A Murder Most Odd

by Beth Byers

  In the scalloped-edged, layered nude rose dress, Vi felt lovely. She added a light application of cosmetics and then slipped her feet into a sturdier pair of shoes for the garden party.

  Vi left the bedroom and the breakfast tray she and Jack had lingered over and made her way down the hall. She was somewhat surprised to see the nursery without Kate, Victor, Lila, or Denny. Only the nannies attended the babies until Vi moved in. She cooed to the girls. Her gaze flicked around the room, taking in the three cribs, the beds for the nannies, the beautiful dolls and the mobile hanging with spun glass ornaments.

  “Where is everyone?” Vi whispered, scooping up baby Agatha in one arm and baby Vivi in the other. With the twins in Vi’s arms, she looked down at the sleeping baby Lily. Her dark lashes curved against rounded pink cheeks and her pretty little lips pushed in and out with phantom sucking motions.

  “She’s just asleep.”

  Vi smiled at the nanny. It was the woman’s kind way of asking Vi not to wake Lily.

  “She really is an angel,” Vi told the nanny. “Don’t tell Denny I said so. I’ll watch them if you’d like to have a cuppa.”

  The nanny nodded and Vi cooed at the twins again, rocking them in her arms while she looked out the window. She was late for the party, but it was one of those events that started with mingling and cocktails. The food would be available on tables and a mass of uniformed servants would flit about with more drinks and small nibbles.

  The whole point of this “snipe” hunt of Mr. Russell’s was, in Vi’s opinion, an opportunity to show those he’d left behind exactly how much money he’d made since he left England with his wife and daughter. He’d made enough to buy a property that had ancient ruins and a mansion going to ruin.

  Mr. Russell had fixed up the old property, in Vi’s opinion, because it added even more status to what he’d done. He’d become a man of means to an extent that few would even be able to imagine, but he was doing his best to show it off.

  Violet watched as the girl who’d been part of the altercation the night before crossed the green behind the garden towards the ruins. Her blonde hair fluttered in the breeze and she moved at a quick pace. Her shingled blonde bob drew extra attention to her long oval face. She was pretty enough, Vi thought, and she had more strength than you’d think with those stringy arms.

  She’d been able to knock that man down even though she was so much smaller than him. Vi took a slow breath and then hummed to the girls. The girl wore a pale blue dress with lacy accents that apparently hid quite a lot of muscle. Vi was half-tempted to find the girl and ask what her secret was for being quite so strong. The other half of Vi was tempted to find the girl and ferret out why she felt the need to shove another fellow down, and what his name was. Vi kind of wanted to find the man and see if he was scrawny or just unsuspecting of an attack from the slender blonde below.

  Chapter 4

  “Perhaps we should have stayed at our own house,” Violet offered as she and Jack stepped into the crowd. He’d found her in the nursery and demanded her protection from some redhead who seemed to enjoy the size of his shoulders as much as Vi did. Once she’d stopped laughing, they’d gotten the nanny and left the makeshift nursery.

  “Rita and Ham wanted us here. All hands on deck,” Jack told her with a grin. “Rally round, united forces. All of that. It’s what we do, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Vi said, looking again at the party. “It really is just lovely, isn’t it?”

  There were tents set up with the sides pulled back and tables inside. There were also tables set up under trees and in the sun. They each had bouquets of fresh flowers and tablecloths.

  “What do you think they’ll do with all of this after the party is over? Do we have dozens of tablecloths too?”

  “I have no idea,” Vi admitted. “Hargreaves probably knows.”

  “Why do I care?” Jack laughed, tangling their fingers together. “Ham certainly doesn’t.”

  “There was a time in my life,” Vi said, shaking her head at the changes in her life, “when I would have struggled to buy a tablecloth. Back when Victor and I shared those badly scented rooms and I would let Lady Eleanor take me shopping and lecture me for silk stockings. It’s funny how easy it was to adjust to being able to buy things and not really think about it.”

  Jack snorted and pulled her after him. “You’re procrastinating. Why?”

