Mystery in the Darkest Shadow

by Byers, Beth

  She shrugged lightly, as if a little bored. “I suppose we were rather encompassed with Mr. Sidney’s death. Living all alone like he was and in such a small, unremarkable home.” She paused as if suddenly confused and then asked, “I thought you said my father helped all of you when he made good.”

  Mr. Van Ausdell nodded. “There was a falling about between Nate and Lukas. Your father never did tell me the details.”

  Now that, Severine thought, was a lie. He wasn’t even trying that hard. Did he think because she was young, she was naïve? Because she wasn’t sure she had been all that trusting before she stumbled across the bodies of her parents.

  Severine just looked her question and he said, “I was in love once. She got away, and I suppose I just never saw anyone else as worthy as her.”

  Severine glanced at the other two, disbelieving, but it didn’t show on her face, she hoped. Instead she said, “Now that sounds like one of the German fairytales the nuns told me. What was the name of your princess?”

  “Solange,” Mr. Van Ausdell replied.

  Severine stared and then dared to ask, “My aunt?”

  He hadn’t expected her question. “I had thought Lukas never wanted her spoken of after she left.”

  Severine leaned back and stared at the man. “Do you know what happened to her?”

  His eyes were nearly as dark as Mary Chastity’s had been when she had first laid eyes on Severine. It wasn’t the color that Severine was noticed, but the well of pain, possibly hate, and lies.

  “She left us.”

  Severine nodded.

  “What I don’t understand is what you think you know about it?” Whatever shreds of charm that Mr. Van Ausdell had managed to scrape together weren’t sufficient to move through this.

  “Were you really in love with her?”

  He nodded, irritated.

  Severine glanced at Bernadette who slightly shook her head. No, Severine’s aunt had not loved this man in return. The slight twist to Bernadette’s mouth told Severine a lot more than any fairytale this man spun.

  “Losing you must have been difficult for her,” Severine lied. Her tone felt wooden, but he seemed to gulp it up.

  “Lukas was protective of her. She was beautiful.”

  “She was,” Severine agreed. Solange, now Mary Chastity, was still beautiful.

  “How do you know about her? Your father never spoke of her after she left,” he repeated. If it was an attempt to draw out a confession from her, it was a clumsy one.

  Severine glanced at Bernadette as she tapped her wine glass. The former nun shrugged slightly, so it wasn’t a secret. Perhaps it was better to be straight-forward. “But he spoke to her.”

  Mr. Van Ausdell was well and truly shocked. “He couldn’t have.”

  “But he did,” Severine told him. “He arranged with her to look after me if something happened to him, and when he was killed—I was sent to her.”

  “You went to a convent!”

  Severine nodded. “I did. She was there.”

  “Working?”

  The idea of Severine’s aunt as a nun was so impossible that he was grasping at straws.

  “Well,” Severine hedged just to watch him twist. She definitely did not like this man, and she supposed she was being petty. “All of the nuns contribute to their upkeep.”

  “The nuns.”

  There was so much disgust in that tone that Severine was shocked. She didn’t know anyone who out and out hated nuns. Even those who weren’t Catholic didn’t hate them. They were just devoted women who chose God over whatever a man could offer.

  “The nuns?” This time it was a question, and his gaze fixed on Severine fiercely.

  “The convent where my aunt lived is where I was sent. She is a nun.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  Severine didn’t see the point in arguing with him, so she only shrugged. Solange was Mary Chastity, and she had raised Severine from her father’s death until Severine had decided to go home. That was the truth. Unlike Bernadette, the convent and the vows had been a comfort to Mary Chastity. They’d been a solace. It had been peaceful for her there, in those mountains, and among those trees. Her aunt took her vow seriously. It was important to her, and she’d told Severine more than once she’d never felt more at home than when she’d found a place among the sisters at the convent.

  “Your father knew this?”

