The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Carola Dunn

’Tis how they say it here.”
    â€œOh yes, he’s been ‘fresh,’ all right,” Daisy said, laughing, “but in such a friendly way I couldn’t possibly take offence. I like Kevin. Actually, I wondered whether you had spoken to the police yet.”
    â€œOnly to pass the time of day wi’ the bluecoat guarding Mr. Carmody’s door. Kevin says there was a detective went to the manager’s office and wrote down the name and address
of all the staff and residents. I wish they’d hurry up and get it over with. Sure and I might forget what I heard.”
    Daisy knew an opportunity when she saw one. “Would it help to tell me, now?” she suggested. “Then it will be fresh in your mind. Fresh in the English sense.”
    Bridget was eager to oblige. She never listened at doors, she was quick to explain, but she had been putting clean towels in Mr. Carmody’s bathroom. He knew she was there, but he hadn’t told her to leave, and she had not dared to creep out in the middle of the Donnybrook.
    â€œIrish that is, ma’am, that word, not American. A fight, sure enough, though being a lady and gentlemen they used hard words, not shillelaghs.”
    The chambermaid had the Irish gift for story-telling. While she talked, Daisy could imagine herself cowering in the bathroom, listening involuntarily to the harsh voices.
    First had come the peremptory rap on the outer door. Brisk footsteps crossed the room to answer it.
    â€œWhat the heck do you want now, Elva?” That was Carmody, bored, irritated.
    â€œWe can’t talk in the hallway, Otis.” A female voice, high-pitched, with a hint of a whine—Mrs. Carmody. She was a pretty woman, with an air of fragility, Bridget said.
    A long-suffering sigh next reached the maid’s ears. “O.K., come in then if you insist. Yes, you too, Bender. I don’t know what more you think there is to say.”
    â€œNot my idea,” spluttered the unknown Bender. “Leave it to the lawyers.”
    â€œHoney, the lawyers can’t help if Otis won’t cooperate.” Mrs. Carmody now spoke in tones of sweet patience. “He’s not one of your tenants to be evicted. I don’t see why you won’t give me a divorce, Otis.”

    â€œI’m quite ready to divorce you, sweets.” Carmody’s voice conveyed a sardonic grin. “For desertion, or adultery, whichever you choose.”
    â€œYou know that’d damn me in the eyes of the best New York society. Why can’t you be a gentleman and give me grounds to divorce you for adultery?”
    â€œBecause I’m too much the gentleman ever to be unfaithful.”
    â€œOh, don’t give me that hooey!”
    â€œNow, now, Elva, don’t be vulgar,” chided Carmody. “The best New York society won’t stand for vulgarity.”
    â€œDamn you! I’m sick of your sarcasm. I’m sick of never knowing when you’re gonna get paid. I’m sick of playing second fiddle to your damn career, running around at all hours digging up dirt that makes important people hate your guts. I’m never coming back to you, so why won’t you just go and have a fling with some little chorus girl?”
    â€œSo you can set your private dick on my tail, peering through keyholes and jumping out of closets with his Kodak to catch me in flagrante ?” Carmody was angry now. “Sordid, Elva, sordid! No, I’m not putting myself in the wrong for your sake, so Bender’s goddamn blood-sucking lawyers can strip me of what little I possess!”
    â€œHold it there, buddy!” bleated Bender. “I don’t need your two bits to keep the little woman in furs and diamonds.”
    â€œMaybe not, but I’m not taking the risk. And it’s no good saying you’ll sign a paper. I know what a smart lawyer can do with a piece of paper, and I know all the judges in this burg got elected on the Tammany