Hush Now, Don't You Cry(103)

We reached the cottage door. I led the way and again bumped into Sam in the hallway.

“Hello, my boy, what have you been up to?” Chief Prescott asked.

Again the look of panic on Sam’s face. “Just eating some cake, sir,” Sam mumbled. “I’m on my way back.”

He pushed past us and almost ran down the path.

“That boy has something to hide,” Chief Prescott said. “Maybe I’ll take him aside and put the fear of the law into him.”

Daniel’s mother came out of the kitchen. “Don’t tell me you’re back again,” she began to say to the police chief, then saw me. “Oh, Molly, it’s you. This man keeps trying to see Daniel.”

“I think Daniel is now well enough for a visit,” I said, “and I’m sure he’ll want to be brought up to date with everything that has happened.”

“If you think so.” She gave me a look of resigned disgust. “You are his wife, after all.”

“Yes, I am. This way, please,” I said brightly and escorted the police chief up the stairs. As I had surmised, Daniel was pleased to see him. I decided that the police chief would speak more freely if they were alone.

“Don’t tire him out, Chief Prescott,” I said. “I’ll leave you two to talk.”

And I bowed out of the room. New York, I thought. I needed to go back to New York to find out about that list of place-names. But I could hardly leave Daniel again. Who could I send in my place? I wondered if any of the Hannan family clan could be considered an ally, then I remembered Eliza’s relieved face when she said, “It wasn’t one of us.” No. They’d want Kathleen to be guilty and this nightmare to be behind them.

I went into the drawing room and took paper from the desk, then I wrote a note to Sid and Gus. I need to speak with one of you on an urgent matter. Could one of you be spared for a while?

I blotted it and took it to the policeman at the front door. He agreed to deliver it and a few minutes later Sid appeared.

“Molly, you’re back. I suppose you’ve heard the news. What a sad, sad business. She seems such a sweet, gentle, pathetic little thing. And she’s inconsolable about the housekeeper.”

“I tried to persuade them to invite Dr. Birnbaum to examine her,” I said.

“What an excellent idea.”

“But they rejected it,” I finished. “I think everyone wants to believe her guilty.”

“And you still don’t?”

“I really don’t want to. I know all the evidence points to her, but something else came up when I was in New York. A list of place-names on Brian Hannan’s desk—and they seem to be places where Father Patrick Hannan has been a priest. I’d really like to go back to the city and check them out, but I shouldn’t leave Daniel again.”

“So you’d like one of us to do it.” Sid had a great way of reading my mind. “I’d be happy to. To tell you the truth, I’m finding being with that child most disturbing. Gus is so much better at this sort of thing and if anyone can get through to her, Gus will. So tell me what you’d like me to do?”

“I’m not quite sure,” I said. “I have a list of five place-names and I suspect they are all in the Hudson Valley. Could you check the archives of The New York Times and the Herald and see if these names turn up in any context in the last year or so?”

“I can do that,” Sid said. “What sort of context are you looking for?”

“I really don’t know,” I said. “But Brian Hannan wrote that list for a reason just before he came here.”

Sid nodded. “So any mention of these five places during the past few years? I’ve a good day’s work ahead of me then. And if I find anything I’ll telephone the house here.”

“Wonderful,” I said.

“I’ll go and tell Gus,” Sid said. “I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“And if she wants me to keep her company with Kathleen, I’d be happy to do so if the police will let me,” I said.

A flight of seagulls wheeled overhead crying. We looked up at the tower.

“You know what Gus and I thought before this happened,” Sid said speculatively. “We wondered if the child’s death all those years ago was an accident and somehow Brian Hannan blamed himself for it. How about this—the girls were in his care and he wasn’t paying attention and allowed the tragedy to happen. Perhaps it was a simple accident but in a moment of weakness he allowed the blame to fall on Kathleen. He’s lived with that guilt ever since and summoned everyone here to make a full confession and set things right.”