The Edge of Dreams (36 page)

We rode the ferry across to Manhattan, then Daniel set off in one direction for Mulberry Street while I went home to Patchin Place. My motherly instinct told me I should stop in first to see that Liam was all right, then I reminded myself that my mother-in-law was perfectly capable. Bridie never let him out of her sight, and besides, it was still in the middle of his afternoon naptime. And I was anxious to get Dr. Werner’s address so that Daniel could question him. Actually I would have liked to talk to the doctor myself, but I knew that would not go down well with Daniel and the New York police.

I tapped on Sid and Gus’s door and was relieved when I heard footsteps coming down the hall toward me. They were rarely home on fine days. Sid opened the door, which was also unusual, as Gus seemed to be the designated greeter.

“Molly!” She looked almost startled to see me.

“I’m sorry. I hope I’m not disturbing something. If you have visitors, I could go away and come back later.”

“No. You’d better come in. You may be able to help, since you have more experience with this kind of thing than we do.” She almost yanked me inside and shut the door, taking me through to the drawing room, which was in itself unusual, as they lived in the kitchen and conservatory most of the year. As I came in I saw two people sitting together on the sofa. One was Gus and the other was Minnie Hamilton. Gus was holding her hand, which surprised me even further.

“Oh, Molly, it’s you. Thank God,” Gus said as they looked up at me.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” I asked.

“Sit down, do. We’ll need your help,” Gus said.

I perched on an upright chair across from them.

“It’s Mabel,” Mrs. Hamilton said. “She’s gone.”

“Gone? Where? Did you decide to send her to Europe after all?”

Minnie Hamilton shook her head, and I could see she had been crying. “Just gone. When I went into her room this morning she wasn’t there. I let her sleep as late as she likes, because her nights are so often disturbed. But when she wasn’t awake by ten I decided to peek in on her. There was no sign of her. I don’t understand it. Where can she be? Did she decide to run away and slip out during the night?”

“Is there any reason she might have wanted to run away?” I asked.

“I thought she felt safe with us,” Minnie said. “But she was upset when we talked of sending her to Switzerland. She should have known we’d never do anything like that against her will.”

“Where might she go if she ran away?” I asked. “Has she friends in the city?”

“No bosom friends that I know of. She attended an academy for young ladies on the Upper East Side and must have had friends there, but nobody has come to visit her since the tragedy, apart from her schoolmistress.”

“Was she fond of this teacher?” I asked. “Might she have run to her?”

“Mabel didn’t seem particularly overjoyed to see her. Thanked her politely for coming, but seemed relieved when she went again.”

“Was her bedroom window open?” I asked.

Minnie Hamilton’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t think she’d have climbed out of her window? I know there is a creeper on the back wall of the house, but it would be foolish…”

“Have you spoken to the police yet?” I asked.

“No. Not yet. I was in such a tizzy. Frankly I didn’t know what to do.”

“We must tell them right away,” I said. “It’s possible she’s been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped? By the man who killed her parents?” Minnie put her hand to her mouth. “I never thought … I never believed. You’re right. I must tell the police right away.”

“Tell me. Has she seen Dr. Werner again?”

“A couple of days ago. He came to the house briefly to say good-bye, and to give us his address in Germany and the name of the clinic in Switzerland. He said he would make all the arrangements if we changed our minds and decided to send her.”

“Did he say when he was sailing?”

“I believe it was yesterday.”

“That’s too bad,” I said. “Daniel very much wanted to speak with him.” I was about to add that the doctor had been connected to Edward Deveraux, but then I remembered I had kept the details of the case from Sid and Gus, at Daniel’s request. “I should probably take down his address anyway,” I added. “Although I can’t see what good it would do now. Daniel will have to wait and write to him when he is back in Vienna. How annoying.”

Gus stood up. “I’ll find his address for you,” she said. “I’m only sorry he couldn’t do more for Mabel on the spot. These alienists are always so cautious. I just wish I was more experienced and had been able to do more. I still feel that Mabel’s dreams are the key to all of this.”

“Has she had any more dreams with vivid symbols in them recently?” I asked.

Minnie shook her head. “It’s always the snake.”

