Father O’Brien’s expression was incredulous, but he couldn’t seem to think of a question to ask that would shed any light on the unbelievable story. Father Ahearn wasn’t quite as stunned. “How did you get the child away from her?”
“Mr. Dennis arrived. He snatched Aggie away, and Mr. Malloy and I disarmed her. That’s when you got here.”
The two priests just stared at her for a moment, and then Father O’Brien lowered himself into one of the pews, as if his legs had decided not to hold him anymore.
Sarah remembered her own questions about Emilia’s death and looked at Mrs. Wells. “You killed Emilia in the park because you thought that’s where her mother sold flowers, but you didn’t know her mother hadn’t been there in months.”
She gazed back with guileless eyes. “You’re wrong. I
did
know it. Emilia didn’t, though. She went there eagerly so her mother could see her new dress. But I wanted it to happen there so no one would recognize her. She would never be identified.”
“Just like the others,” Father O’Brien murmured, turning to Sarah in horror. “I told you other girls had disappeared. If no one knew who they were, they would never have been traced back to the mission.”
“And no one would ever ask Mrs. Wells any embarrassing questions,” Malloy added in disgust.
Sarah tried to make sense of this. How could this mild-mannered woman who quoted scripture be a heartless killer? “I should have known something was wrong when I caught you in a lie,” she berated herself. “You said Emilia told one of the girls she wanted her lover to see her in her new dress, but she never said that. She really wanted her mother to see her. And you used that to murder her.”
Sarah glared at her, but the eyes looking back held no hint of remorse. That was when she realized that even execution wasn’t a great enough punishment for what the woman had done. If God was merciful, Mrs. Wells would burn in the hell from which she’d tried to save those poor girls.
Her heart aching, Sarah looked at Malloy again, and found him staring at her with a longing she easily recognized. She realized the fear he must have felt when he learned she had gone to meet the killer. The thought of him racing to her rescue touched her heart and brought the sting of tears to her eyes. Thank heaven they weren’t alone, or Sarah was very much afraid she might have thrown her arms around Malloy and hugged him.
A policeman burst into the church. “Where’s Malloy?” he shouted.
“Here,” Malloy replied, “and show some respect. This is still a church.”
The officer hurried toward him. “Sorry, sir. We’ve got a wagon outside, just like you wanted.” He was looking around, probably trying to figure out which one was the criminal.
Malloy took Mrs. Wells’s arm and jerked her roughly to her feet. “Come along, lady,” he said. She gave him a withering glare, but he ignored it.
“That’s who we’re arresting?” the officer asked in astonishment. “Ain’t she the lady from the mission?”
“Yeah, but don’t let that fool you. She’ll kill you quick as look at you,” Malloy said.
Richard rose, too, and Sarah saw that he winced and grabbed at his chest.
“Malloy,” she called in alarm, “Richard is badly hurt.”
“I thought she just jabbed him,” Malloy said, a question in his voice.
“It’s nothing,” Richard insisted, but Sarah picked up the hat pins that lay on the pew beside her and looked at them closely. The blood smear on one of them indicated far more than a jab.
“We need to get him to a hospital right away,” she cried, although she was afraid even that wouldn’t be enough. The wound must have been deep and may well have injured a lung, or even his heart.
“Don’t be silly,” Richard tried, but with less conviction than before.
Malloy turned to the police officer who was waiting to help with the prisoner. “That’s his carriage outside. Help him get into it. Hurry!” he added when the man hesitated.
The officer rushed over and took one of Richard’s arms. “It’s really nothing,” Richard protested, but his face was ashen.
Sarah looked around frantically for someone to take Aggie from her. “Father Ahearn? I’m a trained nurse. I should go with him. Can you — ” she asked, and he understood instantly. He took the sleeping child and shifted her gently to his own shoulder.
“I’ll take her back to the mission and get someone to stay with the girls tonight,” he promised.
Sarah thanked him and ran to help the officer with Richard.
“Make your peace with God, Mr. Dennis,” Mrs. Wells warned as they passed her.
Sarah would have slapped her if she hadn’t been holding Richard upright.
