Death Between the Pages

by Beth Byers

  “They sound nice,” Evelyn said softly.

  “Do your people try to control what you read?”

  Evelyn shook her head. “They’re not fans, in general, of reading. But no. My cousin likes to talk about how men don’t like women who spend all their time with a nose in a book.”

  Marian laughed. “All men aren’t the same. So, what is it?”

  Evelyn whispered, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

  Marian’s eyes widened and she whispered, “May I read it next? You’re from Harper’s Hollow, aren’t you? Joseph said he’d seen you on the train.”

  “I am.”

  “Joseph lives there with his family. I’ll be moving there once we marry in June.” Marian grinned at Evelyn. “I can see we’ll have to be good friends.”

  Evelyn blushed and glanced away. A moment passed before she asked Marian, “Detective Aaron travels with two other men often. Are those his family members?”

  Marian nodded. “The older one is Charles Aaron who is the Aaron behind Aaron and Luther, the publishing house. Robert, he’s the handsome younger one.”

  “Speaking of,” Joseph said from behind them, “Miss Hobbs is quite the fan of Georgette.”

  “Georgette?” Evelyn repeated, glancing towards Marian.

  “Joseph Jones,” Marian replied. “Also known as the Aaron matriarch. Lean back, my friend, and I’ll tell you the tale.”

  Evelyn bit her bottom lip and nervously smoothed her hair even though it was perfectly in place as Marian accepted her tea from Joseph and told the tale of Georgette selling her book to Charles, stealing his heart, and then making him earn her trust. When it ended, Evelyn had relaxed, though the edge of nervous rabbit hadn’t entirely disappeared.

  “You must meet her,” Marian insisted. “Georgette’s quiet until you get to know her, but I think you’ll like her so much. What about tea? Next Saturday?”

  “I—”

  “Trust me,” Marian said, patting Evelyn on the shoulder, “you’ll definitely want some of the blackberry scones, and you don’t work Saturdays, do you?”

  “No, I don’t,” Evelyn said. She looked as if she wanted to say no, but instead she murmured, “All right.”

  JOSEPH AARON

  “She’s too nervous,” Marian told Joseph as they let Evelyn speed ahead as they left the café.

  “Too nervous for Robert?”

  “No.” Marian rolled her eyes at him, and he barely kept himself from pinching her lightly to make her squeal. “She’s too nervous for life. Something is wrong there, Joseph.”

  He frowned at her and then offered, “Some people are shy.”

  “I’m not scary,” Marian told him flatly. “We were talking books, in a public place, without judgement. Even if she was a Nervous Nellie by nature, she shouldn’t have been quite so nervous.”

  “Do you think she needs our help?”

  Marian’s mouth twisted and Joseph realized in that moment, Marian was going to take on Evelyn’s troubles simply because Robert was enchanted by the girl. “You might be the best to lend her a hand.”

  Marian lifted her brow. “Might be?”

  “Are.” He tugged her into the shadow of a tree and pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Would you like to come down to Harper’s Hollow for the weekend? I know Georgette would love it almost as much as I would.”

  “I would like that,” Marian said, “but Mother will object if I spend two weekends in a row with Georgette.”

  “Oh, you might see Georgette,” Joseph told her, slipping his hand around her waist and pulling her close, “but you’re coming for me.”

  Marian would have laughed at him, but he silenced her with a kiss and then took her back to Scotland Yard.

  “Higgins will drive you back to your mother,” Joseph said. “No need to take the bus alone.”

  “Or you could take the rest of the day off,” Marian suggested. “Come with me to get my things, take me to Georgette’s house until I can move into ours, and I’ll putter in the garden and have an excess of odd teas, and talk Eunice into blackberry scones.”

  “And bacon?” Joseph said.

  Marian paused and then slowly nodded.

  “Do you like bacon?” Joseph asked.

  “Sure,” Marian replied absently, her head cocking as she looked around Joseph’s shoulder.

  “Sure?” But he could tell she wasn’t really listening.

  “Joseph, is that the big man you described? Oh! He’s like the one from those pages we read from Robert’s book.”

