Murder on Sisters' Row

by Victoria Thompson

  “I know what it is. It just seems like an odd choice for secret drinking.”

  “According to the medical examiner, it’s popular with ladies because it tastes so good, unlike whiskey and its near relatives.”

  “I just remembered, she always carried peppermints with her. That would account for the minty smell of it on her breath, too.”

  “And the strong flavor would’ve covered up the bitterness of the laudanum. Doc Haynes said it only takes two or three spoonfuls of the stuff to kill you.”

  “It’s very dangerous. Suicides often use it because it’s cheap and easy to find and works so quickly and painlessly. Could Mrs. Van Orner have committed suicide?”

  “I guess it’s possible,” Frank said, “but I don’t have any reason to think so yet. I have to find out what happened at the rescue house that day.”

  “Which is why you need me to go with you.” He could tell she was trying not to gloat, but he guessed she couldn’t help it.

  Frank swallowed down his frustration again. “Tell me what you know about the women in this house.”

  “I don’t know much. I told you about Amy. She’s the girl whose baby I delivered. An Italian girl named Lisa manages the place. I didn’t meet anyone else who lives there.”

  “What about a Mrs. Spratt-Williams?”

  “She’s one of Mrs. Van Orner’s followers, I guess you could say. She helps with the rescues. Was she at the house yesterday?”

  “Yes, and according to Miss Yingling, she met with Mrs. Van Orner right before she left.”

  “She’s a friend of hers, I believe. My mother didn’t know her, but she’s a respectable matron, just like Mrs. Van Orner.”

  “Whose husband also likes prostitutes?” Frank guessed.

  “You’ll have to ask her about that,” Sarah replied with a knowing smile.

  “What do you know about Miss Yingling?”

  “Nothing except that she was Mrs. Van Orner’s secretary. She worked in her offices at the United Charities Building.”

  “And she lives with the Van Orners.”

  “She does? How odd.”

  “I thought so, too, but I wasn’t sure how close rich women like to keep their secretaries.”

  “They don’t usually have secretaries, so I can’t really say.”

  They interrupted their conversation to cross a particularly busy street, an act that required complete concentration to keep from being crushed to death by a horse or wagon. When they had arrived safely on the other side, Frank asked, “I guess this girl Amy was pretty grateful to Mrs. Van Orner for getting her out of Mrs. Walker’s house.”

  “Yes,” she agreed with an odd tone in her voice. “I thought so, too, until she named her baby after Mrs. Van Orner’s husband.”

  8

  FRANK WHISTLED. “I DON’T SUPPOSE SHE WAS JUST SHOWING her respect for Mrs. Van Orner.”

  “Not that I noticed. In fact, I got the feeling she knew exactly how much she was hurting Mrs. Van Orner when she announced it.”

  “Could Van Orner really be the baby’s father?”

  “Only two people know that for sure, and I doubt Mr. Van Orner will be very happy to discuss the matter with us.”

  “I think you’re probably right. If he is the father, though, then this Amy had a good reason to want Mrs. Van Orner dead.”

  “That’s what my mother said, too, but Amy would be foolish to do something so dangerous. She was a prostitute. She surely can’t expect Mr. Van Orner to marry her, even if the baby is his.”

  “She’s young, isn’t she? Young women get foolish ideas.”

  “I suppose they do. Is that what you want me to find out?”

  “I want you to find out who spent time with Mrs. Van Orner yesterday, what they talked about, and what her state of mind was. I also want you to find out where her purse with the flask in it was while she was meeting with these people.”

  “To find out if someone could have put the laudanum into it while she was busy doing something else.”

  “Yes, but don’t ask anybody if they did it.”

  The look she gave him would’ve curdled milk. “I’m not an idiot.”

  “I know you’re not, but one of those women is a murderer, and I don’t want you to be next.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t even like crème de menthe.”

  “They could put it in anything,” he said, exasperated.

  “I won’t eat or drink anything in that house. Will that make you happy?”

  “I wouldn’t say happy, but it’s a start.”

