Toxic Diamonds (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 8)

by Liza O'Connor

  That earned her another palm to her forehead. “I’m not sick, I’m just exhausted from all the near deaths we have incurred. I think I have battle fatigue.”

  Gregory kissed the top of her head. “He said he was going to Claire’s.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Is he bringing Danny home?” Cannon asked.

  “Yeah!” Ham yelled.

  “Quiet, you two,” Vic warned. “Why?” she asked again.

  “I have no idea, but I advised him not to.” He sighed heavily and gripped her hand. “What you attempted to do was a generous and kind act. David would be the very best of fathers. But once Claire digs in, there is no changing her mind. She refused to even look at the child.”

  Vic sighed. “I should have sent Cannon with the baby. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt so threatened then.”

  Cannon shook his head wildly. “I wouldn’t give Aunt Claire nothin’!”

  “What if David opened the door?” Vic challenged. “Would you give him Danny?”

  “Well maybe…I know! Let’s have him move in here. Lots of married people don’t live in the same house,” Cannon explained.

  “Who told you that?”

  “It’s true! I’m not making it up!”

  “I didn’t say you were. I just asked you how you knew.”

  “Oh…Pete told me.”

  Now she was worried about Alice and Jacko. “Alice and Jacko are a happily married couple,” she assured her son, hoping it was true.

  Cannon nodded. “But Miss Alice is going back soon for cannon season.” He grinned. “Maybe I should go too.”

  Vic laughed and hugged her son. “That’s canning, not cannon season. It’s when they boil up fruits and vegetables and seal them into glass jars so they’ll stay edible through the winter.”

  “Oh…I don’t like vegetables,” Cannon admitted. “I’ll stay here.”

  “Good idea. It’s hot and miserable work.”

  Just then the front knocker sounded with excessive exuberance.

  “It’s father,” Cannon declared and passed Gregory to answer the door first. That earned the boy a scold as Gregory took charge of the door, inviting in a small mob. Xavier, David holding Danny, and Claire holding Maddy entered the room.

  Claire was on a war path that led straight to Vic. “Why did you offer me my house when you knew I could not own it?”

  “I didn’t know what some misogynistic ancestor way-back-when did. I only found out after I went to a lawyer to have it turned over to you.”

  “It is unfair and unreasonable!” Claire yelled.

  “I agree with you. And I knew you’d be angry, so I never told you.”

  “Until now!”

  “I didn’t tell you. I mentioned to David that it was a shame you didn’t want Daniel, because if you adopted him legally, he could officially own your home. But for this to work, you have to love the boy, or he’ll grow up and toss you out instead.”

  Maddy was struggling in her arms, trying to reach Danny.

  “To be honest, I had not actually met the boy. I objected to him on principle. Nor do I like being forced!”

  “Claire. No one is forcing you,” David replied in a ‘calm the crazy horse’ voice.

  “If you do not want this sweet child, then Xavier and I will take him.”

  “Yeah!” Cannon screamed as he jumped about in happiness.

  “I did not say I didn’t want the boy. I do want him, but not just because he will hold the deed to my house. I want him because Maddy and David adore him.”

  “And what do you feel for him?” Vic asked.

  “Honestly? I’m terrified this will destroy my happy life.”

  “Claire, you don’t have to do this. I will still love and adore you.” David stared at his wife.

  “But Vic has manipulated the situation so I’ve no choice but to accept the boy.”

  “Claire, you just lost the choice. I am not giving the sweet angel to someone who sees him as a necessary evil to secure the deeding of her house. You don’t deserve to have Danny. I’m going to have to retract my offer.”

  “But what about the deeding?” Claire snapped.

  “Yes, we are definitely retracting the offer,” Xavier seconded. Ham, Cannon, and Aaroo were jumping about with happiness. With tears gathering in his eyes, David handed the baby to Vic. She kissed the sweet child and passed him to Xavier so she could go to her best friend and hug him as she whispered, “I’m so sorry, David. I have to do what’s best for the child. But you are welcome to visit any time.”

