by Beth Byers
Melvin, however, didn’t have the same sympathy. “So, you killed Reese? Loopsie—” The disgust had Loopsie turning on him.
“What do you care if I did? How dare you judge me? You left me. You didn’t protect me. You swore to love me and you failed and then you married Betty! I have hated her since I was a girl, and you took her instead. Reese betrayed me. You betrayed me.”
Vi closed her eyes to hide from the madness in Loopsie’s gaze but Vi whispered, “It must have been easy to get the poison from Edward Hollands’s room and put it in Reese’s soup. The arrogant fool probably didn’t even notice.”
“I put it in both bowls,” Loopsie said. “I just went into Edward’s room and took it. He hadn’t locked the door. He has a case of terrible things with him and he hadn’t even locked the door.
“I waited because I wanted to watch him die, but I was going to eat mine too. Only Melvin threw my bowl over when Reese tumbled into his soup.” Loopsie’s voice was mean as she said, “I guess you finally protected me after all, Melvin.”
He had already risen and stepped back, letting his true emotions fill his expression. Melvin didn’t even reply. He just waved to the detective and Jack and expected a thank you from them. At least he didn’t get what he wanted.
Both Jack and the detective gave Melvin disgusted looks as the Scotland Yard man pulled Loopsie to her feet and gently put his arm around her shoulders. “There, there, my dear. Let’s get you somewhere safer, shall we?”
Before he took Loopsie too far away, Vi said, “If you can get her a sanitarium option, I’ll pay for it.”
The man nodded and said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Both the detective and Vi turned to Loopsie. She didn’t even realize she’d confessed to murder. She was so drunk and so upset, she had no idea what she’d done. What Vi had done to her. Vi winced and then her gaze moved to Melvin who had crossed his arms over his chest, already moving towards a sneer instead of love. Vi hated him in that moment.
“Your wife is sleeping with Edward Hollands.”
Melvin Lissow’s gaze moved to Vi. He shook his head refusing to believe.
“She loves him, regrets you, and clearly thinks you’re an idiot. While you were watching your one-time friend die, she was having sex with him in a hall closet. A servant saw them leave the closet. He didn’t even have to get her to bed to romance her.”
Melvin’s ears had turned red and the fury had risen enough to be palpable.
But Vi wasn’t finished. “She’ll leave you. Maybe she’ll marry Hollands, maybe she won’t. But she’ll leave you and then the Hollands brothers will get the money for their next trip.”
Melvin was huffing almost like a bull.
“But the worst part will be how everyone will hear about how your beloved was taken advantage of by your friend and how you threw her over for it. You’ll be the man who failed. Failed his supposed love, failed his new marriage, failed to realize his friend had entered his marriage bed, failed to win the prize. There will be nothing left for you.”
Melvin snapped and reached back to slap Vi, but Jack grabbed his arm tight and fierce. Melvin yelped and tried to get away, but he failed at that too.
Vi smiled at him and said, “I can’t wait to offer my financial support to your wife in freeing herself from you.”
Melvin tried to go for Vi again, and Jack jerked the man forward and hissed dark promises in his ears until he crumpled.
Chapter 16
One would think after the last week that the grey skies on the morning of the wedding would have been the final bad omen to send Rita running, but Vi wasn’t even sure that her friend saw the clouds or felt the drizzle. Rita’s dress was long and white. Vi pulled the train out and then stepped back.
“I have never seen anyone more beautiful than you,” Vi told Rita with utter sincerity.
Rita’s eyes were already shining with tears and her grin was so wide, it seemed almost painful.
The organ started and Kate and Victor each lifted one of the twins and a basket of flowers. They started first, sprinkling white rose petals on the aisle for Agatha and Vivi who were too little to fulfill their duties. Next, Lila and Denny followed. Lila carried a bouquet. They reached the end of the aisle, took their places on either side of the vicar and Vi and Jack came next.
