Murder in the Shadows Read online

  “Are you all right, old man?” Victor asked Gerald, taking him by the arm and shoving him into a chair. “I’ll get you a coffee.”

  Gerald swallowed dryly. “I’ll need something stronger than that.”

  Victor crossed to the bar in the parlor and poured Gerald a stiff whiskey. Their oldest brother took the glass with shaking hands. “Lottie won’t talk to me. I thought—I thought—I’d done something to anger her. You don’t think—”

  The twins looked at each other, but said nothing. They did, in fact, think that their stepmother had intervened.

  Gerald took a large drink of the whiskey. Their brother’s voice was frantic and speedy when he spoke. “I’ve sent flowers. I’ve sent chocolates. Jewelry. Vague apologies. Pleas for her to tell me what is wrong, but she won’t speak to me at all.”

  Violet’s gaze narrowed and she rose sharply. “What is her telephone number?”

  Gerald’s hand was still shaking as he answered. “What are you going to do?”

  Violet patted his shoulder. “Sometimes a woman will talk to another woman. I’ll see if I can help.”

  He was silent, but his gaze was desperate. He gave over the telephone number with a trembling voice.

  Violet patted him on the shoulder once again before she left the parlor and had the operator connect her. “Charlotte Wilder, please.”

  “This is she.”

  “This is Violet Wakefield. Do you know who I am?”

  There was a very long silence and then finally a hushed, “Yes.”

  “I understand there is something wrong between you and Gerald.” Violet paused when Charlotte Wilder did not reply. “Whatever is wrong between you and my brother is most likely based off of lies and manipulations of Lady Eleanor Carlyle.”

  Charlotte did not answer, but she did not disconnect either.

  “I’d like to help you resolve the problem between you and my brother. If you love Gerald, perhaps it will comfort you to know that I can assure you that he loves you and he is miserable without you. I can also assure you that whatever obstacle Lady Eleanor put between yourself and him can be overcome.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that,” the quiet voice replied, confirming Lady Eleanor’s involvement. “There is more than you know.”

  “Will you give me a chance?”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I’ll send an auto for you. Come and talk to me.”

  “I—”

  “I’m going to call you Lottie because I choose to believe we’ll be sisters. As your sister, Lottie, I’ll help you find your heart and give it back to my brother. I assure you he deserves it.”

  “I—”

  “Please,” Violet begged.

  “It’s not just me,” Lottie whispered. “I wish it were only me, but it’s not—and, and I can’t.”

  “Charlotte Wilder,” Violet snapped, “you can’t let the monster win!”

  “That’s your stepmother.” Lottie sounded shocked.

  “Who would know better than I what we’re dealing with? The auto will be there within the hour. At least give me a chance.”

  Violet hung up before Lottie could say no and sent the auto with Hargreaves and his perfect ability to be gentle, proper, and insistent.

  Chapter 5

  Violet had no idea what to expect when she imagined the woman Gerald might love, but it wasn’t Charlotte Wilder. The girl—woman—who approached the door was quite young, though not so young that there was anything untoward. Her eyes were blue, her hair was dark. She ignored fashion and the typical bob for long silky curls, and Violet had little doubt it was because her hair was a shining crown on her head. Her skin was very pale but also very freckled.

  Lottie’s dress was blue and not particularly expensive. Her lips were pink. Her cheeks were too pale for a general of aura of healthiness, and she trembled when Violet took her hand. That being said, Charlotte Wilder—even as sad as she seemed—was lively. Violet had the image of a woman whose natural state was one of sheer cheerfulness.

  Violet did not take Lottie into the parlor with her brothers but quietly led the way into the library where a fire had been lit. The puppies had been brought into the room, and Violet locked the door behind them. Vi wasn’t going to have Gerald throwing himself at Lottie’s feet until Violet knew why Lottie was running from a man like Gerald Carlyle. He was, to put it very bluntly, a catch.

  Lottie took the seat Violet nodded towards, and then Violet reached down and put a puppy in her lap.

  “Oh.” Lottie looked down and ran her fingers over the puppy’s belly and repeated, “Ohhh.”

