by Beth Byers
Helen nodded. “I won’t risk my hatred for her father ruining her life. What if, when she arrives, I can’t move past it? What if I can’t love her as she deserves? She’s the biggest victim here. Unwanted from the moment of her conception. I love her enough to have her. I want what is best for her, and it’s not me. Yet, how do I entrust her to someone else?”
It was a question that Violet didn’t have the experience to answer.
“Would you accept the villa and allow me to have someone look into it? See if I can find some family that will look past her origins and love her as she deserves to be loved?”
Helen couldn’t hold back a tear as she asked, “Do you think it’s possible to love a child that isn’t your own? As though they were?”
Violet honored the mother inside of Helen and then answered her honestly. “After my mother died, Victor and I were raised mostly by my mother’s aunt. There was never a day when we felt unloved by her or loved less than other children.”
“But you were her kin.”
“I suppose that’s true enough. But I don’t believe that was why she loved us. She loved us because she…” Violet paused before continuing, “I think it is human nature to love and be loved. She loved us because we were hers to care for and love. She loved us because we needed her to. She loved us because people who are good love those they care for and protect.”
“Will you find someone and make sure that they love her?”
Violet nodded.
“Why am I trusting you with this?” Helen demanded and then she answered her own question. “Because who else will help me?”
A moment later after they’d both topped off their tea and crumbled a scone without eating a bite, Helen said, “What do you need to know?”
Chapter 19
“Did you know that Danvers was stealing money from those who invested with him?”
Helen’s jaw dropped and she shook her head. “Do you think my father was stealing as well?”
Violet nodded and Helen’s mouth trembled as she stared without comprehension at Violet.
Finally Helen said, “Father used to tell me, when I asked for something frivolous, that I didn’t understand how hard he worked to provide. What he sacrificed to make sure I was secure. I…my goodness Violet, why would he have said that if he wasn’t stealing. I also thought it was odd. What the devil? Are all men untrustworthy?”
Violet didn’t answer. It wasn’t as though Helen would accept Violet’s opinion on the matter.
“What do you know of Mr. Gulliver?”
Helen started at her teacup. “He was always rude to me. Treated me like a two-bit whore.” Her hands trembled as she brought her teacup to her mouth. “I should have known how Carlton was talking about me if his friends treated me that way.”
“You should have,” Violet told her. “It’s good that you’re young and beautiful. You’ll have a chance to judge better next time.”
Helen laughed despite herself. “You’re not kind at all, are you? That was utterly without sympathy.”
Vi’s brows rose. “I might feel far more sorry for you if you were homely or truly loved Carlton. But you didn’t.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then I won’t lie to you to make you feel better. That’s how women like us get into these messes. Our friends are so worried about our feelings in the moment, they don’t stop to think that the truth is far kinder than a well-meant lie. We’re not, after all, talking about fringe or no fringe or the way a dress you love wears. We’re talking about things to that lead you to where you are today.”
Helen sighed and then looked at Violet almost wonderingly. “I wish you’d been there to knock some sense into me.”
Vi twisted her ring around her finger then rearranged the items on their table as she thought about what else she needed to know.
“Mr. Gulliver invested, so Mr. Danvers couldn't have been all that big of a friend of his.”
Helen thought back. “Well. Yes. That is true. Carlton used to make little asides about him. They were always quite mean.”
Violet played with her ring some more and then asked, “Were you with your father for the whole of the wedding?”
Helen’s head cocked. “You think Papa might have killed Carlton?”
“How would your father feel if he found out that his long-time business partner, entrusted to take his beloved daughter about town, had used that opportunity to romance, manipulate, and impregnate her before throwing her over for a better-connected quarry?”
“I don’t have to wonder that,” Helen said. “He’ll rage. Then stare out the window without hearing your comments. You’ll hear him crying at night, and you’ll know that your actions—stupid as they were—devastated your father. Maybe ruined him.”
