by Beth Byers
Ann blushed more deeply, but Vi cut in. “Was your mother with you? When you were wherever you were?”
“We were at the silent pictures,” Jane told Vi. “We were there with friends, and they are not the type to lie for us even though we might lie for each other.”
“And your mother?” Vi asked very precisely.
“She wasn’t there,” Jane replied.
“Jane!” Ann snapped.
“Mother didn’t kill Jason,” Tobias said. “Leave Jane alone.”
“Where was your mother?” Rita turned to Tobias.
“She stayed home. She doesn’t like to go out with ‘young’ people, but she did want us to go.”
Jane snorted and Ann carefully looked away.
“It was a because of a girl!” Rita said. “Your mother has an eye on another girl for you.”
“She didn’t come,” Tobias muttered.
“She usually doesn’t,” Jane laughed. “Reverend and Mother and a few others make these events and then push us all to go. Somehow she rarely attends.”
Vi shook her head. “So these friends…” Vi frowned and then asked, “Are we referring to Miss Sinclair?”
They all nodded.
“Now isn’t she a bit…older?” Vi asked and then frowned at herself.
That wasn’t what she really wanted to know. At least as far as the case went. Miss Sinclair was clearly a woman who would rule her house, and Vi guessed that Tobias Watkins would prefer to not be ruled by his wife, after being controlled by his mother, and too often his grandmother. The side of herself who found the human race entertaining very much wanted to know what Tobias really thought of Miss Sinclair.
“Mother says that doesn’t matter.” Tobias cleared his throat, and Vi could see that he didn’t agree. Lila started giggling again until Kate kicked towards her.
“She’s still in her cups,” Kate told them apologetically. “Ignore Lila, please.”
“What matters is that your partner for life is the right partner for you,” Rita told Tobias and then turned her attention to the two sisters. “Marrying to please a parent is a terrible mistake.”
“Marrying to please anyone other than yourself is a mistake,” Jane said. This time the telling comment was directed to Ann, and it was the paler of the sisters who blushed furiously.
“Who do you think killed your cousin?” Rita asked, her gaze fixed on Jane.
Jane considered, clearly running through options in her head. Vi had to wonder if those options were people Jane wanted to hide or people she actually thought might have killed her cousin.
“My vote is Grandmother,” Jane finally said.
“Jane!” Ann squeaked.
Tobias, however, nodded.
“Toby!” Ann snapped.
“She can’t even tell you and Jane apart,” Tobias told Ann. “Don’t defend her.”
“Maybe she won’t be so bad now,” Ann tried and both of her siblings groaned.
“You don’t want her in your life,” Vi told Ann. “I met her, I saw her horrible cuckoo clock collection, and she left your cousin—her favorite grandchild—rotting in the office while she embroidered and waited for a private investigator to arrive.”
“What?” Jane demanded, leaning in. “What are you talking about?”
“Your cousin died in the office, she called here over and over again rather than calling for the constables, and while she waited for my husband to answer the telephone and arrive she was embroidering.”
“What?” Tobias demanded next, glancing at his sisters and then infuriatingly at Smith for confirmation.
Vi’s anger had Lila drunkenly grinning while Rita bit her bottom lip in humor.
“That can’t be true,” Ann said firmly and then rose, crossing her arms over her chest. “You know where we were, you know we have an alibi, I think we’re finished here. Come, Toby. Jane. We never should have come here for these—these—lies.”
Before they closed the door behind them, Smith said loudly, “That one in white has a future of being just like her grandmother.”
The horrified scoff was cut off by the careful closing of the front door and then Lila burst into loud, drunken laughter.
“You’re horrible,” Vi told Smith.
“You were thinking the same thing, and she’ll be better for it from hearing it said. It’ll weigh in her mind and she’ll be determined to fight that inclination towards pressing her handkerchief to her eyes and tormenting her children with the genetic cruelty of her mother and grandmother.”
Chapter 16
Smith grinned that devil’s grin as he stared after the trio of siblings. His gaze landed on her arm where the bruise braceleted her bicep. “I am sorry about that.”
