by Beth Byers
Violet had to kick the door since her arms were full, and a moment later Denny opened it. “Thank goodness, Vi. Lila is moping. Save me from her woebegone eyes! She knows I can’t take it when she’s upset.”
“I have chocolates for you and Gwennie,” Violet called to Lila, “and some for me since I have the most sour taste in my mouth after hearing the things I’ve heard this morning.”
“Uh-oh,” Denny said. “Gwennie has been swept off by Davies. I’ll take her chocolates. I’d hate to force you two to overindulge.” His charming grin made both of them laugh.
Violet held up the bottle of limoncello and his gaze focused on it. He glanced at the clock and then grinned., “I believe we’ve got a couple of glasses.”
Denny worked the cork out of the bottle and poured each of them a glass and then raised it to the ladies. “I’ll go for a walk and leave you two to your gossip.”
Lila tossed an indulgent glance at Denny. “You want to eat all of those chocolates in one sitting without judgement. Violet, don’t be confused by this talk of a walk. He’ll be finding a corner with a comfortable chair and silence. No doubt he’ll leave said chair with chocolate round the mouth and on the fingertips. Somewhere in the world a child is acting like a full-grown man while my husband confuses himself for a child.”
Denny adjusted his jacket, grinned at his wife, winked, and escaped with his glass of limoncello and box of chocolates.
The two friends stared at each other before Lila said, “You don’t look like you’re cracking apart anymore. I assume all is well with Victor again?”
Violet nodded and popped one of the chocolates into her mouth. She admitted, “I was awful last night, I know. I’m sorry, darling.”
“Don’t worry, Vi. I understood. Anytime you and Victor argue, it’s like your world goes awry and you aren’t quite yourself.”
Violet cocked her head. “Are you ready to hear it all?”
Lila rubbed her hands together with an avaricious glee for the gossip. “Oh, yes. Yes, oh yes.”
Violet laughed, handed Lila her own box of chocolates and threw herself onto the end of their bed as Violet described what she’d learned. She paused for Lila to rage, gasp, and comment at all the best places.
“They’re married?” Lila asked. “And he was…was…making her…”
Violet nodded when Lila stopped and they both shuddered.
“You’re going to help her leave him. Please say you are. I’ll help too. However I can. Maybe we can find him and filet him? Cook certainly has the right kind of knife.”
“Of course, I am going to help her,” Violet said. “Aunt Agatha would turn over in her grave if I didn’t.”
“She’d haunt you until you repented then haunt you longer so you learned your lesson well. You know…if she’s sure he’ll look for her, my sister lives in Lyme. We could send Juliette to Joanna. Jo would help. Juliette could linger there while we get the gentlemen to persuade him to France. They can tell him that they booked her passage and took her to the dock. We could even pay someone to take the journey under her name. Then, when Mr. Boutet is entirely led amiss, Juliette could leave from Lyme to wherever she decides to go.”
Violet nodded. “That is a good idea. You and Denny avoid her. If François has no reason to believe that she left with you, his attention will be elsewhere. Juliette doesn’t seem to be a creature who frightens at nothing.”
“Making her situation all the worse,” Lila murmured.
Violet shivered. “Also, when you buy train tickets—buy them for somewhere else and then add on Lyme later. Somewhere busy where they won’t notice if you stay for a few days and then move onto Lyme. Maybe even travel separately. If Juliette is afraid, I think she must have reason. Even if she’s wrong, I will do her the credit of taking her seriously.”
Lila nodded. “Denny and I could use the auto that Victor took when Giles is back and drive her to Lyme. Or at least drive her far enough that we could put her on the train somewhere else where he wouldn’t think of looking.”
“Maybe we should even disguise her,” Violet said. “She is rather eye-catching.”
“As you said, darling,” Lila said, “if that makes her feel safe, we should do it. We can put a wig on her. Or clothes that make her look large. Easy enough.”