  “Indeed,” Violet agreed as she sat, lifting Rouge into her lap instead of one of the puppies. Rouge put her paws on Violet’s shoulders and licked her chin once before rubbing her face into Vi’s neck and giving her a woebegone moan. Vi laughed as she told Lottie, “Rouge objects to not being at my feet all day. She’s a good mama, but she wants me to know that she misses me. She’d prefer I climb into the basket with them and we all snuggle in a pile together until they’re big enough to send on their way.”

  “That sounds lovely.” Lottie’s voice was shaking. She had a tremulous hope in her gaze, but the overall feel of her expression was one of despair.

  “Do you love my brother?” Violet didn’t belabor the point of their conversation.

  Lottie nodded silently. A single tear rolled down her face. The single tear on Lottie’s face was heart-breaking while the single tear earlier from Lady Eleanor was incapable of drawing an ounce of emotion.

  “Tell me about it.” Vi’s gentle voice had Lottie meeting her gaze, searching it desperately.

  “He never should have taken up with me.”

  Violet ignored the statement. “How did you meet?” Violet trailed her fingers over Rouge’s ears.

  “I met him at the park. I was walking our neighbor’s dog. He slipped his leash to chase a squirrel. I was chasing the dog. Gerald caught him.”

  “It sounds kismet,” Violet said with a smile, watching Lottie carefully as another tear rolled down her cheek.

  Lottie’s voice was trembling when she shook her head and answered, “I’m just a bank manager’s daughter, and the earl keeps his funds in the bank where Daddy works. If I—if I—”

  “If you marry Gerald, then your father will be put out of a job?” Lady Eleanor wasn’t even clever. It was a blunt instrument for destroying the relationship. Any woman Gerald would love would sacrifice herself for her family.

  “Please don’t play games with me,” Lottie snapped with a surprising amount of anger. “There is an understanding between him and Genevieve Bromley. Miss Bromley doesn’t care if I’m his…his…mistress, but I care. I don’t even know why I’m here. He’s going to marry that Bromley girl and I won’t be his—his whore.”

  Violet laughed, hardly surprised by the depth of her stepmother’s despicable lies. It was a mean sound, and it startled Lottie.

  “You’re just like her,” Lottie said, standing. She couldn’t escape quickly with the puppy in her hands. She turned to put the little thing in the basket, giving Vi time to catch her.

  “I assure you,” Violet told Lottie, taking her wrist before she could put the puppy down, “I am not. I also assure you that Gerald Carlyle may be lazy, but he is also my brother. He’s upstanding and kind. He would never in his life take a mistress.”

  Lottie was quiet for a moment, taking that in. “It doesn’t change the fact of Daddy’s position.”

  “Gerald would hardly let that get in the way of love.”

  “Your father cares.”

  “My father doesn’t care that my husband is a detective.”

  “You aren’t the heir.”

  “And I’m possibly the least favored child, so you have a point there,” Violet told Lottie evenly. Lottie’s gaze widened. “My father prefers his sons over his daughters. It’s always been clear. He’d come visit my twin and me, take me for an ice cream, drop me back at school, and spend
the rest of the visit with Victor. But understand, Victor is the least favorite son. The two of us have made peace with our standing a long time ago. It’s like a scarred-over wound on our hearts.”

  Lottie blinked rapidly, trying to follow Violet’s statement. It wasn’t that it was hard to understand--it was just so rife with emotion.

  “The thing is,” Violet continued, “as you age, you realize that what seems like a cruel blow of being the unwanted child is quite a blessing later. My sister Isolde, the favored daughter, almost married a criminal because of the interference of my stepmother.”

  Lottie gasped.

  “Father probably would have fought Gerald’s attraction to you years ago,” Vi continued, “but Gerald is in his mid-thirties. He has shown no interest in the women they’ve been throwing before him for all his adult life. I have little doubt that Father tried ordering him to marry. Gerald is, after all the heir, and Father wouldn’t want the least favorite son to inherit.”

  “Yes. To Miss Bromley. I told you.”

  “Gerald would have told him, ‘No.’”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “Of course I can. I know him rather well for all our distance. He’s not a hard book to crack. He’s lazy, spoilt, and stubborn. He told Victor once that he’d die alone before he’d marry another ‘Lady Eleanor’ and recommended my brother marry before Father realized Gerald’s intention to remain a bachelor.”

