The Darkest Days (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 6)

by Liza O'Connor

Stone ignored her and remained focused on Xavier. “Believe me, I wish further investigation had disproved his claims because a great many fake country police are involved, your Constable Ott included. Your case is but one tentacle of a very large extortion racket. The crimes they commit depends on the crew working a particular town. However, murdering a townsperson and then accusing the wealthiest person in the town of the crime is common. As is the extortion that follows.”

  “And what does any of this have to do with Tubs?” Vic demanded.

  Stones finally met her eyes. “He is the mastermind.”

  “Like hell he is!” Vic yelled.

  “Your proof, Stone,” Xavier stated softly.

  “Upon searching his headquarters, we found a great deal of proof. Ledgers, tracking the schemes in play, the amount of money gained in detail right down to how much they get for the bodies of the murdered.”

  “And how does that connect to Tubs?” Xavier asked.

  “We also retrieved a great deal of correspondence written in the same script as the person who maintains the ledgers. S. Tubs.” He sighed and looked at Xavier. “I’m sorry. I know how hard this must hit you.”

  “Not half as much as how hard I’m tempted to hit you,” Vic yelled. “First of all, to mastermind and run this giant organization, especially with idiots running the scams, has to be a full time, and dare I say, aggravating job.”

  “What is your point?” Stone asked.

  Xavier replied with a great deal of anger in his tone. “The point is Tubs remains at Vic’s side the entire day. When could he possibly have time to run such a large and ungainly operation? My God, if the crew here was standard fare, it has to be the equivalent of herding cats…hundreds of cats.”

  Instead of looking foolish, or better yet, relieved, Stone seemed to be suffering a deep and heartfelt pain. “I agree. There is no way Tubs could have done this without Vic’s involvement.”

  Before Vic could even respond to his declaration, Xavier bolted up in rage. “If you intend to go in that direction, then add me to your accusations, because I would know if Vic were trying to run such an operation and if he were involved, he sure as hell would not have sent a crew to shake down Jacko. Nor, if you think he would, would he then come here to break his very organization apart.”

  He then stormed toward Stone, causing him to stand and back away before he was trapped in the chair. “If this is all the proof you have, then you are on very thin ice with me.”

  Stone nodded. “This matter gives me no pleasure. I have never had a task I hate more. I have ledgers and correspondence, I have over fifty murders and, even more, extortions. I have a young man who will testify that Tubs is the one who runs the operation, and as you stated, he never leaves Vic’s side.”

  “A year ago, Vic and I determined we were stronger doing cases together, so you have no choice but to accuse me as well, or…”

  Just then the door flew open and Meyers rushed in. “It’s not Tubs,” he gasped for breath as if he’d run all the way from London. “Suits…small.”

  Stone walked over to Meyers. “Why are you here? You are supposed to be processing the evidence!”

  “Suits…small.”

  Vic gripped Meyers’ arms. “You found suits in the closets at the place with all the incriminating evidence,” she said.

  Meyers nodded.

  “And they are too small to belong to Tubs,” she declared with satisfaction.

  He nodded emphatically, still trying to catch his breath.

  Finally, Vic understood. “Stone, there must be another person using the name Tubs.” She then repeated all the reasons why it couldn’t be her Tubs again.

  “But no one would dare use his name,” Stone countered.

  She knew for a fact there was one person Tubs wouldn’t kill for using his last name, but she was not going there. “Oh, so you’ll believe some fellow will roll on Tubs without fearing repercussions, but no criminal would dare borrow his powerful name for their own needs. You cannot have it both ways, Stone. Either Tubs is so feared that no one would ever testify against him or use his name, or word has got out that he’s switched sides and now someone has taken his name.”

  Meyer shook his head on the last option. Finally, he caught his breath enough to speak. “I asked Wills what his boss looked like, and it’s not Tubs.”

  “You couldn’t have determined this sooner?” Stone demanded.