Violet reached out then, she couldn’t stop herself. She took Helen’s hand, hoping she wasn’t pushing too far. “I’m sure he blames himself as well.”
“He does! Yet another thing to hate myself for.” Helen searched Vi’s face. “My father didn’t kill Carlton. If he’d known my situation, these last days wouldn’t have been like they are. I have no doubt of it. Papa didn’t know. If he didn’t know about me and he was helping with the stealing for years, why would he murder his partner?”
Violet picked up her teacup and took a long drink. Helen wasn’t going to adjust that story. Vi wasn’t sure she could believe it. It was clear that Helen loved her father and felt guilty. If lying to protect him would do so, Helen would swear the moon was made of cheese and we all lived on the back of giant turtle—whatever was necessary.
Helen could guess the direction of Violet’s thoughts. “Father never left me the whole time we were at the wedding.”
Such an easy lie.
“Just after we ran into you,” Helen continued, “Father met an old business friend. Oliver Jones. He works for the Bank of England, and we didn’t leave him either. We were seated together, and Father and Mr. Jones discussed business while I tried to stifle my tears about what to do. Mr. Jones noticed I wasn’t well and asked after me. He was quite concerned, I think, that I was ill and catching. He’ll tell you. He and Father knew each other from school, not recently. They aren’t so close that they’d lie for each other now.”
That changed everything, didn’t it? Mr. Mathers had been Violet’s primary suspect. The list of suspects narrowed in Violet’s mind. The details of Helen’s father’s distraction were verifiable with servants. The friend could provide an alibi. If Mr. Mathers was removed as the suspect, that left only Mr. Gulliver and Hugo Danvers.
“Tell me about Hugo,” Violet said, leaving the question open so that her prejudices didn’t affect the manner in which Helen spoke of him.
“Oh.” Helen shuddered. “He’s not right.”
“What do you mean?”
“He…it’s seems as though he felt he was competing with Carlton. Not that they were father and son, but that they were rivals. They hated each other. Carlton hated Hugo, and the reverse was as true.”
“With you too? Did Hugo attempt to…” Vi didn’t bother providing details. There was no question what Vi meant.
Helen shuddered again and nodded. Vi didn’t press her further. But Helen asked, “Was it the same with Isolde?”
Violet was the one who shuddered and nodded that time, and the two of them stared at each other.
There were a few things that Victor would never understand about Vi simply because she was a woman and he a man, but this was something that every women could understand on the behalf of the other.
“What does he do for a living? Did Carlton support him?”
Helen’s laugh was mean as she shook her head. “I believe he gambled.”
“To live?”
“He went to special places for gamblers. Carlton talked about them. Hugo used to make these comments to Carlton about how bad he was at gambling and then Carlton would get angry. He was always meaner after that. It felt like there was more to know than he’d talk about.”
Violet ordered another pot of tea and plate of sandwiches for them, and this time they’d both found their appetites. Helen had taken only a few bites of her smoked salmon sandwich when something else occurred to her.
“Hugo was angry with his father about Isolde. For a while, I wanted to believe it was because of me. But I think…”
Helen hesitated and Violet leaned forward. “All of your secrets about this. A villa for a year isn’t something you’ll get from anyone else. Your father just might send you to a home for unwed mothers.”
Helen shudder and cleared her throat. “I’m not trying to protect myself. I’m just not sure why it happened the way it did.”
“Tell me,” Violet insisted and Helen shrugged.
“Hugo was upset about Carlton’s engagement to Isolde. Furious even. The right between them wasn’t even close to normal. The one time they discussed it, it had been when Carlton took me to a play. They were yelling at each other in the hallway and we were all asked to leave. It was embarrassing. Even worse, Hugo was so angry it was alarming. I was worried that he’d actually attack his father.”
“What the devil?” Vi breathed and Helen nodded.
