Hush Now, Don’t You Cry (3 page)

“Well, let me know if you need anything. And I’d make use of the solitude now if I were you because things are going to be pretty lively come Friday.”

With that she departed, leaving us alone.

Three

I waited until the door closed behind her, then I turned to glare at Daniel.

“Did you know that a whole lot of people were going to be here with us?” I asked.

Daniel shifted uncomfortably under my questioning stare. “No, I didn’t.”

“Then why exactly did this alderman invite us here at the same time as his family? Surely it wasn’t the best of times. And a man like that must have had a reason, other than the goodness of his heart.”

Daniel chuckled. “You’re too sharp for your own good. All right, I suppose there must have been a motive, other than the goodness of his heart.”

“I knew it!” I said angrily. “I knew there was something fishy about this. Important men don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts—not unless they want something. So what does this alderman want you to do for him? You’re not here to work on a case, are you?”

Daniel put his hands on my shoulders. “Calm down, firebrand. I’m not here to work. He wanted to speak to me about something—something that was troubling him, he said. He thought he might have got it wrong.”

“Got what wrong?”

“He didn’t say. He just said he valued my judgment and he’d like me to see for myself. That’s all I know.”

“So you’ve worked with him before? You know all about his affairs?”

Daniel smiled. “I doubt that anyone knows all about his affairs. If anyone could be said to have a finger in every pie, it would be Brian Hannan. He and his brother own a big construction company, as you probably know. They only take on important jobs now—bridges, tunnels, that kind of thing. You might have heard that they’re currently building the subway under the streets of New York. And you know that he’s also involved in politics—he’s been a big noise at Tammany Hall for years and recently got himself elected alderman. And now he’s after even bigger things, so we hear. I think he’s got his eye on a state senate seat, but he doesn’t want to give up his control of Tammany Hall, to make sure he has all those votes in his pocket.”

“Goodness,” I said. “A busy man indeed.”

“Maybe he’s finally bitten off more than he can chew,” Daniel said. “He’s handed over the day-to-day running of Hannan Construction to his brother. And to tell you the truth, we’ve had our eyes on Hannan Contruction for quite a while. They sail close to the wind, but we’ve never managed to nab them yet.”

“What kind of sailing close to the wind?”

“Contract fixing, that kind of thing. With the help of Tammany, of course. But Tammany elections are coming up soon. Brian Hannan wants to make sure his candidate wins. But the rank and file seem to favor a guy called Murphy. So Hannan’s political ambitions may have lost him his influence here. City alderman means that he’s now part of the establishment. That doesn’t always go down well with Tammany. Should be interesting.”

“Do you think he’s invited you here to bribe you?” I asked.

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Daniel smiled again. “And in the meantime we’ll make the most of his hospitality. Let’s see if he’s left us a well-stocked wine cellar.”

“Daniel!” I gave a nervous laugh. I was only just understanding the ramifications of being a New York policeman’s wife. There were rules, but those rules could be successfully bent at the right time and place, so it seemed. At least I didn’t have to worry about Daniel being crooked like some of his fellow officers.

We conducted a quick tour of our little guest cottage. It was simple but adequate—the downstairs consisted of a living room, dining room and kitchen, and two bedrooms upstairs with the bathroom between them. The larder was well stocked and to Daniel’s satisfaction there was a barrel of beer and some bottles of wine. “Let’s go for a walk. The sun is shining,” Daniel said.

“We need to clear away the breakfast things first,” I said.

“I wonder if they have a newspaper delivered up at the big house?” Daniel looked around.

“Don’t think you’re going to get out of doing your share of the housekeeping while we’re here, Daniel Sullivan,” I said. “You didn’t marry a drudge. Here, stack up those plates while I go and run some hot water.”

Daniel sighed but didn’t protest. Half an hour later we were walking through the lovely grounds, enjoying the warm sun on our faces. The occasional downed tree limb and drifts of fallen leaves were the only signs of last night’s fury. Today the air was balmy enough to allow us to walk with no overcoats and the breeze from the ocean was gentle and tinged with just enough saltiness to be delightful. I slipped my hand through Daniel’s arm, still enjoying the new feeling of being a couple. Marriage wasn’t so bad after all. I don’t know why I had protested for so long.