  “Stop hugging my husband!” Claire screeched.

  David gently disengage himself and left the house.

  “Are you happy now?” Claire yelled at Vic.

  Tears flowed down Vic’s cheeks. “I am so far from happy, you have no idea. Go home, Claire. Live the life you want. I will never bother you again.”

  “What about the deed to my house?” she demanded.

  “That is enough from you,” Gregory snapped and secured Claire’s arm. “It is time for you to leave.”

  Little Maddy burst into tears when she was taken from the other children. “Now look what you’ve done!” Claire yelled at Gregory, grabbed Maddy, and stormed from the house.

  Gregory shut the door firmly behind her and shook his head. “She becomes more impossible with every year!”

  Vic buried herself into Xavier’s arms while the boys and pup celebrated the return of Danny.

  “We have a problem,” Gregory announced.

  Everyone turned to listen.

  “I have no idea what happened to the nursemaid, and unfortunately, it is too late to acquire a new one for this evening.”

  Cannon spoke up. “You should send Casey out with the carriage. I told Nancy if she had to run away from mean Aunt Claire, that she should come back here. So she’s probably walking the streets, scared to death, right now.”

  Gregory hurried to the kitchen and a moment later Casey ran to Xavier and Vic. “Okay if we take Cannon with us? The young woman might be afraid if it’s just me and Fagan, since we’ve never met her.”

  “An excellent idea,” Xavier said.

  “I wanna go,” Ham insisted.

  Cannon shook his head. “No, Danny needs you.”

  Ham smiled and returned to Danny sleeping on Arroo.

  Ham, being a bit too large to lay on Arroo, instead curled against the dog’s back and placed his hand on the little baby.

  Gregory entered with hot cocoa for Ham and something a bit stronger for himself, Xavier, and Vic. He asked Sara and Tubs to watch the pups while they went to the library. Xavier was kind enough to pull his desk chair over to the fireplace so Gregory could sit as well.

  “I am very disappointed in Claire, but not surprised,” Gregory announced and sat down. “There is something wrong with her. Take for example her outburst about the sewers of London and France. At first, I was proud that she even cared about the poor, since she has never shown the least bit of interest in anyone else’s life, but I now realize I was wrong. She doesn’t care about the poor or anyone but herself. If she truly loved David, she would have wanted him to have Danny.

  “I don’t know how to say this, other than being blunt. I fear Claire may be going mad. With each year, despite David’s calming influence, she becomes more erratic. Now, I need to share something she said after the two of you, Tubs, and Dr. Connors went to the basement to examine the bones.

  “She told David that the young man who died, deserved to die. He quickly assured everyone that Claire didn’t mean that. And she angrily replied she meant every word of it, and shared how the company owned by three of the Parliament Ministers, had homes built that were unfit to live in. The walls contained a deadly substance called asbestos, the floorboards were saturated with arsenic, the toilets did not have a water trap, allowing deadly gases to kill the families in their sleep. She was only sorry that the three ministers destroying London couldn’t die as well, but the cowards never went anywhere
without several guards protecting them.

  “I recall you saying a young woman shot this fellow. A girl with an unusual gun that could kill with a gas that Claire is very familiar with.” He then stared at Vic. “You thought the shooter was a young girl, but could she not have just been petite?”

  Vic felt sick to her stomach. “Gregory, you cannot believe Claire would kill someone.”

  “I would prefer not to. But how many ladies know how to make a Prince Rupert Drop filled with a deadly gas? I cannot imagine the process is easy.”

  “That’s an excellent point, Gregory,” Xavier said. “In fact, before I was locked in the Tower, I had been trying to locate anyone who could infuse a Prince Rupert Drop with a deadly poison.”

  “Stop!” Vic cried. “This is my sister, and yes, she can be horribly selfish and hateful, but I cannot…I will not believe she is a murderer. She cannot be the only person who knows how it is done! There has to be another explanation, other people capable of creating it.”

