Murder on Fifth Avenue: A Gaslight Mystery

by Victoria Thompson

  “When I went to question her, she didn’t know he was dead,” Frank said, “and she thought I was going to arrest her for stabbing him. When I told her he was dead, she realized nobody knew who’d stabbed him, so she thought she would get away with it.”

  “How on earth did you ever get her to tell you all this, Sarah?” her mother asked.

  “After Mrs. Brandt saved her life, she felt obligated,” Frank said, earning a scowl from Sarah.

  Her parents gaped at her. “How did you save her life?” her mother asked.

  “Malloy and I went to see her at the Devrieses’ house, after we’d figured out she must have been the one who did it. When she heard we were there to see her, she realized we must know. She thought Malloy was going to arrest her, and she decided she would kill herself to spare Garnet the scandal.”

  “Oh, no!” her mother said.

  “Her husband had jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, and something she said made Garnet think she was going to do the same thing,” Frank said. “That’s where we found her, and your daughter kept her from jumping.”

  Both her parents seemed impressed, although Mr. Decker was more surprised.

  “But you aren’t really going to arrest her, are you?” Mrs. Decker asked.

  Frank looked at Decker, meeting his gaze squarely and unflinchingly. He had no idea what Felix Decker would consider justice in this case, but he said, “No, I’m not. She was protecting herself. There’s no crime in that.”

  The women were watching Decker, too, waiting for his reply. After another moment he said, “No, there isn’t.”

  THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY, THE WEATHER BROKE, BRINGING an unseasonably warm and sunny day that hinted at the change of season still weeks away. Winter-weary city residents flocked to the parks where children could release some of the energy they’d been storing all winter. Malloy and Brian had arrived on Sarah’s doorstep, and the five of them had walked to Washington Square so the children could enjoy the springlike weather.

  Sarah and Malloy found a bench where they could talk while watching Catherine and Brian playing tag with Maeve.

  “I visited Garnet yesterday,” Sarah said.

  “How is she?”

  “She isn’t expecting a baby anymore.”

  Malloy raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

  “I didn’t ask and she didn’t say, so I don’t know how it happened, but she’s apparently recovering nicely. Paul is taking her to Italy to recuperate.”

  “That’s romantic.”

  “Hugh Zeller and Terry Richmond are going with them.”

  “Ah, not so romantic, then. Is she planning to stay married to him?”

  “I know you noticed how fond they are of each other. After what she endured with Devries, she isn’t interested in men that way, so her marriage to Paul suits her fine. He and Hugh dote on her and keep her entertained, too. She told me that Paul has promised to divorce her immediately if she falls in love with someone else, but in the meantime, they are perfectly content with things as they are.”

  “And what about Mrs. Richmond?”

  “When Paul found out what happened between her and his father, he was appalled and very anxious to make it up to her. He inherited everything, you know, so he set Mrs. Richmond up with an independent income that is adequate to her needs, although she is also going to live with Paul and Garnet for the time being.”

  “What does Mrs. Devries think about that?”

  Sarah had been saving the most interesting news until last. “Do you remember you asked my father what he wanted you to do about her?”

  “Yes, and he said he would speak with Paul about it. Don’t tell me she’s going to prison?”

  “Of course not! At least not the kind of prison you mean. Paul has put her in a sanitarium.”

  “You mean an asylum? For crazy people?”

  “Not the kind of place you’re thinking of. This is more like a nice hotel, except the locks are on the outside of the doors. It’s where rich people send the relatives they don’t want other people to see anymore.”

  “I just remembered, Hugh or Paul, one of them mentioned that Devries had threatened his wife with that once.”

  “It’s no secret that men have sometimes rid themselves of unwanted wives by doing that, but in this case, I believe Father argued that no woman in her right mind would have poisoned a servant the way she did.”

  “He was right about that.”

  “And then Garnet remembered that when she was ill, my first thought was that her mother-in-law had poisoned her. When Paul realized she might harm someone else, he didn’t need any more encouragement.”

  “And her daughters didn’t object?”

  “Not after Paul told them what she’d done. Apparently, after he told them, he asked if either of them would like to have her. That was enough to convince them it was the right decision.”

  They watched the children playing for a while. Here in the park the air smelled almost clean, and the laughter of children could help her forget the evil she knew was never far away. Here, with Malloy beside her, she felt safe and content, as if the world were a better place than she knew it to be.

  Then she remembered a message she was supposed to deliver.

  “Mrs. Richmond wanted me to thank you.”

  “What for?”

  “For not arresting her.”

  “She didn’t commit a crime.”

  Sarah smiled at him. “Not all men would see it that way. If you’d arrested her, they could have said she was meeting Devries voluntarily. They would have accused her of being a wanton woman who had stabbed her lover out of jealousy when she found out he had another mistress or something.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Of course it is, but you’ve seen it before. When a woman kills a man, other men get nervous. If mistreated women started fighting back, their lives might be in danger, too.”

  “So it’s best not to let one of them get away with murder.”

  “Exactly,” she said.

  “I wonder if that’s what your father wants to talk to me about.”

  Sarah blinked. “What?”

  “Your father. He sent me a message. He wants to see me at his office tomorrow.”

  “He does? Why?”

  “He didn’t say. Men like your father don’t have to give reasons.”

  Sarah’s mind was racing. It could be nothing. Perhaps he had another matter he wanted Frank to look into. Perhaps he just wanted to commend him for the way he had handled the Devrieses’ situation.

  But she kept remembering what her mother had said about the case being some kind of a test. If so, she thought Malloy had passed it, but would her father agree? And if he did, what would that mean?

  Her father didn’t control her life, of course. He couldn’t tell her what to do and expect her to obey. But, she realized with a sudden shocking clarity, he could expect Malloy to obey him. He had power and influence, and he could destroy Frank’s life with a word in the right ear.

  Or he could make it infinitely better.

  Which would it be?

  “Look,” Malloy said, pointing at a pushcart nearby. “They’re selling hot gingerbread. Let’s get some.”

  Although his eyes still held the wariness he might always feel around her, he smiled in the way that made her feel warm to her bones. Warm and safe and cherished. She tucked her arm through his. “Yes, let’s. The children will love it.”

  Author’s Note

  WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS BOOK, TWO VERY INTERESTING and apparently unconnected things happened. First of all, I read the biography of Consuelo Vanderbilt, the heiress who was married off, at the age of eighteen, to a penniless English duke who needed her ten-million-dollar dowry to fix up his ancestral home. It was in such disrepair that the young couple had to take a yearlong honeymoon to allow time for repairs before they could actually take up residence. Their marriage eventually ended in divorce, and Consuelo and the duke both married for love the second
time.

  The second thing that happened while I was writing this book was that two scandals broke in the news in which powerful men were caught engaging in behavior toward women that was at best reprehensible and at worst criminal. I won’t bother to mention the specifics. By the time you read this, we will have probably heard of several more. The sad fact is that I started out to write a story that showed how poorly women were treated by powerful men back at the turn of the last century, only to be reminded that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

  I shouldn’t be surprised. I often find that the theme of the latest Gaslight Mystery is one that still resonates with modern readers. At least today, people are outraged by this behavior, so we’re making progress.

  Please let me know how you liked this book. Find me at my website, www.­victoriathompson.­com.