A Masked Murderer: A Violet Carlyle Historical Mystery Page 6

  “Women,” Rita said clearly and Ham looked towards her. The love in his eyes was overwhelmed by the worry, but both feelings were clear. He nodded in acquiescence and then turned back to Jack.

  “Young love,” Mrs. Petty said to Jack’s father. “It changes so quickly.”

  “In a good way, don’t you think, Nicole?” James asked. “I couldn’t have loved my wife more than I did after years of marriage. It grew when she gave me children and it was never sweeter or more clear than on the day I lost her.”

  Mrs. Petty nodded and then Jack and Ham crossed to the door again. Jack squatted down to examine the lock and as he took hold of the handle, it turned. Jack slowly opened the door and he was nearly stampeded as he pulled the door open. He stepped back to let the others through, waiting for Vi and their friends. She had hung to the back while the others shoved through.

  “Let’s go then,” the earl said. He strolled out of the dining room with the casual arrogance of a man who was leaving his club after a drink and a smoke with friends.

  James glanced back as Jack gathered up the letters they’d read through and tucked them into the interior pocket of his suit jacket. As they stepped away, Vi glanced back. The dining room door wasn’t pushed all the way to the wall this time as it had been when they entered.

  “Jack, look!”

  He turned and cursed. The dining room doors were reinforced with steel, and three thick steel bars. Violet closed the dining room door and slid the bars into place.

  “There would have been no breaking that door down,” Ham said, moving one of the doors back and forth.

  “Then why did they let us out?” Rita asked. “This is spookier than I wanted for the day, and I feel as though we’re being watched.”

  They all looked around, wondering if it were possible that there were some lurking ghost or spy in a corner. Nothing was obvious, and Vi muttered about paranoia caused by kidnapping.

  Denny giggled at that and then said, “If this weren’t real, it would be quite the fun evening.”

  “Only it is real,” James said. “Marjorie Tomlinson really lived, and she really disappeared, and someone else—like myself—believes she didn’t leave us willingly.”

  Before they reached the front of the house, Algie was returning. “The front door is locked. It seems to be reinforced and barred from the outside. The windows are barred as well as being nailed shut. Even if we could get a window open, there is iron there.”

  Jack’s gaze narrowed, but he was no more surprised than Vi. “Whoever is behind this is not finished with us.”

  Lady Eleanor moaned and then hissed to Vi’s father, “I am never going to have dinner with your old friends again.”

  Vi’s father ignored his wife and calmly asked, “What shall we do next?”

  “I think we might have to play this game,” Jack said. “They let us out on purpose, and I doubt it was to let us go unless we catch them or finish the plan. Are we going to find more clues?”

  Violet wound her fingers around Jack’s and she squeezed his hand. Before they’d taken more than a few steps, however, she paused. Her gaze had been caught by an odd shape in the shadows under a small dresser. Vi leaned down and saw a box. Slowly, she pulled it out. There was another imprint from wax with the skull and crossbones. Directly next to the wax imprint was written: 4 of 5.

  They didn’t immediately open the box as the hysterics and arguing in the next room demanded intervention. Jack pushed through the crowded group and let out a piercing whistle. It was followed by a roar, “Enough!”

  Violet, however, lingered at the back and tried the doors of several of the rooms off of the hallways. Many of them were locked, and she felt another shiver. What was hidden in this house?

  Vi thought they were stunned more than obedient when they stumbled into silence.

  “We aren’t going to get out of here if we fight,” Jack said.

  “We’ll break out!” Ambrose Ness declared. “I won’t be a…a…plaything for some criminal.”

  Jack said nothing and gestured to the door as if giving permission for the poet to attempt it.

  “For the rest of you who want to be proactive, the clues haven’t stopped.”

  “What do you mean?” Monty demanded.

  Jack gestured to the box Vi had found. “It’s numbered. We’ve five more to find.”

