by Beth Byers
While Father was chastising Leopold, Violet’s oldest brother, Gerald, entered the room with Lila and Denny. Behind them was Isolde’s betrothed, Tomas.
“Ah, yes, of course,” Leopold said. “As you said, I’m out of sorts. Melrose. Well…” Leopold cleared his throat and blinked rapidly. It all seemed as though he were fighting his emotions, but Violet noted that his eyes had no shine and he had little trouble turning to the others. “Carlyle. Denny. Mrs. Denny.”
Violet bit her bottom lip and looked again at Kate, who wasn’t even trying to hide her shock.
“My apologies for your loss,” Gerald told Leopold, shaking his hand. “Never been one for teetotalers, but your brother told a good story and I enjoyed speaking with him.”
Violet reached out and took Kate’s hand as Lila joined them, taking Violet’s cocktail from her and sipping it before settling next to Vi.
“Next time,” Lila said, “let’s go someplace where emotions are less fraught. I feel certain we should have gotten your summons and boarded a ship to Monaco or back to Cuba.”
She leaned back, grateful that Jack was leading Leopold away from her, and sighed. “I suppose that means my stepmother is not coming down to dinner.”
Lila lifted the cocktail Denny handed her and saluted the news.
“We should leave tomorrow,” Violet told the others. “This visit must end before more battle lines are drawn between Lady Eleanor and myself that end with things ruined between us.”
Kate shifted, running her hand down her arms. “Victor and your father have an appointment tomorrow. We can see you back in London if you’d like to leave quickly.”
“An appointment?”
She nodded but didn’t elaborate. Vi glanced at Lila, who shrugged and sipped her cocktail. Violet turned back to Kate, who was deliberately looking the other way. Her feelings weren’t hurt. Instead, she found herself running through the things that Victor and her father might talk about that he would keep from Vi. Only one thing came to mind. Her jaw dropped as she stared at Kate—everything clicking into place.
“By Jove!” Violet muttered, taking a rather large swallow of her cocktail.
“Hush,” Kate said, blushing brilliantly.
Violet nodded frantically, pressing her lips together to hold in her reaction. Kate’s solitary word confirmed Violet’s thoughts.
“What?” Lila demanded.
“I don’t like Leopold,” Violet said, staring at the man. She spoke too loudly, and he turned her way.
Father’s jaw dropped. “Violet!”
“I beg your pardon,” Leopold told Vi. “I am the victim here.”
“No, you aren’t,” Violet said. “You are the benefiter. If you actually loved your brother, I’ll eat my shoe.”
“Violet!” the earl snapped.
“With your brother and your evil games—do you really think you’ll get off scot free? You think that Victor, Jack, Devonsly, and I—do you think we won’t warn our friends off of you?”
Leopold tried laughing, but Violet was furious and she wouldn’t be stopped. “How many points do you get for driving a girl to murder?”
“Violet,” her father said. “Stop.”
“No!” Violet turned to her father. “Celia Rosens was an innocent, stupid girl who believed in love. They played with her emotions. Leopold made Celia fall in love with him, and he dropped her.”
“He did what now?” Devonsly demanded. “That sweet little thing. Why would you drop her?”
Violet answered for Leopold. “So his brother could have a chance. Leopold dropped Celia, crushing her heart, and in stepped Melrose. He stole her heart away until one of their former victims warned Celia off.”
Leopold stuttered. “You can’t prove it.”
“No one proved anything about me and murder investigations and yet I was a suspect when your brother was found. You should have been the suspect. You’re the sole heir now. You said it yo—”
Violet paused, her gaze meeting Jack’s, who slowly turned to face Leopold. “You are benefiting, really.” Jack clapped Leopold on the back. “Wasn’t there something about a great aunt?”
Violet nodded.
“You’re an only child now, aren’t you? Whatever your parents have will come your way as well. No portions peeled off for little brother.”
Leopold glanced between Violet and Jack. “I suppose.”