Our route took us away from the big house, through a stand of Scotch pine trees and rhododendron bushes. Suddenly we came out to find ourselves at the top of the cliff with wicked-looking rocks on the shoreline below. There was no fence or wall and Daniel grabbed my arm, dragging me back. “Don’t take another step,” he said. “We don’t know if the edge is overhanging.”

“I’m glad we didn’t blunder too far last night,” I commented. “We might have wound up on those rocks.”

We stepped back as a particularly big wave crashed onto the rocks and the sheet of white spray came up toward us. But the cliff was too high and it didn’t reach us.

“Do you fancy a swim?” Daniel asked wickedly.

“I swam in wilder seas than that when I was a child,” I replied, meeting his gaze. “But that was a long time ago now. I think I’ll stick to more sedate occupations. And I’d like to take a look inside the big house while we still have the place to ourselves, wouldn’t you?”

“It might be interesting to see if Hannan has acquired taste along with money,” Daniel agreed.

We completed the circle by walking past the tennis court, a croquet lawn, and then the fountain. There was even a pretty little gazebo, hidden among trees.

“This place has everything,” Daniel said. “I wonder if Hannan has ever allowed himself enough time to enjoy it. Men like him devote their lives to making money.”

“We are definitely going to allow enough time to enjoy ourselves, aren’t we?” I tugged on Daniel’s arm.

“If I remain a policeman our life will certainly not be devoted to making a fortune like Brian Hannan, that’s for sure,” he said. “And I’ve warned you that I have to work all hours of the day and night.”

“You make it sound so appealing,” I said dryly, making him laugh. He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. “We will make time to enjoy ourselves. I promise.”

We came around to the front of the house and my eyes were drawn again to that corner turret. From which window had I seen the face? Was there even a window facing the main gates?

“Are you coming?” Daniel interrupted my reverie. I followed him up those imposing steps to the front door. This time it stood half-open. Daniel peered around it. “Hello!” he called. “Anyone home?”

Nobody appeared as we stepped inside a towering oak-paneled foyer decorated like an old castle with swords and banners hanging from walls.

“I wonder where he picked those up,” Daniel said, peering up at the walls. “Irish castle or theater prop shop.”

“Hush, Daniel, someone will hear you,” I whispered. I shivered, wishing I had brought my wrap. The entry hall felt cold and unfriendly after the bright sunshine outside and I wondered why anyone would choose to build a house to feel old and uncomfortable.

“I wonder where that housekeeper has disappeared to,” Daniel said, pacing impatiently.

“It’s a big place.” I looked around, my eyes following the broad curved staircase that led to a dark gallery. “She’s probably upstairs making beds. We should go out again and ring the doorbell to let her know we are here.”

“Nonsense,” Daniel said. “We can look around without her. Hannan wouldn’t mind. It’s not as if we’re going to pocket the silver.”

“I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do,” I said. Since I stepped into the entry hall I had been feeling a growing sense of uneasiness. I found I was looking over my shoulder, as if unseen eyes were watching me with disapproval. But Daniel was already walking ahead of me, through an archway and into an impressive salon. This room had quite a different feel to it—spacious, light, and opulent with brocade sofas and ornate gilt tables and mirrors. We had gone from Irish stronghold to French château in a couple of steps. Daniel looked around with amusement.

“I wonder if he had this lot shipped over from Versailles,” he said, voicing my exact thoughts. “These aren’t copies, they are the real thing. And the paintings aren’t shabby either. These look like genuine Italian old masters, I think.”

“That one’s a Raphael, I believe,” I commented.

Daniel looked surprised and impressed. “Now how do you know that?”

“I’m a well-educated young lady.” I gave a smug little smile. “You don’t think you married a peasant girl straight from the bogs, do you?”

My eyes were drawn to a collection of silver-framed photographs, grouped on a glass-topped table. “I suppose these are the family,” I said. “Look, this one is a group picture. They’re a handsome bunch. Which one is the alderman? There seem to be three men who look very similar.”

“Hannan has a brother who runs the business these days, and there may well be another brother besides. Let me see.”

He came to look at the photograph over my shoulder. There was something strange about it. The top and bottom had a white border but the sides of the photograph disappeared under the silver frame, almost as if they had been cut off.

