13

BY THE TIME SARAH REACHED THE VANDAMMS’S porch, the thunder was louder, and the sky had turned an alarming shade of purple. While she waited for someone to answer her knock, the first fat raindrops began to fall, splatting rudely on the pavement.

“Mrs. Brandt,” Alfred said in amazement. It was long past normal visiting hours, and she certainly had not been invited for supper. “I’m sorry, but-”

Sarah never learned whether she could have convinced him with her charm to admit her because at that moment, a streak of lightning split the heavens, releasing a torrential downpour.

Crying out in surprise, Sarah instinctively bolted for the safety of the house, and Alfred’s instinct to protect a lady in distress prevailed. He swept her inside and slammed the door against the terrifying onslaught of the storm.

“Good heavens!” she gasped, astonished at how wet she had gotten in just those few seconds. Outside the storm roared with a ferocity that rattled the door.

Alfred looked shaken himself, and he pressed a hand against the panel, as if assuring himself it was securely closed and would hold against the assault.

“Alfred, what’s going on?”

Sarah looked up to see Mina VanDamm emerging from the parlor. She stopped short when she saw Alfred was not alone.

“Who’s there?” she demanded, squinting to make Sarah out in the darkness.

“It’s Sarah Brandt, Mina,” she said, stepping into the light of the gas jet. She was unable to believe her good fortune. Mina must have just returned from her trip. She still wore her traveling suit. “I’m sorry to intrude, but I was walking back to the el from visiting my mother’s house when the storm broke. It came on so suddenly, I couldn’t think of anything else to do but seek refuge here, and Alfred was kind enough to let me in.” The best part of the story was that it was almost true.

“This is extraordinary,” Mina exclaimed, far from pleased. “We’re in mourning, and we aren’t receiving visitors, Sarah. I must ask you to leave.”

A gust of wind rattled the windows.

“Miss Mina, the storm is frightful,” Alfred protested.

For a second the room lit with a blinding flash as lightning split the sky again, and the crack of thunder followed almost immediately.

Sarah saw Mina look up in alarm, but her reaction lasted for only a second. Then her expression hardened again. “Alfred, send for the carriage to take Mrs. Brandt home.”

“They can’t take the horses out in this, Miss Mina,” Alfred said. “They’ll bolt for sure.”

Surely, she could see Sarah had to stay here, at least until the storm had blown itself out. But she didn’t have to like it. “Well, I suppose we have no choice. Come into the parlor, Sarah, but don’t expect me to be much company. I’ve only just returned home, and I’m much too tired for conversation.”

Without waiting for Sarah’s reply to the ungracious invitation, Mina turned and went back into the parlor. Feeling slightly less fortunate than she had a few moments ago, Sarah gave Alfred her thanks and followed Mina.

The room looked even worse in the gloom of the storm than it had the last time Sarah had seen it in broad daylight. Now the heavy furniture seemed to loom forbiddingly, and the heavy draperies plunged the room into near darkness. Even the next flash of lightning could hardly penetrate their folds.

Mina hadn’t turned on the gas jets, either, and the day had been much too warm for a fire, although the storm would probably change that. Mina waked to the fireplace and stood by the cold hearth, staring down at it as if she were watching an actual fire.

“I called this afternoon, and Alfred said you were visiting friends,” Sarah tried, hoping to engage her sullen hostess in a conversation that she could somehow turn to the subject of Alicia’s parentage.

“Alfred had no right to say anything about me at all,” Mina snapped, not bothering to conceal her anger or even spare Sarah so much as a glance.

“I’m afraid I pestered him until he admitted you were away. I was afraid you’d just decided not to receive me anymore after my last visit.”

Mina gave her a withering look that told Sarah she probably had, then turned her attention back to the fireplace.

Mina hadn’t invited her to sit down, but Sarah took a seat on the nearest sofa, looking askance at the water spots on her new suit and hoping they’d dry without leaving marks. For a minute, she debated what to say next, deciding against asking how Mina had enjoyed her trip, figuring that would simply provoke her hostess needlessly. If she was going to provoke her, she could think of a much more productive approach.

“I had a lovely visit with your mother this afternoon,” she said.

“What?” Mina asked, whirling to face her. “You must be joking.”