Malloy muttered a curse and shoved her back down into her seat.
Richard’s driver hurried to help them when they came out of the church, and somehow they got him into the carriage. The officer told the driver to take them to the nearest hospital, as Sarah helped Richard stretch out on one of the seats. Although it was much too short for him to recline, at least she could make him reasonably comfortable.
When the carriage lurched into motion, Sarah took a seat on the opposite side. After she’d covered Richard with the lap robe, she laid a hand on his chest and found his heartbeat slow and labored. Rage roared inside her. How could that woman have managed to stab him in the heart?
“She’s killed me, too, hasn’t she?” he asked quietly.
“Oh, Richard, we don’t know that,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “We’ll get you to a doctor and — ”
“No, that won’t help,” he said. Oddly, he didn’t sound frightened or even upset. “I know I’m going to die, Sarah.”
Sarah felt her eyes filling with tears and his image blurred. She blinked them away determinedly and squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, Richard.”
“I’m just glad it wasn’t you,” he told her with a weak smile. “Or that child. I saved her, didn’t I?”
She thought of how he’d thrown himself at Mrs. Wells to save Aggie. “Yes, Richard, you saved her life,” she agreed. She would make sure everyone knew he’d died a hero. “Now you’ll see Hazel, and you’ll be able to tell her that you loved her.”
His breathing was growing labored. “Yes,” he said, his voice raspy. “And that I’m sorry.”
“And that you brought her killer to justice,” Sarah whispered as his eyes closed.
She held his hand tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks. His breaths became more and more shallow until a shudder wracked his body, and he finally lay still.
Epilogue
THANK HEAVEN FOR TELEPHONES, SARAH THOUGHT. What had they ever done without them? She never would have been able to take care of so many crises all at once without this marvelous invention. She was beginning to think she might even get one herself.
She made her first telephone call from the hospital to Opal Graves. Opal was shocked and saddened by Richard’s death and outraged by Mrs. Wells’s perfidy, but she also realized the urgency of seeing to the needs of the girls at the mission. She promised to contact some of the volunteers from the mission at their homes and recruit women to stay with the girls until decisions could be made about what to do.
Sarah’s second call was more difficult. While she was only calling her own parents, she had to ask them to notify Richard’s family of his death. News like that shouldn’t come over the telephone from someone they didn’t even know. Her parents were stunned by Richard’s death, but they agreed with her on the need to break the news gently to his family.
Then came the most difficult task of all: waiting. She simply couldn’t leave Richard’s body alone at the hospital until his loved ones had come to claim him. Besides, she knew they’d have questions about what had happened, questions only she could answer. She spent the hours until they came by preparing the story she would tell, the story that would make Richard a hero.
The hour was quite late by the time Richard’s father had taken him away, and Sarah was free to go. Her own father, who had accompanied Richard’s, insisted she go home to get some rest and took her there in his own carriage. Although she was exhausted and emotionally drained, she slept fitfully. By midmorning, she was up and dressed and hurrying back to the mission, where she might be desperately needed.
Mulberry Street was oddly quiet in these morning hours. People milled on the sidewalks, as always, but their conversation was muted and their expressions solemn. Word of what had happened would have spread like lightning through the community. Girls who had sought refuge at the mission had been brutally murdered by the woman who should have been their protector. A woman who claimed to have been called by God had been a spawn of Satan. Even among people who had known nothing but hardship their entire lives, this would be devastating news. And what would it do to their faith in the future?
When she passed Police Headquarters, Sarah thought about stopping in to look for Malloy. She wanted to see him, and she needed to talk to him, to help her make whatever sense could made out of this whole mess. But she knew he probably wouldn’t be there. He had taken Mrs. Wells to the city jail — The Tombs — and spent most of the night getting her confession. Then he would have gone home. He couldn’t possibly be back this early.
The mission still looked exactly the same, even though everything had changed. When Sarah knocked, a woman she didn’t recognize opened the door. Her clothes marked her as a resident of a much more prosperous part of the city. “I’m Sarah Brandt,” she said. “Opal Graves contacted you at my request.”