  “What the devil?” Uncle Kingsley demanded. “I refuse to be part of this…this…ridiculous shenanigan.”

  “All right,” Jack said. “What would you suggest as an alternative?”

  Uncle Kingsley gaped and Jack turned his gaze to the rest.

  “Clearly, someone is monitoring this situation. Clearly, when we do what they want us to do, we move ahead. We read the notes, they let us out of the dining room. What do you say we find the rest of the boxes and open them? It’s not like we can’t look for whoever is behind this while we do so. And it’s not like we can’t also be searching for a way out of this place.”

  “What if whoever killed Marjorie is among us?” Lady Eleanor demanded. “I won’t be flitting off on my own to be strangled with bedsheets.”

  “That is a good point,” Jack said mildly. His calm irritated her stepmother further and Vi was fighting a grin even though she hated everything else about this situation.

  “These are the questions,” Vi said. “How do we get out? Where are the other boxes? Where are the servants? Who is behind this?”

  “And who killed Marjorie?” This was from James, and his voice was firm. “We can search together, and I believe, Jack, it would be wise if we all agree that we won’t open a box until we’re all together.”

  “Agreed,” Vi’s father said. But he said it like the earl he was, with an order and a glance among the others that made it clear he expected to be obeyed. “And we should pair up. No one stays alone.”

  All gazes turned to Ambrose who wasn’t paying attention as he examined the door. He was a mere inch or two from the door as though looking closer would somehow make it possible to discover a way to get it open.

  The rest of them looked at each other and then Jack took over again.

  “Sir,” Jack said, “Perhaps you and Lady Eleanor would remain here and keep an eye on things, as it were. We’ll all check in here in…” Jack pulled out his stop watch and then suggested, “A half hour.”

  They split into duos with each couple that had arrived together disappearing to search together. As they left, Ham called, “Look for servants and exits more than boxes.”

  There was no reply and then Denny grinned. It wasn’t humor but nervousness. “What are we going to do if we can’t solve this? Will we just stay here stuck?”

  Jack’s expression reflected what they all knew. None of them could be sure of anything but that they were in trouble until they found the killer—or a way out.

  “Henry,” James said, “watch your back.”

  Lady Eleanor gasped and covered her face as Violet’s father nodded. He crossed to a chair near the fireplace and then moved it slightly to face the room. He then moved another chair for his wife next to him and said, “Come now, Ellie. We’ll be all right. Bit of an adventure to liven up our regular days.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  Vi’s father tugged her stepmother closer and the placement of his hand on her waist made nausea rise. She hurried from the room chased by Denny’s humor-filled chuckle.

  “Quiet you,” Violet snapped.

  “Where to now, boss?” Denny asked Jack.

  Vi softened when she saw Lila under his arm.

  “Let’s head up the stairs together and then each take a room on the same hall. We’ll stay within earshot of each other.”

  “Should we worry that the killer is among us and that they might hurt whoever is searching with them?”

  “We’ve separated into the couples we came in,” Rita started doubtfully. “However, not all of them are long-time companions. Is Miss Allen going to be all right with that fop? Or your father, Jack, with that Mrs. Petty?”

  “Neither my father nor Miss Allen are fools. They’ll watch their own backs.”

  Violet frowned and then rubbed her brow. “This whole situation is awful and ridiculous. Who broke into our houses? Why ours? Whatever the specific date, most of us would have been mere infants if we had been born at all. Jack and Ham would have been children.”

  “It’s because we’re notorious.” Ham held Rita’s hand as though to ensure no one could sneak her away from him. “Or you are. Jack and I are just the foils to your notoriety. The stumbling detectives associated with the Lady Detective.”

  “Ahh, the melodrama of an offended man. Nothing is more hysterical.” Rita’s dry voice was immediately chased by Denny’s soft laughter.

  Lila shook her head, and to Vi’s surprise, Lila was the first up the stairs. She opened the first door at the top of the steps and glanced in quickly before she shut the door. “Closet. Mostly cleaning supplies.”