Thirty-three

I sat at their writing desk and wrote Daniel a note, telling him that Mabel had vanished and he needed to send men to start looking for her immediately. I also wrote down Dr. Werner’s address, but added that I understood he had sailed for Germany yesterday. Then I decided I would deliver the note myself, even if I incurred Daniel’s wrath. So I set out for Mulberry Street, noting as I walked that I was feeling the effects of a long day on a jolting train and wagon. But my own small ailments were of no importance compared to a missing girl. The tension that had been growing inside me all day had now reached the point of explosion. Mabel had been kidnapped, I was sure of it—kidnapped by the monster who killed her parents.

I forced my way through the crowds on Mulberry, dodging around pushcarts and playing children until I came to police headquarters. The same young officer was manning the desk, and I saw wary recognition in his eyes. He had probably gotten an earful for allowing me upstairs the last time I came.

“I need to speak with Captain Sullivan immediately,” I said. “Could you go and fetch him for me? Just tell him that Mabel has been kidnapped.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that, ma’am,” he replied, and when I was about to explode he added quickly, “Captain Sullivan’s not here. He came in about half an hour ago, was only here a few minutes, then left again.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“I wouldn’t ever ask a captain where he is going,” the young man replied. “But he seemed in a great hurry.”

I sighed. “Then please give him this letter the moment he comes back. Tell him it’s very important. A matter of life and death.”

He took it from me. “I will, ma’am.”

I lingered, but there was nothing else to say or do. I wondered if somehow the police had been told about Mabel, or—and I felt a sudden chill gripping at my stomach—her body had been found. I wanted to do something useful, to help, to be involved, but I couldn’t think what. Then I decided that at least I could go to the shipping offices, and confirm that Dr. Werner had indeed left New York. That would be useful without interfering.

I threw caution to the winds and took a cab to the Hudson piers from which the ocean liners departed. No German liner was docked there at the moment, only a smaller steamship called, inappropriately,
Queen of the Amazon,
and the French liner
La Lorraine,
on which I had sailed earlier this year. She evoked no fond memories, and I walked past her to where a board announced sailings for the month. There I saw that the
Deutschland,
a ship of the Hamburg-Amerika line, had indeed sailed yesterday. I found their offices and asked whether a Dr. Otto Werner had been on the passenger list.

A very correct German clerk looked for me. Yes, indeed, he said. Dr. Otto Werner had been on the passenger list. I gave a sigh. That was that, then. Now we’d never know exactly what had transpired between him and Edward Deveraux. I thanked the clerk and was about to walk to the door when he called after me, “
Fraulein.
I have a message here that it appears Dr. Werner did not sail after all. He was checked in on board, but his cabin was never occupied. He must have changed his mind at the last minute.”

“Thank you,” I said. I left. A blustery wind swept in from the Atlantic, bringing with it the promise of more rain. I held onto my hat as I walked along West Street, deciding what to do next. I should go home, I supposed. Resume my wifely duties and leave the hunt for Mabel to Daniel and his men. Then I started to wonder why Dr. Werner had changed his mind at the last minute. Was it possible he saw the
La Lorraine
in port, and decided it would make more sense to sail into France if he was finally heading for Vienna? There was a shipping agency nearby, advertising everything from cruises to the Bahamas for forty-seven dollars, to sailings to Canada and England.
Your shipping needs taken care of,
said the sign.
Let us whisk you to Europe in the lap of luxury.

A bell jangled as I went inside.

“I wonder if a Dr. Werner was recently in here, and booked a crossing on the
La Lorraine
?” I asked.

The man behind the counter ran a finger down a ledger. “No, madam. There is nobody of that name on board.”

Was it possible he’d chosen another ship? “So he never came into this office? Tall, thin man, with hollow eyes and a trimmed black beard? Rather pale complexion. Probably wearing a black suit and a monocle?”

The clerk shook his head. “I don’t believe…”

“Wait,” said a young sandy-haired clerk looking up from his desk. “A man like that was in here, a couple of weeks ago. But he didn’t have a monocle.”

“With a strong German accent?”

“No. He was American. Nicely spoken. He booked two tickets for himself and his daughter on the
Queen of the Amazon,
sailing to South America tomorrow. What was his name?” He paused, thinking. “That’s it. I remember. Mr. Edwards.”

