The Violet Carlyle Mysteries Boxset 1 Read online

  Anna nodded, and they returned her home chattering brightly. The shadows were gone from her eyes when they reached the house, and she squealed as Victor walked her up to the house with the large box and saw her inside.

  When he returned to the car, he said, “I don’t know what you said to her, but whatever it was—it was well done.”

  “I’ll be giving her the first of scholarships for girls in Aunt Agatha’s name. If her father was clever with how he moved money, Anna might get out of this mess with something to support her. But if he was not, she might lose everything. I won’t have her lose schooling and the life that was promised.”

  “It was a stolen life,” Victor said.

  “She didn’t steal it, though, did she? She’s a good kid. I feel certain Aunt Agatha would approve.”

  “Then my approval means nothing next to that.” He grinned, but he took her hand and squeezed and the approval in his eyes meant everything.

  “Not true, brother.” She winked. “Just less.”

  “And where does Jack fall in the line-up?”

  An elbow in Victor’s side was his answer.

  Chapter 13

  They walked into the house and saw Hargreaves hovering anxiously outside of the parlor. The twins glanced at each other.

  “Uh oh. I’ll endeavor to see what is wrong.” Violet handed Hargreaves her coat and walked into the parlor. Her gaze narrowed on the sight before her. Her sister was sitting on a settee and Hugo Danvers had pressed far too close.

  As she entered, she could hear him murmur, “Do you remember when we first met?”

  Violet watched the two of them, who had yet to notice her presence. Isolde shook her head and leaned back. Hugo leaned closer.

  “I remember it like it was yesterday,” he murmured. He was speaking like a lover and his tone made Vi ill. As far as Hugo Danvers knew, Isolde had lost her intended and was in mourning. “Your hair was flowing down your back, you wore this pale pink dress. You looked like an angel. I’ve always thought of you as an angel.”

  “I…” Isolde scooted over a little as Hugo took her hand.

  “I know that you were pressured into the alliance with my father.” Hugo said ‘father’ like it was a curse. “I’ll make sure that never happens again.”

  Vi’s gaze narrowed on him. Who was he to protect Isolde? No one!

  “I…” Isolde’s head was turned so that she could still see Hugo but arched as far away from him as she could be. The angle of her neck had to be painful, but Hugo didn’t seem to notice. Or, perhaps, he did not care. “Please…”

  Hugo didn’t listen to her pleading. Violet noted the way Isolde was tugging her hand away from Hugo, but he didn’t seem to notice. There were fingerprints on Isolde’s skin where he was digging in.

  “Our condolences on the loss of your father,” Violet told Hugo, announcing her presence.

  They both started. Isolde’s expression flashed with relief while Hugo looked as though Violet was very unwelcome. He had yet to learn her capacity for making him unwelcome.

  She crossed and took Isolde’s hand, pulling her to her feet. Hugo’s expression was utterly shocked as Violet forced him to scoot back and wrapped her arm around her sister. Vi seated Isolde next to herself on the Chesterfield, with Isolde tucked between her and the side of the sofa.

  “I imagine,” Violet continued, as though she hadn’t just pulled that maneuver, “that your father’s death was quite the shock.”

  “It was, of course. Thank you,” Hugo replied.

  The expression on his face declared he’d like to see the last of Violet. It wasn’t Violet, however, that he’d be seeing the last of. He waited and as he did Victor entered the room, took in Violet’s position, the way Isolde was cowering behind her elder sister, and his eyes narrowed.

  “What are you doing here?” Victor demanded.

  Hugo cleared his throat and adjusted his awkward seat to state, “Just giving Isolde my condolences.”

  “Which you’ve done,” Victor said. The indication was clear that Hugo was invited to leave.

  Hugo’s head cocked, and he looked quizzical.

  Violet could feel Isolde shuddering under her hand. Vi’s furious face told Victor all he needed to know.

