Tell Me, Pretty Maiden by Rhys Bowen Page A

said. “Would you really mind going on your own today? I don’t think I should risk being around so many sick people, not in my present condition.”
    “Daniel, you’ve got the beginnings of an ordinary little cold. But I don’t mind going alone, if you’d like to stay here and rest before this evening’s assignment with Mr. Roth.”
    “You’re a heartless slave driver, Molly Murphy,” he said, but in a good-natured way.

ELEVEN
    I arrived at the German hospital just as the clock on a nearby church was striking three. That gave me one hour to see my mystery girl and then get back to the theater. I inquired which ward she had been taken to and found her lying, as still and white as the first time I had seen her, in a bed at the far end. For a moment I wondered if she had died, but as I stood beside her those clear blues eyes opened and focused on me. I thought I saw some recognition there.
    “Hello.” I gave her my warmest smile. “Do you remember me from yesterday? I was the one who found you in Central Park. How are you feeling today? Recovered from your ordeal?”
    She continued to stare at me, but didn’t say a word. Nor did her expression change.
    “Have they managed to contact your relatives yet?” I asked.
    Again, not a glimmer of anything in her eyes.
    I saw a nurse coming down the ward with some medicine on a tray. “Has this young lady spoken at all yet?” I asked.
    “Not a word,” the nurse said.
    “Do you think she doesn’t understand English?”
    “We’ve tried several languages but she just stares blankly.”
    “So you obviously haven’t managed to contact her family.”
    “Not as far as I know. How are you connected with her?”
    “I was the one who found her in a snowbank yesterday.”
    “Mercy me. The poor child. Well, maybe she’ll come around soon with loving care and nourishing food.”
    She continued on her way. I went to seek out the doctor we had seen yesterday and found him coming out of a ward down the hall. He recognized me right away.
    “The young lady. You have seen for yourself, no? She does not respond to anything. Maybe the blow to her head?”
    “She did receive a blow to the head then?”
    “We had to sedate her before we could examine her properly, and yes, there was a bump on one side of her head, and some bruises and scratches on the same side of her body. But nothing that seemed severe enough to cause such deep amnesia.”
    “If she was hit on the head in the park, and presumably knocked out, then how did she manage to walk to the spot where I found her on her own?” I said, speaking more to myself than the doctor. “And why bruises and scratches just on one side of her body?”
    “A tricky puzzle,” the doctor said. “I wish I knew the answers.”
    “And that was the extent of her injuries?” I asked. “No signs of other—uh—kinds of assault?”
    “No sign at all.”
    “Well, that’s one piece of good news, isn’t it?” I said. “So, is something being done to locate her next of kin?”
    “We have informed the police about her. We can’t do any more,” he said. “Physically she’ll be strong enough to leave us any day.”
    “And if they don’t manage to locate her family?”
    “If her mental condition doesn’t improve, then she’ll have to be placed in an institution. We need our beds here for the sick.”
    “You’re sure this isn’t just a language problem?”
    “My dear young lady, we have tried,” he said. “If you don’t understand a language, there is always some way of communicating, isn’t there? Gestures and smiles and words that languages have in common, like mama, papa. ”
    “Yes, I suppose you are right,” I agreed. “Oh dear. I had hoped for better news today. I’ll come back tomorrow and bring her some good broth—something nourishing. Maybe you’ll have better news by then.”
    “Let us hope so,” he said. “Goodbye, Fraulein.” He nodded gravely and moved on.
    I was in deep gloom as I walked down