The woman’s suspicious frown vanished, and she admitted Sarah immediately. “I’m so glad you’ve come, Mrs. Brandt. Some of the girls have been very concerned for your welfare.”
“And I’m so glad
you’ve
come to help,” Sarah replied. “We couldn’t leave the girls here without an adult,”
“I was glad to do it when Opal told me what Mrs. Wells had done. I still can’t believe it!”
“Neither can I,” Sarah assured her.
Sarah heard a small cry and then the clatter of little feet on the stairs. She looked up to see Aggie barreling down from upstairs at an alarming rate of speed. Sarah hurried over to the stairs to catch her. The child threw herself into Sarah’s arms and clung to her neck as if she would never let her go.
Other girls came creeping out more cautiously, some from the parlor and others from upstairs. Most of them looked as if they’d been crying, and they all looked frightened.
Maeve was taking her role as “head girl” more seriously than ever. She stepped forward. “Is it true what they said, Mrs. Brandt? Did Mrs. Wells kill Emilia?”
“Yes,” she told them. She wouldn’t mention the others. Perhaps they’d never have to know the extent of Mrs. Wells’s evil. “But you don’t have to be afraid. She’s in jail now, and she won’t ever be free again.”
Maeve and the others looked far from reassured, however. “Then what’s going to happen to all of us?”
“Not a thing,” Opal Graves informed them as she emerged from the kitchen. She was wearing an apron and her plain face had been transformed by a beatific smile. “You will stay here just as you’ve been doing. It may take us a little while, but we’ll find someone to take Mrs. Wells’s place — someone good,” she added, just in case they were in doubt. “And meanwhile, my friends and I will take turns staying with you.”
Sarah shot her a grateful look. She would thank her more profusely when they were alone.
“Will you stay here, too, Mrs. Brandt?” Gina asked anxiously.
“I can’t stay all the time, but I’ll certainly help as much as I can,” she replied.
“Have you had anything to eat?” Opal asked her.
Sarah had been in a hurry to get here this morning. “No,” she admitted.
“Come into the kitchen, and we’ll fix you something,” Opal said. “And bring your friend, too,” she added with a nod at Aggie, who was still clinging fiercely to Sarah’s neck.
The girls followed Sarah and gathered around where she sat at the small kitchen table. Aggie consented to sit on a chair beside her, but only if she could hold on to her skirt. The other girls stood or sat around the room, watching her eat the bread and jam Opal set before her. When she was finished, they started asking her questions, and she answered them as honestly as she could. At some point, Aggie climbed up into her lap and settled in comfortably.
Finally, Opal sensed Sarah’s exhaustion and sent the girls off to do their lessons. When they protested, she explained that they needed something to occupy their minds. They all drifted out except Aggie, who refused to leave Sarah’s side.
“I heard you yelling at Mrs. Wells last night,” Sarah said to Aggie. Sarah looked up at Opal and said, “She yelled ‘no’ to stop her from coming after me with the hat pin.”
Opal’s eyes widened in surprise, but she wisely said nothing.
Sarah shared her wonder, but she didn’t want to make too much of a fuss over Aggie and scare her out of ever speaking again.
“You were such a brave girl to help me,” Sarah said, giving the child a hug. Aggie beamed with pride.
Finally, Opal and Sarah moved to the parlor. Aggie screamed when Opal tried to separate her from Sarah, and Sarah realized she needed someone warm to cuddle, so the child accompanied them, too. Sarah sat in the rocking chair and rocked Aggie until she fell asleep, still exhausted by the night’s terrors. Then she answered Opal’s questions about how Richard had died and why Mrs. Wells had murdered Emilia and other girls as well. Then she told her how Mrs. Wells had killed Hazel, too.
Sarah wept with her over her lost friend and listened while she vented her fury at the woman who had taken God’s power of life and death into her own hands.
After everything had been told and the storm of emotion had passed, Opal said, “The best thing we can do now is keep the mission operating and try to make up for the evil that woman did. We’ll have a difficult time of it, at least for a while. Three of the girls had already run off before I got here this morning.”