The Girl Is Murder (31 page)
Read The Girl Is Murder Online
Authors: Kathryn Miller Haines
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Family, #General, #Historical, #Military & Wars
The little weakness I’d seen in her disappeared. “What do you want from me?” she hissed.
“I want you to make Suze forgive me.”
“Oh, little girl—I’m afraid you’re going to have to do that on your own.”
I WAITED UNTIL SUZE was off work to talk to her. As she exited Normandie’s and started for home, I rushed to catch up with her. She didn’t seem surprised to see me. Or happy about it.
“Rhona already broke the news,” she told me.
That was good. At least I was spared from having to do it twice. “Could I talk to you for a second?”
“If you make it fast. I’m meeting Maria.” Her pace slowed slightly. I no longer had to jog to keep up with her.
“I’m so sorry. About Tommy. About everything.” I had no idea what else to say. “Here.” I passed her a bag with her skirt, shoes, and jewelry in it. She checked the contents and then tucked the sack under her arm.
“I bet you got it good when your pop found you in Harlem.”
“It wasn’t pretty.”
“How’d he find out where you were?”
“My aunt told him.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“My real aunt,” I said. “I ran into her near Grace’s apartment. She called him and he realized I wasn’t where I told him I’d be. I guess once he realized I lied about that, he figured he better check all the places I’d been lately without permission, including the Savoy.”
“So I’m not the only one you lie to?”
That hurt. Not that it wasn’t true. “I didn’t mean to lie about my pop. That first day I was so desperate to make a friend, and so when you assumed my pop was at war, I just let you. And by the time Tom disappeared and Pop got involved, it was too late for me to make things right.”
She lit a cigarette. “And what about your mother?”
“That was true. Every word of it. I know you don’t trust me, and you have every reason not to, but please believe me when I say I didn’t mean to hurt you. I like you, Suze. I liked all of you.” I felt naked standing there on the sidewalk with her.
She tweaked her mouth to the left and exhaled. “I like you, too, baby girl.”
“You coming, Suze?” Maria appeared up the street. In the shadows behind her I could see Benny and Dino.
“I’m on my way,” said Suze. “You better head home while the sun’s still up,” she told me. “You don’t want your pop to blow another gasket.”
“Will do.”
She took two steps and turned back to me. “And remember, baby girl—be good.”
I watched them walk away and then headed toward the Orchard Street house. The local businesses were winding down for the evening. Signs in English and Hebrew lured passersby to stop and buy day-old loaves of pumpernickel bread, hand-rolled cigars, and fish piled into barrels. Women called out to one another from the line outside Kamiskey’s butcher shop, wishing each other a good evening and asking after their families. The sun started its descent and the air filled with the sounds of children finishing their last games of hopscotch and kick the can before their mothers called them inside. As I rounded the corner, my stomach growled in hunger. With any luck, dinner would be waiting for me and so would Pop and Mrs. Mrozenski. There would probably be a fire burning in the parlor and the radio would be tuned to the evening news.
I quickened my pace, eager to reach home.
Text copyright © 2011 by Kathryn Miller Haines
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Published by Roaring Brook Press
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Book design by Alexander Garkusha
eISBN 9781429966610
First eBook Edition : August 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haines, Kathryn Miller.
The girl is murder / Kathryn Miller Haines.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In 1942 New York City, fifteen-year-old Iris grieves for her mother who committed suicide and for the loss of her life of privilege, and secretly helps her father with his detective business since he, having lost a leg at Pearl Harbor, struggles to make ends meet.
[1. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 2. Fathers and daughters—Fiction. 3. Private investigators—Fiction. 4. Missing persons—Fiction. 5. Social classes—Fiction. 6. New York (N.Y.)—History—20th century—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H128123Gir 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2010032935
First edition 2011
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