Under the Dragon’s Tail
- Автор: Jennings Maureen
- Серия: The Murdoch Mysteries #2
- Год: 2008
- Язык: английский
- Год: McClelland & Stewart
- ISBN: 9781551992815
- Жанр: Исторические детективы
Электронная книга - «Under the Dragon’s Tail». Краткое содержание книги:
Women rich and poor come to her, desperate and in dire need of help – and discretion. Dolly Merishaw is a midwife and an abortionist in Victorian Toronto, but although she keeps quiet about her clients' condition, her contempt for them and her greed leaves every one of them resentful and angry. So it comes as no surprise to Detective William Murdoch when this malicious woman is murdered. What is a shock, though, is that a week later a young boy is found dead in Dolly's squalid kitchen. Now, Murdoch isn't sure if he's hunting one murderer – or two. From the Paperback edition.
“And will she?”
“She says so. Very kind lady. She’s going to look out for a position for both of them. After they’re married.”
“Meredith thought you and Mrs. Pedlow were very chummy.”
“Did he?” She applied a thick black line on her lower lid and began to draw in lashes. “Well we’re all sisters under the skin, aren’t we. Like I said, she’s a kind lady. She sympathized with my situation. Talking about men draws women closer. We got along like bees on shit.”
“Dolly Shaw was in possession of some herbs that will bring on a miscarriage.”
His attempt to unsettle her didn’t work.
She was reddening her full lips now, in complete control.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a good thing somebody will help women when they need it. Prevents a lot of misery.”
“Maybe you went to River Street to get something to bring on your sister.”
“I already told you I didn’t.” She tapped on his notebook with a long fingernail. “You’d better write it down. You keep forgetting.”
He was getting nowhere and he was so exasperated he knew it could affect his judgement. It was not out of the question that Golding had made up the story, but he hadn’t seemed like a vindictive man. However, he’d already made one assumption that was wrong. He didn’t want to make the same mistake with Annie Brogan.
“Give me your exact address, I’m going to have to speak to your sister.”
There was a sharp rap on the door.
“Visitor, Annie!”
“Just a minute.”
“I live at number two-forty-seven, Mill Street, right across from the distillery. Nice down there, smells good. Will you leave now? You’ve got your answer. People who come here aren’t that partial to police officers. I don’t want to frighten them off, do I?”
Murdoch entered the information in his notebook, picked up his hat, and squeezed past Annie to the door. As he did so, she untied the demure shawl, letting it fall so that her breasts swelled into view. She watched for his reaction in the mirror and smiled in satisfaction when she caught the unavoidable glance.
When he stepped out into the hall, a young man was leaning against the wall, waiting. It was the long-haired dandy who had got up to dance with Annie earlier. He did not respond to Murdoch’s acknowledgement. Morose fellow. He and Annie Brogan deserved each other.
He went directly to Mill Street and, as he expected, a frightened Millie Brogan confirmed her sister’s alibi. He could get no other information and she cried so easily and so constantly, he left as soon as he could.
It was a fair hike from there back up to Jarvis Street and Louise Kenny was already waiting for him outside Saltley. As soon as she saw him approaching she hurried towards him. She had changed her clothes and at first he didn’t know why she looked so odd. Then he realized she was wearing a dress that was more suitable for winter and seemed far too small for her. It was a woollen walking costume, dark green with wide lapels of brown satin and an abundance of gold trimming along the seams. Her wrists protruded out of the sleeves, her yellow kid gloves didn’t suit.
She indicated the house behind her. “Can we walk a little?” She was quite excited and, far from feeling guilty, she was obviously enjoying the role of informer. He offered her his arm and sedately they proceeded up Jarvis Street. Her hat was so wide and loaded with artificial fruit and flowers that he wondered she could even hold her head up. It meant he had to keep his distance or risk blinding from one of the stems.
“Mr. Murdoch, I only can spare twenty minutes at the most.”
“Mrs. Pedlow is back then?”
“Yes. She was out for about an hour.”
“And?”
“I asked Taylor as you requested and he said she went to the Avonmore Hotel. That’s where Henry Pedlow is staying.”
“You thought Mrs. Pedlow didn’t like her nephew but she seems most eager to see him, upsetting everybody’s plans like that.”
“Most peculiar, isn’t it? Taylor was ticked off because the horse has been a bit lame and Mrs. Pedlow insisted on going at a canter all the way to the hotel. As if they were going to a fire.”
Or from one, thought Murdoch.
“She has been quite out of sorts since she returned. She has requested dinner to be served in her own sitting room and she doesn’t even want to be with Miss Sarah.”
“Did Taylor know why? What happened?”
Louise frowned. “Taylor is interested only in horses, Mr. Murdoch. Or whether or not the carriage has a squeak. His own mother could be sitting in front of him in a state of suicidal melancholy and he wouldn’t notice.”
Her voice was sharp and Murdoch wondered if the oblivious coachman had previously stirred Miss Kenny’s affections.
“Is she in some sort of trouble?” she asked.
“Frankly, I don’t know.”
“I must say, I hope not. She is not a warm woman but she can be generous. She gives me her gowns when she no longer needs them.”
“Is that one of them?”
“Yes. I had to alter it a little but it is imported from New York, in America, and there is not another one like it in all of Toronto.”
“Most becoming, if I may say so, Miss Kenny.”
She flushed and looked so happy he felt like a rat. He was acting as self-serving as any masher and it wasn’t fair.
“One more thing, Miss Kenny.” He took the calling card out of his pocket and showed it to her. “This does belong to Mrs. Pedlow, does it not?”
She studied the card briefly. “In a manner of speaking. She has much more fashionable cards now. Narrower, with a more flowing print. I haven’t seen this style before.”
“Thank you. You have been invaluable.”
It was time to turn around and take her back. At the gate, she offered him her hand to shake.
“If I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I will be most discreet.”
Her expression was so wistful, he almost wished he had another task for her.
Chapter Fourteen
Lily lay watching the sky through the trees. She had been lying like this for a long time, until the stars disappeared and the branches came into relief against the coming dawn. When she was in jail, she had spent most of her time watching the window. All she could see was a patch of sky, all that happened was the changing of the light. She concentrated on that until she fell into a trancelike state that was warm and safe. She would go there and not stir until the matron shook her roughly awake and indicated it was time for the next meal. Everybody treated her as if she were simple, even the other inmates. Some of them truly were simple and others were insane. Most of them, however, were poor women who committed crimes out of desperate need. A few of these had made a living as prostitutes and they were treated the worst.
Lily knew what she had done was so bad even these outcasts shunned her, and in the lonely five years of her imprisonment she made friends with no one.
Stiffly, she crawled out of the den. Her side ached from the hard ground and as best as she could she stretched underneath the branches of the willow. The river was fretting against the fallen tree as if it wanted to move it out of the way. Lily reached over, scooped up some water, and poured it over her forehead. And again, and once again. When she was a young girl, she had watched a christening in the village church. The priest had made those gestures over the newborn infant. The baby hadn’t cried at all, a good sign, and the parents and grandparents gathered around the font seemed joyous. The baby was bathed in their delight and welcome.