  “Have I done something to offend you?” Hugo asked, refusing to stand. “Surely, as Isolde and I have experienced the greatest loss, it is reasonable that we are best able to comfort each other.”

  “Is that the lie you are telling yourself?” Victor wasn’t even pretending at manners. “You think it is acceptable to visit a very young, very shocked girl at home alone? After such a harrowing trial?”

  “Besides,” Violet said lightly, “you said yourself you knew that Isolde was pressured into a relationship with your father. You know she isn’t grieving as you must be, so why did you come?”

  Hugo glanced between the twins and then seemed to appeal to Isolde, but Violet did her best to block his view of her little sister.

  “Leave, Danvers,” Victor said. “It’s long past time for you to go.”

  “You can’t keep me from Isolde. This isn’t a prison.”

  Isolde squeaked, and as they all turned to look at her, she tucked her face into Violet’s shoulder.

  Violet lift a single brow at Hugo and his face flushed furiously.

  “This isn’t quite the thing, and you are well aware your behavior isn’t apropos. Did you wait until we’d left her alone or did you inquire to see if she was alone when you appeared?”

  Hugo flushed and didn’t answer.

  Victor continued. “Once this murder investigation is over, Isolde will be leaving London and you will not see her again.”

  Hugo almost growled, and Isolde shuddered at the noise.

  “Now I say—” Hugo tried.

  “Out,” Victor demanded, interrupting him.

  “Isolde is nearly family,” Hugo protested.

  “Isolde,” Violet said, “is with her family. And the only other connections she’ll be forming is with other travelers and then college students.”

  “College?”

  “College,” Victor repeated. “Not another too old for her beau who wishes to pressure her into something she doesn’t want.”

  Hugo was brilliantly red at that point, but he turned and appealed to Isolde. “You wish to leave? Leave? Travel? College?”

  Violet would have answered for her sister, but he needed to hear it from Isolde, and she needed to learn how to speak for herself. Seeing her as crumpled as she’d been when Vi had arrived had shown just how easy it was to squash the burgeoning independent woman in Isolde.

  Violet nudged Isolde, and she said, “I…I…do.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Hugo declared. “You have options.”

  When Isolde didn’t speak, Vi nudged her again, and Isolde said, “I want to go to college. And to travel. And to breathe a little after…everything.”

  Victor stepped forward. He was shorter and more slender than Hugo, but Victor still seemed intimidating.

  “You heard it from her. You heard it from me. Out. Don’t bother her again.”

  Hugo snarled as he slammed from the parlor. Victor followed.

  Isolde moaned as he left, curling onto her side and placing her head on Violet’s lap. “Oh, that was awful!”

  Violet ran her hand along her sister’s back, soothing her as Vi would a baby. Over and over again until Isolde was quivering, and then finally, she started to cry. She didn’t talk as she cried, just let the tears fall slowly and silently.

  Violet didn’t say a word either. Isolde needed to have a good cry. Not just over Danvers dying, though perhaps also that, but over the fact that her mother had cornered her into a marriage that was clearly destined for misery.

  Victor returned long enough to see Isolde weeping and left in a fury. After quite a long while, Isolde slipped into sleep. Violet left her and found that Jack had arrived again.

  “I was hoping to ask a few questions of Isolde, on
ly…”

  Violet shook her head. “Maybe we can help? She barely fell asleep, and given the circles under her eyes I don’t think she’s been sleeping well—perhaps for weeks.”

  Victor snorted. “Jack is here because he knows Cook is excellent.”

  “It’s hours before dinner,” Jack protested.

  “And just in time for tea,” Violet said with a grin and a wink. “Hargreaves, in the library, please. Leave Isolde be and let her sleep.”

  “Yes, m’lady,” he said.

  Beatrice brought in the tea, which was cucumber or smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and fruit tarts. Jack asked about the Kenningtons, and they had to admit they didn't know much regarding the details of those connections.