  Joseph turned, noting Hobbs with another man, but he couldn’t help but repeat, “But you do like bacon?”

  “Bacon? Joseph, they’re pushing each other. Look.”

  Joseph looked and then paused. They weren’t just pushing. Warren Hobbs’s massive fist was cocked back and ready to smash the other fellow.

  “Here now,” Joseph called, letting go of Marian and pushing her carefully behind him before he called, “Hobbs! That’s enough. What do you think you’re doing?”

  Hobbs glanced over, noted Joseph, and dropped his fist before he shoved the other man back. He turned and disappeared into an alley while the first fellow stormed down the road.

  “What in the world was that?” Marian asked as Joseph returned to her.

  “Looks like Hobbs is a bit of a beast,” Joseph muttered. “Not really surprising, given his looks.”

  “He could have been a gentle giant,” Marian answered. “But, then why would Evelyn be quite so jumpy? I bet he really is a beast.”

  “Lovely.” Joseph placed Marian’s hand on his arm and tilted her away from the road, so he was between her and the traffic. “I suppose that they do make a good mix. The elegant little blonde and the massive man. I can see why Robert put them in his book.”

  “Now that Robert’s going to meet her, he really should at least make his Lottie a brunette or make his Bastian—I don’t know…different somehow.”

  “We can’t have another Georgette situation on our hands, can we?” Joseph agreed. “It’s good these artistic types have us to keep them in line.”

  6

  ROBERT AARON

  Robert took the train back early after working so late the night before. It might have been for him to catch up on his sleep, but after going to bed at 3:00 am, he found that he had thought about his story until sleep overtook him. If it weren’t for Georgette knocking lightly on the door and promising coffee, he’d have missed the train.

  Instead of going back to Charles’s house or to his own, he went to the hardware store.

  “Hullo, Mr. Aaron,” the fellow said, pushing up from a squat near a container of nails. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need a roof,” Robert said. “And windows. To start.”

  “To start?” The man rubbed his hands on his coveralls. “If I were getting a new roof, I’d ask Dean Lenz.”

  “Where would I find this fellow?”

  “Out near the Thorland Farm.”

  “I don’t know where that is,” Robert confessed and then took the map that the man drew and headed towards Charles’s house to borrow the auto.

  Georgette was working, and asking for the favor was more of an intrusion than simply taking the vehicle, so he asked Eunice who rolled her eyes and told him to go. Janey jumped into the auto as he started backing away.

  “What’s this?” Robert asked, but he didn’t slow.

  “You’re going to Thorland Farm. Eunice told me to ask them if they had any of the blackberry jam that they sold at the farmer’s market. She’s making blackberry scones for that next tea.”

  “Joseph’s favorite?”

  “Marian asked,” Janey said simply. “I prefer marmalade. Just like you.”

  Robert snorted. “You like marmalade because it’s the best, and you have excellent taste.” He eyed her sideways. “Any more sneaking out of the house? Any more breaking locks?”

  Janey shot him a look full of daggers.

  “I will bring that up until
the day I die,” Robert told Janey, who crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what family is all about.”

  Janey smiled the tiniest bit and then jumped out of the auto as he stopped it in front of the farm. He crossed to find the small white house across the street from Thorland Farm while Janey ran up to the farmhouse. As Robert spoke with Dean Lenz about replacing windows and a new roof, he noticed a trio of houses near the end of the lane.

  Then he noticed a slim woman walking towards them. He didn’t need her to get closer to see it was Evelyn Hobbs.

  “Bloody hell, I’m creepy,” Robert muttered.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Aaron?” Dean Lenz’s mouth twisted in humor as Robert shook his head, embarrassed to be caught staring at the woman. “You know Evelyn, do you?”

  “She’s just, ah, unique in comparison to her cousin. I see them on the train to London,” he added.

  “Yes, they’re quite different,” Dean agreed. “I’ve been friends with Warren Hobbs since we were boys. Evelyn came to live with the family when she was seventeen. Her father left her mother, and her mother married again. She was left hanging, so they took her in. You like her?”