  Vi might have been procrastinating because her stepmother might find out what she’d done. Vi admitted to herself she was feeling guilty. Not for what one might expect. She didn’t feel bad for throwing Jerome Albertson at her stepmother. She felt bad for throwing Jerome Albertson at her stepmother at Rita’s wedding celebration.

  Vi looked around for Rita and then took a deep breath in. It would be all right. Rita would probably enjoy any tantrum Lady Eleanor threw as a special kind of entertainment.

  “I think I despise Rita’s father because he’s trying so hard to make her happy,” Vi confessed. “I’m jealous. Of Rita. Who I adore. I might be a monster.”

  Jack’s laugh didn’t make Vi feel any better, and she scrunched her nose at him and then paused in the shadow of a tree to push up on her toes and kiss him on the chin.

  “I’m jealous of your father as well,” Vi told him. “Apparently I’m just filled with envy today.”

  Jack’s huff of a laugh made Vi even more irritated. Here she was, confessing her darkest secrets and Jack was laughing at her. Her gaze narrowed on him, and he took in her irritation without a flinch. In fact, he tugged a strand of her hair and grinned easily at her. Her reply to his grin was a scowl, though it had become mostly an affect.

  “Father vastly prefers you to me.”

  Vi rolled her eyes at Jack, but he just tugged that strand of her hair again and placed a kiss on her forehead.

  “We should go back to Cuba.”

  It was exactly the right thing to say, and he laughed again when her eyes lit up with interest. “Or any island. What about one of those old pirate islands? Is Antigua a place that people go?”

  “I have no idea,” Jack told her. “But given Rita’s friends before us seem to be a bunch of crazy travelers, we could probably find out over a cup of tea.”

  Vi’s brows lifted and she said, “Shall we make a challenge of it?”

  Jack stared, waiting for Vi to expand.

  “We’ll just find out where everyone’s favorite is and then go there next. Assuming we haven’t been already.”

  Jack pressed a kiss to her forehead and offered, “Or we make a list and we start checking them off.”

  “Oooh!” Vi pulled back to look at him. “You really are the most brilliant of coves, guvnor. Let’s dive in then, shall we? Surely someone has more Turkish coffee.”

  Given the heat of the day, possibly only Vi would like to drink endless cups of her dark, bitter coffee, but she was willing to bet that Rita hadn’t forgotten to ensure it was made the day over. The day was perfect for the garden party and picnic. The following day there would be the snipe hunt. The day after would have a masked ball and dinner and then Rita and Ham would marry, possibly overcome by the excess of festivities.

  “This celebration really is a little ridiculous.” Vi looked about and then grinned up at Jack. “But everyone looks happy enough to indulge themselves.”

  “That bed was ridiculous,” Jack said in response to Vi, but he was unbothered by the crowd. “This is almost as bad as that country fête we got saddled with. Why would anyone do this to themselves when they’re not intoxicated?”

  “Status,” Vi muttered. She wasn’t quite sure she agreed. If you divided the crowd by half, got rid of all the obligatory invitations like Lady Eleanor and Vi’s father, you’d be left with your favorite friends. At which point…this would be an adventure to remember.

  When they got outside, the grounds were crowded with glittering bright young things and smooth young men. Rita’s friends tended to be those who were over-tanned given they were the adventurous typ
es who were as likely to be on safari as in a jazz club.

  Vi stepped closer to Jack when she saw Jerome Albertson glance her way. He was with a fellow who she hadn’t met yet. Blonde and handsome, he could have challenged their friend Smith with his angelic looks.

  “Look,” Vi said, nodding towards a blonde who was a lesser version of Rita. It was the woman from the argument the night before. Blonde hair that wasn’t quite as golden. Pale blue watery eyes as compared to Rita’s deep blue. She was leaning on the arm of a man with medium brown hair. “Isn’t that the girl who knocked the other fellow over last night?”

  Jack followed Vi’s gaze and slowly nodded.

  The couple they were observing looked about with dissatisfied expressions and both had sour twists to their mouths. “Do you think they don’t like Rita and Ham? Or do you think that they just hate big parties? Or maybe they’re still upset about what happened and looking for another round?”

  “Maybe they’re still upset about last night?” Jack suggested. His gaze had moved from that couple to others about the grounds. The general aura of fun had infected most of the guests, unlike the couple they had just passed.