“I was still hoping that Carlton wasn’t serious about Isolde, so I suggested that he consider whether he really wanted to destroy what remained of his relationship with his son, but Carlton laughed. Said he was pursing Isolde for the business connections, but Hugo’s reaction made it all the sweeter.” Helen laughed an angry little sound. “That was when I still allowed myself to believe that it was all lies, and he’d get the business connections and investments and leave her for me.”
“Hugo seems to be preoccupied with my sister,” Vi told Helen, who couldn’t help but shiver in sympathy. Isolde might have ‘stolen’ Carlton from Helen, but still the girl found sympathy when it came to Hugo.
They finished their tea and Violet spoken again. “I don't know what will happen to your father in the coming months as the financial crimes that Carlton was a part of come to light. If you need help in getting a new start after your trip to the Amalfi Coast, you are not alone.”
Helen nodded, seeming emotional for a moment, and then she left Violet. Vi lingered over another pot of tea, sipping slowly. When Victor appeared an hour later, he ordered a bundle of sandwiches to go and they hurried to catch the next train out of Margate.
“Mathers has an alibi,” Victor told Vi, who nodded.
“So I understand,” Vi answered.
Vi told Victor what she’d learned and his brows rose as he heard Vi’s offer to use the villa while Helen had her lying-in.
Victor also learned that Hugo was a bounder. But he further learned that when Mr. Mathers had started to work with Danvers, things had been on the up and up. It was only after Danvers lost everything in a series of gambling failures that he’d started these investment schemes.
Mr. Mathers insisted that he’d only helped with the legitimate side of the business, but Victor seemed to disbelieve the man. Violet wasn’t sure what she believed, but if Helen was being honest, Vi was pretty sure Helen—like Victor—believed that Mr. Mathers was in deep.
“The poor blighter,” Vic said. “He seemed a little baffled by his life even as he was lying to me about what he knew.”
Victor and Violet eventually fell into silence. Violet pulled out her journal once again. She wrote for a while before she said, “I wish we could get what Jack knows about Gulliver. I feel certain we’d know who killed Mr. Danvers if we had details about that man.”
“Let’s invite him to our place for pre-dinner drinks, love. I’ll grill him and you sit and look pretty and admiring. He won’t be able to help himself to reveal all he knows in the face of our joint efforts.”
“I know we don’t know all the much about Mr. Gulliver, but Victor…I don’t like Hugo. Killer or not, he needs to stay away from Isolde.”
Chapter 20
The door was open to their house when they arrived and the twins glanced at each other before hurrying up the front walk. Whatever was happening?
The front hall held Hargreaves, their brother Gerald, Isolde, Beatrice, Giles, and the local bobby.
“What’s all this?” Victor asked as he set down his hat, gaze fixed on the policeman.
Violet slipped off her coat and her cloche and noticed that Isolde was a little pale, but she didn’t seem overly upset.
“Someone tried to force entry into your house, old man,” Gerald said. “The servants were all out and I had taken Isolde to lunch and a little outing. When we got back the bobbies were here and all was in a tizzy.”
Victor’s brows rose and he asked Hargreaves, “Did they get in?”
“No, sir,” Hargreaves said as he closed the front door. “The footman from next door noticed something was amiss and chased the blighter off.”
Victor frowned and turned the policeman while Vi said, “If we’ve avoided disaster, I’ll just run upstairs and get dressed.”
Isolde shook her head and handed Violet a note with her name on it. She’d seen glimpses of Jack’s notebook enough to recognize his handwriting. It was with a frown that she took the note.
It was, she knew, an ominous sign. Vi tossed the group a grin and a wink to cover her concern. “I’ll leave you to it.”
She skipped up to her room and opened the door to her room. She glanced into her jewelry box. Nothing was amiss. Any concern that they’d actually been burgled faded. She’d left rather a lot of expensive jewelry outside of the safe. A laziness she’d need to correct.