  “He didn’t.” Lottie looked shocked.

  “I assure you, he did. If Miss Bromley is recommended by Lady Eleanor, Gerald would never, ever consider the woman. Never.”

  “I—” There was dawning hope in her eyes. “You think you know him that well?”

  “Lady Eleanor sees all of her stepchildren and her daughter as commodities to raise her status or the status of her precious son, Geoffrey. That includes Gerald.”

  “But—”

  “You have to understand,” Violet told Lottie gently, tugging her back to the chair, pressing her handkerchief in her hands, and placing two puppies on her lap this time. Violet struggled to find a way to describe it. Finally, she asked, “Do you have a good mother?”

  Lottie nodded in jerky, surprised movements.

  “Lady Eleanor is not a good mother. If you judge her by your own mother’s standards, you are giving Lady Eleanor a credit that is simply ridiculous. She loves her own children to the best of her ability, but that doesn’t say much.”

  Violet sat down, scooting towards Lottie and taking both of her hands. In a low, intimate voice, Violet said, “Eleanor Carlyle manipulated her daughter into marrying a man twice her age, fat, and entirely unappealing in order to keep unsavory details about herself out of the public purview.”

  Lottie’s gaze narrowed.

  “She’s the type of woman who will endlessly attempt to keep Gerald from marrying, despite the fact that my twin would be the heir. She wants the illusion that it could be Geoffrey to make the best match for him. As long as Victor only has daughters, she can build up the illusion. To do so, she will lie, perhaps claiming that Kate can’t have more children or awful rumors about Gerald. Who knows how she intends to go about it, but I assure you—she has a plan.”

  Lottie bit down on her bottom lip. “I still can’t put my daddy at risk. I’m the oldest. There are six more children in my family who need him to have a good position. I’ll—I’ll find someone else.”

  “Or, you could marry the man you love, who loves you.”

  “My daddy—”

  “Your daddy will continue to have work.”

  “He won’t take a handout, Mrs. Wakefield. If you are wrong, my daddy won’t work for you, and my siblings could go hungry.”

  “First of all,” Violet told Lottie, “that’s ridiculous. A good father and husband would take a position if it meant securing his family, regardless of his pride. Second of all, Lady Eleanor does not speak for Father. She does, however, pretend to do so. My father would never have an honorable man removed from his position.”

  “But—”

  “But, Lady Eleanor lies,” Violet said very precisely. “Frequently.”

  Lottie paused and then carefully picked up each puppy and set them on the ground. Vi scooped them up and put them in the basket.

  “I can tell when Gerald lies,” Lottie told Violet.

  “A very useful skill when you love someone lazy and spoiled. It also tells me that you have not spoken to him about Miss Bromley.”

  Lottie looked away, biting her lip.

  “You should test him,” Violet said. “Face to face. Have him declare himself. If he does so in front of me and Victor, you can trust it. And you’ll see that he isn’t lying about his feelings for you. Gerald is a very good older brother.” She paused. “He’s here, you know.”

  Lottie started and then paused, rubbing her hand along the back of her neck, obviously at war with herself. Her love for Gerald won over her fears. “May I speak with him? Will you bring him here?”

  Violet led Lottie to the parlor. They were sitting side-by-side, smoking, feet up, the scent of whiskey combining with tobacco. Neither of her brothers had realized Lottie had arrived.

  “Oh!” Violet groaned. “Behold the wallowing of mankind.”

  Victor waved the smoke out of his face and his eyes widened as he took in Lottie Wilder half-hidden behind Violet. Gerald, however, didn’t even open his eyes, and sank back on the sofa in a self-pitying stupor.

  “Don’t harass me, Vi,” Gerald groaned. “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand far more than you realize,” Vi replied, hooking her arm through Lottie’s and dragging her into the room. “The road between Jack and myself wasn’t easy.”

  “Gah,” Gerald sighed with resignation, still with his eyes closed.

