by Beth Byers
Nearly A Murder
A Violet Carlyle Historical Mystery Novel
Beth Byers
Copyright © 2020 by Beth Byers, Amanda A. Allen
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Sneak Peek of Bright Young Witches & the Restless Dead
Summary
July 1926
Violet and Jack have determined upon an adventure. In a moment of sheer madness, they and their friends find room on a steamship leaving the country and board without even being certain of where they’re going.
One would think that would be the oddest thing about their trip. Only soon into the trip, two women are discovered unconscious. It seems that they’ve both been poisoned. But whoever has poisoned them chose a different poison for each. Who is this mad poisoner and when will they strike again?
Chapter 1
“Where do you want to go?” Rita asked, her sapphire blue eyes wide with a joy that reflected her love of traveling.
One might not imagine that the golden-haired, elegant, high-fashioned Rita was such an adventuress, but it was easy for her to set aside her pearls and her high-heeled shoes for something meant for a safari or a jungle.
Until Vi met Rita, Vi had considered herself something of a world traveler. She’d learned better since those early days. Even still, Vi felt the same flash of excitement. It wasn’t so much the taking of a trip that was unusual for them, but the suddenness of it. They’d considered going back to London when Jack’s casual aside opened up the idea of anywhere in the world.
“Morocco?” Rita tried to ask casually. “Oh! America?”
Vi hid a snort when she saw Rita’s heel bouncing despite her attempt at a casual tone. Of them all, Rita had a passion for seeing and experiencing the world that left the rest as permanent dilettantes.
“Cuba,” Victor suggested immediately. “I could use more rum.”
“We can buy rum here,” Kate told him, with the casual cruelty of a wife who knew exactly how much rum he had in their stuffed cellars.
“I like to buy it myself.” Victor’s unoffended ease with Kate’s aside showed when he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Are you up to traveling, love?”
“I think so,” Kate replied, letting her hand drop onto where their next baby was growing. “I shouldn’t like to be left behind.”
Vi had to agree. The first time Kate had been expecting, she’d been so ill that Violet still shuddered at the memory. And to be honest with herself, Kate’s illness was one of the major reasons why Vi was so careful about avoiding pregnancy herself. This last pregnancy, however, Kate had an experienced nanny who knew exactly what to do to keep Kate from constantly sicking up. She was still ill, just not to a debilitating extent.
“The Amalfi coast?” Jack asked.
They were known to slip down to the Italian coast, enjoy the villa that Aunt Agatha had left to Vi, and then slip home. Rita and Vi shook their heads in unison. The villa was a home away from home. It was their version of a hunting or fishing cabin.
“That’s not adventurous enough,” Vi said as she leaned back. “Not now. Dreaming has taken over, and we’re going exotic, I think, darling.”
They were in Rita and Ham’s home in the country and had ended up moving into the same house even though Victor and Kate, as well as Vi and Jack, had their own country homes. Lila and Denny only had a London home, but they almost always stayed with Jack and Vi when they were in the country. “What about a train ride to somewhere exciting? The kind with those sleeping cabins and little sitting rooms? We haven’t done that yet.”
Ham lifted a brow and glanced at his wife. She was excited, but she was also the person who had the most experience. As a near-professional traveler, she was the hardest to satisfy. Violet watched Ham weigh the wants of his wife, and she was curious how he would vote.
He rubbed the back of his neck and then smoothed his beard before he said, “Or—”
With a long pause, Lila finally stepped in and asked, “Or?”
“Or, we could just pack our trunks flexibly, go to a port, and buy tickets on the first steamship that has room for us.”
Rita blinked rapidly, but Vi could see the excitement growing in her friend’s sapphire eyes.
“Just anywhere?” Rita asked. “We wouldn’t be prepared. We wouldn’t have a guide book or even a hotel when we get there.”
“Rita, darling,” Ham told her easily. “You’ve taught me that ready money provides a bit of power to get the things you desire.”
She paused, flushing slightly at his sardonic tone, but her eyes were wide as she imagined something lovely. Ham wasn’t wrong, Vi thought. Since she and her twin, Victor, had transformed from the working nobility into fortunate heirs, they’d experienced both ends of the financial spectrum. They had moved from oddly smelling little rooms to mansions, and she rather thought she had a unique perspective because of it. The truth was, with their allowance, she and Victor had never had to work that hard. They’d written their books to supplement their income and lived on more omelets and cans of sardines than one would otherwise desire, but they’d been happy.
