Murder on Lenox Hill (35 page)

He stared back at her for a long moment, as if judging her resolve. Then, as if satisfied, he nodded once. “Talk to Roosevelt, then.”

Just then they heard a loud thump from upstairs, reminding them they'd left the children alone too long.

“I guess we'd better check on them,” Sarah said, glad to change the subject.

Malloy followed her through the house to the stairway. From above, she could hear someone talking, and for an instant she simply wondered whose voice it was. In the next instant she realized whose it had to be.

It was Aggie's voice. She was talking to Brian. Sarah stopped dead, her heart pounding in her chest as she looked up the stairs toward the sound.

Behind her, Malloy started to speak, but she hushed him, putting a finger to her lips. From above, the tiny sounds floated down to them.

“I know you can't hear me, Brian, and that's why I'm telling you. Everybody thinks my name is Aggie, but it's not. My name is Catherine.”

Sarah turned to Malloy as tears flooded her eyes. She saw her own wonder reflected on his face. “She can talk,” she whispered.

She never knew which of them moved first, but in the next second she was in his arms, clinging to him as she sobbed against his chest. She wept out her joy for the child that was now her daughter, her grief for the husband she had lost, her sorrow for the pain she'd seen so many innocents suffer these past weeks, and her gratitude that she had Malloy to share it with.

As he crushed her to him, she knew that no matter what happened, they would be all right.

Author's Note

I
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK. YOUR SUPPORT HAS made the Gaslight Mysteries a success and helped ensure there will be more books to come! I've heard from some fans who were interested to know why I chose to have Brian learn American Sign Language instead of attending a school where he would learn to speak. After researching the various schools of thought about teaching the deaf, I came to the same conclusion that Frank Malloy did. If Brian had lost his hearing after he had learned to speak, I would have sent him to a school where he would learn to speak. Since he has never heard the spoken word, and my research indicated that those who are born deaf have a difficult time learning to speak, I chose to have him learn to sign.

Please let me know how you enjoyed this latest installment of the Gaslight Series. You may contact me through my web page at
victoriathompson.com
.