Vi nodded, bored by the apology, and waved his barely sincere comment off. “I don’t care about that. How did you get them here?”
“Beatrice told me I had to.” Smith reached out and tapped Beatrice’s nose. “Did she look jealous?”
The question had been directed to Lila, who shook her head, giggled, and then said, “I’m going to end up with a headache, aren’t I?”
“Both of us will,” Rita answered. The lack of a laugh along with Lila was painful. “I don’t care.”
“Neither do I,” Lila crowed. A moment later, she giggled again and added, “At least right now.”
“You weren’t jealous?” Smith asked Beatrice.
She sent an exasperated look to the heavens. “Smith, that girl liked your angel face. She’d have been terrified to actually know you as you are.”
“Hear, hear.” Lila hiccupped and then laughed into her hand, snorted, and then groaned. “Quick, a handkerchief.”
“Oh Lila,” Kate said, handing her the handkerchief she’d squirreled away.
“Make a mental note of what you heard,” Smith said. “The next to arrive is the reverend’s daughter. She had to come when she was supposed to be volunteering at the nearby orphanage.”
“Is that a trick she pulls often?” Rita asked.
“It’s clever,” Lila laughed. “Oh excuse me dear Father, I can’t attend you now as I have to read to the poor orphaned girls.” Lila’s smirk turned to a groan and she seemed almost enraged as she added, “So stupid that we have to think of things in that way. How can I lie to get out of the house and do what I want to do—?”
“Why is she coming?” Vi asked.
“No one has an alternative set up where you are pretending to volunteer at an orphanage, complete with a woman who tells your father how helpful you are, if you don’t have something to hide. She’s coming because I told her to come, or I would reveal the lie.”
Violet frowned at Smith and then asked, “Who do you think killed Meyers?”
“I’d have placed my bet on the old woman, but it doesn’t quite add up. It could be because we don’t know why she was looking for Jason Meyers, or it could be because there was another motivating factor that we aren’t aware of.”
“I don’t see how she had any true affection for him given what we’ve learned,” Violet said. “You’ve talked to her. That trio of siblings weren’t worthy of the disdain they received from their grandmother.”
“You only talked to them for a few minutes, Vi. Don’t jump to conclusions based off of that.”
“You think that trio of siblings who can’t talk about their puppy loves without blushing somehow snuck into their grandmother’s house, knew where to find the knife, stabbed their cousin, snuck back out of the house, and then returned to the theater to watch that silent picture?”
Smith grinned at her. “Maybe if it were my siblings.”
Vi stared, mouth open. “There are more of you?”
He shrugged and lifted a brow, not answering.
Vi turned to Beatrice. “Are there more of him? Perhaps three that ride horses?”
Beatrice laughed. “You mean his sisters, War, Pestilence, and Death?”
“Does that mean that Smith is conquest?” Rita demanded. She turned her
gaze to look at him, smirked, and then said, “I can see that. I want another G&T.”
“Oooh, me too,” Lila called. She had propped her feet up on the table in front of her, folded her arms over her chest, and watched the others through half-open eyes.
“Lila,” Kate started, but Lila waved her off before Kate could finish the scolding.
“It’s a day of indulgences,” Lila said firmly and then hiccupped again. “The largest problem I have with this day is that I’m not wearing pajamas and a robe.”
“You can soon,” Kate countered, “when you need to sleep off all of that gin.”
Lila grinned, hiccupped, and said, “That does sound lovely. I definitely need another G&T.”
Rita returned with a drink for them both just as the doorbell rang. She took a seat and leaned back. “Who is this again?”
“The heiress who apparently everyone wants to marry.” Smith glanced at Beatrice. “I believe it’s the money.”
There was a knock on the door and Hargreaves showed the woman in and said, “I’ll bring in fresh tea, ma’am.”
“We need coffee too,” Kate said, turning emphatic eyes towards Lila, who was swirling her G&T and then grinning widely at Hargreaves, shooting him a lazy wink.