Violet sipped her limoncello, letting the flavor pool in her mouth before she asked, “Did you get my letter about Victor’s present?”
Lila smirked. “Yes, darling. I found just what you’re looking for. You’ll be thrilled.”
Violet paused. “Why are you smiling like that?”
Lila winked and took a sip of the limoncello and then lifted her glass. “What an odd way to spend a late morning. I was just laughing at us. My mother would take me by the ear if she saw us now. Drinking limoncello and eating chocolates, lying about without one thing to recommend us.”
“One of the reasons,” Violet laughed, “that you married Denny as young as you did. Escape from the good work your mother expected of you.”
Violet flopped back onto the bed and lifted her legs into the air, stretching her toes towards the ceiling. “Aunt Agatha would pour herself a glass of limoncello and make us give up all her favourite chocolates, exchanging them for the lesser ones. My goodness, Lila, I miss her so much it hurts.”
“I know you do,” Lila said. “I’m sorry you do.”
After a long moment of silence, Lila spoke again. “We’ll have to go shopping. When we’re back to normal. You’ll need to find a birthday dress. I was going to suggest you wear that peacock piece of divinity, but I am guessing…”
Violet answered the unspoken question. “I’ll never wear it again. I am guessing that Beatrice—magician that she is—will return the dress to its previous state, but it will never touch my body again.”
Lila frowned and stood, crossing to her door a moment before someone knocked. She pulled the door back and stared in shock at François Boutet.
“I am looking for Juliette,” François said. “You women stick together at times. Tell me where she is. You know, I think.”
Violet frowned at him, a rush of fury hitting her as she remembered the sight of the lovely Juliette crying about what this man did to her. She rose and crossed to stand behind Lila, offering her support as she put a hand on her friend’s back.
“I don’t know where she is,” Violet said, feeling a foretelling of the future. She told herself they were safe together, but she felt a flash of fear. He was a cruel man. He was the cruelest to his wife. What would he be to someone he didn’t care about at all, someone like Violet or Lila? “Mr. Wakefield had her taken to another room. I wasn’t informed of where that might be.”
François Boutet’s jaw tightened and Violet felt another flash of fear. It deepened as she realized his fists had clenched.
“What did she tell you?” His gaze had narrowed viciously on Violet, and she winced in the face of that undisguised hatred.
“You’ll need to discuss that with Mr. Wakefield.”
“Why were you in the room? What business did you have there?”
“You’ll need to discuss that with Mr. Wakefield,” Violet repeated. She clutched at the doorframe and prayed that someone would come along.
Lila grabbed Violet’s arm, and Violet could tell by Lila’s stiffness that she was afraid as well.
“Don’t be spreading lies about us.” Mr. Boutet leaned into Violet. “I don’t take kindly to liars who think they understand things they don’t.”
“You’ll need to leave.”
François smirked at Violet, pressing even closer, and then Victor stepped up behind him. He reached out and grabbed François by the back of the neck, yanking him away from Violet and Lila.
“Hey now! What do you think you’re doing? Let go of me, you bedamned animal.”
“What am I doing?” Victor snarled. “Telling myself not to be the one who commits the next murder.”
“I was looking for Juliette,” François squawked. “I
did nothing. You are mad, sir!”
Victor did something with his hand that had François gasping, his knees shaking.
“Violet,” Victor snapped, “you’re starting boxing and jiu-jitsu classes when we get home. You too, Lila. By Jove, men are animals. This one is the worst!” Victor shook François.
Violet glanced at Lila, who grinned at the sight of François struggling under Victor’s arm.
“You think I am joking? Wait until I tell Denny who I found outside of this bedroom. He left you here together because he thought you’d be safe.” Victor was shouting at that point and Denny, Jack, and two uniformed policemen raced up the stairs.
“I did nothing!” François called. “Help me! He’s a madman. I didn’t lay a hand on either of them.”
“Victor,” Jack said flatly, “let him go.”