I left, my heart pounding. My mind was toying with a preposterous idea.
Don’t be ridiculous,
I told myself. There were plenty of tall, thin men sporting black beards in New York City. And a Mr. Edwards taking his daughter on a journey to South America was just yet another coincidence. But I had to make sure. I had to see for myself whether Dr. Werner had left his residence or not. I was planning to hail another hansom cab. I started walking through the narrow streets of the dock area without seeing any sign of a cab, and I was beginning to get annoyed when I recognized the shape of City Hall in the distance ahead of me. I could certainly find a cab there, I thought, and hurried forward. Then I noticed the subway station. I had used the Métro often enough in Paris, but still hadn’t conditioned myself to think of the subway as a good mode of transportation in New York.

I went down the steps to an elegant foyer with a glass-domed roof, more like a museum than a train station. But I had no time or inclination to study architecture today. I paid for a ticket and went down the steps to the platform. Almost immediately I heard the rumble of a train. It thundered into the station. People got out. I climbed aboard and in no time at all found myself at Astor Place. Just across Broadway, past Wanamaker’s department store, was Ninth Street. I stopped outside number 18. Heavy drapes were drawn across the windows. It had that closed, unlived-in look to it. I couldn’t bring myself to go and knock on the front door. That would definitely be something I left for Daniel, but I walked slowly past on the other side of the street, then waited on the corner until I saw a woman coming toward me with a laden shopping basket. When she was about to go into a house almost directly across from Dr. Werner’s, I approached her.

“Excuse me,” I said.

She stopped and turned back to me.

“That house over there. Would you happen to know if it’s empty right now? We’re looking for a place around here to rent, and someone told me the former tenant had moved out.”

“That’s right,” she said. “I guess he must have gone by now. I heard he was returning to Europe and I haven’t seen him for the past day or so. If you’re wanting to rent it, it’s a Mr. Michelson who owns several of the houses on this street. You’ll find his offices on Broadway.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Do you think anyone could let me in now to look around, since I’m in the area, and very keen to snap up a good house? It’s in good condition, would you say?”

“I couldn’t tell you that,” she replied. “There’s been a gentleman living there alone these past months. Mrs. Hallinan at number twenty-four used to clean for him, and kept it nice and neat. But then one day he fired her—he didn’t give a reason—and since then he must have been looking after himself. I’ve yet to see a gentleman who knows how to cook and clean, so I’m wondering about the state of the place. Probably nothing a good dose of elbow grease can’t cure.”

“Perhaps he sends out his laundry and takes his meals at a nearby café,” I said. “Some gentlemen like their privacy, particularly academic types.”

“I never saw the laundry cart stop at his house,” she said.

“What sort of man was he—friendly?” I felt bold enough to go on now.

“To start with, yes, he was pleasant enough. He spoke English with a strong accent, mind you, but you could understand him all right. But then one day he completely ignored me, and since then he’s hardly managed a civil nod if I bid him good day. Good riddance, I say. I like my neighbors to be friendly, don’t you? I hope you do move in here. You’ve a nice open face. Are you married with little ones? We could do with more children on this street.”

“I’ve a baby boy,” I said. “My husband’s with the police.”

“Perfect.” She beamed at me. “I’m Mrs. Rogers.”

“Sullivan,” I said, and we shook hands. I felt like a fraud as she closed her door, leaving me standing on the deserted street.

I felt so excited I was shaking now. Dr. Werner, who had been described as “a fine man,” and recommended by none other than Professor Freud, was initially friendly to his neighbors, but then he had recently become abrupt and rude. My preposterous idea now seemed to take on shape and reality. And Edward Deveraux had grown a beard. Mabel was in terrible danger. I couldn’t wait to find Daniel and tell him this. They were probably staying in one of those harbor-front rooming houses, close to the ships. I was about to walk away when I noticed one of the drapes was not completely drawn across the front window of number 18. I glanced both ways before I crossed the street, went up to the window, and tried to peer inside. Now that I had chatted with Mrs. Rogers about renting the place, I had a perfect excuse for nosiness. It was quite dark inside and I could see almost nothing, just the indistinct shapes of furniture under sheets. It certainly looked as if the place had been shut up and was no longer occupied.