by Byers, Beth
Office Staubb ignored the lawyer and leaned in more closely. “Why were you really there?”
Severine met the police officer’s eyes, and her anger showed. He laughed low. “No one likes a murderer. You funny in the head, Miss DuNoir? With all your black clothes and your independence.”
“How do you know about me?”
“I got eyes, don’t I?”
“For today’s dress, yes.” Severine’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you working for?”
“Miss DuNoir!” the lawyer hissed. “My client is a daughter of an established family. In addition, there is no way a girl as slight as Miss DuNoir could have done the damage inflicted upon Mr. Sidney. Officer Levine established that Miss DuNoir has an alibi, as does her companion.”
“From nuns.” It was said like an insult, and he might as well have said whores.
“Indeed. Quite an elderly nun who raised Miss DuNoir and has come to spend her final days with our young Miss DuNoir.” Severine rankled at the lawyer’s words. She barely remembered the family lawyer that Charles had sent for her. “You’ll find, officer,” he continued, “that you cannot have a more unassailable alibi. Miss DuNoir did not kill Nathaniel Sidney. The reason for her appointment can have nothing to with his murder. She is a girl processing the death of her parents. Who can blame a young woman for wanting to know the details of her father’s life?”
“I don’t believe it for a second.” The police officer finally rose and moved back, and Severine felt as though she could breathe a little easier. Her hands were shaking under the table, and she wanted to go home. She was certain that someone had bought the officer in front of them. Officer Levine had been kind enough. His questions had been straightforward and to the point.
This man, however, had made comments that were too insightful for a random police officer assigned to a new case.
“And yet,” the lawyer snapped, “you don’t have a scrap of evidence to hold or charge her. I won’t have you abuse her because you’re angry about the death of a man in our city. We’re all angry about that. It doesn’t, however, make Miss DuNoir more than the unfortunate young woman who happened to be there when the body was discovered.”
The police officer slammed out of the room and Severine closed her eyes, pressing her hand against her forehead. She’d been in the police station for hours. The light lunch had long since left her and her need for coffee had been growing desperately.
At least Mr. Lands was on her side, even if he was only paid to be. At least, she hoped he was on her side. “I want to go home,” Severine told the lawyer.
“I’ll get you home soon, my dear. Why did you hire the P.I?”
Severine’s head tilted as she looked the lawyer over. He had worked for her family for years, since before her father’s death, and continued to be employed by Mr. Brand, but that didn’t make him an ally. In fact, she had half-expected the question, though she’d hoped it wouldn’t come.
“It’s like I said.” Severine rose and paced the tiny interview room, feeling more trapped than before. She rubbed her brow as she moved. “My parents died when I was a girl. Then, I was sent away, and it almost seemed like they weren’t dead while I was gone. I knew they were, of course, but it was all so distant.”
“Why didn’t you just ask your uncles about your father?”
“They’ve both been gone much of the time I’ve been back. I’ve seen Aunt Delphine the most, but I fear she wants me to live with her.”
The lawyer had such a nice expression for a snake. He pretended to care as he nodded, but Severine guessed that someone was on the other side of the glass observing and listening. As a lawyer, wouldn’t Mr. Lands realize that? This was hardly the place for questions between them.
“Since I’ve been home,” Severine said, giving up some of the information they were after, “in my father’s house, I feel closer to them there. Almost all of my memories are in that house. I’m not ready to leave it. I suppose I just need to grieve properly.”
It wasn’t lies. She felt haunted in that house. How many times had she relived her mother disparaging her for being the opposite kind of daughter her mother wanted? How many times had she relived a fight between her parents? She let the emotions of those events rise to her eyes and she dabbed away a tear.
“People are different with their friends than they are with their families,” Severine said. “My father might have been different with his childhood friends than he was with his brothers. I wanted to hear different stories than an uncle might tell. That was all. Why would anyone kill that man? None of this makes sense.”
She let her eyes fill with tears and cried into her handkerchief, sniffling until the lawyer tried again.
“My dear Miss DuNoir,” he said with the sort of ooze that only a snake oil salesman would think effective. They must think she was an idiot. Or, they had never intended this man for this purpose and he was botching it. “Surely there was another reason you hired that P.I.”
Severine sniffled into her handkerchief and mumbled uselessly, deliberately making him lean in to try for an answer.
“I didn’t catch that.”
She mumbled again, holding her handkerchief against her mouth just to see his eyes light with frustration. She tried again and then finally answered more clearly. “There isn’t a reason, Mr. Lands. It was an idle girl’s wish. I wanted to know about the boy my father had been. Whatever killed Mr. Sidney has nothing to do with me. How could it? I’m the child of a man he hadn’t seen for years. Nothing more.”
She didn’t smile at the frustration that blazed from him. Instead, she started sniffling again until they finally let her go.
Chapter 10
Severine found Charles just outside the room and he crossed to her instantly, taking hold of her shoulders. “Are you all right, Sev?”
She nodded into his chest, pretending to be far weaker than she was. She felt him stiffen as she sniffled into his chest, and she wasn’t sure if it was because she was crying or because she was using him for comfort. Either way, he bundled her from the police station. Severine took her seat and then twisted so she could reach Anubis, who had pressed himself against the back of her seat, so she could reach him.
