Murder on Trinity Place

by Victoria Thompson

  Theda raised a trembling hand to her lips as she absorbed this information. “You think . . . He’s the one, isn’t he? The one who killed Father and Harvey?”

  * * *

  • • •

  Gino juiced the motorcar again, racing after the milk wagon at speeds Frank was sure exceeded twenty miles per hour. Frank somehow managed not to be thrown over the backseat and completely out of the motorcar, and he held on for dear life as Gino expertly cut across the horse’s path and set it rearing in terror.

  As soon as the motorcar stopped, Frank clambered down. He could clearly see no one was in the milk wagon’s driver’s seat. The horse must have been frightened into running, and when Frank reached the back, he saw the doors hanging open, the wreath gone, and the rear section of the wagon completely empty.

  “They’re not here,” Frank shouted, running back and jumping into the front passenger seat. He pointed in the direction from which the wagon had come, and Gino jerked the tiller toward it, accelerating the vehicle like a madman.

  * * *

  • • •

  Theda, what’s wrong?” her mother demanded. She’d been drawn by the sound of Theda’s distressed cry when she’d realized what had become of her husband. Otto Bergman was at Mrs. Pritchard’s heels, also demanding to know what was going on.

  “Amelio Bruno is the one who killed Father and Harvey!” Theda cried. “And now he’s got Nelson.”

  “What do you mean he’s got Nelson?” her mother asked.

  Sarah explained as briefly and as tactfully as she could. The need to protect Theda from the truth was gone now.

  “How did Malloy know where they were going?” Bergman asked, and Sarah heard a tone in his voice she had never heard him use before. This was Lou Lawson, she knew.

  “I think they were trying to follow the milk wagon. I imagine it wasn’t too difficult to keep it in sight.”

  “But Bruno would have gotten a good head start. Where are those people from the dairy?” Bergman moved to the dining room door and scanned the remaining crowd. Within moments he had informed them of the crisis and sent them off to search the dairy and to find Bruno’s lodgings and search them as well.

  Sarah doubted Bruno would go to either place, but she recognized Bergman’s need to do something and the employees’ need to help and left them to it.

  The remaining mourners either offered to help with the search or simply slipped away, instinctively recognizing that the Pritchard family’s new tragedy did not require an audience. Mrs. Pritchard and Mother Malloy took charge of Mrs. Ellsworth and Theda, making them as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, while Maeve and Sarah tried to answer everyone’s questions, even though they had no more idea of what was going on than anyone else did.

  Otto Bergman had the most questions, and when he was satisfied he’d gotten every fact that Maeve and Sarah actually knew, he’d telephoned someone—Sarah strongly suspected it was his “girl secretary,” as Malloy had called her—and instructed her to spread the word to his men that he was offering a reward for the safe return of Nelson Ellsworth.

  Sarah doubted the reward would be claimed. When she checked the clock on the mantel, she realized how much time had passed since Nelson had disappeared. If Bruno had intended to murder him, he’d certainly had ample time to do so unless Malloy had managed to catch up to him first. What chance would anyone else have of happening upon Bruno and Nelson in time?

  Mother Malloy had just directed the maids to fix everyone some strong, hot coffee when the telephone rang, its insistent shrill cutting the air like a knife. Everyone turned toward the sound, but for a long moment no one moved. It could be heralding good news, but it could also mean disaster. When no one made a move toward it after the second ring, Sarah rose.

  “I’ll get it.”

  It rang a third time before Sarah could reach the place of honor where it sat in the front hall. She picked it up, holding the mouthpiece close to her lips, and snatched the earpiece from its holder. “Hello, Pritchard residence.”

  “Sarah, is that you?” Malloy’s voice crackled through the line.

  “Yes! Where are you?”

  “Police Headquarters.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Frank craned his neck, searching frantically in every direction, seeking signs of life in every shadow and finding nothing time after time. Gino was searching, too, moving the tiller back and forth as he swerved this way and that, hoping for a better view.