  Severine frowned. Obviously, he’d known it. He sent Severine to Mary Chastity and her sisters. “It isn’t as though he told me about her. He didn’t. That was just where I ended up when my parents died.”

  The man leaned back. “Who else knew?” He glanced at Charles who shook his head at the unspoken question.

  “I have no idea.”

  There was an actual fury in this man’s face. It was the kind of anger, she thought, of someone who had been stolen from. She would have fled if this weren’t her home, especially since the rage was palpable.

  “Did your uncles know?”

  “I really don’t know.”

  He muttered darkly and then tried to compose himself. “I’m sorry, my dear. I thought she had died. I—I had no idea she was alive.”

  He didn’t say it like a man who looked forward to writing a letter to the woman he had once loved. He said it like a man who wanted to find that woman and strangle her slowly. Severine shivered but kept it hidden. “Thank you for telling me about my father.”

  “I would give much to talk to him right now,” Mr. Van Ausdell said.

  “I can understand that feeling,” Severine said as if she sympathized. The clock rang, and the long dinner needed to come to a close. They could offer him a drink and a place to have another cigarette, but Severine wasn’t going to do that. Instead, she delicately yawned.

  “Time to go,” Mr. Van Ausdell said. “I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late.”

  He rose and as he did there was a clatter in the hallway. Severine frowned towards the hall, wondering if Kali or Persephone had left Lisette and come down to find Severine and Lisette, but instead it was the piping voice of Lettie calling to her younger brother.

  Severine looked sharply at Bernadette, who moved quickly towards the hallway.

  “I didn’t realize you had children here.”

  Severine only nodded, not explaining. The door opened for Bernadette to catch the little boy and then take Lettie by the hand, but the little girl saw Mr. Van Ausdell and her eyes widened in horror. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound emerged.

  Severine’s gaze darted to the man and his gaze narrowed. “She looks like—”

  Severine started to lie, but she couldn’t come up with anything. She jumped to her feet to help Bernadette, but as she did, Mr. Van Ausdell’s hands snaked out, and he yanked her against his body. It took her far too long to realize he held a knife to her neck.

  Chapter 19

  The panic on Charles’s face was what clued her in. Only then did she feel the sting. The cold press of steel against her neck.

  “Calm down,” Greyson ordered Mr. Van Ausdell. “Let’s just calm down here.”

  He’d panicked, Severine thought. He’d panicked, and now they were in trouble.

  “He killed Mr. Sidney,” Lettie whispered far too loudly to Bernadette. “He killed my mama and my papa.”

  “Take her out,” Severine ordered Bernadette. “Don’t let her see.”

  “Take her out and I’ll kill DuNoir’s brat,” Van Ausdell ordered. “Bring her here.”

  Severine met Bernadette’s gaze and shook her head. Van Ausdell dug his fingers into her hair and yanked. “Her or you, DuNoir.”

  “Her,” Severine said instantly.

  “Both,” Charles countered. His gaze narrowed and asked silkily, “What would your boss think of you getting rid of her?”

  Van Ausdell stilled. “Thankful,” he lied. “She’s a pain.”

  “She re-arranged her estate so that it’ll be dismantled. He wants it, doesn’t he? It’s why
he sent Andre after her and tried to get control of her funds. What will he do to you if you mess that up?”

  Van Ausdell swallowed loud enough that Severine could hear it.

  Bernadette put the little boy into the big man’s arms and ordered, “Take the children to the kitchen, Fabian.”

  “That brat doesn’t leave the room,” Van Ausdell countered, digging his knife into Severine’s neck.

  Bernadette snarled. “Be careful with her.”

  “Shut up, woman,” Van Ausdell snapped. “Bring the child here.”

  “We aren’t going to do that,” Greyson said. “Be reasonable. If you hurt Severine, we’ll kill you.”

  “She’ll be dead.”

  “So will you,” Charles said.

  “I think I can take you and a spoiled Brit.”