  “Is there anything else you want me to find out?”

  “If you think I should talk to any of them myself, see if you can get them to come out and meet with me.”

  “I doubt any of them will be particularly interested in meeting with a police detective.”

  “Then lie to them.”

  She pursed her lips to hold back a smile, an expression he knew well. “Where will you be?”

  “A coffee shop on the next block. We’ll pass by it on our way, so you’ll know where it is. I’ll wait for you there.”

  “I just happened to think, I doubt Mrs. Spratt-Williams will be at the house today. Maybe you can see her at her own house.”

  If this Spratt-Williams woman was as rich as Van Orner, he doubted she’d be particularly happy to see him. “Maybe.”

  They crossed another busy street, and Frank went over some of the questions he wanted her to ask of the women in the house. Then he showed her the coffee shop where he’d be waiting, and accompanied her to her destination, standing out on the sidewalk to make sure they let her in. Then he walked back to the coffee shop, prepared for a long, boring afternoon.

  LISA BIAFORE ANSWERED SARAH’S KNOCK. THE POOR girl looked frazzled, her dark hair straggling down out of its bun, her eyes red-rimmed and sad. “Oh, Mrs. Brandt, isn’t it? I almost didn’t recognize you. Have you heard about poor Mrs. Van Orner . . .” Her voice broke, and she pressed a hand to her lips to hold back a sob.

  “Yes, I did,” Sarah said, taking this opportunity to step inside. “I’m so sorry. I came to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

  “I don’t know of anything,” Lisa said, using the tail of her apron to wipe her eyes. “Unless you can tell us what’s going to happen to Mrs. Van Orner’s work now that she’s gone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This house and all of us. Will they shut it down? Where will we go? Nobody’s told us anything, and there’s not enough money here to keep us for more than a week. After that . . .”

  Her concerns were legitimate, and Sarah couldn’t imagine Mr. Van Orner continuing to finance a houseful of former prostitutes. “Have you seen Mrs. Spratt-Williams?”

  “No, not yet. Just Miss Yingling. She came by late last night to tell us about Mrs. Van Orner. She looked so different, I hardly recognized her. Acted different, too, like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. She didn’t seem sad at all about poor Mrs. Van Orner either.”

  “I’m sure she was just trying to put on a brave front,” Sarah said. “Mrs. Van Orner wouldn’t have approved of any displays of grief.”

  “You’re right about that, Mrs. Brandt. I never saw her even look angry until yesterday and then just for a minute, before she caught herself.”

  “When was that?” Sarah asked, trying not to sound too interested.

  “After she had a talk with that Amy. What a piece of work she is. I don’t know why Mrs. Van Orner didn’t throw her out into the street.”

  “I can see this has been very hard on you, Lisa. Can I make you some tea?”

  “Oh, Mrs. Brandt, I couldn’t let you do that!”

  “Of course you could. That’s what friends are for. Come along and let me take care of you.”

  The girl allowed Sarah to escort her back to the kitchen, but she insisted on helping prepare the tea things, since Sarah didn’t know where anything was. After a few minutes, they were seated at the kitchen table, waiting for
the tea to steep.

  “Can you tell me what happened here yesterday?”

  “You mean about the fight Amy had with Mrs. Van Orner?”

  “I mean everything, from the time Mrs. Van Orner arrived until she left.”

  “I suppose,” the girl said doubtfully.

  “I’ll help you remember,” Sarah said. “What was the first thing Mrs. Van Orner did when she arrived?”

  Lisa screwed up her face with the effort of remembering. “What she always did. She went into her office with Miss Yingling, and they looked over the accounts.”

  “She kept track of how much you spent here?”

  “Oh, yes. Her husband didn’t give her any money for this house, you see. He didn’t like her doing this sort of work at all.”

  “How did she pay for it then?”

  “She had some money of her own, I think, and her friends helped. But we had to be very careful. Sometimes she had to bring us food from her own house so we’d have enough.”

  “So she and Miss Yingling were in her office together. Was anyone with them?”