  “I only thought it was interesting how different they were. You have to do something on the train, am I right?”

  Dean laughed. “So, a new roof, new windows, to start.”

  “To start. Do you know a chimney man?”

  Dean nodded. “I’ll send him to you. Your house or that big house your uncle lives in?” His gaze flicked from Robert to Evelyn and back again and he got a sly look. “Oh hey, Ev! Evelyn!”

  She paused and then crossed over to them. “Hello Dean. Nice day.”

  “Hey there. Where’s Warren?”

  “He doesn’t always take the same train back as I do. I don’t know where he is.”

  “Have you met Robert Aaron?”

  She shook her head and blushed, but her gaze darted up to him, and he realized suddenly she had the most lovely green eyes along with a sprinkle of freckles over her nose. “Are you the detective inspector’s brother?”

  Robert just kept himself from growling “mmm,” but he nodded and then gave her his most charming grin.

  “He’s nice,” Evelyn said softly.

  “He’s engaged to some London girl,” Dean told Evelyn.

  She blushed brilliantly, but she said, “Yes, I know. I met her and we talked books. She’s very nice as well.”

  “I’m sorry, Ev,” Dean told her. “I shouldn’t have said that. I suppose your cousin is getting in my head with his, ‘Those college types aren’t going to be impressed by your rough and tumble family’ bit. The truth is with someone like him around, he’ll drive away every bit of happiness you’ll ever find.”

  Robert’s gaze jerked to Evelyn, who had paled and was nibbling on her bottom lip. “Yes. Well.”

  “It’s not possible to drive away the happiness of bookworms,” Robert told Dean. “Books let you find it wherever you’re able to dive in.”

  “Is that why you work in publishing?” Evelyn asked, her eyes fixing on his face with enough weight that Robert tried not to show how much he liked it.

  “I wanted to work with my uncle,” Robert answered honestly. “For a while, it looked like no one would take over the family business, and I didn’t have a drive to be something like Joseph did. Charles asked me if I wanted to join him, and the answer was obvious.”

  “Family business, huh?” Dean said. “That’s what got me into building. My father, my grandfather, my uncle.”

  Robert nodded as if he cared and focused back on Evelyn. “I was going to take my niece for a walk before I drive her home. Would you like to join us, Miss Hobbs?”

  Evelyn hesitated. Dean hissed, “Go, Ev. Otherwise, Warren will be back and harassing you into making supper and feeding the chickens and whatever else he can think of.”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip again and then glanced at Robert, nodding rather quickly.

  As they walked towards Thorland Farm, Evelyn asked quietly, “Is it true that Joseph Jones is working on detective stories now?”

  “Is that a fan I hear?” Robert teased but his heart thumped in his chest at the thought of the pretty woman reading a story he’d written. Especially when he’d based his character on her. Thankfully, Janey raced up to them cradling two jars of jam against her. She looked at the two adults curiously.

  “Are we going?” Janey asked.

  Robert took the jam jars from Janey and set them in the car. “It’s such a nice day that I thought we’d take a little walk.”

  “I suppose we could. Are you from around here?” Janey’s bright eyes fixated on Evelyn’s face. There was something about children, he thought, as Evelyn relaxed.

  “I live over there.” Evelyn pointed to the last of the cottages, the one that was tucked into the area closest to the trees.

  “By yourself?” Janey asked.

  Evelyn laughed and shook her head. “Usually women don’t live by themselves.”

  “Georgette did,” Janey told her. “Well, Eunice was there, but she’s a woman too.”

  “Did she?”

  “I’m tired of people saying what women can’t do,” Janey went on defiantly. “That’s all fiddlesticks.”

  “Fiddlesticks?” Evelyn laughed and glanced up at Robert as though expecting him to contradict the child.

  “Women can do anything, Janey my heart,” Robert told her. “There are women pilots and doctors and adventurers and mothers, and they’re all good things to do with your life.”

  “Do you like what you do?” Janey asked Evelyn, who had nearly stopped walking as she stared in surprise at Robert.

