by Beth Byers
Merry Little Death
A Poison Ink Mystery
Beth Byers
Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Also By Beth Byers
Summary
Christmas 1937
Georgette Dorothy Aaron has found her dream home, her dream village, and her dream husband. She and Charles are ready to dive into their holidays and create their own ideal traditions. When they're drawn into an unexpected mystery, they little expect what follows. Except for one thing, the reliable goodness of their friends and family.
Join Georgette and those she loves as they dive into the intrigue working around an excess of time next to the fire, milky tea, and Christmas treats.
Chapter 1
The goddess Atë scowled down at her favorite small-town English woman. Lying in her husband’s arms, sleeping in, curled together in their covers, snuggled into the down pillow. Oh! Where was the mischief? Where was the fool making their own downfall? Where was the ironic fellow who thought he’d be smarter or cleverer than her Georgette?
Atë sighed and wondered if she needed to look much farther afield than Harper’s Hollow and the pretty little family with the pretty little girls who would hang the pretty little stockings next to the pretty little fire. Boring. She looked down the road, noting the new doctor and had to grin at him. Gawky and thin with the face of a baby and realizing he’d need to tell old Mr. Orning that his heart was going and there was little left to be done.
Orning would, of course, scoff and shout he’d be getting a different opinion. He’d mutter darkly about children for doctors and storm out of the office. It wouldn’t be the first time. Atë turned her gaze towards the train and the riders. Marian Parker would be taking the train into Harper’s Hollow to spend the holiday with her betrothed. Her parents were trying to manipulate things again, and she was quite frustrated, but there would be nothing surprising in how things turned out.
Who else would be coming? What else would be happening? Atë would need to turn her attention to where the world was building its ruin. Unfortunately, war was to be expected and provided far less amusement than the quiet old maid with a clever eye.
Atë sighed and then wondered…what if?
GEORGETTE DOROTHY AARON
Georgette woke to the feel of Charles’s hand on her stomach. She noticed the baby’s motion a moment later. “Good morning, dear Charles.”
He looked up at her and grinned. His eyes crinkled and that kindness that was just for her shone down on her like the sun. She played with his hair where his temples were turning slightly grey. He was a handsome man in his early 40s. Strong and lithe without being bulky, and his face had lovely even features. She had long since realized that she didn’t know if he was quite as handsome as she viewed him. To her, he was the most attractive person there was, but she knew he wasn’t literally the most.
“Good morning, Georgette.” He kissed her lightly on the lips and added, “I do love you.”
“And I you,” she said, stretching her toes. “Someone’s in a good mood for the holidays.”
“Indeed.” He nuzzled her a little and then patted her stomach. “Little person, it is the holidays. Papa wanted to sleep past breakfast.”
“I don’t think he or she knows what those are yet,” Georgette told him. There was something utterly tender in watching him talk to their baby.
Georgette snuggled down into the pillow and suggested that he go back to sleep. He curled around her and the baby kicked frantically.
“However do you sleep through that?”
“I suppose I’ve become accustomed to being internally assaulted.”
His laugh surprised them both and Georgette muttered, “I think the chances of falling back to sleep have faded.”
“Shall we get up, dress, and sneak out?”
“Wherever shall we go?”
“I don’t know,” Charles confessed. “Eddie is back and loud. Lucy has been no doubt up and ready to go help the doctor. Janey has been endlessly in the sweets and it shows.”
“What about London? Shall we have a bit of a shop?”
He nuzzled her forehead and whispered low, “I know where you want to go.”
She grinned.
“You need new dresses.”
“No, no,” she said into his shoulder. “I’m all the wrong size.”
“Darling Georgie,” he told her with a laugh. “You’ll be naked if you don’t buy a new dress or two. I’m afraid you only get bigger from here.”
Georgette curled into him again. “Perhaps I’ll just wear a robe until the baby arrives and never leave the house.”
Charles laughed into her hair. “I don’t suppose I’d mind that so much. How many books am I going to get from you, housebound as you’ll be between now and the baby?”
She shook her head and told him, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch or your books before they’re written, dear Charles.”
ROBERT AARON
Robert played with the pages of his manuscript, glancing up as there came a knock on the door.
“I’m heading out, Aaron. Tell the other Aaron Happy Christmas.” Luther, Charles’s business partner, closed the door before Robert had a chance to reply. The man was brilliant when it came to books, business, and managing. He hated, however, dealing with people. He’d head home to his family, probably disappear into his office, and only come out for the necessary moments and meals.
Robert looked at his manuscript again. Though he quite liked the frame of it, it didn’t have any charm. He didn’t need Charles to explain what was wrong. Robert knew what was wrong. He felt it in his stomach when he read it. He just didn’t know how to fix it. He knew someone who did, but—did he dare ask for the help?