  Calmly, she opened the next door and Denny demanded, “What the devil, Lila love?”

  “Lily needs us home, Denny. We need to be able to leave this house, so we’ll play the game and find the way through.”

  Denny’s head tilted as he watched her calmly open every drawer, look through every shelf and then drop onto her knees to look under the bed. A moment later, she opened the window seat and pulled out a box. “Number three. They’re not trying very hard to hide them, are they?”

  “They’re playing games with us,” Jack said.

  “But the goal,” Vi added, “is to find the killer for them… and I think, for us.”

  “Why?” Ham asked, even though Violet knew that he cared very much about justice, right, and wrong.

  “Because Jack’s mother loved Marjorie Tomlinson, and we’ll find her killer to honor his mother.”

  Chapter 9

  There was no sign of a single soul in the house other than those they expected.

  “I’ve got one,” someone called.

  “That’s three,” Rita said. “Let’s find the other two and move on. I want to leave. I feel like I’ve been put in very large cuffs, and I don’t like it.”

  “Agreed,” Jack said. “Is someone watching us or is that creepy feeling just caused by being locked into a large, spooky mansion?”

  “Like a manifestation of our fear?” Vi asked.

  She turned to the dressing room and reached up to run her hand along the shelf to ensure it was empty. As she finished searching the dressing room, she called, “You know what I think? I think that whoever is behind this knows that we’ll be able to find out who it was when we leave here.”

  She stepped back into the bedroom and said, “There must be evidence they couldn’t avoid.”

  “So, whoever is behind this is aware that they’ll be uncovered when we…contact the owner of this house or research some thread we’ll find as we go through things and realize who had engineered all of this.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck, and Vi felt his gaze land on her again. She wished Smith was here with his ways. They needed someone who thought like a criminal.

  She turned to Jack and asked, “You recognized Smith’s name at the wedding.”

  “I did,” Jack agreed.

  Ham cleared his throat and Rita’s gaze narrowed on him before she glanced at Jack.

  “Tell us,” Rita said.

  “No,” Jack replied, “I don’t think I will. That information….Smith trusted it to us, and it’s not something I’ll reveal. I only hope that he told Beatrice.”

  “Is it bad?” Vi demanded.

  “It’s complicated,” Ham said. “I don’t know what I think of Smith after finding that out, but I know what I thought of him before, and I liked him.”

  “Past tense?” Rita demanded.

  “No,” Ham and Jack said.

  “It’s just complicated,” Jack replied. “Complicated, but also, I agree with Ham. We’ve known Smith for a while now and he’s been reliable and—dare I say it? Trustworthy.”

  “It’s clear he loves Beatrice,” Lila murmured. She’d stopped searching once everyone else started, and she was lying across the end of the bed in the room.

  “There’s nothing else in this room.”

  “We’ve found another,” James shouted from down the hall. Or, Vi thought, down the hall, and up the stairs?

  “That’s four.”

  Vi paused for a moment, frowning deeply. “You know—”

  Everyone looked at her and she slowly left the bedroom and faced the hall. “We’ve been searching this wing. They’ve been searching the other. There’s the back of the house too. But there’s no servant’s staircase.”

  Silence for a moment and then Ham said, “That can’t be right. Not in one of these big old places. You lordly types didn’t want the servants mussing up your grand staircases.”

  “I would object,” Violet said, “except you’re right. So where is it?”

  Before anyone else could answer, there was the sound of organ music.

  “Oh,” Denny giggled nervously. “I don’t like that.”

  Vi realized her heart was racing, and as she glanced around, she could see the same worry and disturbed expressions on the others’ faces.

  “No one trapped in this house would be so…”

  “Oh Hades,” Vi said a moment later. Her attention was caught by the creaking sound of movement in the walls. She almost cried out in fear, but…Vi crossed to the wall and pushed up the wood panel that blended into the wall. A dumbwaiter slowly appeared from above. On a silver platter, there was a box, stamped in wax, and with 5 of 5 written on the wrapper.

