by Beth Byers
“No wonder Katherine doesn’t like her,” Georgette announced as she got behind the wheel of the auto. “I was tempted to put her out of her misery, and she isn’t even married to my child. I can’t imagine. Every Christmas with that dark shadow in the corner. Every child’s birthday. Every family dinner. I’d rather be single than facing that voice over the dinner table. Her poor, poor husband.”
“There has never been any question that John loves her,” Anna told Georgette. “That’s part of the problem. He does love her. He adores her and doesn’t seem to see or hear it when she’s venomous. And there’s a further issue—”
Anna sounded sick and Georgette pulled the auto to the side of the road to face her.
“Lizette is insinuating that Katherine needs to sell her house and help her children—particularly her oldest son. That doing otherwise is selfish.”
Georgette stared in shock and Marian choked in the back and then muttered about family voices and the definition of selfishness. Georgette started the auto, her mind skipping through the idea of Katherine selling her house and financing a few more years of her son’s life. Georgette shook her head. Money ran out—Georgette knew that all too well. Money ran out, and you were left to struggle with what you had to offer. The best plan wasn’t to give the children money. That was like giving fish to a starving man when you could teach him to fish for himself. Sometimes all you needed was the tools.
They acquired the meal Eunice had made and delivered it to Katherine’s house.
“Emmanuline, darling,” Anna said to the woman who opened the door.
Georgette smiled, holding the pan of food and Emmanuline accepted the over-sized pan. “Come in, come in. You all are so kind.”
The woman was younger than her brother by a good number of years, but if Georgette remembered right, Emmanuline was the youngest while John was the oldest. “We’ve brought your family a few things. Are more coming?”
“Eventually.” Emmanuline laughed. “It’s hard to…to…drop everything. Jedediah and his wife have seven children. They can’t just get on the train and come sit by Lizette’s bed. I’m sure Jed will be here soon, but given how Lizette will be all right, he’s not going to take off work early.”
“So, only you could come?”
“It’s Friday,” Emmanuline said with a quiet voice. “They’ll all be here. It’ll be loud and noisy as Mum always wants, but she won’t be here to enjoy it. Not until Lizette comes home, and then she’ll probably run Mum ragged taking care of her.”
Georgette glanced at Anna and then Marian before saying, “You don’t sound like you’re a very big fan of your sister.”
“Sister-in-law,” Emmanuline clarified and Georgette was quite sure that Emmanuline had come to help her mother and brother and not the injured party. “How are you, Anna?”
Georgette gestured to Marian and they helped unload the boxes and baskets of things they’d brought for the family. As Katherine lived alone and spent much of her time outside of her house, usually doing good work, there was no way she was prepared to have her children and grandchildren appear unexpectedly and feed them.
Once they had everything inside the house, they piled back into the auto.
“I think we’ve learned a very specific lesson today,” Georgette said as she drove back home.
“What’s that?” Anna asked.
“To be grateful for the families we have,” Georgette muttered. “I need to get home and cleanse my palette from being around poor Katherine’s family.”
Anna laughed. “It’s not quite as it seems, you know. Emmanuline is a good daughter and they spend a lot of time together. Her children adore Katherine, and Jedediah is the same. He doesn’t let Lizette’s sourness extend to his days. He protects his mother as he can. Katherine doesn’t let them protect her fully. If she did, she’d lose time with John, and she’d rather deal with Lizette than lose out on John entirely.”
Georgette parked the auto outside of her house and let the dogs out. Anna returned to her house and Marian went inside, but rather than go in with the sourness that was growing in her own heart, Georgette took the dogs to the back garden and threw sticks for them. She was out there until Charles came to find her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, taking the stick from her and throwing it for the dogs and then tugging her close.
Georgette’s mouth screwed up in an attempt not to weep. “I miss my mother.”
Charles’s face was shocked. “I—”
“It’s all right, darling,” she said, wrapping her arms around Charles. “I just—I—it’s hard to explain.”
He crossed to the stone bench and pulled her down beside him. “You’re rather good with words, you know.”
Georgette laughed and was surprised to find it was a watery sound. That made her laugh harder, and there was no question that she seemed at least half-mad. She laid her head on his shoulder and apologized.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m jealous and I don’t like it. I’m sad and I think that’s only the baby messing with my mind and heart. I’m worried about Katherine and I despise her daughter-in-law, but I know Katherine looks for the good in people. I want to rage at the world, but I’m not actually sure why, and I want to shake both Joseph and Marian until their teeth clack in their head.”
Charles tangled their fingers together. “Well, I don’t know what to do with any of that.”
“Your being here helps. Did you get work done?”
His brows lifted and he admitted, “I did actually. Rather a lot of it, to be honest. I think Luther will be pleased since I did a few of the less desirable things. He’s turned out to rather like this arrangement of me working here once or twice a week.”
“That’s good,” Georgette told him. She’d have been worried if he was worried, but since he wasn’t, she wasn’t going to bother with it.
He lifted her fingers and kissed each one. “We’ve got to go get our Janey.”
