Read 12 The Family Way for Free Online Page B

stop behaving like the lord and master and listen to what I have to say. You know that raises my fighting spirit.”
    “But, Molly—you are expecting a child. We have agreed that you should be taking it easy and not running any kind of risk, have we not?”
    “I don’t intend to run any kind of risk. The person who wrote to me has the name of the household in which this young woman was employed. I thought I might ask some of our friends if they have heard of this family. You know, people like Miss Van Woekem who move in society. It’s a fairly uncommon name so what could be the harm in asking if anyone has heard of this family? And it would give me something to occupy myself with.”
    He shrugged. “I have no objection to your visiting our friends, as you know very well. But…”
    “I understand. If no one we know has heard of the family in question, I have to turn the case over to another investigator or write to the Irish people telling them I can’t help them.”
    “Finally you’re showing some sense,” he said. “Now we’ve talked quite long enough. If you don’t need your sleep, I certainly do.”
    He put his arm around me and led me firmly up the stairs.

 
    Five
    I must have been really tired because I awoke with the sun streaming down on me and Daniel no longer in the bed. I arose hastily, pulled on my robe, and went downstairs. Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table, dressed and ready for work, with a mug of coffee in front of him.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “You should have woken me.”
    He looked at me with concern. “You looked so peaceful lying there that I didn’t have the heart. And you had a bad night, didn’t you? Moaning and crying out in your sleep.”
    “Did I?” I tried to remember. Something disturbing was lurking at the edge of my consciousness. “I must have had a bad dream. But I can’t for the life of me remember—” I broke off suddenly as a flash of memory came back. “Oh, I do remember now. The stolen baby. I dreamed that someone had stolen my baby and I was desperately searching for it. That poor woman, Daniel. She was distraught. Did you manage to help her?”
    He shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s just going to be a matter of waiting. That baby will materialize again when the parents pay the ransom.”
    “But how can they afford to pay a ransom? They were obviously dirt poor.”
    “It’s been no more than a hundred dollars so far,” he said. “And people can usually scrape together that much from relatives and friendly societies and unions.”
    “So it’s true what one woman said. It really was one in a string of kidnappings?”
    He nodded. “It seems to be. Five of them now that we know about in the last couple of weeks, all over the Lower East Side. Of course there could be more cases that we don’t hear about. Parents might have been scared that something would happen to their child if they went to the police so they kept quiet, paid the ransom, and the child was returned.”
    “And it was the same method of operation in each case?” I asked.
    “As far as we can tell. Child snatched from its baby carriage, ransom note delivered to the parents, ransom money paid, and child returned safely.”
    “That’s awful. And you have no idea who is behind it?”
    “Not yet. I suspect it’s the work of a gang of some sort. Not one of the big gangs because they assure me they are not involved.”
    “You take their word?”
    “In this case yes. We have a sort of gentlemen’s agreement that they provide cooperation if I overlook certain things.”
    “What sort of things?”
    He chuckled. “I certainly couldn’t share this information with you. It’s entirely confidential. But I do trust Monk Eastman enough that when he tells me it’s not his men, I have to believe him. No, I believe we’re looking at a gang of petty thieves who maybe tried this once and realized they were onto a good thing. It’s easy money with little risk. Who’s going to notice