The decorations were all roses and lilies and it looked as though many a garden was naked after these flowers were brought in. Candles lined the church, lending a flickering romantic edge though the large windows were pouring in light as well.
Vi didn’t see the faces of the few guests who had arrived. Her eyes were too blurred with tears to see anything other than blurry expressions. Jack stopped at the end of the aisle and broke tradition to kiss her hand and then they stepped aside. Jack took his place next to Ham, and Vi waited for Rita to arrive.
Rita was next and they seized breath as Ham laid eyes on his bride. She was perfection. He stared in shock as the beautiful Rita Russell walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. A tear rolled down Rita’s face, and it was echoed on Vi’s.
Vi didn’t hear the vows, because she was too busy focusing on the expressions on Ham’s face as Rita became his wife. When he finally kissed her and they ran down the aisle, Vi threw herself into Jack’s arms and told him, “I will never stop loving you.”
“Now what?” Vi asked Jack. Ham and Rita had escaped to their honeymoon and Mr. Russell had packed up his lover, her daughter, and all the guests and left. It was peaceful once again, especially since Lila and Denny had opted for Victor’s house over Vi’s.
“Detective Finley wrote the report to help Loopsie as much as possible. He’s well respected at Scotland Yard, so it should help her a lot.” Jack’s fingers were tangled with Vi’s and her hand was captive against his chest. Their feet were propped on the same ottoman. They’d returned to their home and the quiet of their library was just what Vi needed.
“When you add in that Edward Hollands’s case of evils disappeared and that Loopsie was very drunk when she confessed, it doesn't look as bad as it could,” Smith added. “They’ll be able to get her into a sanitarium rather than prison, especially since you hired her a criminal disguised as a solicitor.”
“On your recommendation,” Vi said. After a long delay she added, “You need to return that case.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Smith lied. His grin was filled with avarice and Vi had a sudden vision of Smith’s enemies falling dead from obscure poisons.
Jack lifted Vi’s hand towards his mouth and pressed a kiss against her palm. Jack, it seemed, didn’t have the same concerns.
Beatrice cleared her throat and added, “It turns out your stepmother saw the chalkboard after Smith added his comments.”
Vi’s gaze widened and she sat suddenly up. “Does she know it was me who set Jerome on her?” She didn’t even care if Beatrice changed the subject to protect Smith. Vi needed to know if it was time to run.
“I believe she was too busy boxing Jerome’s ears, literally,” Smith laughed, “to think about why he might target her.”
“So, I’m safe?” Vi breathed out in sheer, unadulterated relief.
“He’s not,” Beatrice said. “She took the earl’s cane and chased him down the stairs of Ham’s house. She didn’t let him come back to get his things either. A servant was sent to pack them up and leave them at the end of the lane.”
“So, I’m safe,” Vi repeated, falling back against Jack’s chest.
“No one who does what you did to her is truly safe,” Smith told her. “Devils like us have to stick together and watch our backs.”
“I’ve got Vi’s back,” Jack said easily. “Her back, her front, her future, her heart. On that note--” Jack rose with Vi in his arms. He winked at Smith and Beatrice and said, “Stay out of my safe, my private files, my pocketbook, my office, and anything else that Beatrice says isn’t acceptable.”
Smith lifted a sardonic brow and tried for innocence, but Beatrice’s
giggles revealed his guilt. Just as Jack’s whispered promises of devotion and protection revealed Vi’s future.
The End
Hullo friends! I am so grateful you dove in and tried out the latest Vi book. I hope you enjoyed it. If you wouldn’t mind, I would be so grateful for a review.
The next is available for preorder now.
July 1926
Violet and Jack have determined upon an adventure. In a moment of sheer madness, they and their friends find a steamship leaving the country with room for them and board without even being certain of where they’re going.
One would think that would be the oddest thing about their trip. Only at the disembarking party, a couple enters the room and then stumbles down the stairs of the ballroom. It seems that they’ve both been poisoned. Only whoever has poisoned them chose a different poison for each. Who is this mad poisoner and when will they strike again?