  Then they saw them.

  Two figures so closely locked in struggle that at first they seemed to be one enormous beast thrashing in the darkness.

  “There!” Frank shouted, but Gino had already steered straight toward them.

  Frank leaped from the motorcar before Gino even managed to stop it, and he raced toward the two men. One figure loomed over the other, hands around his throat, forcing the other to his knees.

  “Bruno!” Frank shouted, and the figure jolted in surprise.

  But before Frank could reach them, the figure on his knees delivered a roundhouse punch to his attacker’s head, sending him sprawling.

  Which was which? Frank realized it didn’t matter. He ran to the sprawled figure while Gino went to the other. Frank recognized Bruno as he scrambled to his feet again, but this time Frank stopped him cold with a solid punch to the stomach, just the way he’d learned to handle rowdy drunks when he’d been a patrolman. A follow-up sock to the jaw sent Bruno down in a heap that didn’t move again.

  Frank turned to see Gino helping Nelson Ellsworth to his feet. He was rubbing his neck and coughing. “Are you all right, Nelson?”

  “I think so,” he managed. “He was going to kill me.”

  “We finally figured that out.”

  “He wanted to marry Theda,” Nelson said in amazement. “He thought she wanted to marry him, too.”

  “I think we’ll find that Mr. Bruno is a little crazy,” Gino said.

  Bruno groaned.

  “Or more than a little,” Frank said.

  * * *

  • • •

  Police Headquarters?” Sarah echoed, aware that everyone else had followed her out and now stood eavesdropping.

  “Yes. Tell Theda that Nelson is fine.”

  “Nelson is fine,” she announced to sighs and cries and cheers. “Why are you at Police Headquarters?”

  “We delivered Bruno to O’Connor. He was very grateful after I told him Lou Lawson would most likely give him a reward.”

  Sarah glanced at Otto Bergman, who was watching her very closely. “I’m sure he will.”

  Malloy told her they would take Nelson home to his own house as soon as he’d given his statement, and she let Frank go back to finishing up his business.

  “What did he say?” Theda asked, tears of joy running down her face.

  “He said they’re going to take Nelson home, but he has to tell the police what happened to him first.”

  “I’ll send you and Mrs. Ellsworth home in my carriage to meet him,” Bergman said.

  In the end, Sarah joined them, along with Mother Malloy and Maeve. Bergman had decided to remain behind with Mrs. Pritchard, who refused Theda’s invitation to join them. “I’m sure Nelson won’t feel much like company, and besides, I’m exhausted. I’ll come over tomorrow to hear all about it.”

  The men had not yet returned when Bergman’s carriage delivered the women to Bank Street, but Sarah and her crew refused the invitation to wait at the Ellsworth house. They agreed with Mrs. Pritchard that Nelson wouldn’t be in any condition for company and would appreciate being ministered to only by his wife and mother.

  They heard the motorcar when the men finally arrived home and waited patiently while Malloy and Gino delivered Nelson to his loved ones and put the motorcar away. When the men came in, they all gathere
d around the kitchen table while Mother Malloy scrambled some eggs and made toast for the weary rescuers, who entertained them with the story of their adventure.

  “Nelson was holding his own,” Gino said when Malloy had finished. “But he was very glad to see us, all the same.”

  “Bruno didn’t say it, but it was pretty obvious he intended to strangle Nelson and throw his body in the river,” Malloy added.

  “How on earth did he get Nelson into the wagon in the first place?” Maeve asked.

  “He told him he’d brought something for the family, something from the dairy employees, I think he said,” Malloy said.

  “So Nelson went to help him carry it in,” Gino continued. “Once they were at the wagon, Bruno opened the doors and punched Nelson.”

  “While he was stunned, Bruno pushed him into the back of the wagon and shut the doors,” Malloy added.

  “I couldn’t see any of that from the house, so I didn’t realize what had happened until Bruno drove away and Nelson was gone,” Gino said.