“Yes,” she said, instantly feeling brighter. “Janey, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, a delightful step into the pub. I’m looking forward to stew and a few sips from your pint.”
Chapter 9
CHARLES AARON
Georgette needed to write. He suspected that if she could sink into a story, she’d feel better. She’d been prone to tears over the last few months, but it was worse in the last week or two. It was as if she couldn’t quite get any of her stories right in her head or on the page, and everything else was darker because of that change. He also thought she might need some time alone, but he wasn’t loving the idea.
The publisher in him needed his star author to write because he had stories to sell. Publishing in an economic depression was a risky business. Having an excellent author people loved, working hard? That made it easier. Georgette didn’t pretend to write fiction for the ages, but she did have a wicked insight into mankind when she could flex it. It was unfortunate that the same insight that let her write excellent novels also left her able to guess at the motivations of people and why they might commit crimes. If only she would stop helping deliver dinners or taking on the little ones as she had.
When adding not having a story going well to her other concerns, she was suffering. He reminded himself again that her parents had been gone for more than a decade and that Eunice was a stoic, silent type. Being his wife, having people notice her, having to interact with the children, it was a lot for a woman who had been overlooked and alone for far too long.
They’d decided to not tell their neighbors that Georgette was “Joseph Jones” and it was the best plan they’d come up with yet. Some of them realized she wrote, but none of them realized she was the famous author. It turned out that Georgette, who’d been starving for human interaction, was now being smothered by it. His Georgie was the type of person who needed humans in very limited ways.
Janey’s school was near Ely, as was the theater. They drove in silence, but he thought Georgette needed the quiet. She was pro
bably thinking about that Lynd woman who’d been hit over the head. Charles’s own mind moved to the woman and away again. He had no doubt as to where Marian’s thoughts went.
The movie was a delight and he hoped it lifted Georgette’s spirits. He doubted Marian was comforted by the happily-ever-after given the state of her own. Janey was over the moon and talked about it as they drove toward the pub for dinner.
Georgette’s gaze flicked to a nearby orphan home and he sighed. “Go ahead. Janey and I will meet you at the pub.”
Georgette got out of the auto, and Marian gasped and followed.
“How do you think they draw those movies?” Janey asked, chattering. “Why do you think Georgette is going there?” A thought struck Janey and she asked in a trembling voice, “Are you going to move me?”
Charles shook his head instantly. “No, no.”
He briefly recapped what had happened to Lizette Lynd and then told Janey that until they discovered the perpetrator, she needed to stay in the garden or the house. She’d been so well-raised by her parents that she nodded without question.
“Is Georgette all right?” Janey asked.
“She’s all right,” Charles answered, hoping he wasn’t lying.
It only took Georgette and Marian a few minutes to arrive at the pub.
“Unsurprisingly,” she told Charles, “Katherine was there during the time when Lizette Lynd was hurt.”
“That’s what we thought, right?” Marian asked.
“Right,” Georgette and Charles replied in unison.
JOSEPH AARON
Joseph watched as Charles seated his wife into the auto, along with Marian in the back seat. The dogs were whining at Joseph’s feet, and he reached down to pet them all, giving Henry special attention. He was rather afraid that the days of thinking Henry was his dog would soon be over.
He turned and found Eunice watching him watch them.
“Would you like dinner?”
Joseph sat with Eunice in the kitchen. “Have you met Lizette Lynd?” he asked.
“Just Katherine and once her daughter.”
“What do you think happened?”
“Sounds like she’s a sourpuss,” Eunice said dryly. “For whatever reason she’s not talking, why do sourpusses get knocked on the back of the head? Because someone reached their limit and had enough.”
“Her husband and mother-in-law have alibis,” Joseph told her. “Who else would do it?”
“Think of the people in your life you’d like to knock sideways,” Eunice advised, putting a large slice of meat pie on his plate. It was followed by roasted potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. “Would they be your mother or your brother? I’m guessing those are the people you wouldn’t hurt.”
Joseph laughed darkly and Eunice replied with a corresponding dark grin. “So you wouldn’t necessarily knock Charles or Georgette sideways? There are some people on your mind.” She grinned wickedly as she added, “I’ve my own list running for a while.”
Joseph shook his head and then admitted, “Never Georgette, possibly Charles.” Joseph laughed. “I’d consider a few other more peripheral people in my life.”
“While you’re considering that,” Eunice said, “consider that Lizette’s periphery people have seen her twist and torment those they love. I’m a periphery person to you, but if I were bothering Charles—well, you’d want it to stop.”
“I’ve thought of all that,” Joseph muttered. “It’s not like I’m completely stupid. It’s that everyone is either accounted for or entirely unaccounted for. This brother, Jedediah, he was at work. His wife, however, was home with the children. When the local constable asked the little ones if their mother was home the entire day—without leaving—they looked at him as if he’d grown a second head and said nothing. It doesn’t mean that his wife was the one who knocked Lizette for a loop, but it means her alibi is uncertain at best. It the same for all the housewives. They all could have done it really. Except perhaps for the fisherman brother who’s too far way to have done it.”