“I have not finished teaching him a lesson.”
“Where is Haversby? I told him to keep an eye on this one.” Jack glanced back at the policemen and then lifted a brow. One of the policemen peeled off and went jogging down the stairs while Jack said to the other, “Jones. Take this fellow and lock him in a room. Make sure he doesn’t get out this time.”
Chapter 19
“Lila darling, are you all right?”
“Of course, I am,” she said lightly. She’d relaxed the moment Victor had appeared and she grinned at everyone. “That was exciting, wasn’t it? I think I’ll have some more limoncello. The mix of chocolate and limoncello was brilliant, Vi. You always have been a brainy thing. Never more so, it seems, when it comes to chocolate.”
She giggled nervously and stepped back into her bedroom, waving the others in. Denny took her limoncello, drained it, and then said, “You’ve given me heart palpitations, my love. You’re chattering tells me you have them as well. All is well. The bad man is gone, and your useless spouse has returned.”
Lila patted Denny on the head and took back the glass to refill it. She sat on the bed next to her husband and crossed her ankles. “Tell us where we’re at. Is this murder almost solved? I find I would like to go home.”
Jack shook his head, shoving his hand through his hair. “The only prints on the knife that can be identified belong to Tomas. There was a smeared one that we couldn’t identify. As far as the suspects, Victor has an alibi. Algie has an alibi. It seems likely that either Tomas killed Bettina unaware of what he was doing or—-”
“It wasn’t Tomas,” Victor said flatly. “Who is left?”
“Charles and François. Charles had nothing useful to add and no alibi. François seems to do nothing but lie. Technically Mrs. Boutet could also be the killer, but I think if she’d been the one, she’d probably have said that François had done the deed and got rid of her fiend of a husband while also escaping a murder charge. She could be the killer, but I don’t believe she is.”
“She is strong enough,” Lila said. “If Miss Marino had attacked me like she attacked Juliette, I’d have been curled into a ball on the floor, covering my head. Juliette held her off. Her slenderness doesn’t really convey how strong she must be.”
“The most likely choices,” Violet said, “are Charles and François. Charles was the one who pulled Bettina off of Juliette. He may well have been the one who pulled her out of the house, manipulated her to the folly, and murdered her there. My only hesitation there is that Charles and Tomas are long-time friends. Killing her when we all knew he was caught in his memories makes Tomas the likeliest suspect. It’s a very good cover-up. Cruel and vicious, but effective.”
Victor took Violet’s glass of limoncello as Jack considered. “That might be why she was killed when she was. How good of friends are Charles and Tomas?”
Violet couldn’t answer that, and Victor shrugged. “I don’t know, really. We’re all school chums, but Charles was never one I was as close to.”
“Would he have known that Tomas would go walking like that?”
“I think anyone paying attention might realize that,” Violet answered. “It was one of the first things Victor and I realized would help Tomas. He does it almost instinctively now. Anywhere Tomas stays for long, he knows all the walks around him, explores all the places.”
Victor nodded. “I’ve walked hours with him. Given that Tomas has been having a hard time for a while, I would guess that everyone knew that about him.”
“And he was doing so poorly at dinner,” Lila said. “He seemed to be hanging on Vi’s every word, and she was doing that thing she does where she paints memories for him to pull him out of the old ones. He looked like he was drowning.”
Violet sighed. “He walked off after that trumpet player tripped, too. It’s an easy guess that the loud noise sent him running after seeing him at dinner. It might have sent him running on a good day, let alone a day like yesterday.”
Jack nodded. “I’m not sure how we’ll identify which of them is the killer. The truth is—all the evidence we’ve recovered points to Tomas. If it wasn’t him, we need a confession. Something irrefutable.”
Violet stood and paced while the rest considered options. Neither Charles nor François had an alibi. Both had a motive. Each motive was compelling. Betrayed love for Charles, money for François.