Sarah wasn’t sure if Mina thought she was joking about visiting her mother or about the visit being lovely. She chose not to inquire. “Not at all. She was most anxious to find out how Alicia had seemed that night before she died. I was able to reassure her that Alicia didn’t seem frightened or upset.”

“You actually spoke to my mother?” Mina asked incredulously, as if she hadn’t heard anything else Sarah had said.

“Yes, she seemed very well, under the circumstances.”

Mina pulled herself up to her full and very imposing height. Sarah wondered that she had never really noticed what a large woman Mina was. But perhaps it was only an illusion since Sarah was sitting and Mina was standing over her.

“I didn’t want to believe it of you, Sarah, but I’m very much afraid that your reduced circumstances have made you common. I don’t know how else to account for your lack of finer feelings, and nothing but a lack of those feelings could account for the way you imposed upon my mother in her time of grief.”

Sarah wondered if she should be insulted, but she didn’t wonder long. Since Mina already believed her devoid of any finer feelings, she might as well prove she was. “Your mother told me something very disturbing, Mina. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t think of mentioning such a painful subject, but it was so strange, I feel I must tell you so you’ll know her current state of mind.”

“I know her state of mind,” Mina said in disgust. “She hasn’t had a coherent thought in ages.”

“Then perhaps that’s why she told me that you’re Alicia’s real mother.”

For a heartbeat, Mina stood frozen with horror, and then she howled. Threw back her head and howled in agony. There was no other word for it, a sound Sarah would never forget as long as she lived, as if someone had torn loose Mina’s very soul. And then she lunged.

Sarah understood her intention with only an instant to spare, and she threw herself off the sofa just as Mina would have landed on top of her. Their skirts tangled, sweeping Mina’s feet out from under her, and she went sprawling over the arm of the sofa, knocking over a table covered with bric-a-brac that crashed to the floor in a shower of splintering glass.

Sarah scrambled to her feet, cursing her heavy skirts but knowing she must be ready to defend herself against another attack. Before she was fully on her feet, however, the parlor doors slammed open and Alfred rushed in. He took in the scene with one swift glance, his aged face chalk white as he saw the overturned table and the smashed figurines and Mina VanDamm struggling up out of the mess.

“Don’t just stand there, you idiot! Help me up!” she cried, galvanizing the ancient butler who hurried to do her bidding.

Outside, the rain slashed at the windows, and from the hallway came the sound of running footsteps. In another moment, Cornelius VanDamm appeared. He wore a smoking jacket, and his expression was alarmed.

“What on earth happened?” he demanded of Mina, who had struggled to her feet with Alfred’s assistance. “I thought the storm had broken a window.”

“She attacked me!” Mina shrieked, pointing at Sarah.

Mr. VanDamm stared at Sarah in surprise, having failed to notice her standing there, since the room was so dark.

“Sarah, is that you?” he asked, even more amazed. “What are you doing here?”

“I came… the storm…” she tried, but Mina gave her no chance to explain.

“I said she attacked me! Aren’t you going to do something?”

VanDamm looked from her to Sarah and back to Mina again. “Mina, I think you should go to your room. You aren’t yourself.”

“Then who am I?” she challenged, lifting her chin defiantly. “I told you she attacked me! Look what she did!” She gestured to the overturned table and the resulting mess.

“Alfred, you may go,” VanDamm said, using a softer tone, to show the servant he didn’t hold him responsible for what had occurred.

Alfred fled, although he was much too dignified to actually hurry. When the doors had closed securely behind him, VanDamm turned to Sarah. “Mina is upset. She hasn’t been herself since her sister died.”

“Stop it, Father. She knows!” Mina shrieked.

“Mina, there’s no reason to shout,” VanDamm admonished her.

“I tell you, she knows! She knows about Alicia! Mother told her!”

He needed a moment to absorb the truth of it, and as he did, his face grew slack from shock. Stunned, he turned back to Sarah, his eyes were terrible. “What did she tell you?” he demanded. “What exactly did she say?”

For a moment, Sarah didn’t know how to reply. VanDamm’s face seemed carved from stone, and his eyes reflected a torment she could only imagine. “She… she told me that Mina is Alicia’s real mother,” she lied reluctantly, having gone too far now to back down, and braced herself for his fury.