  Severine’s gaze met Bernadette’s. She was drilling holes in Severine’s head, and all of the sudden, Severine gasped. Everyone stilled, and she’d probably terrified Greyson and Charles, but she slowly started snaking her hand towards her head.

  She’d practiced over and over again. Severine took hold of Van Ausdell’s wrist near her throat. That wasn’t the goal, but she didn’t want him panicking when she reached for her face.

  “Take the children out,” Bernadette ordered again and Fabian lifted the crying Lettie with his other arm and pressed her face against his chest.

  “You aren’t going to get out of this,” Charles told Van Ausdell, “if you focus on the child. Focus, instead, on getting out of here and running.”

  Van Ausdell snorted. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  “You should be afraid of your boss,” Severine said, ignoring the way her blood was tricking down her chest. “He had you murder Mr. Sidney for just being contacted by a P.I. You have a witness who saw you kill Sidney. I wonder what the punishment is for that?”

  Van Ausdell cursed darkly and then more when he realized that Severine was worth more to his boss alive than dead.

  “He’ll understand,” Van Ausdell tried.

  “No he won’t,” Charles countered. “He backed off the moment he realized Severine and I changed how the estate would land if something happened to her. Even when he broke in looking for the papers from DuNoir, he didn’t hurt her. Otherwise, they’d simply block us in and burn the house down. He needs her alive and manipulated. He needs her spinning circles looking for her daddy’s murderer and never focusing on Daddy’s businesses.”

  Van Ausdell was so still, so careful with her that they all knew Charles’s guesses were accurate. “I need the little girl.”

  “No,” they all said.

  “I lose everything without her.”

  Severine’s gaze landed on Bernadette and they both realized something in the same moment. Whoever was behind all of this madness, he didn’t own all of law enforcement. Whatever was happening in their city, it wasn’t entirely broken.

  “You haven’t lost your life,” Greyson said, carefully. “None of us are killers. You can get away.”

  “I’ll tell you which convent Solange is in,” Severine tried.

  Van Ausdell snorted meanly and Severine guessed that her chances were slowly dribbling away. Her gaze met Bernadette’s and the woman who had raised her nodded once. Slowly Severine let go of Van Ausdell’s wrist and reached for the hair comb and the pin. He didn’t even notice her taking it out of the comb, he was so focused on Charles and Greyson.

  The problem was, however, they’d all forgotten the dogs and Osiris Oliver. They heard a low, deep growl, which was followed by another and then another. Severine gasped as the knife dug deeper, and she guessed she was going to have another scar.

  Anubis stepped into the room with Kali and Persephone behind him as though hell had released its hounds. The growls were horrible and perhaps only Severine wasn’t afraid. Osiris followed, and he held a weapon in his hand.

  “Let her go.”

  “No,” Van Ausdell said. “You’ll kill me.”

  “Her dogs will tear you to pieces, and we’ll watch if you don’t.”

  “Severine!” Bernadette ordered, her gaze fixed on the pin in Severine’s hand. She didn’t want to do it. She didn’t want to kill a man. She didn’t want it on her conscience. “Severine!”

  “Shut up,” Van Ausdell shouted.

  Anubis’s growl shifted and Severine realized that her dog wasn’t going to wait much longer to attack. Even if Van Ausdell didn’t kill her, he’d kill her dog. Severine closed her eyes and shoved the pin into Van Ausdell’s wrist just as Anubis started to circle.

  The man gasped, but Charles had moved when Severine struck, grabbing the knife hand, preventing Van Ausdell from killing her. Van Ausdell’s grip lost its strength a moment later, and then she was yanked free.

  “No!” Severine shouted as Anubis darted forward to ravage Van Ausdell, Kali and Persephone behind him. The dogs all paused, and Severine stumbled to her knees. She stared at Bernadette and then, a moment later, she gagged into her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t want to see. They’d found Nathaniel Sidney’s killer, she thought, and then she lunged for the most melodramatic of reactions and fainted.