  “We’ve been pursuing a few leads that have been harder to track down than I’d have expected.”

  “Perhaps,” Violet suggested as she set down her cucumber sandwich, “you are referring to Mr. Mathers and his daughter?”

  Jack’s gaze narrowed on her, and she knew that she’d given away they’d inquired into the murder.

  “We might have stopped by to see Helen,” Violet admitted.

  “Perhaps. Maybe. If you aren’t too angry,” Victor mocked.

  Violet nudged him with her elbow and confessed, “It is possible that in stopping by we took Helen’s little sister out for ice cream, and she and I gossiped a bit.”

  Jack frowned. She could almost see him debating. He wanted to know what she’d discovered and he wanted to scold her thoroughly. She waited to see what he’d choose.

  He finally said, “We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with that angle.”

  Violet grinned at him and Victor clapped Jack on the back. “Bravo, good man! Way to accept the inevitable.”

  Jack scowled at them. Vi ignored his expression. “Anna revealed that Helen attempted to take her own life.”

  Jack started and Victor’s smile slipped away. Nothing about that was humorous.

  “It seems that she pursued Mr. Danvers and thought they would be married. After he led her to the conclusion that they would marry, he was able to persuade her to physical relations and left her with a little burden. Only after did he throw Helen over for Isolde.”

  Jack set down his teacup.

  “Anna told me that her father took Helen to the seaside. It sounds like she’s prone towards fits of being blue and this pushed her past her capacity. Her father took her to Margate to recover. The address is in my book.”

  “I’ll be needing that,” Jack stated. “We know, of course, that Mathers is Danvers’s partner. The level of Mathers’s illegal machinations is unclear. I suspect that Mathers knew exactly what was happening but kept everything he did monetarily hidden. He was very, very careful. One of the numbers boys over at the Yard said that he didn’t think Mathers would be ruined when Danvers’s scheme eventually fell apart. The fellow said he thought Danvers must have intended to take what he could and run just before it all fell apart. There was no sustaining this scheme.”

  Violet passed around a tray of sandwiches while Jack continued. “We spoke with everyone who invested. No one has any idea that their investment was a sham and that Mathers was anything other than a minion for Danvers.”

  Violet sipped her tea and considered. She didn’t love that Mr. Mathers had assisted in stealing money for a sham investment scheme, but she was glad that the girls would survive.

  “He seems to be a real pull-himself-up-by-his-bootstraps type,” Jack said. “Built a fortune out of nothing. He’s a widower, never remarried. Goes to church. The churchgoers like him. He volunteers. Gives money. Goes to all the school things for his daughters that he can. There is no indication he’s involved in criminal activity by any of the rest of his activities.”

  Violet refilled the teacups for them. “Perhaps he feels guilty for his life.”

  “Perhaps,” Victor said doubtfully. “Surely you’d just stop. If you’re smart enough to get involved in this stuff and to keep it from coming back at you, you’re smart enough to work a job that doesn’t include stealing.”

  Jack nodded. Both he and Victor reached for more sandwiches while Violet debated the idea of Mathers.

  Was it possible to be both a good community man and a thief? She didn’t see how. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and played with the ring on her finger while the two men started debating cricket and stopped talking about the crime.

  Violet avoided the scolding she knew Jack intended when Isolde woke and asked for her sister. Vi left with a wink towards Victor, who just might get that scolding instead.

  By the time that Isolde had bathed, been put to bed with a sleeping pill, and talked to about Belgium until she succumbed to sleep, Jack had gone.

  “Should we go out?” Victor asked.

  Vi shook her head. “Is it too awful of me if I want to stay in and write?”

  Victor laughed. “We got lazy and weak in Italy, darling. We’ll have to build up our capacity to those old days of late nights and drinks with the pals.”