  Evelyn paused and then shook her head.

  “Why do you do it?”

  “It’s hard to get work in these days.” Evelyn scrunched her nose. “Sometimes we can’t be so picky. It takes family and money to be able to be wild. The rest of us have to scrape by with what we can find. I work as a file clerk at Scotland Yard because the man who hired me owed Warren a favor, but any monkey who knows the alphabet could fill my position.”

  Janey stared at Evelyn and then told her flatly, “You need to sort your priorities.”

  “You, miss,” Robert told her lightly, “need to imagine Eunice hearing that comment.”

  Janey frowned and her eyes narrowed on Robert and then they turned wicked when she said, “You look like the girl in Robert’s book.”

  “Do you write?” Evelyn asked Robert and for once, she didn’t look sheepish, embarrassed, or uncomfortable.

  “I—” Robert shook his head and then admitted, “Well yes, but only Charles and Georgette are supposed to know about it. How did you learn?” he demanded of Janey.

  Janey rolled her eyes. “Joseph figured it out and told Marian. They read it together. Then I read it after they went to bed.”

  “Janey, that book wasn’t meant for children.”

  “It wasn’t as scary as finding a killer on my own. I can handle it.”

  “What?” Evelyn gasped. She took hold of Robert’s arm. She froze a little after she did, and he guessed that she only realized what she did after she had done it. “What killer?”

  Janey lifted a brow, put her hands on her hips, looking very much like Eunice, and said, “That man who killed my friend’s father. They were going to be split up just like me and Lucy and Eddie until Georgette and Charles saved us. Only this time, Robert saved them.”

  Evelyn’s gaze turned to Robert, who shook his head and said, “They saved themselves.”

  Janey scoffed. Robert could see the light of interest in Evelyn’s gaze. He would have picked up Janey and squeezed her tight except he already knew that he was borderline creepy. So he gave her a stern look instead, and Janey gave a little laugh as she bounded onward.

  “I look like a character in your book?” Evelyn asked quietly as Janey skipped ahead. “The one that Joseph—I mean, Georgette—wrote with you.”

  Robert blushed. “Maybe.” He clea
red his throat.

  Evelyn gasped, pausing to put her hand on his wrist. “Is it me?”

  “It was. A little,” he said. “You have a very distinct look.”

  She was blushing as darkly as he was when she stammered, “I—I—I’m honored.”

  “Really?” Robert rubbed the back of his neck and then asked, “Do you think your cousin will feel the same way? Because he’s in there as well.”

  Evelyn shook her head resolutely and then glanced over her shoulder before she whispered, “But I can’t imagine he’ll ever know. He doesn’t read.”

  Robert hesitated. “I can change him. If you think he’d be upset.”

  Evelyn’s mouth twisted and then they both heard her name being bellowed. “Oh that’s him.” Her gaze turned back towards the house and the fleeting happiness faded. “I think you’d better change him just in case. He’s a bit of an ‘expresses himself with his fists’ fellow.”

  Robert nodded. “I’ve learned to listen to the good advice of the women in my life.”

  “Have you?” She looked surprised, but then pleased.

  “Thanks for walking with me,” Robert said, wishing it could have gone longer. “Otherwise I’d have had to hear of Janey’s plans, which inevitably leads to me weighing whether I should tell Georgette and Charles or pretending as though I don’t know.”

  Evelyn laughed and the sound of her laughter had him grinning back at her.

  “It’s funny that we’ve been on that same train so many times and never met,” she told him. “Thank you for the walk, Mr. Aaron.”

  “Please call me Robert. After all, if Marian is excited about being your friend, Georgette will be excited about it, and then we’ll be bumping into each other so often, it’ll feel like it should always be that way.”

  Evelyn stared at him for a moment, completely surprised. “How do you know Marian likes me?”

  “She likes any woman who loves to read and is kind.” When Evelyn looked uncertain, Robert dared to continue. “I think you might do well with a few friends who like the things you like, Miss Hobbs.”

  She blinked rather rapidly and then said, “That does sound nice.”