened criminals tremble in their chairs. “And that’s exactly why I’m
not
going to let you anywhere near this case.”

His glare had no effect on her whatsoever. “Then how will you ever solve it?”

“I won’t solve it. Nobody will. Sarah, listen to me,” he said, forgetting not to use her first name. “You told me yourself this girl was a prostitute.”

“She
had been
once, but she wasn’t anymore, not since she went to live at the mission!”

As if that made a difference. “Her family disowned her. They won’t care that she’s dead. No one will care. She’ll be just one of the hundreds of people who die in this city every year without being noticed.”

“I’ll notice! I’ll care!”

She’d claimed she was furious a few minutes ago, but she’d only been getting started then. She was really amazing when she got good and mad. “Enough to get yourself killed by asking the wrong people the wrong questions?”