Violet needed to read the note, but she felt the ominous brush of wondering. Had Jack intended to cancel the date yesterday by giving her an escape from the dinner and play? If he had, how foolish she’d looked when she’d told him that she wouldn’t play the games women played.
Violet slowly opened the note and read:
Violet—
I am unable to attend the dinner and play this evening.
Jack
What was she supposed to do with a note like this? Violet threw it to the side. A part of her wanted to pull out her journal and scribble all her feelings down, but they were too rambunctious even for that. Rather than get dressed, Violet threw her things to the side, stared at the mess for a moment and then hung up her clothes. The sight of them strewn about was making her fingers itchy.
She started a bath, playing with a combination of salts and bath oils, so her very skin would smell like a garden. She slid into the water and when her mind wouldn’t stop racing, she slid under the water, holding her breath tightly. The pressure on her lungs drew attention from her doubts until she finally pushed from the water to tell herself, “You’re being ridiculous.”
Violet worked soap into her hair and then the sponge to run it over her limbs. “So, your date got canceled. That’s hardly something to have a fizz up about.”
Violet finished her bath, wrapped herself up in a nightgown and a kimono and made her way down to the dining room. Cook hadn’t been expecting them to stay in. Would they even have dinner?
“What’s all this?” Victor asked. “Don’t you have dinner plans? I tried to get Jack to come hear what we’ve learned, but he can’t be located.”
She smiled brightly, making herself a drink, as Victor followed her through the house. “He canceled. I thought I’d work on our story and…”
Victor laughed, “So you thought you’d put on a bright face and I wouldn’t notice that you’d suddenly decided that your kimono was outerwear and that you wanted a…is that a bee’s knees?”
Violet turned and raised a brow, holding up the bottle of gin. “Did you want one?”
“Yes, darling, I want one. As does Isolde. But you, old thing, don’t get to bounce around here pretending you aren’t in a fizz.”
Violet put less gin in his bee’s knees after that. He noticed, taking hers instead.
“You’re a devil.”
“You don’t have your best actress foot forward, love. Let’s see it now. I would sa
y I feel terribly bad about leaving you behind, but I’m off to meet up with Tomas.”
Violet shot Victor a narrowed gaze.
“I know already that you’d like to avoid his company since he has yet to propose to you again this year.”
She cocked her head and sipped deeply from her bee’s knees. “Oh that’s sweet.”
“Just the thing you need right now. To help balance out the sour you’re pretending not to have. That chocolate liquor we bought in Paris arrived today while we were gone. Some of the other things we bought might…”
Violet turned to Victor. “I love you brother. But, go away. You’re trying to give me a list of things to distract me. Go and have a drink with Tomas, listen to some music, eat some food, indulge your senses. I can take care of myself.”
Victor grinned at Violet. “Well now. You are in a fizz. I told you so.”
“You, sir, will be in a fizz if you don’t leave me be.”
He escaped, but a few minutes later Isolde came in with a careful expression on her face.
“Oh stop it.” Violet pulled all the bottles of alcohol from their cart and was examining them. “I’m fine.”
“Of course you are. Why wouldn’t you be?” Isolde sounded a little like a parrot, speaking the one phrase it had been taught without any of the right tones.
Violet shot Isolde a mocking glance. “Ring for someone and turn on the wireless. We’re going to be giddy.”
Isolde watched as Violet started opening bottles and sniffing them, putting them in inexplicable arrangements.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing,” Violet said and then when a song came on that she liked, Violet spun with the bottle in her hand.
“What is that you’ve got there?”
“Limoncello. Victor loves to buy alcohol. He buys it wherever we go. He’ll probably buy cases of Belgium beer and genever while we’re in Bruges. He’ll send some home to Father, some to Gerald, and stock his own ridiculous collection. While we were gone, he bought chocolate liqueur in France.” Vi tapped the top of one fanciful bottle and winked at Isolde, who looked suddenly intrigued.