If anything, Vi thought, glancing at her twin, she struggled harder with more money than less. They’d come in contact with so many people who were willing to do anything for a fortune that they felt as though they’d been cursed with their lives being infected by murderers. Those murderers had left Vi struggling with grey days that she battled the best as she could.
“He’s not wrong,” Denny added, rubbing his hands together. “Lila and I aren’t drowning in the bullion like you fortunate few, but even we could probably arrange a hotel room wherever we go.”
“So,” Rita said, “we’d need party dresses but also sturdy trousers and comfortable boots.” Her eyes lit up. “Should we bring a fishing pole or furs, it’s almost impossible to know. I’ve never been to so many places. What if there’s somewhere that is just…life changing?”
“I understand that Rio de Janeiro is exciting. It’s near a beach with beautiful oceans, casinos, probably endless parties,” Ham suggested easily. It was clear he didn’t really care where they went. “I believe there are rather frequent ships there.”
“What about that pirate island? We’ve almost gone there a few times. Tortuga?” This was from Denny, who looked as though he were nine years old again and having pirate adventures of his own.
“What about the surprise?” Rita begged. “Oh, please. That does sound rather more exciting than anything else.”
“Let’s do that then,” Vi agreed when no one objected. “We won’t be able to build up our hopes and then be disappointed. It’ll be like…like…sleuthing out the best places to see, eat, dance, play.”
“Yes!” Rita chee
red. “I need a drink.” Her gaze turned to Victor and she begged, “Please? One of those blackberry ones?”
“As long as we don’t rule out Cuba if that’s the first option, I’m happy enough with that plan,” Victor agreed, rising to cross to their little bar and pour drinks for the lot of them.
Kate shrugged when Rita’s gaze turned to her. She was the easiest of their group, save Lila who was too lazy to care about much more than being with her family. With Denny and their daughter Lily, she’d be happy in London, Tortuga, or Rio. Especially if there was dancing, excellent food, and a comfortable place for a good nap.
“Bloody hell,” Denny muttered, “how will I pack enough chocolate if we don’t end up in Europe?”
“I’m sure almost anywhere in the world has chocolate,” Lila teased. “It doesn’t even come from here, darling.”
“Lila, you don't understand my need for chocolate. Good chocolate.”
“The only thing I know about your desperation for chocolate is that it turns your mid-section soft and equals Vi’s need for Turkish coffee. You’re a bit beastly without your chocolate, my lad.”
Ham laughed and said, “That’s a need I have as well, now. Shall we pack carefully to bring that along?”
“I say we start right now,” Rita said. “Let’s roll the dice on train versus steamships and start from there.”
Vi examined her trunk and then glanced at her husband. He’d packed already, and she scowled at him. His broad grin was even more irritating. She turned and jumped onto his smirking self and then grabbed his cheeks like he was a baby. She smooshed them together pulling another laugh from him and then pouted, “It’s harder for me to pack. Remember when I had Beatrice, and she took good care of me?”
“I do. It is terribly harder for you to pack,” he agreed easily and then laughed when she pinched him for teasing her. He laughed again and then tried, “You have all those underthings and jewels and your collection of kimonos. However will you be as spoiled as you are if you have to limit yourself to a mere multitude of trunks?”
Vi gasped and then smacked his cheek lightly. “Not nice.”
He laughed again and settled his hands on her hips. “What if you just packed one kimono?”
“But what will I wear while the first is being cleaned?”
“Nothing?” he suggested lightly, and she smacked him again. When that didn’t work, she tried for a tickle, but she was the one who ended up gasping and twisting while he won the tickle war.
“Mercy!” she begged.
“Where do you want to go?”
Jack considered and Vi took the moment to examine his face. It was roughly hewn and the epitome of handsome, though she knew that many women preferred the smooth features of her twin or the affable cheeriness of Denny. But for Vi, it was Jack. He was one of the largest men Vi knew, with broad shoulders and a wide chest. She examined it and then decided to lean on him. She pressed her ear next to his heart and listened to her favorite lullaby.