As if ordered by fate, the door to the office opened and Robert stood up in surprise to see who would enter without knocking. The surprise turned to pleasure as his Uncle Charles stepped in, followed by Georgette.
“Hello, Robert!” Charles took Georgette’s coat and then took off his own. “We’ve escaped the children.”
“Regretting them?” Robert asked, genuinely curious.
Georgette gasped and shook her head while Charles said, “Just a bit overwhelmed. We’re old codgers who are used to being alone. They’re used to being on top of each other and the people they love. Holidays are exciting when you’re children.”
“So you’ve escaped to me. I don’t blame you a bit.”
“We’ve escaped to use the facilities here.” Georgette grinned unapologetically, and with her coat removed, the swell of the unborn baby was apparent. Her soft brown hair and soft brown eyes glowed with health and her warm smile was just delightful. Robert had become rather unexpectedly fond of her. She waved lightly and disappeared towards the washroom while Charles crossed to the teapot and scowled when it was empty.
“I was just getting ready to leave.” Robert’s explanation didn’t seem to help. The rest of the office was already gone for the holidays, and Robert had only come in to finish up letters and statements to each of the authors.
Charles examined his nephew for a long minute and then asked, “Were you going to catch the train and come down this evening for the holidays?”
“I was.”
“We have the auto. You can motor down with us. I’m afraid we’re rather stuck here for a while as we have a bit of a shop.”
“But you’re codgers,” Robert said carefully, “who need to escape.”
Charles gave him a wry look. Robert’s expression turned innocent. “H
ow was the drive?”
“Don’t chatter,” Charles advised. “Georgette is working on an idea in her story and discussing the weather—which anyone can see with their eyes—drives her bonkers. Especially when it’s one of us who knows she’s got a mind behind that vague smile she tries to use. We’ll come back for you unless you want to shop with us for university things for Eddie, a pretty something-or-other for Lucy, and a new doll for Janey. Who knows what else. We’re doing it all at once and then recovering while Georgette spends all that we have left on tea.”
“That sounds horrible,” Robert said with a low voice. He glanced beyond Charles to check for Georgette, but she hadn’t appeared yet.
“I know,” Charles agreed. “I’d like nothing more than an afternoon in my club with my pipe, but—”
“Charles!” Georgette laughed from the hall. “You don’t have to go, darling. I can get the things.”
“I don’t want you out and about on your own. One slip on these wet streets and you really will be housebound until the babe comes.”
“Why don’t I go?” Robert suggested. “I have a little something to discuss with Georgette which I swear isn’t the weather, and I haven’t been suffocated in children lately. I had a pipe in the club just last evening.”
Georgette glanced between them. “Charles darling, you are rather new. I have handled things by myself for the vast majority of my life. In fact, now don’t be shocked, I visited London without you before.”
Charles scoffed and shot Robert a dark look silently demanding if he could believe this. “You’re off center with child, Georgette. And it’s mad out there. We aren’t the only ones trying to gather things before we snuggle down for the holidays.”
She rolled her eyes and glanced at Robert. “I don’t believe for one moment that you want to shop.”
“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I do want to talk with you, and I don’t mind the bustle of London.”
She frowned at the two of them and then announced, “Robert is coming. Charles, you’re in charge of Eddie’s, Joseph’s, and Robert’s gifts. Then smoke the afternoon away.”
Robert took Georgette’s coat from the rack and held it out for her, and she allowed him to put it on. Georgette glanced at him. “I won’t apologize for Charles thinking I need accompaniment. Nor will I apologize for all the places we need to visit.”
“I won’t expect you to,” Robert swore, crossing his finger over his heart. “I’ll be the most helpful gent possible, excepting Charles of course.”
She turned to Charles and lifted a brow. They had escaped to be together, but Georgette looked settled on the matter and held her husband’s gaze while awaiting his acquiescence. There was curiosity in her gaze that probably won him over, for he finally agreed to the plan.
Georgette and Robert made their way to the toy store where Georgette certainly overindulged Janey, and then to the dress shop where she found a pretty dress and jumper for Lucy and bought herself dresses while muttering about Charles insisting she waste good money on clothing that would only last a short time.
It wasn’t until she’d finished with purchasing for Eunice and had dragged Robert to the teashop that he took a seat with her.
“Oh! Mrs. Aaron,” the shop owner said, crossing to them immediately. “I was hoping you’d come in soon. I have the most interesting blends that have come in lately. The first is moon dream, a lovely black tea with lemon and lavender. The most odd, however, is a black tea with chocolate and chili.”
“Oh no,” Robert said shuddering. “Oh no. Don’t drink that, Georgie. It can’t be right or good.”
Georgette’s mouth twisted. “I want the chocolate and chili—”
Robert shuddered again.
“—But I don’t think the baby will allow me anything with heat right now. The other…moon dream, it does sound what I should sip before bed, which I fully intend to do.”