  “They called me in and asked me some questions about some things I’d bought, but just for a minute. Then I told her Amy wanted to see her.”

  “Why did Amy want to see her?”

  “I don’t know, probably to complain. That’s all she ever did. She didn’t like the food, she didn’t like her room, she didn’t like the clothes we got for her. Nothing was ever good enough for her. You’d think she’d forgot she’d been a whore when she came here with nothing but the clothes on her back.”

  “How is her baby doing?” Sarah had to ask.

  “Oh, he’s doing fine. Fat little thing, cute as a button. Not that she cares. She complains about having to feed him, too. If it was up to her, he’d never have a clean diaper either. The other girls and me, we look after him.”

  “That’s very nice of you.”

  “It’s only natural, ain’t it? To want to take care of a baby, even if it’s not yours?”

  “Yes, it is, or at least it should be.”

  Sarah checked the tea and judged it to be ready. She poured each of them a cup, remembering too late her promise to Malloy not to eat or drink anything. Of course, she’d prepared this with her own hands, so she thought it was pretty safe. “Where are the rest of the girls?”

  “There’s only two here now, and they’re in their rooms. I think they’re scared of what’s going to happen to them. We’ve all been real quiet today.”

  “So Amy and Mrs. Van Orner had a talk. Was Miss Yingling with them?”

  “Oh, no. Mrs. Van Orner sent her out. Amy wouldn’t have nothing to do with Miss Yingling, and Miss Yingling didn’t have much use for Amy neither.”

  “Did you happen to overhear anything?”

  “Do you mean were they shouting? Oh, no, Mrs. Van Orner was too well bred to shout. Not like my family was. They’d scream about every little thing. I had a hard time of it when I first come here. Mrs. Van Orner always says a lady doesn’t raise her voice. Took a long time for me to learn that.”

  “I still have a difficult time with it,” Sarah confided. “So you didn’t hear anything they said. How did Amy act when she came out?”

  “You mean was she mad or something?”

  “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

  “She wasn’t mad, that’s for sure.”

  “Happy?”

  “No, not that. I never seen Amy happy. Seems like nothing pleases her.”

  “Sad? Disappointed?”

  “Oh, no, just the opposite. She . . . she looked like the cat who swallowed the canary.”

  “Satisfied?”

  “That’s it. Satisfied, like she got her way about something.”

  “Did she say anything about it?”

  “Her? Not likely. She kept to herself. Never wanted nobody to know her business. Of course, we all figured she didn’t have any business. She liked to pretend she had secrets, but nobody ever coaxed her to tell them.”

  “What do you think her secrets were about?”

  “I don’t know. She called her baby Gregory. That’s Mr. Van Orner’s name, and she knowed it, too. That’s why she did it, I’m sure. She was mean that way.”

  “Maybe she named her baby after Mrs. Van Orner’s husband out of gratitude for what Mrs. Van Orner had done for her.”

  Lisa snorted rudely. “Not likely. If she was grateful, she never let on. No, I think she did it to be mean. It hurt Mrs. Van Orner, too. You could tell, even though she never said a thing. She never had children of her own, you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know that.”

  “She never talked about it to me, of course, but Miss Yingling told me never to mention it to her. Said it was one of the biggest disappointments of her life.”

  “I was here the day Amy named her baby,” Sarah reminded her. “She said she was naming him after his father.”

  “Oh, law, did she? That little witch! I don’t suppose she’s ever set eyes on Mr. Van Orner neither. I’m glad she’s gone.”

  “You’re glad Mrs. Van Orner’s gone?” Sarah asked in surprise.

  “Oh, no, I’m glad Amy’s gone, and good riddance to her, too.”

  “She’s gone? What happened to her?” If Mrs. Van Orner had thrown her out . . .

  “She packed up and left this morning right after breakfast. Never said nothing to nobody.”

  “Did she take the baby?”

  “Oh, yes. She wouldn’t part with him. She said he was her future, whatever that meant. I just wonder who’s gonna change his diapers now. Not her, I’m sure.”