“Is it like that for all of the ladies?”
“Worse still. Lizette’s family is in the general area. No one was seen coming into town, but that doesn’t mean anything. They could have avoided scrutiny. We didn’t have any reason to have an eye out.”
“Country roads could let you get to Katherine’s house without being seen.” Eunice sighed. “You know, you won’t have to wait long. That Lizette is going to be taken home soon. Probably this weekend. Much of the family will come to Katherine’s and rally round so-to-speak. You’ve got disguised lieutenants who could get in and stir the pot.”
Joseph groaned. “My supervisor never appreciates the reports that include Georgette, Charles, and Marian. I feel like I’m getting black marks and a letter home to my parents every time I turn one in. I suppose Marian’s family might well get what they want and find that they won’t have a Yard man for a son-in-law.”
Eunice didn’t reply to that, but her eyes were full of something. A greater wisdom brought by experience. For all that she’d been single her entire life and an adjunct to Georgette’s family, Eunice seemed to have a wealth of knowledge about relationships, marriages, and family. Her entire philosophy boiled down to saying nothing, but there were worlds of opinions behind those eyes.
Joseph finished his meal and then crossed through the back garden to the path that led to Katherine’s house. He kept watch for any sign of someone who had made a makeshift camp, as transients were wont to do. Any time he came upon a clearing with the possibility or even a thinning in the trees, Joseph explored and came up with the certainty that the children he hoped to have someday would love this wood. And that there was no reason to believe that anyone was camping in the wood nefariously.
He groaned and then hurried along the path, no longer bothering to explore. Barnaby Mustly spent far more time in the wood than Joseph did, and Barnaby seemed convinced that there wasn’t anyone around who shouldn’t be. Joseph would go out with Barnaby the next day just to be sure. Maybe there would be evidence that meant nothing to Barnaby but might have meaning for Joseph. He doubted it, however, but he needed to be thorough.
As he approached the back of Katherine’s house, he noted the children running in the orchard, laughing. Two men were standing at the back of the house, talking to each other, eyes on the children, but their tone and attitude was secretive.
Joseph decided to approach from the side. If he sneaked up on them their reaction could be telling. He walked around the edge of the orchard. The two sons seemed unrelated except they were in the exact same stance. Both had their arms crossed over their chests, one leg relaxed, and they both had rounded out in the stomachs, but one was quite a bit taller. The other was smaller and narrower. Both were much slimmer than John Lynd, who had moved from a rounded stomach to a full butter ball.
Once he got closer, Joseph saw that they looked more similar than he expected. They had the same jaw, the same dark brown eyes, the same look on their faces when they realized Joseph had appeared.
“Who are you?” demanded the larger Lynd son.
“Detective Inspector Joseph Aaron.”
Joseph held out his hand and shook both of theirs, lifting his brows until he got their names. The larger one was Jedediah and the smaller one was Mitchell. Both eyed Joseph as if he was entirely unwanted. It was, he thought, an interesting reaction. He wouldn’t have expected them to shut down. He’d have expected them to demand answers.
One of the children ran into the wood and neither of the Lynd men even look bothered.
The men exchanged looks and the smaller one said, “Here about Lizette, I suppose.”
“I am. She doesn’t seem to have any information to help me or direct the case. Do you have anything?”
Both shook their heads without looking at each other, but they also used that moment to let their gazes drift to the children as if they were checking on them. Joseph didn’t believe that for a second. He didn’t believe any of this.
“You know who it is, don’t you?”
The brothers exchanged glances once again before focusing on Joseph. Mitchell shook his head, but neither of them answered.
“Is Katherine here?”
“Our mother is still at the doctor’s office. They’re going to bring Lizette and John back here. Lizette says she needs to recover longer before she can go home, but the doctor decided that she was healthy enough to make the trip and didn’t need to be attended constantly.”
Jedediah muttered under his breath, but neither of them expanded.
“She seems like a difficult woman,” Joseph tried.
Neither of them answered.
“It’s odd that she doesn’t remember why she was here. Do either of you know why she might have come when Katherine wasn’t here?”
Again, neither of them answered.
Joseph held back his frustration as he asked, “What about your mother?”
“What about her?” The contained frustration in Mitchell’s voice had Joseph holding back a smile.
“What about her?” Joseph asked. “The accident happened at her house, Lizette is a difficult woman, it seems likely that your mother would have a good reason to want to silence a daughter-in-law like that and save her son from a hard marriage. Maybe your mother had enough?”
“She would never!” Jedediah shouted. The children went immediately silent. “My mother isn’t here,” he growled. “We weren’t here during the accident and none of us know anything. You need to leave.”
Chapter 10
CHARLES AARON
“Wake up,” he whispered. “Wake up.”
His finger was already pressed against his wife’s lips and when her eyes squinted against the lamplight, he tugged her upright. The way she blinked in groggy surprise was adorable.
Charles had already dressed in a casual suit, though the sun was still down, and he had her dress, coat, and hat ready. He whisper-ordered her through dressing.