  * * *

  Severine woke when Bernadette callously poured alcohol on the wound in her neck. She hissed in pain and tried to cover the wound, but Bernadette wouldn’t let her.

  “What is going on?” she gasped.

  There were noises downstairs that she did not like, and her dogs were tied to her bed frame.

  “Your guest had a heart attack when you showed him a picture of your nuns. Dropped his wine glass, grabbed his heart and fell to his knees whispering, ‘Solange.’”

  “What?” Severine asked, trying and failing to fend off Bernadette. “How?”

  “You knelt to help him and then, realizing he was dead, you fainted. We’ve called for the doctor, but it is too late.”

  Severine stared at Bernadette, who winked once. “I’m sure the police will have questions and you have the answers.”

  Severine pushed up. “I—” Tears filled her eyes. She had killed someone.

  “You defended yourself,” Bernadette told Severine severely. “Nothing more.”

  “I—”

  “Saved yourself and a little girl.” The scowl on Bernadette’s face was distinct, harsh even. “Don’t take anything else upon yourself.”

  She closed her eyes. “Does the doctor really think it was a heart attack?”

  “Of course he does,” Bernadette answered. “What else could it be?”

  Severine’s dark look wasn’t amused, but Bernadette wasn’t joking.

  “How do we protect Lettie?”

  “Don’t borrow trouble,” Bernadette ordered.

  Severine wasn’t sure she could comply. She felt that hand spasm after she’d stabbed him. She’d killed a human to save her dog, and she wasn’t even sorry. She’d do it again in a second. Her gaze landed on her loyal Anubis, and she was suddenly sure that he added more to the world than Jarrod Van Ausdell. Not just that, but she was very, very sure that she was willing to face God, explain herself, and let the consequences fall where they may.

  “This is why she said to let God handle vengeance.”

  Bernadette shook her head. “No, silly one. She’d have told you to save yourself. She said to let God handle vengeance because if you dwell on all of your wrongs, you forget to see all the good.”

  “Like?”

  “For Mary?” Bernadette asked. “You.”

  “But she didn’t love me at first.”

  Bernadette snorted. “The idea that people love at first sight is demeaning to love, little one. We might like at first sight, or feel responsibility at first sight, or something like that. But love, true and abiding love; that takes time.”

  Severine could accept that. Love takes time to be real. It was enough.

  “What do we do now?”

  “We assess,” Bernadette repeated, “and then we slowly peel them apart, hopefu
lly while they’re too stupid to realize what we’re doing.”

  Severine paused. It was the vaguest of plans, but it was more than they’d had before. And for today, that too, was enough.

  The END

  Hullo friends! I am so grateful you dove in and read the newest Severine book. If you’d wouldn’t mind, I would be so grateful for a review.

  The next book in this series is now available for preorder.

  November 1925

  Severine DuNoir has discovered who has been hunting her. Now she needs to discover why. As the foes circle each other, their friends and family get drawn into the conflict.

  Just who can Severine trust? How can she stop him? And what will happen to those she loves if she fails? She’s all too afraid the answer is one she won’t be able to live with.

  Order your copy here.

  You may also be interested in my new historical series, Bright Young Witches.

  April 1922

  When the Ku Klux Klan appears at the door of the Wode sisters, they decide it’s time to visit the ancestral home in England.

  With squabbling between the sisters, it takes them too long to realize that their new friend is being haunted. Now they’ll have to set aside their fight, discover just why their friend is being haunted, and what they’re going to do about it. Will they rid their friend of the ghost and out themselves as witches? Or will they look away?

  Join the Wodes as they rise up and embrace just who and what they are in this newest historical mystery adventure.

  Order Your Copy Here.

  Also by Beth Byers

  The Violet Carlyle Cozy Historical Mysteries

  Murder & the Heir

  Murder at Kennington House

  Murder at the Folly