“Look at this,” I said, pointing at the sides of the picture. “Doesn’t it seem that there were more people in the picture when it was taken—look, to the left of that little boy. Isn’t he holding someone’s hand? And the right side has been cut off too. Why would anyone do that?”

As I held out the photograph to Daniel a voice spoke right behind us, making us spin around guiltily. “Captain Sullivan! How on earth did you get in? I didn’t hear the doorbell.”

Mrs. McCreedy was standing there looking almost flustered.

“The front door was ajar,” Daniel said, replacing the photograph on the table. “We called out and nobody came, so we thought you were probably busy elsewhere.”

“Indeed I was,” she said. “And I’ve no idea how that wretched door came to be open. The master wouldn’t be at all happy to hear that folks could walk right in off the street and help themselves to his things.”

“We were interested to see the house before the family arrived,” I said, not liking this insinuation. “I assure you we weren’t about to pocket anything.”

At this she became even more flustered. “Indeed no. I wasn’t insinuating anything of the sort. You’re the alderman’s guests and of course he’d want you to be welcome in his house. Any other time I’d be happy to show you around—it’s just that right now I’m up to my eyes in work, so if you don’t mind…”

And she tried to usher us toward the front door, like a large sheepdog.

“We can take a look around by ourselves if you’re busy,” Daniel said.

“Oh, no. That wouldn’t do at all,” she replied hastily. “I’d rather everything was as it should be before you see it.”

It occurred to me that perhaps she had been lax in her cleaning while they were away and was now rushing to make up for her laziness.

“That’s no problem at all,” I said. “We have all the time in the world. We’ll leave you to get on with your work now, and you can let us know when you’ve a minute free for a tour.”

“I will do that. Thank you kindly.” I could see the worry leaving her face.

As we crossed that gloomy entrance hall I felt a sudden cold draft on the back of my neck and that strange feeling of being watched. I couldn’t help glancing up the stairs again. “Tell me, Mrs. McCreedy,” I said. “Is this house haunted?”

“Haunted?” She laughed. “Oh, no, ma’am. This house is much too new to be haunted. Only finished in 1890 it was. That’s too young to have acquired a ghost or two, even if the master might have liked a resident ghost to add a little atmosphere to his castle. Now back in Ireland I’ve seen my share of haunted places and I expect you have too. We had a castle ruin near our village and the local people used to swear that they saw a white figure on the battlements. Well, one night my friends and I went there for a dare. As we got close we heard this unearthly moan and we all ran for our lives. I suspect, looking back on it, that it must have been a cow.” She paused, laughing. “Ah, well, no time for gossiping now. I’ve work to be done. But come back at tea time and you can sample my freshly baked soda bread. I’ll be baking a batch for the master. He’s particularly fond of his soda bread, he is, and he says I’m a dab hand at baking.”

With that she almost pushed us out of the front door and shut it firmly behind us.

Four

“She was certainly in a hurry to get rid of us, wasn’t she?” Daniel looked back at the house.

“I rather suspect she had been slacking on her chores and now has found herself with too much to do,” I said.

“She could always bring in local girls to help her,” Daniel dismissed this. “What was all that about the house being haunted?”

“I was thinking of that face I saw last night,” I said. “I know what I saw, Daniel. I didn’t imagine it. And I felt something today. Standing in that hallway. It was almost as if a presence was watching me.”

“Are you always going to be this fey?” Daniel asked. “I saw no faces last night and felt nothing evil today. The only mysterious thing was where that dratted woman came from. She certainly didn’t come from the hallway and I didn’t notice a door behind us, did you? Perhaps she is your ghost herself and she can appear and vanish at will.” He looked at my worried face and chuckled. “Come on, let’s go and explore Newport while the sun is shining.”

And so off we went. I could hear the click of shears and noticed a gardener at work on the rose bushes, and the big iron gates slid open easily. First we turned away from town and followed the street to our left. One lovely estate followed the next, each one grander than the one before. Through tall gates we glimpsed marble palaces and stately homes that made the Hartley’s manor house that I had always looked up to as the height of elegance look small and ordinary. One of these so-called “cottages” stood on the cliffs like a very posh hotel, one had a marble portico with columns like a Roman temple. I was overawed into silence as we glimpsed one after another. In fact I had never seen anything so grand in my life.