But instead of anger, she saw only… relief? Why would he be relieved to learn that Sarah knew their terrible family secret? Unless he’d been afraid she knew Alicia’s other secret, which of course she did.

“I’m afraid Francisca has grown quite unreliable in recent years,” he said, making his voice quite reasonable, as if he were merely explaining a difficult geometry problem. “She hardly ever leaves her room anymore, and she spends her time weaving elaborate fantasies. You would be foolish to credit anything she said, Sarah.”

Sarah felt her hackles rising. She hated being patronized, and she hated the way he patronized his wife, too. Her anger made her reckless. “Mr. VanDamm, I also know why Alicia ran away.”

He stiffened again, and this time his expression closed, as if a shutter had been drawn to conceal whatever emotion he was experiencing. “And why do you think she ran away?”

“Because she was with child. I told Mina when I was here before, and I’m guessing you already knew, which is why you sent her to the country in the first place.”

“Nonsense,” he said, trying for outrage and falling a little short. “That’s ridiculous. If that’s what Francisca told you-”

“She didn’t tell me. I’m not sure she even knows. I guessed it when I saw Alicia the night before she died, and the police confirmed it.”

“The police,” Mina scoffed.

“And we also know that an abortionist visited her right before she died,” Sarah said, stung by Mina’s contempt and wanting to sting back.

“We?” VanDamm echoed. “Who else is involved in this with you?”

Sarah realized she’d said too much, but it was too late. “The authorities. They’ve been investigating her death, as you well know.”

“They aren’t investigating it anymore,” VanDamm said with a certainty that told her he had been behind the decision to take Malloy off the case.

“But they’re still investigating the death of the abortionist, ” she countered, determined to best him in this battle of accusations. “She was murdered before the police could question her.”

She saw at once that she’d won. His surprise was apparent, and his glance at Mina, telling. What else did they know? And how could Sarah get them to reveal it?

“I told you, she knows all about us,” Mina reminded him with satisfaction. “And she’ll tell everyone. You know what a gossip her mother is. We can’t let her leave here. She’ll ruin everything.”

“Mina!” VanDamm gasped, but Sarah hardly noticed. She was too busy gasping herself.

Good Lord, what did she mean? It sounded as if Mina was threatening her life, and plainly Mr. VanDamm thought so, too. Outside the thunder roared again, reminding her of the storm that had stranded her here. But as dangerous as it might be outside, she knew she had put herself in even more danger inside. Someone closely connected to the VanDamms had killed two people already to protect Alicia’s secret, and if that someone was in this room, Sarah might very well be next.

“Detective Sergeant Malloy knows I’m here,” she lied. “And he knows everything that I do.”

“She’s bluffing, Father!” Mina cried.

He ignored her. “I can pay you,” he said to Sarah. “Anything you want. I know your family cut you off when you married. I know you’ve had to work to support yourself, but I can take care of you. You’ll never want for anything again.”

“Stop it!” Mina screamed. “She won’t keep our secret! Don’t you understand? She hates us! She wants to ruin us!”

He hardly seemed to hear her. “And if you insist on being stubborn, I can make your life very uncomfortable, too,” he continued, not missing a beat and not even bothering to change his tone. “If you choose to ruin us, you will regret the day you were ever born.”

“Father!”

At last he turned back to Mina, his expression livid. “She’s Felix Decker’s daughter!” he reminded his daughter coldly. “Do you expect me to have her killed?”

Sarah decided not to wait for her answer. Storm or no storm, she slipped out the door and into the hallway. Just as she reached it, she realized that someone was pounding on the front door. They hadn’t been able to hear it in the parlor above the noise of the storm, but whoever was knocking was determined to get in. Perhaps it was just another passerby, desperate for refuge, but Sarah didn’t care who it was. She was going to let them in.

“Don’t open the door!” Mina shouted behind her. “Stop her, Alfred!”

The ancient butler had just entered the hallway, but he wasn’t quick enough. Sarah pushed past him, nearly knocking him over. She’d just turned the lock when Mina collided with her, determined to bar the way, but whoever was on the other side of the door wasn’t going to be denied. The door burst open, slamming the two women against the wall behind the heavy oaken door.