  Violet looked back towards the sour couple and then about. “I suppose we owe it to ourselves to dive into the fun. I wonder if Victor brought any of that chocolate liqueur. Or perhaps a cocktail with that blackberry liqueur.”

  Vi gasped when she noticed her stepmother slipping past. Lady Eleanor was leaning on Gerald’s arm. Vi’s oldest brother was leading her towards a tent where some of the older women sat and watched through the pulled back sides. Vi had little doubt that he’d be sent off for food and a drink and then used to accompany her until Lady Eleanor could find another victim.

  “I heard what you did,” Jack said low, as they watched Gerald round up a servant and send the girl off for whatever Lady Eleanor wanted.

  Vi tried for an innocent expression, but Jack knew her too well for that. So she glanced back towards her stepmother to avoid his gaze. Gerald left his stepmother a moment later, and a mere breath later, Jerome bypassed Gerald to approach Lady Eleanor. Vi gasped and grabbed Jack’s arm, pushing up on her toes to see more clearly.

  “It’s happening!” Vi said with glee.

  “Do you think the money grubber will succeed with your stepmother?” Jack sounded almost bored with the prospect.

  “Do you care?” Vi asked.

  “No,” Jack said instantly. “No. I barely like her, Vi. If she beds your Jerome, it won’t bother me.”

  “Ew!” Vi laughed. “No, that will never happen. To be honest, it would make me laugh if it worked, but it won’t. If Lady Eleanor cheats on my father, she’ll do so with a distinguished man, someone with a better title, someone of her age, or perhaps an admired poet or a scholar. That Jerome fellow isn’t up to her level.”

  Jack eyed Vi, reading the humor in her gaze. “You really are a pretty devil—” he trailed off as Vi’s fingers dug deeper into his foreman. She stopped listening to him to stare at the scene before her.

  Jerome leaned into Lady Eleanor’s space, and whatever she said in reply had him leaning back, but he didn’t leave her alone. Vi snorted, barely holding back her giggles at Lady Eleanor’s expression. It was the same one Vi had seen every time she and Victor had left a frog nearby.

  Her stepmother said something that had to have been cold and calculating, but Jerome smiled as though it were a joke. He laughed and Vi wanted desperately to be close enough to see if he was able to get the humor to reach his eyes or if he were a dead-eyed china doll pretending to be amused by Lady Eleanor’s jabs.

  “Oh goodness,” Vi said, “if only we could hear.”

  “Vi!”

  She turned and gasped when she saw Smith and Beatrice. Vi darted across the grass and threw herself at her former maid. “Beatrice! You made it! How was your trip?”

  They hugged and then Vi pulled back to glance at Smith who answered the question. “Agreeable enough.”

  His reply was so without emotion he could have been stating anything at all. Vi grinned at him, ignoring his pretty face, devil’s eyes, and general disdain to turn back to Beatrice. “You look lovely!”

  “Thank you!” Beatrice was wearing one of Vi’s old dresses made over. Because her friend saved all of her income, the hand-me-downs were extra welcome. Beatrice really was the most responsible of Vi’s circle of friends save Victor’s wife, Kate.

  Grinning wickedly at Smith, Vi asked, “Have you figured out his real name yet?”

  Beatrice ignored both Smith and Vi and nodded at Jack. She turned a moment later. “He’s got a job you might want to discuss.”

  “Here now,” Smith said easily, “I was going to talk to him about that later.”

  “Except, you’re both bored and I need to discuss business with Vi, myself.”

  “Interesting world we live in,” Smith told Jack. “I’m your superior.”

  “Ah, no,” Jack replied.

  “Beatrice works for Vi who rules your home, but we all know that Vi doesn’t tell me what to do. I think that leaves me as the superior of this entire group. What is it? Friends? Family? A fellowship?”

  “Are you trying to cause a ruckus?” Beatrice demanded, smacking Smith’s arm.

  “It’s important for men to establish dominance lines.” Smith’s face was without expression but Beatrice’s rolling eyes and scoffing expression said she saw the joke even if no one else could.