  They discussed the plot of their story, ate a bowl of warm soup, and agreed that they’d be scolded from one year to the next if they didn’t soon inquire after Father and Lady Eleanor. Violet thought the only reason the earl and his lady hadn’t descended on the errant children yet was because Gerald had most likely sent the appropriate messages—ones that they hadn’t been wise enough to do themselves.

  Chapter 14

  In the morning, Victor and Violet ate together. Vi had stopped by Isolde’s room long enough to tell her to spend the day lazing in bed, looking at magazines, and that she was not to have any callers. It would have been the type of thing a controlling guardian said if Isolde didn’t know it was to keep Hugo Danvers away.

  “The servants have also been informed that you are not at home to anyone except Gerald.”

  “I haven’t stayed in bed and lolled about before. Not unless I was sick.”

  “You are sick, dear,” Violet told her, “or at least that is what we’re telling your mother and Father.”

  Violet turned to leave when Isolde asked, “Why don’t you call her Mother?”

  Vi thought about lying to her sister, but the time for softening truth for Isolde was past, and it was time for her to learn. “She never was. Not to Victor and me. Aunt Agatha demanded us and Lady Eleanor was happy to see us off and out of the way.”

  “Oh,” Isolde said, suddenly seeing their lifetime anew.

  Violet smiled gently. “I’ll check in when we get home.”

  The drive out to Kennington house started the moment they’d finished breakfast and downed enough coffee to see them through the drive. They had Giles drive and chatted about Isolde and Jack on the way.

  “Are you in love?” Victor asked, as Violet mentioned the investigation and how clever Jack was at discovering the details of someone’s life.

  Violet played with the ring on her finger and admitted, “I…might be on the journey, but I’m not there yet.”

  “The journey?” Victor laughed. “You’re head over heels, little love. Jack might be worse. I think he swallowed his tongue yesterday to keep from letting you have it after your stunt with Anna. If it had been anyone else, they’d have gotten their ears boxed.”

  Violet sniffed and played with her ring again. “Did you want to go to the club tonight?”

  Victor agreed, and they both took a deep breath as Giles parked the car in front of Kennington House.

  As they approached the house, Violet asked, “United?”

  “Always.”

  Morton opened the door and they asked for their father. The earl’s property was in the south of England, so they hadn’t left Kennington House yet to take the journey home. Their father did have a house in London, but Vi imagined that having your future son-in-law murdered just before the wedding made a little distance from town more desirable than access to his clubs and restaurants.

  They were led into a parlor with furniture that ma
y have been purchased new just after Waterloo. It felt old and rich but a little shabby. Violet picked up a small box and realized it was encrusted in real jewels and just sitting out in a nearly unused room. The Kenningtons were quite wealthy, Vi thought. Wealthy enough to not worry so much about their investment? No one wanted to be stolen from, but was it a crime so dastardly to drive someone who kept priceless boxes sitting out?

  Father arrived almost immediately.

  “Your mother has taken to her bed,” he said.

  Violet prevented an expression from betraying her thoughts as she kissed his cheek. “Isolde isn’t feeling well either. She wanted us to bring her love. Father, Victor and I would like permission to take her on a trip as soon as the murderer is caught.”

  He nodded his assent, and they all took a seat, staring at each other as he said, “Where will you go then?”

  “Isolde has a desire to see Bruges,” Victor said. “Vi and I haven’t been there. You know Vi, she’s already got a book about it and histories of travels to that land as though it were Lilliput. Vi has Isolde making a list of things she wants to see and hikes she wants to take. Or whatever it is that people do there.”

  Father grunted. “Thinking of leaving Eleanor here. She won’t get out of bed and to be honest, I prefer rather less time around this brother and cousin of hers. Maybe I’ll come with you. Haven’t been to Belgium since I went on my Grand Tour. M’father sent me with a cousin of his. Might be good for us both to get away.”

  “Father,” Violet said carefully, “it does seem that, perhaps, Isolde wasn’t aware of your concerns between herself and Danvers.”

  Father looked startled. “I talked to her mother about it.”