The storm washed in on wind-driven waves, carrying their visitor with it. He was drenched and buffeted, but in the split-second of the next lightning flash, Sarah saw his face.

“Malloy!” she cried, unable to remember being so happy to see anyone in her life.

Behind her, Mina swore a colorful oath, shocking Sarah, but only for a moment. Galvanized, she instinctively tried to shut the door against the storm again, pushing with all her weight. Suddenly, someone was with her, and between the two of them, they got the door closed again. Glancing up, she saw it was Alfred who had rushed to assist her. Everyone else remained where they had been as if frozen.

When Sarah turned, Malloy saw her for the first time.

“What are you doing here?” he snapped as water ran from his clothes, pooling on the polished floor at his feet, and she heard Mina’s cry of triumph at the evidence of Sarah’s lie. Not that it mattered now.

“I found out something about them,” she told him with a triumph of her own. She wasn’t going to let him know that just moments ago she’d feared for her life and especially not that he had probably rescued her.

Malloy removed his bowler hat and shook the water from it. “Do you know who Alicia’s lover was?” he asked with mild curiosity, eliciting another cry from Mina, this time of protest.

Sarah felt her blood quicken. Malloy knew. He knew who the killer was.

“It was Mattingly, wasn’t it?” she guessed, almost forgetting about the others in her desperation to know the truth at last.

But Malloy only shook his head and turned to face VanDamm. “I found Alicia’s diary,” he told him.

VanDamm’s face lost every ounce of color, although he managed to hold himself perfectly erect. But Mina gave him no chance to reply.

“He’s lying! Her diary was lost! Even Mattingly’s man couldn’t find it when he searched her room! Don’t believe him, Father!”

“Believe me, VanDamm. I know who seduced Alicia and got her with child. I know everything.”

VanDamm reached out a hand and braced it against the wall, as if he no longer trusted his legs to hold him steady.

“Father, don’t!” Mina cried, rushing to him. “No one will believe him!” She tried to take his arm, but he shook her off.

“They’ll believe Alicia,” Malloy said, placing his hat carefully back on his head. “I told you, I’ve got her diary.”

Sarah had lost patience. “I don’t understand. Who was Alicia’s lover if it wasn’t Mattingly?”

“It was that groom,” Mina insisted. “He was with her every day. I told Father it wasn’t right, but he wouldn’t listen to me. Harvey was an adventurer who thought he’d make his fortune if he-”

“Stop it, Mina!” her father snapped.

“It’s true, I tell you!” she continued, ignoring him. “He’s at Greentree. He killed her, too, when he found out he wasn’t going to get any of our money!”

“And then he killed himself out of remorse, I guess,” Malloy said mildly.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“Harvey is dead,” Malloy said, still addressing the VanDamms. “Looks like he hanged himself.”

“Good heavens!” Sarah murmured, but no one paid her any attention.

“You see,” Mina said. “That’s it. He killed her, and out of guilt, he hanged himself.”

“Except he didn’t hang himself,” Malloy said, confusing Sarah even more. “And he didn’t seduce Alicia. But you already knew that, didn’t you, VanDamm?”

VanDamm shook his head. His mouth worked but no sound emerged.

“Then who was it?” Sarah asked, at the end of her patience. “Who fathered Alicia’s child and killed her and Harvey? There’s nobody left!”

Malloy’s face twisted with distaste. “Her father is left. Her own father.”

“No!” Mina wailed as VanDamm seemed to shrink right before Sarah’s eyes. “No one will believe them, Father! No one will take their word over yours!”

“The diary,” VanDamm croaked, as Sarah tried to grasp what Malloy was saying. It couldn’t be true. It was too horrible.

“Where is it?” Mina turned on Malloy like a tigress, as if she intended to take it by force from his person.

“I put it in a safe place,” he said. “You didn’t think I’d bring it here, did you?”

VanDamm seemed to be having trouble breathing. “If it’s money you want…”

“We’ll pay you,” Mina finished for him. “We’ll make you a wealthy man. Just give us the diary.”

“And let him get away with incest and murder?” Frank scoffed.

“I never killed anyone,” VanDamm insisted. He was gasping for breath.

“You’re wasting your time,” Frank told him. “A witness saw you coming out of the house after Alicia was killed.”