“We need Juliette to help us,” Violet said as she stared out the window. “If the killer is François, she might be able to get him to confess. Or to say where he was. If we were listening, we could be the witnesses of his confession. It will be more difficult with Charles. He won’t confess to anyone. Not sure that François would either, but we could at least try. She might able to find out enough to get us the next step of the way.”
“Let’s start with François,” Jack said. “We’ll work from there. Of the two men, François has shown himself to be unprincipled. And of the two men, François doesn’t care what happens to Tomas. Charles might.”
Violet nodded, wishing she could believe that Charles cared very much. If only.
“When this is over,” Lila said suddenly, “we’re having a dinner. Friends only. No underlying tensions. No worries. Just food, drinks, and enjoying ourselves.”
Violet leaned back and admitted, “Add cake, and it sounds a little like heaven. I love Isolde and Gerald, but I always felt as though they were…I don’t know how to describe it.”
“They watched you,” Victor said. “Isolde because she wants to be like you. Gerald because he’s protective. He’s not quite sure what to do with you. I imagine it was suffocating. It was suffocating to watch, to be honest, my dear. You carried on like a wonderful soldier. I don’t think Isolde even knew how you felt.”
Violet shrugged. “Perhaps suffocated. I certainly felt watched. I don’t know. I wasn’t comfortable.”
Victor grinned lazily at Violet as she paced. “You’d think being rich and spoiled would be easier. Yet murders and machinations abound.”
“I suppose we’ll have to carry on,” Violet said with a grin. “Struggle through somehow.”
Jack snorted and Lila laughed, holding out her box of chocolates to the group.
“Violet darling,” Victor said as he took one, “how many boxes of chocolates did you buy in Bruges?”
“Perhaps all of them,” Violet admitted, returning to pacing. “One can never be fully sure.”
Victor laughed. “That seems accurate for you, love.”
“Violet,” Denny started, “have I told you how I adore you? You’ve been a sister to me. The true companion of my heart. Who understands my heart…my soul—”
“Yes, Denny, you may have more chocolate.”
Lila snorted. “Denny darling, Violet is a sure bet for chocolate. What is also a sure bet is the stone you’ve lost will come again.”
“I’ll walk with Tomas,” Denny offered. “He needs someone to keep him safe during those times until he’s a little better settled. I’ll have chocolate and walk with my friend. It will all work out fabulously.”
“What happened to your job?” Victor demanded. “Don’t you have to appear at the off
ice, bowtie in place, briefcase at the ready?”
Denny grinned. “My beloved Aunt Louisa has passed on to a better place.”
Lila smacked him. “Pretend to be sad, my love. Otherwise we’ll look like the worst of fiends.”
Denny shrugged. “I did care for her. She always had chocolates, speaking of the sweetest kind of women. However, I have to say she was old. I’m not being cruel. She was ready to die. She told me so. Then she told me she knew Lila and I were deliberately not having children. The old dear made me promise to eventually have one or two, told me to be a good boy, and to be kind to my wife. Not sure there could be a better final command than those. I am done working, my darlings. The world is a beautiful place and the next life is better for having someone like her.”
“Denny,” Violet said, giving him her box of chocolates, “I am sorry about your loss, and to be honest, I am shocked that you have such deep feelings for anything other than food, alcohol, and Lila. That was nearly beautiful.”
“Don’t be silly, darling,” Denny said, taking her chocolates with a kiss on her forehead. “I adore you as well.”
Lila laughed. “His love may last through the two minutes it takes him to eat those chocolates as well.”
“You all are a bunch of children,” Jack complained. “Spoiled children.”
Victor snorted. “You knew what we were when you joined us. Violet, at least, is clever. Denny and I are useless. Lila—” Victor cocked his head at her, glancing over her with a quizzical expression. “You fall in between.”
Jack sighed. “I have to go speak with Juliette.”
“If financial persuasion will get her to help you, I will cover it,” Violet said. “I already feel as though she deserves something more.”