Read Murder in Murray Hill (Gaslight Mystery) for Free Online Page A

many scribbled revisions, when Maeve and Catherine emerged from the kitchen.
    “What on earth are you doing?” Maeve asked.
    Sarah looked up from where she was hunched over the paper. Malloy sat in a chair on the other side of the desk, frowning in frustration.
    “We’re trying to write a letter in reply to a lonely hearts advertisement,” Sarah said.
    “It’s for a case I’m working on,” Malloy added with a glance at Catherine. They never talked about unpleasant things in front of the child if at all possible.
    “Is Mr. Malloy being much help to you?” Maeve asked Sarah.
    Sarah smiled as sweetly as she could manage. “Not a bit.”
    “Maybe I can, then,” Maeve said.
    “How many lonely hearts ads have you answered?” Malloy scoffed.
    “None, but if it involves lying, I’ll probably be a lot better at it than Mrs. Brandt.”
    “You shouldn’t tell lies, Maeve,” Catherine said.
    Maeve ruffled her hair. “You’re right, but I was just teasing. I meant I’d make up a story, like the ones in your books.”
    “What a wonderful idea,” Sarah said, jumping to her feet. “I’ll take Catherine upstairs, and you can help Mr. Malloy.” She shot Malloy an apologetic smile and made her escape with Catherine before anyone could stop her.
    Frank watched them go as Maeve took Sarah’s vacant seat behind the desk.
    She folded her hands like a model schoolgirl and looked him straight in the eye. “Now tell me what this is all about.”
    Frank sighed, knowing resistance was useless. He explained everything he’d learned about Grace Livingston’s disappearance. Maeve glanced over the newspaper clippings of Milo Pendergast’s advertisements and his replies to Grace Livingston’s letters.
    “This fellow is a monster,” she said.
    “Yes, he is, and I intend to stop him, but first I’ve got to find him. The letter has to make him think you’re somebody like Grace Livingston, somebody lonely and desperate.”
    “I think I should mention I’ve got a little money put by, too.”
    “What? Why?”
    “He probably tries to relieve these ladies of their fortunes in addition to their virtue. If he doesn’t, he’s not as smart as we think he is, so if he thinks I’ve got some money and that I’m alone in the world, he might come after me quicker. We want him to answer my letter first, don’t we? Before he considers somebody else? If he advertises every week, he must get a lot of letters, and judging by how many letters he wrote Grace, it took a few weeks for him to warm her up before he asked her to meet him. I don’t think you want to wait that long, do you?”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Well, then, let’s see how desperate I can sound. How will you get this to him?”
    “The newspaper holds the letters for him until he picks them up.”
    “You don’t want to put it in the mail, then. That will take at least an extra day. Will they put it right in his box if you take it to the newspaper office tomorrow?”
    “I don’t know why not.”
    “Good, then I’ll explain why I didn’t want to wait for the mail.” She picked up the pencil Sarah had discarded.
    “Don’t you want to look at what Mrs. Brandt wrote first?”
    She gave him a pitying look, then went to work, her pencil scratching confidently across the paper. She paused a few times to consider her work, then continued. After a very few minutes, she handed him the paper. “What do you think?”
    She hadn’t crossed out a single thing, he noticed.
Dear Sir
, it began.
I hope you don’t think me unseemly for having delivered my letter in person, but I did not trust the mail to get it to you in good time. Please do not think me forward, but I find myself at the mercy of others. After my dear mother’s death several months ago, I have been left completely alone in the city. I want for nothing, as my parents provided for me, but my mother’s sister does not think it wise for a female to live alone. She is coming in a fortnight to fetch me. She