She anchored herself in his fur and then started when the cat jumped into her lap. The black and white cat curled up, purring. It was oddly comforting.
“What happened?” Charles asked.
Severine told him everything and then glanced at him. His jaw was flexing with fury and his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.
“What was the police officer’s name again?”
Severine told him and then he cursed.
“They were fine to me,” he told her.
“They aren’t idiots, and you aren’t a young woman. They knew they couldn’t intimidate you. I finally just acted like they expected and wept until they gave up.”
Charles’s laugh was bitter, and his movements cause the car to jerk through the streets. Severine ignored the traffic and let him stew.
“I’m firing that firm.”
“That’s a good idea, but you need to make it look like it is for a reason other than we know that they’re corrupt. And get their paperwork for Father’s businesses first.”
He nodded and then cursed. “Those have to be filled with lies.”
“At least we’ll have somewhere to start breaking them down. Can we fire them?”
Mr. Brand nodded. “Your father never owned less than a majority share in anything he did, Sev. He had partners, yes. Your uncles. His regular partners. Occasional men in the community. But none of them told him what to do. He wasn’t a man who…kowtowed to anyone.”
Severine sighed. “That’s why we’re up to our necks in trouble. You need to find a law firm that they haven’t corrupted. It might be impossible,” she added with a grumble.
“It just feels like that, Sev. It seems like everyone in your life is corrupt. But the rest of the city isn’t like that. There are more good peopl
e than bad in the world.”
“Are there?” she asked, but her mind answered for him, flashing pictures of those she loved. Bernadette, Sister Sophie, Mary Chastity, Lisette, Chantae. More. Severine took a deep breath in and answered before he could. “There are. I know there are. We should send Bernadette to find us a lawyer.”
Mr. Brand’s shocked laugh made Severine laugh.
“Don’t underestimate her.” Severine rubbed her brow. “She can ferret out the truth like it has a scent, and she’s a bloodhound. If you want to know if someone is corrupt, she’ll be able to tell you in two days.”
Charles shook his head and then muttered, “It’s worth a try, and I can all too well believe her ability to find the truth.”
* * *
The next day dawned with blue skies and thick clouds. Severine knew because Bernadette threw back the curtains and said, “Come, come. We get the bread started. Then we make a list of what I need for my gardens, then we spend some of that devil’s money on those things.”
Severine groaned and covered her head. “We’re free from morning bells, Bernadette. Go away.”
“Early to bed, early to rise, my dear. Sister Sophie is already up and making tea.”
“I want coffee.”
“No more coffee for you until those headaches stop. You think I don’t see you squinting and pressing your head? No. It is good I am here.”
Bernadette patted Severine’s back once, saying, “Don’t make me get the pitcher of water.”
Severine flopped onto her back and eyed Anubis, who eyed Bernadette with disgust. “We’re tired.”
“Much to do today.”
“What if I just give you all the money in my purse?”
“I will take it, yes. But you’re still coming. I don’t know this city. I need paint, a bed, a dresser, a rug, curtains. A shelf, of course. A desk. I think I shall want one of those desks that architects use. It’ll be better for me to sketch out my plants. Oooh, do you smell that? Bacon. Bacon, tea, an egg—slightly runny. You’ll feel better. Come, come.”
Severine groaned and put on a robe, stumbling down the back stairs after Bernadette, who kept on with her list of things she wanted. She stumbled to the table and found Chantae sitting holding a cup of tea and eyeing the nun and the former nun with a dazed expression.
“She won’t let me make the bread.”
“Bernadette likes to make bread. They won’t let me have my coffee.”
“Coffee is not as good for you as this.” Bernadette placed a cup in front of Severine. “I gave you extra honey and cream because you are spoiled. “
Severine laid her head on Chantae’s shoulder. “I suppose I should have warned you.”
Chantae laughed and then rubbed Severine’s brow. “They say no more coffee for you.”
“The headaches. She gets them. Perhaps eventually, one cup. Until the headaches stop—” Bernadette slashed her hand through the air. “None.”
“I’m the housekeeper and cook,” Chantae told Sister Sophie with the air of a woman who had said it more than once. “It’s my job to make the bread.”
“We’ll hardly add to your burden,” Sister Sophie said. “I’m not dead yet. Just old. And it’s better to let Bernadette get her anger out on the dough. Better the dough than us, my dear.”
“An angry nun?” Chantae whispered.
Severine’s mouth twitched and she nodded solemnly.
Bernadette snapped, “Former nun.”
Bernadette took over the dough again, kneading it into shape and then covering it. “I wasn’t sure how much to make, so I might have made too much. We’ll have bread pudding if so. Sister Sophie needs a lighter nightgown. She was quite hot this journey.”
“I’ll be fine, dear,” Sister Sophie said pleasantly. “Drink your tea.”
Bernadette put food in front of Severine and then Chantae. She nodded firmly at both of them and then turned to Severine. “You’ll need to be hiring someone to work on this house. This whole house. It feels haunted. You aren’t going to move on until you expel the ghosts.”