  Beatrice glanced at Vi who shrugged. The two of them linked arms and left the gents behind before whatever it was that came next when men started posturing.

  Chapter 5

  The next day, after the first round of drinks and mingling, Philip Russell stood on a rock and welcomed everyone. Ham and Rita stood nearby, arm-in-arm. Rita glowed with shocking beauty and Ham was even-faced and calm. He looked capable of conducting a series of interviews into people’s darkest secrets.

  “Poor Ham,” Beatrice said. “That is his business face.”

  “Does he have a party face?” Smith asked. “I don’t have one.”

  “You don’t have any expressions that are real,” Beatrice said easily.

  “That must make a relationship hard,” Lila said, “but so does knowing Denny’s every passing thought.”

  “Here now.” Denny pretended to be offended, but he had a slice of chocolate cake in front of him, a chocolate cocktail, and Lila wasn’t harassing him about his weight. “You love all my thoughts.”

  “Every passing aside,” Lila said lazily, but she probably did, Vi thought. Those two had been desperately in love almost since they’d first met.

  Russell continued his speech with, “Explore freely, my friends. There are underground passages in the ruins, hidden alcoves, and surprises ahead.”

  “Surprises always turn out poorly,” Smith muttered. “It gets drunk idiots too giddy.”

  “Do you not get drunk?” Kate asked Smith. “Or are you never an idiot?”

  “Oh, he can be an idiot,” Beatrice said easily, sipping her own chocolate cocktail.

  “Never,” Smith replied flatly to Kate, ignoring Beatrice’s tease. “People make the worst mistakes of their lives when they’ve drowned themselves in their cups.”

  Vi glanced at Smith, surprised at the seriousness in the man’s tone. He sipped from his own cocktail and Vi gave him a genuine smile. It wasn’t what he’d said. It was that he’d said anything real at all. Give him enough time and they’d break down those walls around Smith and find another brother. Or maybe they’d already found him, and he had filled the role of black sheep.

  He waggled his eyebrows and gestured to the hedge maze between the house and the ruins. “A little knowledge of the terrain will help with future festivities, and never fear, the ruins have been shored up and you’ll be entirely safe. Tomorrow we find the snipe, win the prize, and earn far more than the right to crow. This is no gold ribbon, my friends. The first clue will be given precisely at noon.”

  “That scaveng
er hunt people are trying to cheat on?” Vi asked. “What is a snipe?”

  “A game. It’s a hunt for something that doesn’t exist.” Jack let his fingers trail down her back as he said, “Are we hunting or lazing?”

  “Lazing,” Vi said instantly. “If we win tomorrow, someone will claim it was a setup.”

  “Ham doesn’t know what the prize is, but the story is that it’s valuable to say the least. Russell is well-known for his expensive prizes.”

  Mr. Russell’s grin was wide and engaging, belying the man that Violet had come to know. Was he the man she had assumed he was? She had identified him as a sort of semi-neglectful fellow who had left Rita alone too much rather than the loving father he seemed at the moment.

  Violet whispered her question to Jack and his reply was so low it carried only to her ears, “Both, I think. He adores Rita, Vi. Of that I am certain. He’s not a perfect man, Vi, but he loves his daughter.”

  Vi nodded and then listened as Philip raised a toast to Ham and Rita. Violet took her Turkish coffee and lifted it to her dearest friends.

  Vi watched as Ham and Rita left Russell’s side and made the round of the guests. Vi rose and glanced around. She wanted to stretch her legs, so she glanced at the others. “I’m off to meet some of these adventuring types and discover their favorite islands to visit. It’s time to go somewhere with a blue ocean, don’t you think?”

  Vi and Jack left and wandered aimlessly through the crowd, greeting those they knew, and bypassing those with the oversized hats that carefully protected their complexions. These weren’t who Vi needed. She needed the ones who stepped into the sun without worry. It took a bit to find what Vi was looking for: strong frame, a slight tan with freckles, and sensible shoes for a garden party.

  Violet introduced herself to the particularly giggly friend and through her, met a good half-dozen of Rita’s steamship friends. It seemed that they had, until only recently, picked trips to exotic locations and had gone together, enjoying the steamship as much as the end locale.