  Xavier set down his empty glass and rose. “Thank you for sharing your concerns, Gregory. However, Victor is right. Claire can’t be the only petite woman in London who knows how to infuse a high dose of hydrogen sulfide into a Prince Rupert’s Drop, then shoot a person in the leg. As far as I know, Claire has never shot a gun in her life.”

  Vic felt sick to her stomach as she stood up, knowing she’d taught Claire to shoot less than a year ago. “I’m tired.”

  Xavier pulled her to his side and focused on Gregory. “I trust you will see our new son finds someplace to sleep?”

  “Of course,” he assured Xavier as he stood. Then he gripped Vic’s arm. “I apologize for upsetting you. But I do worry about Claire. There is something not right in her thinking.”

  Vic nodded and gave him a hug. “There is, but it doesn’t mean she is a murderer.”

  Chapter 27

  Xavier woke Vic with a kiss. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Better.” She sat up. “I believe the Wasp is going to kill her husband today.”

  Xavier grinned. “And why is that?”

  “Because she thinks she doesn’t need Ben to be found before she kills her husband. In fact, she believes his disappearance will make him look even more guilty, which it will, until we disclose his secured location.”

  “Well, until we get the call, let’s go down and play with our growing family.”

  When they arrived downstairs, the table was full of happy children. David sat beside Nancy, the nursemaid, cuddling Danny. “Here’s your daddies.”

  Vic sat beside David and played with Danny’s waving hands.

  Evidently wanting attention, too, Cannon crawled up in Xavier’s lap. Not surprisingly, Ham climbed into Tubs’ lap.

  Not to be left out, Arroo jumped in Vic’s lap.

  Vic laughed. “Now this is a fabulous family.”

  Just then someone knocked on the front door and Gregory went to answer, welcoming in whoever was on the other side. Soon Jacko, Alice, and Pete joined the table, thankfully without the screeching dog. Jacko handed Xavier the paper. “Thought you’d want to know.”

  Vic and Arroo leaned over to read the front page. Well, Vic was reading, she had no idea what her bloodhound was doing.

  A gentleman of society was murdered last night. His wife woke this morning to discover him missing from their bed. When she began a search for him, she found him in the library with his throat slashed. The room had been torn apart.

  The butler did not remember hearing a noise, but for some reason he had slept much longer than usual.

  The young wife claims a boy who had once asked her to marry him, even though he was barely the age of twenty and lived with his mother, had become a bit of a nuisance over the last few months.

  “My husband would try to make him leave me alone. Xavier Thorn’s Private Investigations also had trouble with the boy, who had once worked for them. I always try to be kind to people, but there was something dark within his soul. My husband was losing patience with his bad behavior. He would warn the boy off, but the boy kept showing up.”

  “And now he has killed my beloved husband! I am devastated! I still don’t understand how this happened. Scotland Yard arrested him and was supposed to have locked him up, but he escaped last night. He must have blamed my husband for his arrest and killed him for it.”

  The servants agreed the boy was angry and out of control. How he escaped from the Scotland Yard Jail has yet to be explained. Worse yet, no search has begun. It is as if catching a murderer is beyond the capabilities of the new director.”

  “Oh, poor Barns.” Vic glanced over at Jacko and Alice. “I know you just arrived, but Xavier and I need to catch the real murderer before the Parliament does something stupid like fire Barns.”

  “Go!” Jacko insisted. “We’ll open up your office at eight.”

  “Cannon, would you like to come? We can see if you are immune to the wiles of a mesmerist.”

  “Need to find anything?” Jacko asked.

  Vic almost said no but reconsidered. “She might have something hidden in her home. If nothing else, you can watch my newly trained officers try to solve a murder.” Tubs stood and sat Ham in his chair. “I’m going.”

  “Then we’ll need two carriages,” Casey said and hurried out to the carriage house.

  “Pete and I will go open the office,” Alice offered.”

  Vic noticed the misery in Fagan’s eyes. “Fagan, you should come, too. The real murderess is a female, and you know how dangerous they can be.”