  “You know Lady Eleanor doesn’t like Jack even now. Even though she’d prefer for him to be here helping her with her little issue. She’d just also prefer that events end with me leaving him to marry some downtrodden, money-grubbing, third son of a duke.”

  “You’ll never do that,” Gerald said miserably, squeezing his eyelids tight in pain. “She gave up on you long ago. She’ll never let me be. Not me. Not the heir.”

  Violet turned to Lottie, who was standing silently, hands clutched so tightly that she had left white rings under her fingertips. It was only her grip that was keeping her hands from overtly shaking.

  “Ahh—” Victor said. “Gerald, old man—”

  “I’m wallowing!” Gerald whined. “Lottie won’t speak to me. For some reason you two are meddling for Lady Eleanor, that shrew! Father has taken off for the hills, once again leaving his be-damned wife behind. I need a wallow.” The last was a bit of a groan. “I will wallow in my misery, drink heavily of Jack’s excellent whiskey—”

  “That’s mine,” Violet lied, but Gerald scoffed and sloshed whiskey from his cup into his mouth, putting the back of his hand across his eyes, heedless of the burning cigarette. “Go away, Violet.”

  “You could sit up, put out your cigarette, and explain to Lottie that you want her and only her. That you don’t want to marry that Bromley daughter and set up Lottie as your piece on the side.”

  Gerald sat up to stare at Violet, aghast. “Why would she think that?” His tone was a mixture of horror and outrage. It was only then that he saw Lottie.

  “Please, Gerald?” Lottie asked with desperate hope.

  Gerald leapt so quickly from his seat that he sprayed Victor with the remnants of his glass of whiskey.

  Violet calmly leaned down and lifted the burning cigarette from her carpet. “Come, Victor, these two must speak, and we really should change for dinner.” Vi looked back to where Gerald was standing, mouth agape, staring in shock and hope at Lottie. “I suspect Gerald will stand us up, the fiend.”

  Their older brother glanced at Violet, his gaze shining brightly with gratitude.

  “Talk to her,” Violet told him quietly. “You threw her in with the sharks without enough prepar
ation, Gerald, this is your chance to make this right.” She led Victor out of the parlor.

  “Is that Lottie?” Victor whispered too loud. “It must be. I didn’t think you’d get her here. Gerald said he’s been begging.”

  “Women have ways, darling Victor.” She paused for a long moment and then rubbed her hands down the back of her neck. Her shoulders were tense and pained just watching the couple. “I know I added myself to the list for Lady Eleanor, but we need to add Gerald.”

  Victor shook his head. “Gerald would never help Harry Mathers get out of prison.”

  “Neither would either of us. What if those things aren’t connected? We’re blindfolded in the dark, Victor. We don’t even know that Lady Eleanor really has been blackmailed. She never told us what she was being blackmailed over, where she received her blackmail threats or the nature of what she’s been paying. Has she been leaving jewels, draining her pin money, stealing from Father? We have no idea.”

  Chapter 6

  Violet dressed carefully, hoping that her dress would make her feel bright and happy. She wasn’t blue in her spirits, for which she was intensely grateful. She’d focused her will on getting good sleep, moving her body regularly, and concentrating on gratitude and positivity. She wrote in her journal regularly and used the confidantes that were available to her to work out her worries. She couldn’t make the blues never arrive again, but she’d been successful in finding ways to fight those feelings.

  Alone, however, her mind turned to Jack. Was he all right? She knew the case was bothering him, but was he in danger? She reminded herself that Jack had survived the Great War. He was a Scotland Yard detective with his best friend backing him and they were both among the best detectives that England had to offer.

  Violet fiddled with her wedding ring before finishing her dressing. She pulled on black stockings and then glanced through her evening gowns until she found a grey dress embroidered with diamonds and beaded with black swirls. Grey and black? The colors didn’t feel depressing but elegant. Violet wound her black pearls around her neck, adding a pearl and diamond choker, a pearl and black ribbon headpiece, and diamond earbobs. She put bangles on both wrists and then added her spider ring to her forefinger. It was past Halloween, but Vi loved the ring and it amused her greatly. Violet applied shadow around her eyes, drew on her eyebrows, blackened her lashes, and blended rouge into her cheeks and lips.