Order your copy here.
Beth also has a fun new historical mystery coming this summer.
October 1925
Severine DuNoir was twelve when she discovered the bodies of her parents, and the day after the funeral, she was sent to a convent in another country. By the time she resolves to go home, her sole focus is to reveal what happened to her parents.
Coming home, however, unveils a far more sinister plot than she could have expected. It’s clear from her first night that something is afoot. The motives are many and the target is clear: Severine herself.
Order your copy here.
If you’re interested, you can keep on scrolling for a one chapter preview of Beth’s newest series, The Bright Young Witches.
April 1922
When the Klu Klux Klan appears at the door of the Wode sisters, they decide it’s time to visit the ancestral home in England.
With squabbling between the sisters, it takes them too long to realize that their new friend is being haunted. Now they’ll have to set aside their fight, discover just why their friend is being haunted, and what they’re going to do about it. Will they rid their friend of the ghost and out themselves as witches? Or will they look away?
Join the Wode as they rise up and embrace just who and what they are in this newest historical mystery adventure.
Sneak Peek of Bright Young Witches
APRIL 1922. WASHINGTON D.C. USA
ARIADNE EUDORA WISTERIA WODE
“Give me some of the good stuff,” the man said, nudging a waiting girl aside. He was wearing a pinstriped evening suit with his hair pomaded back. Given the large ring on his pinky and the gold on his watch chain, Ariadne assumed he was quite wealthy or quite powerful or both. The large cigar hanging from his mouth suggested both.
Ariadne had been just behind him when he went shoving people about and she caught the girl he’d sent stumbling off her bar stool. The height of the girl’s heels didn’t help, but the man hadn’t even noticed he’d knocked the woman down. The girl shot him a nasty, unnoticed look and then turned to Ariadne with a glance that said, Can you believe this dirty bloke?
“We’re out,” the barman said. “Want a Coke?”
The shelves behind him were nearly empty of bottles, unlike the bar itself, which was full. Ariadne sighed. The speakeasy never ordered enough, always ran low, and then the boss took it out on her. He needed either more suppliers, to quit under-ordering, or to open a little less often. Some of the fellows in the bar were reeling drunk and could have been cut off before they’d reached that state. Sloppy drunks put everyone at risk of getting pinched.
“Give me what the management is drinking,” the man growled. “I know you got the good stuff, and I don’t want any of this second-rate swill that’ll leave me blind or dead.”
“Our delivery of the good stuff is late,” the barman said flatly. Whoever this shove-y man was, the barman was unimpressed. “No one’s drinking much until that comes along. Not even the boss man.”
Ariadne met the barman’s gaze, and he jerked his head to the back. There was a triggerman guarding the door, and the man didn’t move when Ariadne approached. His dark eyes fixed on hers, and there was threat in his stony expression.
Here we go again, Ariadne thought, ignoring his look and sliding past him without a flicker of a lash. Posturing was such a gent’s move. She had too much to do for this nonsense. When she felt someone watching her, she glanced back and caught the gaze of a bloke with dark, sharp eyes and slicked back hair, with a hefty drink in front of him. He was, she thought, almost certainly a copper. Hopefully he was dirty. Otherwise, they’d all be hauled away with time in the slammer. The goons anyway. The shadows liked Ariadne.
Either way, she wished she was a little less memorable in the drop-waisted, shimmery dress that showed off far more of her chest than she’d prefer. She dressed with the intent to blend in with the other dames. Better to be seen as an easy moll than what she was—a lady-legger. Or, more accurately, a booze-making witch.
“It’s about time,” Blind Bobby growled as Ariadne appeared. “Do you have it? I don’t pay full price for late goods. You’re costing me a pile of lettuce, girl.”