  “Not on the case ‘til this morning,” he reminded Stone. “Saw the suits, questioned Wills and then rushed here as fast as I could. Horse stopped a mile from the house. Ran as fast as I could to get here before…”

  “Before you permanently damaged our working relationship,” Xavier stated and walked to the door and opened it. “Tubs come in, Inspector Stone has yet another apology to give, only, this time, you are not alone in being falsely accused. By Stone’s faulty logic, we were all three guilty of masterminding an extortion racket of grand proportions, all in our spare time when we are not trying to protect our country and its citizens.”

  Tubs frowned and stared at Vic.

  “Someone has borrowed your name and has incompetent crews, like the ones we’ve captured, murdering and extorting people all over the countryside with fake policemen and embedded criminals.” She huffed. “For some reason, Stone thought we’d extort money from one of our own employees. He must have a horrible family life to believe this is how we’d treat our family members. But thankfully, Captain Meyers arrived and declared the suits in the criminal’s house were too small to be yours, and when questioned, the employee who had turned on this Tubs gave a description that was nothing like you.”

  Tubs looked at Meyers. “Have you caught this other Tubs?”

  “No, I came straight here.”

  Stone stepped forward. “Tubs, I realized you must be very angry at having your reputation damaged to no fault of yours, but I must insist you…all of you, refrain from seeking vengeance on this criminal.” He focused on Tubs, then Vic and finally Xavier. “I want your word you will not go after this man. Leave this to Scotland Yard.”

  Vic jutted her chin out. “You’ll get our word when Tubs gets his apology, and it better be a damn good one.”

  Chapter 14

  Stone, Meyers, Barns and the sharpshooters left with the corpse of Ott and the four still breathing criminals. Jacko and Alice personally drove Daisy’s body to the Bergers and gave the girl’s parents an explanation of the criminals behind her death.

  Alice felt a personal responsibility since she had selected Nora and Chelsea from the rescued servants in Dragon’s Cloud.

  Jacko was greatly relieved when the Bergers insisted she was not at fault. While he knew Alice would still blame herself, the pain would be less if the Bergers didn’t hold her responsible, as well.

  When they returned to the manor, Thomas met them at the door. “Mr. Thorn has requested your presence in the parlor.”

  “The parlor? Are you sure?” Jacko challenged. “He hates parlors.”

  “Yes, well, he declared your parlor tolerable and has gathered a great deal of people, children, and animals, claiming them to be staff.”

  Alice squeezed Jacko’s arm. “Go on, I’ll be fine.”

  Thomas spoke. “He specifically requested you to be there as well.”

  Jacko slipped his arm around Alice’s waist. “Like it or not, Xavier and Vic have declared you part of their family. If it becomes too great a burden, we can always hide out in Spain.”

  Alice smiled. “We will do no such thing. First of all, Vic would find us in short order and secondly, I rather like being included in their family, especially since half my family already belongs.”

  They entered the parlor filled with Xavier, Vic, Tubs, Davy, the new driver Casey, Pete, Cannon, and Arroo.

  “Ah, the last of our missing family,” Xavier said.

  “Don’t forget Ben back in London,” Vic chided.

  “Of course, but I trust you to fill him in when we return. However, s
ince we will be leaving two of our family here.”

  “Three,” Vic corrected.

  He sighed. “Would you rather do this yourself?”

  She smiled at him. “Yes, thank you for offering.” She sobered before she spoke.

  “We came here because one of our family was under attack. Before even arriving, we knew Jacko was innocent. That was never in doubt. We know the value, honor, and integrity of each of us.”

  Jacko nodded his appreciation towards Vic while Alice beamed with near adoration. Years ago, Vic had found Alice’s mother being held against her will in Bedlam and provided an impressive distraction while Jacko rescued the woman.

  This time, Vic assisted in rescuing her husband from wrongful prosecution and delivering the real criminals to Scotland Yard. So in Alice’s eyes, Vic had saved the two people she loved most.

  “Today, Tubs was under suspicion of masterminding the operation that controlled the criminals who infected your town.”

  “That’s absurd!” Jacko declared. “He spends every waking hour protecting you.”