“Devonsly—” Violet played with the ring on her finger, turning to the young lord. “Did you ever see Melrose with a cocktail?”
Devonsly shook his head. “Everyone knows he only drinks wine. Melrose is a weepy drunk. If he gets zozzled, it’s tears and confessions, ever since we were in school. Do you remember that time when we were boys, Leo? Melrose confessed to cheating on an exam when that little beanpole came back to school with a bottle of his father’s bourbon.”
Leopold shot Devonsly a look. “What does my brother have to do with not drinking?”
“Celia swears she’s innocent,” Violet told Devonsly. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more compelling reason to murder someone than what these brothers were doing to her.”
“Violet,” her father said, “this conversation is morbid. The man just lost his brother.”
“But Father,” Violet said to him. “It doesn’t add up. It never did. Why poison someone and stab them? That poison was intended for you, Leopold. You can’t poison a teetotaler with arsenic in gin.”
Leopold shuddered, swallowing dramatically. “I suppose she intended to kill me too. Only she was discovered first.”
Violet saw Jack shake his head slightly. “No,” Violet said merrily, hiding her growing fury. “It still doesn’t add up. Celia wouldn’t have known of your late night drink habit. Not before she got here. Her father wouldn’t leave her home. She’s not a girl who gets to travel from house party to house party. She couldn’t have known that you had that late night cocktail. Or two? Several I would guess.”
“I—what—” He shook his head and then tried for a charming smile.
Violet laughed mockingly. “Your own brother was going to kill you. What, for the money? Because he loved Celia and wanted her back? You were trying to romance her again, weren’t you? Making her promises in the garden. The morning after your brother was dead, you were after her.”
“I thought—love—you know—”
“You don’t love her.” Violet laughed. “We’re not that dense or that drunk, boyo. If you loved her, you’d be far more upset. Before Celia was taken in, you were romancing her. She has an aunt, doesn’t she? You knew that my money was gone, but Celia’s money with your solo inheritance would probably be a tidy sum.”
The earl rose, standing over Vi, looming really, and he asked, “What are you doing, Violet?”
“Sir,” Jack said to Father, “Violet and I both have felt like the murder didn’t make sense. Who poisons and stabs? Those are murders for very different temperaments.”
“So perhaps it’s as you said, Melrose was attempting to murder his brother, and Celia—”
“If Celia were the killer,” Violet said with a shake of her head, “then they both would have been poisoned. She had a key to your rooms in London. She’d have poisoned something and left you to your fate. It makes far more sense than to come here. But Melrose—he would need to murder you somewhere other than your rooms. And given the games you play with the young ladies, I am guessing you don’t get all that many house party invitations.”
Leopold stepped back. “Why are you saying these things?”
“Because,” Jack told him, “if Celia isn’t the poisoner, and it doesn’t make sense that she is, then Melrose attempted to murder you. And you, sir, are the murderer of your brother. The only possible way that Celia Rosens could overpower Melrose was if he had already been poisoned and too weak to fight her. Since he didn’t drink gin, and we’ve all agreed he didn’t, Melrose intended to poison you. Rather than letting your brother kill you, you killed him first.”
“Yo
u can’t prove that,” Leopold said coldly. “I don’t have to take these accusations.” He hurried towards the door to the parlor as the gong rang.
“Enjoy your self-righteous flight,” Violet called. “Inspector Wright will be coming for you soon.”
“He has proof that Celia Rosens killed Melrose,” Leopold said, turning.
“Easily debunked now that he knows what to look for. You’re trusting, of course, that Melrose was clever in his purchase,” Jack told him. “How clever could he have been if you realized he had arsenic? They’ll find the chemist, realize it was Melrose who purchased the poison, and the case against Celia will fall apart.”
Leopold was gaping, staring at them in utter horror. With that dawning terror in his gaze, Violet asked Jack, “What if he admits to the crime and says it was self-defense?”