“No, that’s impossible!” he insisted weakly.

“Who is this witness?” Mina asked disdainfully.

“Someone very reliable,” Malloy said.

“It must be a cat, if he was able to see in the dark and identify my father,” Mina said. “No one will believe him.”

“What about this abortionist that you say was there?” VanDamm asked, rallying a bit as he grasped at this straw. “Couldn’t she have killed Alicia?”

“If she did, then why did someone kill her?” Malloy countered. “No, I think she went there with the man who killed Alicia, and then he killed her to keep her quiet. Mr. VanDamm, you’ve been very busy.”

“I didn’t… I wasn’t… I was at my club that night,” he finally managed, his hand pressed to his heart as if he was in pain. “Playing whist with Sarah’s father.”

He looked at Sarah as if for confirmation, but she could only stare back at him, seeing him now for the very first time as what he truly was.

“A dozen men saw me there,” he added when he received no help from Sarah. “They’ll tell you. I didn’t even know where Alicia was until the next morning.”

Malloy glanced at Sarah. “Would your father lie to protect him?”

“No.” Her father had many faults, but he valued his reputation as a man of his word, and he certainly wouldn’t protect a killer.

“Then that’s a foolish lie, VanDamm,” Malloy tried, but VanDamm didn’t blink.

“It’s the God’s truth, I swear it. I’d never hurt Alicia.”

“You’d never hurt Alicia!” Sarah echoed horrified. “You raped her and got her with child! Your own daughter!”

“It wasn’t rape!” he cried in anguish. “Alicia was willing. She loved me, and I loved her. She was everything to me.” His voice broke, and he covered his face with one hand, still supporting himself with the other.

“Father, don’t!” Mina pleaded, wrapping her arms around him. “You still have me!”

He tried to push her away, his discomfort obvious. “Mina, please,” he tried, but she clung to him fiercely.

“I love you, too!” she insisted. “I’ve always loved you! We still have each other, and now it can be just like it was before she came!”

Sarah watched in horrified fascination as the father and daughter each struggled to prevail, but before the battle could be decided, a voice said, “Can’t you see he doesn’t want you?”

They all looked up in surprise to see Mrs. VanDamm on the stairs. She wore a frilly dressing gown which she clutched to her throat with one of her clawlike hands. With the other, she held onto the banister, as if afraid she might pitch headlong down the stairs if she let go.

“He doesn’t want you anymore, Mina,” she told her daughter again. “He hasn’t wanted you for a very long time. You’re too old. When are you going to accept that?”

“Shut up, Francisca,” VanDamm said, a little more vigorously. “Go back to your room.”

“What do you mean, he doesn’t want her anymore?” Malloy asked before Sarah could.

Francisca VanDamm lifted her chin, savoring the novelty of having such a large audience. She had probably not enjoyed this much attention in years. “You didn’t think Alicia was the only daughter he used, did you?”

Plainly, Malloy hadn’t thought of this, and Sarah hadn’t had time to. She needed only another moment to determine something else. “Did he get Mina with child, too? Is that how Alicia was born?”

“What are you talking about?” Malloy asked.

“She’s crazy!” Mina cried. “Don’t listen to her!”

“He told me I’d have to pretend she was mine,” Mrs. VanDamm said, “or else he’d give the baby away to strangers. Now I realize he was only trying to frighten me. He had no intention of giving her away. He wanted her for himself, especially when he saw how beautiful she was. He used to stand over her cradle and unbutton his pants-”

“Stop it, Francisca!” VanDamm shouted. “Have you no shame?”

“Have you no shame?” she countered. “You’re the one who used your own children like whores!”

“And when you couldn’t pass off Alicia’s baby as your wife’s the way you did Mina’s,” Malloy guessed, “you hired an abortionist to get rid of it. Except she refused to operate because Alicia was too far along.”

“That’s a lie! I told you, I wasn’t even there!” VanDamm insisted. “I have witnesses! Sarah’s father-”

“And when you realized she was going to leave you and take the child with her,” Malloy continued, “you flew into a jealous rage and strangled her!”

“No! No!” VanDamm was gasping again, clutching his chest. “I’d never hurt her! I swear it! How can you even think such a thing?”