The shopkeeper nodded and considered. “There is a black tea with hints of toffee and apple.”
“Yes!” Georgette answered. “Please. That does sound lovely.”
“With a full tea: sandwiches, biscuits, all of it,” Robert added. “Just lapsang souchong for me, please.”
“You’ll want some of my tea,” Georgette told him.
Once the shopkeeper disappeared, Robert considered Georgette. Her head tilted back at his, and she waited.
“You could beat me at this waiting game, couldn’t you?”
“I have spent the vast majority of my life quietly. All the talking wears me out, to be honest. I would like nothing more than to curl into my bed with a good book.”
Robert hesitated but Georgette gave him an encouraging nod. Heart in his throat, he slowly opened his briefcase and pulled out his manuscript. “I know it’s not good, but I wondered if Joseph Jones wouldn’t consider taking it in hand. Helping me fix it. Making it a collaborative work. It needs your charm, Georgette. I think I’ve got the puzzle and the frame, but my character needs a life that I don’t know how to give.”
Georgette hesitated for a long minute and then took his pages between her hands. She looked at the first page, nibbling her bottom lip, and then back up at him.
“We’re friends,” she said.
“We are,” he agreed. “This won’t ruin that.”
She breathed in deeply and then read the first few pages while he watched. He thought he might sick up right there in the teashop as he waited, studying her expression, but she kept her expression perfectly calm.
When she finally looked up, she warned him, “I won’t be gentle with you, Robert. Being soft doesn’t get you where you want to be. Which I assume is your name on the spine of a book.”
He nodded.
“I see what you mean about the charm. What are you thinking?”
Robert explained his idea, knowing she’d say no to probably every other aspiring writer. Georgette sipped her tea and read and he let her without comment, indulging in the vast majority of the sandwiches while she ate a slice of citrus tea loaf and drank an excess of sweet, milky tea.
Chapter 2
CHARLES AARON
Georgette was too silent on the return drive. Which was quite odd to say given that she was almost always silent unless they were discussing something directly. He chauffeured her, Robert, Robert’s things, and an excess of packages towards Harper’s Hollow under the weighty silence. Finally, Georgette turned to Charles, laid her head against his shoulder, and snuggled down. She was asleep in moments and Charles glanced back at Robert.
“Did she buy herself dresses?” Charles asked low.
“She did. Did you finish your shop in less than an hour?”
Charles’s low chuckle was answer enough. Robert had followed Georgette around London for hour upon hour.
“How was your pipe?” Robert asked.
“Better for knowing you were suffering instead of I.”
Robert laughed and then Georgette adjusted on Charles’s shoulder and they both fell to silence until she was still again.
“She looks healthy.”
“Other than the endless tears,” Charles said, whispering, “she’s doing well.”
They fell quiet once more. The countryside passed as they both were caught up in their own thoughts. Georgette sat up when they were nearly home and glanced around. “Oh I am sorry,” she said, rubbing the baby belly. “I do need to stop for a few minutes.”
“We’re just here in Harper’s Hollow, darling. Do you need to stop now?”
“Rather right now, Charles.”
Without a comment, Charles stopped the auto near her favorite teashop. She didn’t wait for him to open the door and hurried inside.
“She’ll want to buy something,” he told Robert. “She feels guilty to borrow a facility and then not finance the location. And since it’s Georgette, she’ll be ordering a pot of tea.”
“To make it so she needs to use the bath at home as well.”
Charles laughed. “I suggested once she shoul
d drink less tea now that she has difficulties. She did not take to the suggestion.”
“Friendly though it was,” Robert added sagely.
Charles snorted. “I might have been a little frustrated, but she drank thrice the tea for days afterwards and Eunice told me to buy her some weird teas, leave them out like apology flowers, and hide until she calmed down.”
“Did you?”
“I was in the closet when she found them. She cried.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, an expectant mother cannot be consoled, cajoled, or begged to stop crying. I did what any loving husband would do. I remained in the closet until she left and then stayed longer for good measure.”
Robert’s shout of laughter happened at the same time as Charles opened the teashop door. It echoed through the shop and Charles paused for half a step. It was crowded with faces he didn’t recognize.
The proprietress crossed to him, grinning at the look on his face. “Everyone’s home for the holidays, Mr. Aaron. I have found you a table in the corner. I’ve a delightful citrus black tea that I believe Mrs. Aaron would like?”
Charles agreed to all the suggestions from the woman and waited until Georgette appeared once again. She joined him with a quiet apology, but he knew better than to do anything other than smile.
“Well, one can always do with a cuppa.” Robert poured himself a cup and popped a petit four into his mouth. “Those are good.”
Georgette rolled her eyes at the two of them and then studied the crowd. “Look at how many people are here. How lovely for the shop. Especially at Christmas when everyone is a bit tighter in the pocketbook. Oh, that is good,” she added after a sip of tea.