“Ah, of course,” Hargreaves answered smoothly. “May I present Miss Sinclair.”
Hargreaves stepped back and left the room. Miss Sinclair’s gaze landed on Vi, moved to Smith and then she scowled.
“She doesn’t like you,” Lila told Smith too loudly.
“We’re sorry,” Kate cut in, still looking after the rest of them. “She’s a little intoxicated.”
“I am not,” Lila called.
“Neither am I,” Rita seconded.
Miss Sinclair looked from person to person and then took the seat Violet invited her to. The poor woman had a flush on her cheeks, and Vi wasn’t sure if it was because of anger, embarrassment, or disgust.
“Tea?” Vi offered. “Cake?”
“No,” Miss Sinclair snapped. She cleared her throat. “Mr. Smith insisted I come. I wouldn’t have without his…unique pressure.”
“Blackmail is ugly,” Lila said and then laughed, “but effective.”
“I am not here to be insulted.” Miss Sinclair looked between them. “Except for that fiend, the rest of us are modern women who understand that not everyone appreciates the independence that is our due. My…choices…are of no concern to anyone but myself.”
“None of us disagree with your decision to take some measure of freedom for yourself,” Vi assured her. “Not even Smith. But there has been a murder.” Violet cut Miss Sinclair a piece of cake just to give the poor woman something to do with her hands. “Your name was linked to Mr. Meyers, and now he is dead.”
Miss Sinclair took the cake, placed it carefully on her knee, and waited. There was something of a challenge in her gaze and a firm look in her eyes. This wasn’t a woman who would just volunteer information.
Vi tried. “Your father was concerned that you would marry Mr. Meyers?”
When Miss Sinclair simply lifted a brow, Smith cleared his throat. The implicit threat of the noise surprised Vi. Not that Smith was being threatening, of course, but that he was able to convey it with such a simple noise.
Miss Sinclair paused, her objections as clear as her internal calculations. “I don’t appreciate sharing my secrets.”
“You don’t have an alibi the night Mr. Meyers was killed, Miss Sinclair. You were supposed to be spending the evening with the Watkins siblings among others, but you weren’t.” Before Miss Sinclair could reveal her anger, Vi added, “However, none of us care about your secrets. I promise you as long as they don’t have anything to do with the murder, we will keep them to ourselves.”
“Even if they’re scandalous?”
Lila snorted. “Smith is our friend. We won’t be shocked.”
Miss Sinclair surprised them all with a hint of humor and then pressed her lips together. Her dislike of revealing her secret was clear, but she slowly said, “I have a lover.”
“Were you with him when Mr. Meyers died?”
Miss Sinclair breathed in slowly and held her breath. That calculation was running through her mind again, and she wasn’t convinced the revelation was worth the potential consequence.
“Miss Sinclair,” Vi said, “we are not Scotland Yard. We don’t owe anything to your father, and we don’t care if you have a lover. We need his name in order to check you off the list and to move on to the next questions.”
“My father cannot know.”
“Fine,” Vi said.
“Please,” Miss Sinclair said again. “Not all men of God are loving and kind.”
“I very rarely find them to be so,” Smith told her. “I swear to you that we will do everything possible to secure your secrets.”
Somehow that promise from Smith, who was so very rarely trustworthy, was enough for Miss Sinclair. She handed over a card to Smith. “Please be discreet.”
“Thank you,” Vi said, not allowing a shred of curiosity to cross her face. “Now that we know you weren’t involved, tell us about why your father was so concerned that you would wed Jason Meyers.”
Miss Sinclair’s face turned red with anger. “I’ll take that tea after all.”
“We have G&Ts,” Lila offered. “Though, I confess to feeling unwell.”
“I cannot return home from volunteering smelling of gin,” Miss Sinclair replied quietly.