“I don’t want to move on,” Severine said. “I want to find their killer.”
“Those are not the same thing,” Bernadette snapped in her usual brackish voice. “You will move on and heal. I promised Mary Chastity. We will find their killers because you are a dog with a bone about everything.”
To Chantae, Bernadette added, “The strangest mix of loving, self-sacrificing, and stubborn. Should she be stupid enough to marry, her husband will have his hands full with her. Thankfully, I will be there to help.”
“Help,” Severine mouthed and then winked at Chantae.
Lisette’s mother glanced among them all, then fixed on Sister Sophie, who bit into her bacon. To Chantae’s unspoken question, Sister Sophie nodded happily.
“Your girl will need to walk today,” Bernadette told Chantae. “Moving will get her healthy easier. We’ll send that strapping cousin of hers up and he can help her up and down the halls. Every two hours. I’ve already brought her food. She was aching and miserable, of course, so I had her walk with me.”
“When was that?” Chantae asked, eyes wide.
“Four,” Bernadette sniffed. “I don’t sleep my life away like these lazy younglings.”
“Getting up that early is asinine,” Sister Sophie said sweetly. “God made rest luxurious and desirable as a gift to his children.”
Bernadette scoffed and formed another dough round before putting it in a bowl and covering it with a towel. It was an old argument and often passed with only half their usual phrases. Neither of them would agree with the other and they argued more for the joy of the back and forth than because either expected to win.
Bernadette continued as though Sister Sophie hadn’t interrupted. “A little mixture of mine will have the pain lessening. Lisette is soaking in my bath salt mix. Then I’ll set her up with poultices to help the swelling. We’ll have her better before long and then you can wring her neck for being so stupid as not to have a knife.”
Chantae’s mouth dropped open and Severine giggled into her bacon. Severine moved her egg to her toast, cracked pepper and salt over it, and then took a happy bite. No one fried eggs in bacon fat like Bernadette, who watched Severine eat, nodded once in approval and then placed a sliced apple in front of her as well.
Severine ate as the servants came in, were fed, and then set about their duties with instructions from Bernadette. Chantae wasn’t bothered by the former nun any more than the servants, who were treated with the same brisk care as Severine.
“Your household is a mess,” Bernadette told Severine. “Now tell me everything that wasn’t in your last letter. The last I heard your brother had shot you.”
So Severine laid it all out, had her bullet wound examined. Her shoulder was put through its paces and then she was given stretches to return her shoulder to its full movement.
“A violin, my dear?” Sister Sophie asked as Severine brought them up to the previous day. She’d forgotten about the violin until telling the story. “If you get a cello as well, I will teach you.”
The nun played the instrument like an angel and Severine nodded eagerly. There was something soothing about the cello and organ music and Severine missed them.
“After I have rested, then I will go with you to this music store, and we shall find ourselves just the right things.”
When Charles showed up, Severine was on her second desperate cup of tea, and he was seated next to Sev at the kitchen table as though it were perfectly normal to be eating while Bernadette conducted her campaign for the house from the kitchen.
“Now,” Bernadette said when Charles was finished eating. “Neither of you are stupid.”
“No, ma’am,” Charles said obediently as though he had been brought in front of the schoolmaster.
“And neither of you are particularly trusting.”
“No ma’am,” Charles agreed. He adjusted his tie and shifted restlessly, almost nervously.
Severine shot him an inquiring look and he said, “Sister Sophie and Sister Bernadette gave me the most thorough interview of my life before they even let me speak to you when I came for you at the convent. All that while, your Sister Mary Chastity watched and said nothing.”
Severine wasn’t surprised and Bernadette seemed unimpressed by the respect in Charles’s voice.
“So why then,” Bernadette demanded as she rolled dough into balls for rolls, “have neither of you realized that your investigation into your father, your private detective, and your inquiries led to the death of that man?”
Severine paused and then slowly sipped her tea to cover her reaction. She didn’t look at Charles, who didn’t look at her. Instead he cleared his throat and drained his own cup.
“It was a trying day,” Severine started.
Bernadette scoffed, slapping another dough round onto the pan.
“You’ll make the dough fall, Bernadette, if you keep slamming it around like that.” There was not a trace of rebuke in Sister Sophie’s sweet voice, but Bernadette shot her a look full of the fires of Satan’s domain.
Bernadette had blue eyes and dark brown hair, streaked with gray that Severine had rarely seen before. Those blue eyes met the sweet, unfaltering brown eyes of Sister Sophie and neither won the stare-off.
Severine giggled again and Bernadette turned the look on her. Severine tried for an innocent expression, but she knew before the attempt she would fail.
“So then,” Bernadette continued acidly, “your inquiries led to that man’s murder which means, of course, that they were well-aimed. How shall we continue without causing another death?”
Chapter 11
Severine and Charles looked at each other and then back to Bernadette who shook her head. “Come Severine, dress. I’ll think on this, and I’ve some ideas.”
“Where are we going?” Charles asked with the air of a man who wasn’t going to carry another of his friends inside to be doctored.
Bernadette considered him for long, long moments before she said, “I suppose you can go.”