Stabbing with an ice pick over a poisoned bottle? Hardly self-defense, but Leopold fell for the trap in his panic. “Yes! Self-defense! It was self-defense.”
Violet rolled her eyes, shook her head and sipped her cocktail as Jack told her father, “Call for Wright. Tell him what we discovered. He can come for Nelson, and Celia can go home to her family. I believe we will be witness enough to free her.”
Father glanced between Jack and Violet. “I see now. I knew you were a good man, but— Vi, you chose well.”
Jack took Leopold from the room while Father sent for the constables. “I need another cocktail,” Violet told Victor. “This time with champagne. Reasons for celebrating abound.”
Victor’s head snapped around, Violet winked, and he shook his head before he sent for champagne bottles and fresh ice.
Chapter Nineteen
“You will, of course, name her after me,” Violet told Kate and Victor at their wedding three days later. “Vi Junior has a delightful ring to it.”
“Hush,” Victor said. “We’re pretending we didn’t need to rush to the altar.”
Violet kissed her brother’s cheek and her new sister’s cheek, and then lifted her champagne in salute. “Pretending though we might be, Vi Junior is just the name. You could also call her Pearl of Great Price. After me, of course.”
“Of course.” Kate had lost the sickly look. Violet was guessing that the stress of not knowing what they should do about the impending arrival had faded when Father stepped in and arranged everything for the wedding. Her eyes were bright, her dress was white and long, and the joy that radiated from her was outshone only by the joy radiating from Victor.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Violet asked Victor.
He cocked his head, waiting for an answer.
“Father realized what was happening even before I did. It means he was probably also aware that we framed Geoffrey with the pranks far better than Leopold framed poor Celia for the murder.”
“In retrospect,” Victor announced, “we shouldn’t have used our own classic pranks.” He wrapped his arm around Kate’s waist. “I wonder what I would do in such a situation.”
“Our children will be delightful, like me,” Kate told Victor, who choked on his laughter.
“Darling,” Violet told her new sister, “you have sullied your family tree with Victor. Returning to young Geoffrey, this does mean Father punished Geoffrey knowing he was innocent.”
Victor shrugged, entirely unrepentant.
“It also means that Father is probably far more aware of what we do than we knew. How long do you think he knew we were V. V. Twinnings?”
Victor took a deep breath in and considered. “Possibly within days of our not asking Father for more money. We were doing that quite frequently before our books.”
That was Vi’s guess as well. She saw they were agreed, and they both turned to look at their father, who was laughing with Isolde, Tomas, and Gerald.
“It also means,” Victor said, “he let Aunt Agatha have us. How long did it take until after he married Lady Eleanor that we were spending more time with dear Aggie than at home?”
“Not long,” she mused. “He’s always known what Lady Eleanor was.”
Victor kissed Kate on her temple. “Violet, I am going to make a rash statement.”
She rubbed her hands together, awaiting the revelation.
“It is possible that Father is almost as witty as you. I like to think I get my laziness from him. If he were a touch less idle, we might have had to be good children instead of the devils we were. We might have also been raised by him and Lady Eleanor rather than Aunt Agatha.”
“Are,” Kate inserted. “You are devils. You’re adults and you framed a child to watch him squirm.”
“Touché,” Victor said to his bride.
“It’s good for him,” Violet added. Her attention was caught, and she gasped. “Now I hate to kiss and run, but your mother is terrifying, Kate dear. She is also aimed this way, so I’m off for cake and canapés. Congratulations again, darling, on acquiring such a wonderful sister.”
Violet was chased away by the sound of their laughter. There was a lot of laughter this fine autumn morning. It seemed as though the sun wanted to shine down on the couple and their loved ones. Violet wrapped her arm through Jack’s, grinning at her complete joy in the day’s events, and Jack made it all better simply by putting his hand over hers.
He smiled down at her. “Are you happy?”
