In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen Read Free Book Online Page B

than make up liniments for old men’s rheumatics. But I’m studying in my spare time and I hope to make something of myself someday.”
    “Ned—I don’t pay you to gossip,” came the sharp voice from the back room. “If the young lady hasn’t come to purchase something then I suggest she wait outside.”
    “You see what it’s like,” Ned muttered to me. “Never a moment to myself. Ah, here’s Emily now.”
    Emily burst in through the front door, her cheeks glowing from having hurried. “Sorry I’m late,” she gasped, “But I decided to stop in on Mrs. Hartmann, since she lives just across the street from the delivery.”
    “I don’t pay you to dillydally and gossip,” Mr. McPherson snapped. “Next time you want to go visiting, do it during your lunch break.”
    “Oh, but Mr. McPherson, she’s your own valued employee. I’d have thought you’d want an update on her condition,” Emily said.
    Mr. McPherson merely grunted.
    “Well, how is she?” Ned asked.
    “A little better,” Emily said. “Starting to sit up and take solid food again.”
    “Well, that’s good news. I must go and see her myself,” Ned said. “In my own time, of course,” he added, glancing back at his boss, then touched Emily’s arm. “And you have a visitor.”
    Her face lit up. “Molly. You’re better. How splendid.”
    “Your ministrations obviously did the trick,” I said. “I woke this morning feeling my old self again. So I’m anxious to get to work.”
    “Work? What work?” Ned asked.
    “Molly is a real live detective,” Emily said. “Have you two been introduced?”
    “Not exactly,” I said. “Being a detective, I deduced that this young man might be Ned but he doesn’t know my name.”
    “Oh, then let me introduce you now. Molly Murphy, this is Ned Tate.”
    We shook hands. His hand was slim and elegant, with well-manicured fingernails. Obviously a young man who thought a lot of himself, I decided.
    “Are you lunching with any of your other friends?” Ned asked. “Or is Molly not part of your rich socialite set?”
    Emily laughed. “My rich socialite set? Just because some of my Vassar friends have married well doesn’t mean that I’m part of any rich set.”
    “I only thought that your bosom pal Fanny whatever-her-name-is lived nearby and that you saw her frequently.”
    “Fanny does live in the Dakota,” Emily said, “but I hardly see her frequently anymore. Our lives are so different now. She has all the time in the world and I have none. Speaking of which, my precious half hour is rapidly disappearing. Come, Molly, we must away. If you’ll excuse us, Ned.”
    “I’ll leave you ladies to your luncheon then,” he said, with a polite bow. “I have to get back to work,” he added loudly for Mr. McPherson’s benefit.
    “Too right you do,” Mr. McPherson said, looking up from his table. “Does Mrs. Hartmann require any more of the stomach powders?”
    “No, she said she didn’t need anything,” Emily said. “She said she was on the mend.”
    “Well, let’s hope she’ll be back at work soon. You young slackers don’t know the meaning of work.”
    I followed Emily out of the shop.
    “So what did you think of Ned?” Emily asked. Her eyes were shining.
    “He is very handsome,” I said.
    “Isn’t he just? And so smart too. It was my lucky day when I answered that advertisement in McPherson’s window.”
    I couldn’t help wondering what it was about Emily that had caught Ned’s eye. Maybe I had misjudged him and he was more impressed with her intellect than her looks. He had certainly given me a once-over all right.
    “I usually just go to the café across the street,” Emily said. “They have a ten-cent daily special that is sometimes quite good. And I only have one gas ring in my room so it’s hard to cook at home.”
    “Fine with me,” I said. “As long as it’s quiet enough to talk.”
    We dodged the traffic and went inside a pleasant little tea room called the