“Stop it!” Mina cried. “Can’t you see you’re killing him? Father, you must let me take you to your room. I’ll take care of you, just like I used to. You’ll see, it can be just like it was before! I won’t let them bother you anymore. I’ll take care of everything.”

“The first thing you’ll need to take care of is finding out who killed Alicia,” Malloy reminded her. “A man went to the boardinghouse that night with Mrs. Petrovka, the abortionist. That man killed Alicia, and the same man killed Mrs. Petrovka and Harvey. If it wasn’t you, VanDamm, who was it? Someone you hired? Was it Mattingly? Or his man Fisher? Who was it? Don’t you want to see the person who killed her punished?”

“Not if it would cause him embarrassment,” Mrs. VanDamm said from the staircase. “His good name is all he has left since he lost his soul the first time he used his baby daughter for his pleasure.”

“Don’t listen to them, Father,” Mina said, reaching up to stroke his face. “They can’t make you say a thing. Come with me. I’ll make you forget she ever existed! I can be your little girl again just like it was before she came!”

He stared at her for a long moment, and Sarah watched in amazement as his expression slowly changed from distaste to disbelief to horror. “It was you!” he said, his voice a hoarse croak. “You killed Alicia!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” she scoffed, thoroughly offended. “You heard him. The witness said it was a man.”

“It looked like a man. But it was you, wasn’t it, Mina?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! You’ve had a shock, Father. You aren’t yourself. Mother has a sedative that will help you-”

“I know about you,” he said, silencing her.

The two of them stared at each other as if they’d completely forgotten about the others, and in that moment, Sarah had a chance to figure it all out.

“Mina was the man with Emma Petrovka!” she told Malloy, whose expression told her he doubted her sanity.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look at her!” Sarah said, pointing to where Mina stood beside her father, shorter by only a few inches and almost as tall as Malloy. Her body was sturdy and angular beneath the flounces of her dress. “If she were wearing men’s clothes, and it was dark, she could easily pass for a man.”

Malloy couldn’t believe it. “Why would she want to-?”

“For the freedom!” Sarah explained, unable to believe he couldn’t comprehend it at once. “As a man, she could go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted.”

“And she did.”

This time the voice came from behind them, from someone they’d completely forgotten was there. Alfred’s face was gray and slack, but his eyes burned with a righteousness Sarah would never have guessed he possessed.

“Alfred, if you want to continue in our employ…” Mina began, but he simply shook his head.

“No one will work for you when they know what you’ve done in this house.”

“Stop it! Stop it right now!” Mina shrieked. “I won’t have it, I tell you!”

“What do you mean, Alfred?” Malloy said, ignoring her outburst. “What did she do?”

“She dressed like a man and went out at night. Been doing it for years. I don’t know everything she does, but someone saw her going into an opium den once, wearing her man’s clothes, or that’s what I heard.”

“There were prostitutes, too,” her father said, his voice hollow. “Women she would pay for God knows what.”

Distracted by the shock of it all, Sarah had lost track of what she should be surmising, but Malloy hadn’t.

“You dressed like a man,” he said to Mina, “and hired Emma Petrovka to get rid of your sis-” He stopped himself and made the correction, “… of Alicia’s baby. And when Petrovka wouldn’t operate and left, you killed Alicia to get rid of both her and her child.”

“Lies! It’s all lies! Father, don’t believe them!”

But he did believe them. “You killed her,” he murmured incredulously. “You killed my darling girl!”

On the staircase, Mrs. VanDamm cried out like a wounded animal.

“No! No, I didn’t, I swear it!” Mina screamed.

“How did she know where to find Alicia that night?” Malloy asked.

“I didn’t! I couldn’t have!” Mina insisted.

“The report,” VanDamm said. “Sylvester had sent it here to the house. We’d been trying to find her diary before we brought her back, and he had a man in the boardinghouse with her, looking for it. But I was out and didn’t see his report until the next morning. Mina could have read it, though. She would have known where to find Alicia that night.”

“And when she realized Mrs. Petrovka could implicate her, she killed her, too,” Malloy reminded them.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about! I never saw this person!”

“And poor Harvey,” Sarah remembered. “Did she kill him, too?”