  Vic’s brow wrinkled. “He spends his time assisting me in solving crimes and training the pups, but your point was what pushed Stone to conclude that I must also be involved in this criminal enterprise.”

  Jacko rolled his eyes and looked at Xavier. “Can you not go to the Queen and tell her Stone has lost his mind?”

  Vic smiled. “Actually, he did declare Stone completely mad in an amazingly subtle manner. Using Stone’s logic, he pointed out that he also would have to be involved, since we only solve crimes as a team now.”

  Alice leaned forward. “By your current amusement, may I presume that made him come to his senses?”

  “Sadly, it didn’t. Fortunately, Captain Meyers, who was brought onto the case this morning, quickly discovered the flaw in Stone’s evidence and tried to get here before Stone could, once again, damage his relationship with us.” She paused and then stated with great drama. “When he falsely attacks one of us, he attacks us all. And we will fight back.”

  “Unless you’re out of the country,” Jacko muttered, recalling last year when Stone accused him of robbing houses while he was actually spending every waking hour trying to assist Stone in finding ‘something’ of the First Minister’s that went missing ‘some time’ from God knows where.

  Her eyes narrowed. “That was hardly a vacation,” she growled.

  Having watched Alice bear him two sons, he knew birthing was incredibly painful. He held his hands up in surrender.

  “The point Vic is hopefully getting to is this,” Xavier said, “As a family, we live by a code of ethics. We only maim, hurt, and kill criminals in the process of solving crimes. We do not arbitrarily shoot people because they make us angry.” His glare settled on Vic for a moment and then he continued. “We do not rob or steal from people unless they are criminals and we wish to return the items to the owners or provide to Scotland Yard as evidence. We do not operate criminal organizations—.”

  Vic raised her hand

  Xavier glared at her. “Unless, in doing so we can stabilize the underworld and improve the businesses the said organization participates in.”

  Vic put her hand down and smiled at him.

  “I want to be clear. What each of us does matters, since we stand or fall as a family. If one of us breaks the code of ethics, it hurts us all.” He for some reason focused on Vic as he said that last part.

  “Additionally, when one of us is falsely accused, we will all come to his or her rescue and we will use our formidable collection of skills to prove their innocence.” He paused and studied each face in the group, including Alice. “Do we fully understand our commitment to each other, both in our code of ethics and our code of loyalty?”

  Tubs raised his hand. “I have something to confess. The guy calling himself S. Tubs, is Sean Tubs. He’s my half-brother and he’s rotten to the core. The reason I haven’t mentioned him before is because I’m ashamed of him. Even when I worked for Seth Sojourn, I had ethics. I only killed bad people. I’d let the good ones like Pete escape while I pretended to go after them. But Sean ain’t got no ethics. The young girl who died here is proof of it. Still, he was the only family I had, so I’ve protected him over the years, but no more. He’s on his own for now on. I won’t actively help catch him, but I’m done breaking him out of jails. You guys, Sara, and my son are my family now and I’ll do proud by all of you.”

  Jacko was both shocked and impressed. “How the bloody hell did you keep a younger brother a secret? The lower dock bars should have known you had a brother, if for no other reason than just as a warning not to mess with the boy.”

  Xavier leaned forward. “I’m rather curious about that as well.”

  “Sorry for not mentioning it before,” Tubs muttered.

  Vic spoke up. “It’s fine, Tubs. We all have secrets. Being a family doesn’t mean you have to share every single detail about your personal life, only those items that the rest of us need to know. Until today, we didn’t need to know about your brother.”

  Jacko noticed the scrutiny and displeasure in Xavier’s black eyes, currently focused on his favorite pup. Had Vic known about Tubs’ brother before Tubs’ declaration? Xavier surely seemed to think so. It didn’t surprise Jacko. The pup could pull facts from thin air.

  “That concludes our meeting,” Xavier stated, still glaring at Vic.

  “Wait,” Alice stated. “Can you provide us with the conclusion of Daisy’s murder?”

  Vic huffed. “It will give you no satisfaction. The two servants you were so kind to take in from Dragon’s Cloud were the start of your troubles. They poisoned the old housekeeper and then recommended a new one, which was Nora’s mother.”