  “Yes, sir!” Fagan said and ran to the carriage house.

  Xavier shook his head and laughed. “We are going to have a larger presence than Scotland Yard.”

  “Don’t count on it. And you’re probably going to get called away to Parliament.”

  “Good point. I’ll go straight there and attempt to explain how and why this news article got their facts so wrong.” He then paused. “There’s one thing I need to do first. Gregory, I need you to call Scotland Yard so I may speak to Barns or Meyers.”

  Gregory rushed to his room. By the time Xavier arrived, he had Barns on the telephone. “Barns, I read the article in the London Daily News. Have you verified the body is the husband’s?”

  “The body is definitely dead. But only the wife has claimed it her husband.”

  “It’s still early, have your men canvas the neighborhood and see if you can find a gentleman willing to confirm the dead man’s identity,” Xavier advised.

  “That’s not normal procedure.”

  “I am aware of that. I am also aware this woman is trying to make Scotland Yard and you appear incompetent. I would not put it past her to have killed someone who looks a bit like her husband, but isn’t. Do not underestimate her cleverness. Even Vic is having trouble keeping up with her.”

  “I’ll get right on it. You and Vic will arrive soon, I hope.”

  “Vic, Jacko and Tubs are on their way. I need to calm the Parliament,” Xavier replied.

  “Thank you!” Barns stated and hung up.

  ***

  Vic, Cannon, Jacko, and Tubs arrived before Barns. She found Meyers and her six officers in the library, studying the corpse as the Wasp cried pitifully in the corner chair. She assessed the men. None of them seemed to notice the Wasp at all.

  At first, she thought Jacko had become enraptured with the woman, but then realized he focused on the chair she sat upon. Cannon squeezed her hand. “I can do this,” he whispered and walked to the Wasp.

  “Don’t be sad pretty lady. Come walk in the garden. You’ll feel better.”

  The Wasp shook her head. “No, I can’t leave my husband.”

  “Sure you can.” He gripped her hand and pulled with all his might.

  She slid off the chair, causing it to tip over, uncovering a cache of jewelry, bonds and other goodies.

  “You stupid fool!” the Wasp screamed, then focused on the policemen staring at her bounty spilled out on the floor. “Whe
re did all this come from?” she asked, trying hard to catch any of the men’s eyes, but none would look directly at her.

  Cotter leaned down and picked up a scroll. “This was taken from the British Museum last week. The guard said a beautiful young woman with the smallest waist he had ever seen had been admiring it, but he insisted she hadn’t taken it.”

  Cannon sat down and began to sort the items by some criteria Vic couldn’t figure out yet.

  Jacko leaned against the door and watched the woman. When she reached into the back of her skirt, he gripped both her hands and pushed her face down onto a large leather couch. “Does anyone have a pair of cuffs, or should I use my silks?” Jacko asked.

  Cotter quickly cuffed the woman.

  Darby studied the corpse. “Are we certain this is her husband? Because his face resembles the beggar that always sits by the Scotland Yard entrance. And these clothes don’t fit him.”

  Vic approached the corpse. “Well done, Darby.” Vic called the others over so they could notice the ill-fitting clothes. “So, let’s review what we know: the Wasp attempted to break Ben out two nights ago, only he ran off and hasn’t returned as she instructed.”

  Vic motioned to the valuable items scattered on the floor. “Clearly, she’s been working on acquiring new wealth since the charcoal stock crashed, the old fashion way: by stealing.”

  The Wasp stared up in outrage. “You set us up! You’re going to regret that, mark my words.”

  “Would you like to tell us where your real husband is?” Vic asked.

  She stared directly into Vic’s eyes. “Why would you want to harm me? I didn’t steal any of that. It must have been Ben. He must have taken my husband as well.”

  Vic decided to play along. “Where do you think he would take your husband?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe a lake, some place cold and dark.”

  “Cannon, want to check out the cellar with me?” Jacko asked.

  “Can I?” he asked Vic.

  “Just keep him safe,” she warned Jacko.

  ***