“Yes. She was dressed like a man again,” Malloy said. “One of the servants saw her riding away. She must have come up behind him and strangled him with a piece of rope. He might have even known she was there. He wouldn’t have considered her a danger, so she could pretty much do whatever she wanted. Then she somehow got him up and hanging from a rafter. How did you do it, Miss VanDamm? You must be much stronger than you appear.”

“Father, you can’t believe this… this bogtrotter over your own daughter!” Mina grabbed him by the lapels, clinging when he would have pulled away. “Have you forgotten Alicia left you? She ran away, but I stayed! I’ve stayed with you all these years! That must count for something. I love you, Father! You must love me, too. That’s what you said! That’s what you told me all those times when you-”

“No!” VanDamm roared as thunder shook the house. “You killed my beautiful girl! Get out! Get out of my sight!”

“Father, please!” she begged, but he tore her hands away from his coat and shoved her from him.

“I’ll be glad to take her out of your sight,” Malloy said. “Would the women’s lockup be far enough?”

The look Mina turned on him was pure venom, and Sarah took a step backward just from instinct. “Malloy, I wouldn’t try to-” she began, but Mina interrupted her.

“You’ll never arrest a VanDamm,” she told him acidly. “Tell him, Father. You’d never allow it, would you? No matter what I’ve done or haven’t done.”

Everyone looked at VanDamm, and for a moment, Sarah believed he would forbid Malloy to take her. As much as he might despise her for killing Alicia, he would have to risk losing everything he prized in life in order to see his daughter arrested and tried for murder. But to her surprise, his expression hardened. His dark mustache stood out boldly against his pale skin, and sweat dampened his forehead, but he held his head high as he said, “You killed Alicia. How can you think I would care what happened to you?”

The sound she made was so anguished, it chilled Sarah’s blood, and for a moment she thought Mina might attack her own father out of sheer rage. But the balled fists struck his chest in frustration, not fury, and when he grabbed her wrists to hold her, she wrenched free, and with one last shriek, she picked up her skirts and ran.

Malloy would have stopped her if she’d headed for the front door, but she went for the stairs instead, charging up them as if all the devils of hell pursued her, and she surely put Malloy into that category.

She slammed past her mother, and for a second it looked as if Mrs. VanDamm might go toppling over the banister, but before anyone could think to catch her, she’d grabbed hold and clung as Mina ran by her up the stairs.

“Can she get out that way?” Malloy asked Alfred.

“Not unless she jumps out a window,” the old butler replied.

“Mr. VanDamm,” Sarah asked in alarm. “Are you really going to let Malloy arrest her?”

“Of course not,” Mrs. VanDamm said unsteadily as she sank down onto one of the steps. “He was only trying to frighten her. They’d throw him out of his club if his daughter was hanged.”

“Shut up, Francisca,” VanDamm said wearily. He was still rubbing his chest absently, as if the pain had vanished but he wanted to be ready in case it returned. Sarah could literally see him gathering the remnants of his pride and self-confidence around him again as he struggled to regain his dignity.

Why this should be so important to him when she and Malloy now knew the filthiest secrets about him, she had no idea, but it was, as evidenced by the power he still seemed to believe he possessed.

“You’ve done your job, Detective Sergeant,” he told Malloy. “You found Alicia’s murderer, and now you may go.”

“I have to arrest her,” Malloy said, stubborn to the last. “She killed three people. No one who knows that is safe now, not even you.”

Whether VanDamm believed him or not, they never learned, because the sound of running feet upstairs distracted them.

“Mr. VanDamm!” a voice cried from abovestairs, and in another moment, a maid appeared on the landing. “Mr. VanDamm! Miss Mina went up on the roof! I tried to stop her. The storm’s that bad, I told her, but she wouldn’t listen. She just opened the door and…”

By then Malloy was halfway up the stairs, taking them two at a time in determined leaps. Sarah started after him, but VanDamm almost knocked her over as he rushed past, pushing her out of the way. Outside, a flash of lightning lit the room as bright as day, illuminating Mrs. VanDamm’s fragile features. Sarah knew she would never forget the expression on that face.

She would have expected fear or shock, or even horror and disbelief. Instead she saw pure, naked triumph as she raced up the stairs behind the men.

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