  “But how did he hope to get away with it?” Sarah asked in amazement.

  “The same way he’d gotten away with killing Pritchard and Harvey,” Malloy said. “He had no idea we’d finally figured out that he was the killer, so he was feeling pretty confident, I guess.”

  “And he’d made sure there were no witnesses to any of the murders,” Gino said. “Even this time, he didn’t know we were watching him, and if anybody saw Nelson go outside with him, he could just say he was leaving and didn’t know what had happened to Nelson.”

  “As far as anybody knew, he didn’t have a reason to kill any of them, either,” Malloy said.

  “So Theda really was the reason?” Maeve asked.

  “Yes,” Malloy said. “He’d been stewing for months over Mr. Pritchard telling him he had no business courting Theda.”

  “Didn’t he at least have the sense to give up on the poor girl when she married Nelson?” Mother Malloy asked as she went around the table refilling coffee cups.

  “As a matter of fact, he convinced himself that Pritchard had forced her to marry Nelson and that she really wanted him,” Malloy said.

  “Why did he wait so long to get his revenge, then?” Maeve asked.

  “I think the business with Harvey’s gambling and using the milk wagons to move stolen goods gave him the idea of how to get away with it,” Malloy said. “When Harvey came to the dairy on New Year’s Eve, he told White and Bruno that his father was going to tell the police what was going on. Bruno didn’t care one way or the other, but he realized that would be a good reason for White or his men to kill Pritchard.”

  “I see,” Sarah said. “So he followed Harvey down to the church.”

  “Or just went there on his own, since Harvey had told them where Pritchard would be,” Gino said.

  “Harvey said he never found his father, but Bruno obviously did,” Malloy said.

  “Did he admit it?” Maeve asked in wonder.

  “He was actually bragging about it by the time O’Connor got finished with him,” Gino reported gleefully.

  Mother Malloy muttered something disapproving.

  “But why kill Harvey?” Maeve asked.

  “White told me last night that Harvey and Bruno had an argument on Monday night. Harvey thought Lou Lawson had stopped using the milk wagons, and he was angry that Bruno had lied to him. According to Bruno, Harvey even threatened to fire him, and he certainly wasn’t going to welcome Bruno as a suitor for his sister, so Bruno taunted Harvey on Tuesday about using the wagons again, and Harvey came back that night to make sure nothing was going on.”

  “But White knew he’d left Bruno and Harvey alone at the dairy that night,” Maeve said. “He was a witness.”

  “Mr. White is not the sort of man who volunteers to testify in murder trials,” Sarah said. “I’m sure Mr. Bruno wasn’t worried about him coming forward.”

  “Not at all,” Malloy confirmed. “And with Harvey and Pritchard out of the way, all he had to do was remove Nelson, and Theda would be his.”

  “Didn’t Theda have anything to say about that?” Maeve asked in outrage.

  “Don’t forget, Bruno believed she was secretly in love with him.”

  “How could he believe a thing like that?” Mother Malloy asked. She’d taken a seat at the table, too.

  Maeve smiled sweetly at Gino. “Young men are often delusional where romance is concerned.”

  * * *

  • • •

  I’m so nervous,” Jocelyn Vane said, placing a hand over her stomach. “What if he’s changed his mind?”

  They were tucked into the motorcar and wending their way through the streets to Jack Robinson’s house. Gino was driving, but he was only a chauffeur today and wasn’t going to stay for the ceremony.

  “I’m sure Mr. Robinson is just as nervous and wondering if you’ve changed your mind, too,” Sarah said.

  “Even if he did change his mind, one look at you today and he’ll change it back again,” Gino shouted up from the front.

  Jocelyn’s mouth dropped open, so it was lucky Gino hadn’t turned around to take a look at her himself. Sarah had to cover a smile. “You do look lovely,” she said.

  “I had to let this dress out. I’m getting fat. Do you think the judge will know?”