  “Where would she have gone?”

  “Lord knows, maybe back to that house where she worked before. Girls always think they’ll take them back, but they never do. They can’t trust them no more. I don’t see why it matters, since they never trusted them to start with, but that’s how it is. She’ll be on the street, I suppose.”

  Sarah thought of the poor, innocent baby, and her heart ached. They were getting off the subject, though. Malloy would never let that happen. “So you thought Amy looked satisfied after her meeting with Mrs. Van Orner. How did Mrs. Van Orner look?”

  “That’s when I told you she looked mad. Not like a normal person would, mind you, but mad for her. She had her mouth all pinched together and her eyes was all bright, like she had a fire inside of her. Then she saw me looking at her, and she quick went back in her office and shut the door.”

  Sarah remembered the way Mrs. Van Orner usually calmed herself down. “Did she have her purse in the office with her?”

  “Her purse?”

  “Yes, her purse. I know it doesn’t sound important, but it is.”

  Lisa looked confused but she gave the question some thought. “I don’t know for sure. I wasn’t looking for it.”

  “Where did she usually put it when she was here?”

  “Oh, I know. She usually put it on the table in the hall. I remember because the first time I saw her do it, I said she should keep it with her, considering the type of women who live in this house, and she said to me—I’ll never forget—she said, ‘Miss Biafore, we must treat these women the same way we would treat them if they was respectable if we ever hope they will become respectable.’ ”

  “So she usually left her purse out where anyone could have found it?”

  “Yes, and as far as I know, nobody ever bothered it.”

  Sarah didn’t mention that someone had undoubtedly bothered it yesterday. “So what else did Mrs. Van Orner do after she met with Amy?”

  “She was only in the office alone for a few minutes before Mrs. Spratt-Williams went in to see her.”

  “Had Mrs. Spratt-Williams just arrived?”

  “Oh, no, she was here for a while. She’d brought over some things for the baby and some clothes she’d collected at her church. For the women. They never have decent clothes when they come here.”

  “Do you know what she talked with Mrs. Van Orner about?”

&nb
sp; Lisa stiffened slightly. “No. They don’t tell me their business.”

  “But you have an idea.”

  “How could I have an idea? They don’t tell me nothing.”

  “Miss Yingling said you were the last one to speak with Mrs. Van Orner before she left the house yesterday.”

  “I guess I was,” she said unhappily.

  “Did she seem angry or upset about anything?”

  Lisa shook her head. “She was always kind to me. I told her Amy was causing all kinds of trouble, and she said I shouldn’t worry about it. She said Amy would be gone soon.”

  “And that’s all?”

  “Yes, she seemed like she was in a hurry, and she left right after that. Miss Yingling came asking after her a few minutes later and was real surprised that she’d left without her. I was, too.”

  “So she must have had something on her mind that distracted her. Can you think of what it might have been?”

  Lisa stared at Sarah for a long moment, as if trying to judge her intent, and then she shook her head.

  Sarah knew she was lying. She reached over and laid her hand on Lisa’s arm. “You’ve been in charge of this place for a long time. I’m sure you know everything that goes on here. You’re not being disloyal to talk about it now, and you might help us find out who killed Mrs. Van Orner.”

  Lisa’s dark eyes widened. “Killed? You don’t mean she was murdered!”

  Sarah wanted to bite her tongue. “Well, they don’t know for sure,” she hedged quickly.

  “Miss Yingling never said nothing about murder. She said Mrs. Van Orner died real sudden, that’s all.”

  “That’s all she knew then. As I said, we aren’t really sure yet.”

  “What do they think killed her then?”

  “She may have eaten something that . . .” Sarah gestured vaguely.

  Lisa’s eyes widened with horror. “She was poisoned?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “Not from something she ate here. She never ate nothing here. She and Miss Yingling, they was always real careful not to use up our supplies. She’d hardly drink a cup of coffee here.”

  “Did she drink any yesterday?”

  “Not that I know of. She was pretty busy. No, if somebody poisoned her, it was probably somebody at her own house.”