Violet poured the tea to Miss Sinclair’s specifications, and when she had taken a fortifying sip, Miss Sinclair spoke. “Father got his position through the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Meyers, the elder. Mrs. Meyers has never let Father forget that and before it was clear that Jason Meyers was a fiend in human clothing, it was the fondest wish of Mrs. Meyers’s heart to acquire me and the money my maternal grandmother left me. It is tightly tied up, but Father had…dangled…it before Mrs. Meyers during something of a ruckus at the church. We’re not Church of England, you know. So the locals who support the church can run it as they see fit.”
“Your father, the reverend, bargained you to keep his position?” Rita demanded. “Why am I even surprised? The only thing shocking about this is my distress.”
“Your father was insistent with Jack that you would not be marrying Jason,” Vi said.
Miss Sinclair’s smile was not humorous when she clarified. “There’s no getting around that Jason Meyers is—was—a criminal. Father suggested that I marry Tobias instead. The money would still be in the family, but Tobias is good and kind.”
“Mrs. Meyers must hate that idea,” Vi mused. “She told me that they were tepid. All of those Watkins children were supposed to be tepid and worthless.”
Miss Sinclair lifted her fork and dove into the cake as she tried to explain. “It’s rather simple, I’m afraid. Mr. Meyers, the grandfather, had died. Mrs. Meyers didn’t have the same weight in the church as she once possessed. Father had spent the years ingratiating himself with the other powerful members of the church. Father offered that I would marry Tobias or nothing.”
“Neither of you actually want to marry each other,” Lila groaned. “It’s so frustrating.”
Miss Sinclair bit her lip. “It’s important that Father not know of my visit that evening.”
“You sound afraid,” Violet said. “Do you need help?”
“I need to marry my lover,” Miss Sinclair answered. Her fingers fluttered for a moment. “We’ve arranged it, and Father will hate it, and—” She shook her head, mouth twisting, and then she looked at the women in the room, pleading with them in her eyes. “I—”
“Violet married against her family’s wants. Her stepmother would still rather Vi divorce Jack and marry someone more appropriate.” Lila laughed evilly. “Rita is richer than Croesus and she married a Yard man. Her father didn’t object, but the rest of the world did. My father did everything but lock me in my bedroom to stop me from marrying my Denny. Beatrice’s family would kidnap her to sav
e her from Smith if they knew him well enough.”
Beatrice laughed and then snapped her mouth shut when all eyes looked her way. Lila continued. “Kate didn’t face any great objections to her marrying Victor, but to be honest, he’s every mother’s dream.”
“Rich,” Rita muttered.
“Handsome,” Lila added.
“Well-connected,” Beatrice shot out.
“Well-trained,” Vi finished, winking at Kate. “You’re welcome.”
“Thank you,” Kate replied, easily. “He really is a catch, isn’t he?”
“We’ll help you,” Rita told Miss Sinclair. “Are you really marrying your lover?”
“Marrying, running away, tied bedsheets and everything. If Father finds out, he’d probably chain me to my bed.”
“Then stay here,” Rita said. “Or at my house. Or I’ll use some of that ridiculous gold to send you ahead of your lover. Or, you could go to Violet’s father’s house. No one gets around his servants.”
“Yes,” Lila laughed, “that one. Please. I should so enjoy it.”
“Lady Eleanor isn’t there,” Violet told Lila, giving her a withering glance.
“Oh,” Lila frowned. “Never mind. I don’t care where you go.”
“But your father had doubts about you and Jason Meyers, didn’t he?” Beatrice asked. “He told Jack that you’d marry Mr. Meyers over his dead body.”
“It was my petty revenge,” Miss Sinclair said. “My father is a hard man. It has not been easy being his less than satisfactory daughter. So I cried when Father told me to turn my attentions to Tobias. I told Father I loved Jason. I wanted Father to worry I’d marry Jason. And I wanted Jason to think I would. He just assumed he could romance Tessa Tapper, steal from everyone we knew, and I’d throw away everything for him. At least with my father, I’m dealing with a devil I know. Why take on an unknown one?”
“Oh,” Rita said, and then groaned. “I regret all those G&Ts now.”