  Alice groaned. “I’m sorry Vic, but I’m not taking any more rescues. Had you asked me, until two days ago I would have told you those girls were my best maids. Clearly, their time at Dragon’s Cloud corrupted their souls, even as they appeared to be perfect angels.”

  “Had you asked your other maids, or Thomas, you would have learned otherwise,” Vic snapped. “There is a big difference between true goodness and shallow pretense.”

  Jacko placed his arm protectively around his wife. What was Vic so angry about? Alice had every right not to want more of Vic’s rescued servants. He then glanced at Tubs, also looking angry and groaned softly as he realized why they took offense. “Alice is not saying Sara is not the angel she appears to be,” Jacko assured them.

  “Heavens no! I love Sara,” Alice declared. “I apologize, Tubs. I completely forgot Sara had been in Dragon’s Cloud. She’s so happy and full of love, if you ask me, I would say she’d come straight from heaven.”

  Tubs nodded. “She was an angel even when she was there. She took care of the other girls.” He looked at Alice. “I knew those two were bad the moment I saw them, but Sara is a true angel. There’s no pretense in her.”

  “I absolutely agree,” Alice softly said.

  Xavier sighed impatiently. “Do you still wish to know the outcome of this debacle or shall we take our leave and return to London where a decent sort of crime can be solved?”

  “Yes, I still need an explanation to relay to the farmers,” Jacko said.

  “Where was I? The girls and your new housekeeper were happily skimming from the food and cleaning allowances, but then they decided to pull in the housekeeper’s bedfellow, Dexter Schnell, or as we knew him: Lester Ott. He worked for Sean, who agreed to hire on the mother and two girls when he heard about the potential scam in Litchfield.

  “Sean would send fake policemen to villages and towns without such service. The fellow would claim the name of a real constable, mostly new hires, sent to some other region. Then someone in the crew would kill a person in the town, the preference being young girls or boys because the black market pays the highest price for young bodies.”

  No way Jacko would share that ugly bit of information to the farmers.

  “It was Ott’s job to see his cre
w kept to the plan. In this particular case, Nora was to steal Jacko’s knife and stab Daisy in the back, leaving the knife embedded so Ott could easily convict Jacko.

  “Instead, Nora’s anger at Richard, the wolfman made her rip out Daisy’s throat with the weeder. Evidently, he had the audacity to keep trying to return to his home, which Nora now claimed as hers.”

  “I never liked Nora,” Pete declared.

  “Good. After this meeting let your mother know of any other servants you don’t like,” Xavier suggested and continued his case resolution. “Ott knew Sean would be furious at Nora for her weapon of choice because it lowered the value of the body, and thus, their eventual cut. Nor did he want Richard accused of the murder because there was no potential for extortion there. Richard hasn’t a dime. So Ott ordered her to put the murder weapon in Jacko’s room, to provide cause to arrest him. Instead, she put it in Thomas’ room because the butler made her give a kitten back to the cook’s helper.”

  Jacko rubbed his temple. This reminded him of his time as a pirate captain. None of his original crew could follow the simplest orders. They just did whatever they bloody well wanted, which usually caused him a great deal of trouble in the end.

  He could almost feel sorry for Ott, except the bastard had gone back on their agreement and nearly tortured him to death, while he set his sights on Alice as his extortion victim.

  Xavier continued his recounting. “Without any evidence other than knowing Jacko’s past, Ott arrested our family member, and quickly realized more money could be pulled from Alice, than from Jacko. Or so he thought.”

  Xavier smiled at Alice.

  “While playing the part of a wife willing to foolishly give any amount of money requested, Alice sent Elwood to deliver a message to us.”

  Vic jumped in. “If you ever require help again, call Captain Meyers at Scotland Yard and ask him to give us the message.”

  Alice nodded.

  Xavier glared at her. “May I continue?”

  She nodded and he refocused on Alice. “Nora was determined to marry Elwood with dreams of robbing you two blind when he became the butler and she the housekeeper in charge of all household accounts.”