  Sarah was sure the judge would have already guessed the reason for this hasty ceremony, but she said, “You still look fine.”

  “Am I doing the right thing, Mrs. Malloy?”

  “That’s a question only you can answer. We can take you back to the clinic if you like.”

  But Jocelyn didn’t like that idea at all. She just shook her head and set her chin at a determined angle and stared straight forward until they reached their destination.

  “Here is your new home,” Sarah told her when Gino had stopped the motorcar.

  “It’s very nice,” Jocelyn said in surprise.

  “Yes, it is,” Sarah said.

  Malloy helped them both down from the tonneau, and Sarah allowed Jocelyn to hold her arm while they walked the short distance to the front stoop after they’d removed their goggles and dusters.

  Tom O’Day opened the door and greeted them warmly. He wore his formal butler’s outfit and looked very grand. “It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Malloy,” he added.

  “Tom is an old friend,” Sarah told Jocelyn.

  “We’re very pleased to welcome you, miss,” Tom said with a small bow. “Everything is ready in the parlor, but Mr. Robinson thought you might want to freshen up after the ride in the motorcar. I’m told they’re awfully windy.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of Mr. Robinson,” Jocelyn said, and Sarah smiled at the change in her. Suddenly, she’d transformed into the lady of the house, assuming the authority she would have here. If she was still nervous, it no longer showed.

  “Callie will take you ladies upstairs,” Tom said with an approving smile, indicating the maid waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “Mr. Malloy, Mr. Robinson asks if you will join him and the judge in the parlor.”

  Malloy was only too glad to make his escape, and the girl showed Sarah and Jocelyn to a bedroom that had been furnished with feminine touches but had the echoing emptiness of a room that was never used. “Do you suppose he intends this room to be mine?” Jocelyn asked, checking the wardrobe and finding it empty.

  “I’m sure he hopes you’ll be sharing his room, but this is a pleasant room all the same,” Sarah said.

  The two of them made repairs to their hair and when they were ready, Sarah opened the door to find the maid waiting with a small bouquet. “Mr. Robinson thought you’d like to carry this, miss,” she said, dropping a tiny curtsy.

  From Jocelyn’s expression, she would like it very much.

  * * *

  • • •

 
Frank found Robinson and the judge in the parlor. The judge sat calmly on a sofa while Robinson paced nervously. “Is everything all right?” he asked the instant Frank stepped into the room.

  “Perfectly fine. The ladies have gone to do whatever they do to make themselves more beautiful.”

  Robinson introduced Frank to the judge, but Frank well remembered him from his own days as a police detective.

  “Did your visit with Lou Lawson have any repercussions?” Robinson asked when Frank and the judge had finished reminiscing.

  “Lou Lawson?” the judge echoed in amazement. “What business did you have with him?”

  “A case I was working on, and you’ll be glad to know Mr. Lawson is very happy with the outcome. We found the murderer and Lawson wasn’t involved at all.”

  “So I shouldn’t worry that he’ll bear me a grudge?” Robinson asked with mock concern.

  “Not at all. In fact, if you need any favors from him, this might be a good time to ask.”

  The men were still chuckling over that outrageous statement when the parlor door opened and Jocelyn Vane made her entrance.

  * * *

  • • •

  The maid escorted Sarah and Jocelyn downstairs and opened the parlor door for them. The men had been laughing about something, but they ceased the instant the door opened. Sarah stood back so Jocelyn could enter first. She wore a pale rose gown with darker pink roses and bright green leaves embroidered around the edges. Her hair was intricately knotted, thanks to Maeve’s skill, and she wore a hat with a small veil over her eyes. The color suited her perfectly, and brought out the natural roses in her cheeks.

  Jack’s smile told Sarah—and hopefully Jocelyn—that he was far from changing his mind. In fact, he looked very happy with his choice at this moment. He came forward to greet them and lifted Jocelyn’s hand to his lips as he had once before. The gesture had the desired effect of enchanting her once again.