  Vi pulled it out and handed it Jack. He started to shout that they’d found another, but she put a finger over his lips and whispered, “Someone is up there.”

  “How can we get to them?” Denny demanded. “I bet it’s the bloke playing the organ.”

  “Whoever it is,” Vi said, “they’re confident we can’t reach where they are, and so they sent this down on purpose.”

  “It must be to us.” Rita rubbed her brow, and then she moved towards Ham. “Why deliver it unless they wanted us particularly to have it?”

  “I am going to have nightmares for months,” Denny said, pressing his face into Lila’s neck. His arms were wrapped protectively around his wife even as he hid his face in her skin. “This place. The horror keeps rising. It’s like ghosts are walking the halls.”

  “That’s what they want us to feel,” Vi said a moment alter. “This isn’t ghosts. This is someone who was offended by Marjorie’s death. That’s our kind of people.”

  “Except we’re not kidnappers,” Lila said casually. She had lost her usual lazy edge, however. There was an aura of alertness and fear to her, to them all.

  “Don’t you see? They’re trying to make us afraid.”

  “Wait, though,” Rita muttered. “We aren’t their victims. They want whoever killed Marjorie. They brought on Miss Allen. They want the story to get out. They intend to release us.”

  Ham nodded, but he added, “They are not our ally. They want us to work this game they’ve set up. But we can’t determine where the line is between what they want and what we want. They want the killer found. We want our freedom. What are they willing to risk to get us to that point?”

  Violet handed Jack the last of the boxes they’d found. They had all of them now. So…maybe whoever had been keeping an eye on them was off their guard? Surely they were expecting them to return to the earl and the others and work through the next stage of this little game.

  “We complied so easily,” Vi murmured. “We did what they wanted. We read their notes in order. We accepted our roles as sleuths. We backed Jack when he took charge. They expect us to go downstairs and…put the next round of clues together. They need us to. They need the suspects together and for those who are innocent to share what they know.”

  “Let’s just do it.” Lila’s voice cracked, and she said, “I can’t help but imagine what will happen if we don’t get home. I can’t help but think of my baby alone. Victor and Kate would love Lily like their own, wouldn’t they?”

  “We are not dying here,” Jack told Lila. “That’s this house, this scenario, and those locked doors. Victor and Kate would love Lily like their own—”

  “They already love Lily like their own,” Rita said, taking Lila’s hand. “You have nothing to fear.”

  “I worry that Kate won’t make it through the next baby coming. We don’t so often, you know. I worry that Victor will have the twins and the new baby and Lily will be too much for him. I worry that he’ll hand her to my mother or, God forbid, my sister. All of my fears and worries are boiling up and I can’t hold them back, and I need to leave.”

  Violet took Lila’s face in her own and she whispered fiercely, “No one knows Victor better than me. He will not turn Lily over to another. Never, never, never.”

  “But that would be four children under two,” Lila said and she rapidly blinked away a tear. “That’s rather a lot for a man to manage on his own.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Vi said and then laughed. “He’ll hire a crew of nannies and bring in both our sister and our sister-in-law. He’ll guilt Ginny home from school and put her into a school in London, and he’ll worry over every little thing, but he will love her like he loves Agatha and Vivi. I promise.”

  “He’d never get over losing you and Kate, assuming something does happen to her when she had the next baby. Then he won’t love my Lily.”

  “I’m not saying he’d be jolly,” Violet told Lila flatly, “but you can count on him.”

  “And,” Jack cut in. “None of us are dying here. I assure you we can get out.”

  “We need a key,” Violet said, and her gaze strayed to the dumbwaiter again. If Victor were there, if he hadn’t determined to stay home with Kate who was struggling with being near her time, he’d have known what Vi was thinking.