Hush Now, Don't You Cry(99)

“I’m sorry,” I said. “My husband was part of a police task force looking into the tunnel collapse. If they can prove negligence or even corruption, then I’m sure you’ll get compensation.”

“It won’t bring him back, will it?” he said.

“No. It won’t bring him back.” I stood up. “Mr. Hermann, I’ll probably have to give your name to the police and they’ll come and question you, but I’ll delay as long as I can. Maybe they’ll have found the real culprit by then.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Because if they throw me in jail, then who will look after these little ones?” And he pointed toward the towheads in the doorway.

So I had established one thing—we could cross Joshua Hermann off the list of suspects, and since he was the only outsider who had been observed, again it was narrowed down to family. I couldn’t think of anyone else I could question, I made my way back to the station. With any luck I’d be back in Newport in time for tea.

As the train huffed and puffed its way along the coast I thought again about the family. Brian Hannan had had a falling out with his brother Joseph. Presumably Joseph was to blame for the substandard materials that caused the subway collapse that Daniel was investigating—and that was why he was so anxious to get Daniel out of the cottage. And that might also have been just one incident that led Brian Hannan to discover his brother had been cheating the company, But would that have made Joseph kill his brother? They were partners, after all. Brian couldn’t just throw his brother out. So my thoughts moved on to Terrence and then to Sam and I remembered something that Eliza had said. When Colleen fell from the cliff Sam had come running up late, looking guilty. If only Daniel was well enough, I’d leave the questioning of Sam to him. Men are so much better at extracting confessions from young boys.

My thoughts then turned to Kathleen. What would happen to her now that her protector had gone? Surely the rest of the family members would want her back in the asylum. How could I ever persuade them to leave her where she was in Mrs. McCreedy’s care, or better still, to let someone like Dr. Birnbaum see if he could help her.

It was only when I was on the train that I realized I had failed to do what I had claimed as my reason for going to New York—find a way to transport Daniel back home. That would look suspicious. So when the train came into Newport, I made first for the harbor and inquired about passenger ships that sailed to New York. I found there was a regular service up and down the coast and I could book a cabin with ease. My conscience thus cleared, I threw caution to the winds and took a cab to Connemara.

There were still a bevy of reporters milling around the gate. I had to push my way past them. Policemen were still guarding the gate, but they recognized me and let me in. I noticed more police outside the main house. Had something else happened? My heart beat a little faster as I walked up to the front door of our cottage. What if Daniel had taken a turn for the worse and I wasn’t there? I started walking faster and had almost broken into a run by the time I pushed the front door open. It was dark in the hallway and it took time for my eyes to accustom myself to the light and to see the figure standing at the bottom of the stairs. He spun to face me and I saw that it was Sam.





Thirty-four

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out.

His eyes darted nervously. “She said I could,” he said.

“She?”

“The old lady. I smelled the baking and she said I could come back when it was out of the oven.” He glanced back into the kitchen. “When I get scared I like to eat.”

“What are you scared about?” I tried to sound casual.

“You know. All the things that have been happening. Uncle Brian and now this. I want to go back to New York but the policeman says we have to stay.”

Mrs. Sullivan’s head poked around the kitchen door. “Oh, Molly, you’re back. Just in time for tea. And this young man too. I can see he needs fattening up and I’ve just been baking all of Daniel’s favorites—my soda bread and buns and Barmbrack.”

“Daniel is all right, isn’t he?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. Making splendid progress now he’s had a chance to eat some proper food,” she said. “He was talking of coming downstairs and sitting outside for a while. I gather the family is taking tea on the lawn. Well, poor things, I expect they are really shaken up by the latest developments.”

“What’s happened?” I asked.

She leaned closer to me. “It turns out that the owner of the place, the one who was murdered, was keeping his insane granddaughter up in that tower, and all this time the rest of the family thought she was safely in an asylum.”