Father Ahearn came running back with what appeared to be drapery cords. Malloy looked at them askance, but he used them to bind Mrs. Wells’s hands securely behind her back. Then he hauled her roughly to her feet and shoved her down into the nearest pew.
Richard was a bit slow getting to his feet.
“Richard, are you all right?” Sarah asked in alarm when she noticed, remembering how Mrs. Wells had been wielding the hat pin.
But Richard wasn’t listening. He was staring in horror at Mrs. Wells. “You killed Hazel, didn’t you?”
Sarah gasped as Mrs. Wells looked up, her eyes bright with the fires of fanaticism. “She was very unhappy here, Mr. Dennis. I sent her to heaven.”
Father Ahearn caught Richard when he would have attacked her and held him back.
“Let the law take care of her, Dennis,” Malloy warned him. “She’ll die for her crimes. There’s nothing worse you can do to her.”
Richard was shaking with fury, but after a moment, he allowed the priest to push him back a few steps.
“Father,” Malloy said, “can you go to the nearest call box and have them send a wagon over for this woman?”
Father Ahearn nodded, probably only too glad to escape the nightmarish scene. Portly Father O’Brien came lumbering down the aisle, wheezing from the effort of running, just as Father Ahearn bolted away to do Malloy’s bidding. He’d taken the time to put on his cassock, so he looked more professional than his young colleague. He recognized Mrs. Wells at once. “What are you doing here?” he demanded breathlessly.
“Trying to cause you some trouble, I expect, Father,” Malloy said. “She’s the one who killed Emilia Donato, and she just tried to kill Mrs. Brandt right here in the church.”
Father O’Brien’s gaze shifted back to where Mrs. Wells sat, bound and helpless. He stared at her as if the jaws of hell had suddenly opened up to reveal their horrors. “I knew something was wrong at that place,” he murmured, and Sarah remembered his accusation about other missing girls. She didn’t even want to think about how many others the woman had “sent to heaven.” She hugged Aggie more tightly and was relieved to realize the child had stopped trembling.
Richard still glared at Mrs. Wells, but he seemed calmer now. Then Sarah noticed he was rubbing his chest.
“Richard, you are hurt!” she cried. “Did she stab you?”
“Just a little jab,” he said. “It’s not even bleeding.”
Only a tiny drop of blood had stained his shirt beneath his vest, but Sarah remembered how Emilia’s wound hadn’t bled either. “Are you sure? How deep did the pin go in?”
“Not deep at all. I told you, it was just a jab.”
Sarah knew even a shallow jab could become infected, and there was always a danger of lockjaw. He did seem pale, and he was sweating. “You should sit down. You look as if you’re going to faint.”
He took a seat in the pew in front of hers and half turned to face her. He was grinning boyishly, as if he’d done something a bit naughty and was proud of it. “I did do a bit of running to get here.” He looked over at Malloy, who was still guarding Mrs. Wells. “In the end, I beat you here,” he bragged.
Malloy frowned, but he didn’t deny it. Then Sarah realized how amazing it was that they were here at all.
“How did you know I’d be in danger? And what are the two of you doing here together?” she demanded.
“I was on my way to your house, and we ran into each other,” Malloy said unhelpfully.
Sarah turned to Richard expectantly.
“I’d just found your note and was reading it when Mr. Malloy arrived.” His smile faded. “We started discussing that girl’s murder, and I remembered something you’d said about how she looked after she died.”
“You mean Emilia?” Sarah asked, still confused.
“Yes, you said she looked as if she’d suffocated. I asked Mr. Malloy to describe it and then I realized – that’s the way Hazel looked. Mrs. Wells had come to visit her that last day, and when she left, we found Hazel gasping for breath. She died a short time later.”
His gaze drifted to Mrs. Wells, who sat staring back at him, unrepentant.
“She went to heaven, Mr. Dennis,” Mrs. Wells said. “That was her wish.”
Richard looked as if he would have cheerfully broken her neck, but he managed to restrain himself.
“She’ll be punished now,” Sarah said, reaching up to pat his shoulder reassuringly. “And nothing you do to her can bring Hazel back.”
He continued to glare at the woman, rubbing his chest absently.
Father Ahearn came running back into the church and reported that a police wagon was on its way and that a carriage had pulled up outside.
“A carriage?” Sarah echoed in amazement, looking at Richard for an explanation.
“We took my carriage from your house to the mission. Mr. Malloy was expecting to find Mrs. Wells there and accuse her of the murders. When she wasn’t there… Well, that’s when we realized she was the one who had sent you the note to lure you here. Mr. Malloy said it would be faster to go on foot, so we left Sydney to follow as best he could. It looks as if he found us,” he added to Malloy.
Father O’Brien turned to Malloy. “Can someone tell me what happened here?”
Malloy looked at Sarah. “I received a note from Father Ahearn this evening,” she began, but Ahearn interrupted her.
“I didn’t send you a note!”
“I know that now,” Sarah said. “Mrs. Wells sent it and claimed it had come from you. It said you had discovered who the killer was and asked me to come to the church as soon as possible.”
“But you went to the mission first,” Richard said.
“Gina, one of the girls there, had brought the message. I had to see her safely home and tell Mrs. Wells the good news,” Sarah added bitterly.
Mrs. Wells refused to meet her gaze, but Malloy said, “So that’s how she knew exactly when you’d be at the church. Then she followed you over here.”
“And Aggie must have followed her,” Sarah said, looking down at the child, who had gone very still. Sarah realized with amazement she was asleep. “I can’t imagine why. Look at her! She’s in her nightdress and barefoot.”
“She was trying to save you,” Mrs. Wells informed her, although it gave her no pleasure. “She’s a clever girl, and she understands more than you’d ever imagine.”
“She understood that I was in danger, I guess,” Sarah continued, “and she tried to stop Mrs. Wells from stabbing me with the hat pin. Mrs. Wells grabbed her and threatened to kill her if I didn’t allow her to kill me instead.”
Father O’Brien’s expression was incredulous, but he couldn’t seem to think of a question to ask that would shed any light on the unbelievable story. Father Ahearn wasn’t quite as stunned. “How did you get the child away from her?”
“Mr. Dennis arrived. He snatched Aggie away, and Mr. Malloy and I disarmed her. That’s when you got here.”
The two priests just stared at her for a moment, and then Father O’Brien lowered himself into one of the pews, as if his legs had decided not to hold him anymore.
Sarah remembered her own questions about Emilia’s death and looked at Mrs. Wells. “You killed Emilia in the park because you thought that’s where her mother sold flowers, but you didn’t know her mother hadn’t been there in months.”
She gazed back with guileless eyes. “You’re wrong. I did know it. Emilia didn’t, though. She went there eagerly so her mother could see her new dress. But I wanted it to happen there so no one would recognize her. She would never be identified.”
“Just like the others,” Father O’Brien murmured, turning to Sarah in horror. “I told you other girls had disappeared. If no one knew who they were, they would never have been traced back to the mission.”