Free The Leaving Of Liverpool by Maureen Lee Page B

punch the haughty, supercilious face. If it hadn’t been for his little brothers, he’d never have gone near the house again. ‘You don’t have to worry, Moll. He won’t dare touch you when you come home,’ he said now. Should he try, he’d have Finn to deal with, not to mention Hazel, who was threatening to report him to the peelers.
    ‘Oh, Finn, I’m not going home.’ Mollie shivered at the thought. ‘I never want to see Duneathly again. I want to go to New York and be with Annemarie. I wrote to Aunt Maggie at the same time as I wrote to Hazel and asked her to send the money for the fare to Agatha’s address. There’s thirty-six pounds in our suitcase. It’s what was left from Mammy’s inheritance after the tickets had been paid for. As soon as it arrives, I’ll be on the next boat to New York.’
    Finn reached for her hand and squeezed it, knowing he was about to relay some really horrifying news. ‘I’m sorry, Moll, but Annemarie never arrived at Aunt Maggie’s,’ he said gently. ‘Maggie sent a telegram the next day. Since then, she’s been searching for her everywhere, but hasn’t had any luck so far.’
    ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God!’ Mollie crossed herself and burst into tears, causing the waitress to stare. ‘Then what’s happened to her?’ she wailed.
    ‘I don’t know, sis.’ He squeezed he hand again. ‘Tomorrow, I’m sailing to New York from Southampton to help look for her. Maggie has already contacted all the hospitals and now the police are involved. Last night, I spoke to her on the telephone. I called from my office in Kildare and she answered in the shop beneath her apartment.’ He still couldn’t quite get over the wonders of modern technology, though dreaded to think what the call had cost.
    ‘Can I come with you to New York, Finn?’
    ‘No, Moll, I’m sorry,’ he said firmly. ‘You’ll only get in the way.’
    Mollie sniffed. ‘There was a German woman in the cabin with us, Gertrude Strauss. I don’t know why, but I thought she’d look after Annemarie. She seemed very kind.’
    ‘Was anyone else in the cabin with you, sis?’
    ‘There was a girl called Olive Raines. I quite liked her, but she was what Nanny would have called a “baggage”. Miss Strauss accused her of all sorts of things.’
    Finn nodded, but didn’t speak. He didn’t want his sister to know that Maggie had discovered a young woman answering to Annemarie’s description had been taken to the hospital on Ellis Island where her passport had later been found. By the time Maggie arrived, the girl had gone, collected by another young woman who’d produced Mollie’s passport. The girl in the hospital had gone by the name Olive Raines. It would seem the real Olive Raines had used both his sisters for some dark, inexplicable reasons of her own.
    ‘Have you got any money, sis?’
    ‘No. I only had a few shillings in my purse, but I’ve spent it.’ She hung her head. ‘The rest was in the suitcase. I expect that disappeared an’ all.’
    ‘Maggie’s never mentioned it, so I reckon it has. Look, take this.’ He gave her five ten-shilling notes. ‘I’ll send more when I’m back home. I don’t suppose you’ve got any clothes, either?’
    ‘Only the ones I’m wearing, Finn.’
    She looked so miserable it made him want to kill their father and do the same to Olive Raines should he ever get his hands on the girl. ‘Hazel got Sinead Larkin to run you up a frock in a single day. Sinead had your measurements. It’s in my case with a few other things.’
    ‘Thank you, Finn,’ she said gratefully. ‘How is Hazel? I forgot to ask. The baby should arrive in a few weeks’ time.’
    ‘Hazel’s blooming and the baby’s due in the middle of April.’ Finn could hardly wait to become a father. ‘We’re going to call it Patrick if it’s a boy, but we can’t decide on a girl’s name.’ He fancied Deirdre, but Hazel was rather taken with Geraldine, a name he loathed. They were still arguing