Violet nodded, grinning up at him. “Of course. It is just like Victor to draw attention from my birthday with his shenanigans.”
“I didn’t forget,” Jack said, kissing her brow. “Are you prepared to be an aunt?”
“I think I shall have to be a sister first,” Violet told him, her gaze fixing on Geoffrey. “Before we spoil Violet Junior, shall we de-spoil young Geoffrey?”
Jack followed Violet’s gaze to where Geoffrey was watching the wedding party from the sidelines, a sour expression on his face. He had a glass of champagne, but he wasn’t enjoying it. He seemed to be entirely displeased by the happy event.
Their gazes moved from Geoffrey to Lord Devonsly whispering sweet nothings into a blushing Celia Rosens’s ear and on to Lady Eleanor pretending joy as Victor forever removed his inheritance from Geoffrey’s grasp.
From them, Violet turned to Lila and Denny. He was leaning towards his wife, smiling at her in that lazy way, and then he lifted her hand to his mouth, turned it over, and placed a kiss on the inside of her wrist.
“He loves her so,” Violet said, watching her friend say something to Denny that had him laughing.
“He does,” Jack said. She turned to him and found it was only her who had been watching Lila and Denny. Jack, on the other hand, was entirely fixated on Violet, and there was little doubt that the protestation of love was for anyone else.
“She loves him as well,” Violet said and found each of her fingertips kissed.
The End
Hullo, my friends, I have so much gratitude for you reading my books and enjoying them. Are there words enough to explain how that feels? Almost as wonderful are reviews, and indie folks, like myself, need them desperately! If you wouldn’t mind, I would be so grateful for a review.
The sequel to this book, Obsidian Murder will be out soon! The preorder is up now!
I am also so very, very delighted to announce the coming of a new historical mystery series.
July 1936
When Georgette Dorothy Marsh’s dividends fail along with the banks, she decides to write a book. Her only hope is to bring her account out of overdraft and possibly buy some hens. The problem is that she has so little imagination she uses her neighbors for inspiration.
She little expects anyone to realize what she’s done. So when Chronicles of Harper’s Bend becomes a bestseller, her neighbors are questing to find out just who this “Joe Johns” is and punish him.
Things escalate beyond what anyone would imagine when one of her prominent characters turns up dead. It seems that the fictional end Georgette had written for the character spurred a real-life murder. Now to find the killer before it is discovered
who the author is and she becomes the next victim.
FYI, I write under my real name, Amanda A. Allen, as well. If you like books with a paranormal twist, you’ll find I’ve written plenty! Books and updates for both names are available through my newsletter If you’d like to sign up, click here.
If you want book updates, you could follow me on Facebook by clicking here for Beth Byers. Or here for Amanda A. Allen.
Also By Beth Byers
The Violet Carlyle Cozy Historical Mysteries
Murder & the Heir
Murder at Kennington House
Murder at the Folly
A Merry Little Murder
New Year’s Madness: A Short Story Anthology
Valentine’s Madness: A Short Story Anthology
Murder Among the Roses
Murder in the Shallows
Gin & Murder
Obsidian Murder (coming March 2019)
Murder at the Ladies Club (coming April 2019)
Weddings Vows & Murder (coming May 2019)
The Poison Ink Mysteries: A Historical Cozy
Miss Marsh Begins
Miss Marsh Witness
Miss Marsh Betrayed
Miss Marsh Anew
Miss Marsh Ever After
The 2nd Chance Diner Mysteries
Spaghetti, Meatballs, & Murder
Cookies & Catastrophe
(found in the Christmas boxset, The Three Carols of Cozy Christmas Murder)
Poison & Pie
Double Mocha Murder
Cinnamon Rolls & Cyanide
Tea & Temptation
Donuts & Danger
Scones & Scandal
Lemonade & Loathing
Wedding Cake & Woe
Honeymoons & Honeydew
The Pumpkin Problem
The Brightwater Bay Mysteries