“They had checkpoints on the way in. I had to think quick and step even more quickly. You’re lucky I’m here at all, and you’ll be paying me the full amount or I’ll take a walk down to the next juice joint. Easy peasy.” She snapped her fingers. It was always better not to be too challenging, but sometimes she couldn’t help herself.
Blind Bobby put his gun on the table and leaned back. “Maybe I’ll just take the booze and pay you nothing, little girl.”
“Did you find someone else who makes gin that won’t blind you and can age wine and whisky with magic—because I don’t think you have found anyone like me.”
“I’ll pay you eighty percent.” He sniffed and growled, “From here on.”
His dark, beady eyes fixed on her, and he leaned in, strong jaw gritted. He intended to scare her, but Ariadne was only irritated. She felt as though every time she interacted with this grunting beast, he thought he could just tower over her face and she’d crumple. Ariadne laughed, a trilling thing that didn’t sound amused but conveyed her message.
Blind Billy nudged his gun once again, and Ariadne scowled at him, dropping all pretense of amusement. She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a challenging brow instead. “Do you really want to put a bean shooter up against magic?”
“Do you really want to put you and your little sister against my boys? There’s even smaller witch brats in that town of yours. What’s it called? Nighton? Bring her in.” The last was said to one of the apes standing about grasping their guns trying to look intimidating.
There was a sound at the tunnel door and several men poured through with Ariadne’s sister, Echo. She struggled in the grasp of…Ariadne’s head cocked and gaze narrowed.
Lindsey Noel. She scowled at him. He was the shining son of Nighton and the fellow intent on finding his way into Ariadne’s sister Circe’s knickers.
“Well, if it isn’t Lindsey Noel. Are you joining in on threatening my sisters? All of my sisters?”
Lindsey blushed, but his voice was mean. “I know where you live.” His fingers dug into Echo’s bicep.
“And I know where you live.” Ariadne glanced at Echo, who seemed fine despite the white circles under Lindsey’s pressing fingers. “Why’d you let them take you?”
“I wanted to see what Lindsey was up to. Sooner or later, Circe will see he’s milquetoast playing at being a leading man. She believes that front he puts up, but the mannered handsome puppy will fade into what he really is—another arrogant rube with a rich daddy. It’ll go easier if it’s me telling her what he did, and after all—he put his hands on me.”
Easier, Ariadne translated, than if Ari were the one who told Circe her lover put them all at risk with his playing at being a bad boy.
The idiot Lindsey let go of Echo, but it was too late. The smirk she shot him was enough to have him wondering, would he lose Circe over this? The unfortunate answer
was that Ariadne could only wish.
The other men glanced at each other, smirking, when Blind Billy grunted, “No one cares about your hick problems.” He gestured and the goons lining the wall leveled their guns at Ariadne.
She sighed. “Until I get paid, you won’t be able to open the bottles at the delivery point. Try as you might.”
Blind Bobby laughed meanly and Ariadne yawned. He shoved the table back, grabbing his gun as he did, and shoved it into Ariadne’s face, pressing it hard against her forehead.
“Careful,” she said quietly, “guns do malfunction so easily.”
“Open the whiskey, Petey,” Blind Billy ordered.
Ariadne rolled her eyes and telepathically told her sister, Draw your magic. Ariadne opened her mind and senses to her own magic. She’d originally approached Blind Billy once prohibition went into effect because the church basement where the speakeasy was housed was a place of power. Her magic, always strong, thrummed through her with a vengeance here. Echo’s must be a tsunami of power given the dead that even Ariadne could sense.
The ghosts are restless, Echo sent.
Of course they are, it’s a desecrated church. How did Noel know about us?
Echo’s mental snort seemed to ricochet about Ariadne’s head and they both knew the answer: Circe. Soft, trusting, blind-with-love Circe. Lindsey Noel wasn’t surprised in the least by their magic. Their sister hated keeping what they were from her ‘sweet’ Lindsey. She must have talked, and he’d gathered a full confession, given his presence.