Jack trailed his hand up and down her spine until they heard the dinner gong, and they both laughed. Jack was ready, of course, but Vi needed to drop her evening gown over her slip and add her favorite red lipstick. She scurried through finishing dressing, but they were still too late for the early cocktails.
Somehow, however, when dinner was finished, she was slightly zozzled. A part of her wondered if she should wait for the morning to pack, but she guessed Rita would be ready to go at the crack of dawn. Vi made her selections, with Jack saving her from forgetting stockings and shoes, and then helping her choose evening gowns by randomly pulling some out and telling her he’d loved her in those dresses in particular.
Vi gasped, “I haven’t worn two of those!”
“I’m just remembering some future evening,” he said with a flicker of a lash or an adjustment of his expression. “It’s a bit difficult to differentiate between forecasted memories and experienced memories.”
Vi leaned back, stumbled a little and put her hands on her hips, and then couldn’t help but laugh. “So what you’re saying is that you don’t care what dresses I wear?”
“Not at all, darling,” Jack told her easily and this time his gaze roved over her as he smiled slightly. “Though I do have some preference for the shiny ones. You’re easier to find in a dark club that way.”
She scowled and then told him, “I dress for the girls anyway. They’re the only ones who appreciate the work that goes into being glamorous.”
“Oh, I appreciate the result,” Jack said. “I just don’t care if your dress is black or blue.”
While he teased her, he found her favorite kimonos and folded them carefully, adding in the pajamas she preferred to sleep in. She watched him with her own hovering smile while she hung her dresses at the top of her trunk. Before long, her bags were packed and she was curled up by his side.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked him as he tangled their fingers together, lifting her hand to press a kiss on each fingertip.
“I don’t care,” Jack replied easily.
“What you aren’t going to say is it doesn’t matter as long as we’re together?” Vi asked.
Jack laughed and shrugged despite being propped up against pillows.
Vi turned, leaning up on her elbow. “You’re in a good mood, Jack. I’d say…giddy even.”
“Giddy?”
“As a school girl,” she shot back.
He tugged her back down to him and said, “I suppose I’m excited about this trip too. Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t care,” she admitted. “Somewhere we haven’t been before.”
“Somewhere we haven’t been before is perfect,” Jack quickly agreed and she guessed that he’d be fine with Cuba, the Amalfi Coast, Rio de Janeiro, or even just their London house. She could say it for him, just as long as they were together.
Chapter 2
They reached the train station in early afternoon. Most of the steamships they’d consider taking wouldn’t be leaving until after a goodbye party with the travelers and their guests. The evening party allowed them time to gather up their trunks and autos. Then, they could take a train to a port city.
The luxury liners were a vacation on their own. They had cruise directors with entertainment the whole day. On the last cruise they’d taken, Vi and Kate had attended a lecture from an Oxford professor about the flora and fauna of the Cuban island. There would also be shuffleboard and a gymnasium and evenings with dancing as jazz bands played with sultry singers.
Vi looked forward to the feasts served on the ship and the evening dancing. She loved that on a steamship you’d find people from all over the world and then learn little things about someone from Belgium or America or Mexico. It never mattered where they were from or why they were different. In America, they held their utensils differently. It was just random bits of information that added a layer of dimension to the country when she thought about those places.
“Where?” Vi asked when Ham and Jack approached their group. She was sitting on one of her trunks with several more stacked nearby. It was late enough in the afternoon and warm enough that she was glad to have skipped a coat. They were under the side of a building while Jack and Ham had visited several of the offices to see what was available.
“It occurs to me,” Victor said suddenly before the others could answer, “how ridiculous we’re being.”
“Ridiculous or not—” Jack tilted his head and shrugged, “We’ve got options.”
“The destinations with room for us are Ankaran, Slovenia…”
“Oh, I’ve heard good things about Ljubljana. We could stay on the shore for a few days and travel into the interior,” Rita interjected. “I haven’t been to Slovenia, but I’m sure it’s lovely.”
“I don’t even know where that is,” Lila yawned. “It sounds like something from one of Vi’s weird Tarzan books.”
“She says it as if she hasn’t read them,” Vi snuck in.
Lila smirked, but didn
’t reply as Denny asked, “Was that the only option? Does Slovenia sound fun? I don’t know if it sounds fun. It sounds…like I don’t know. I’m getting images of a…of a…for some reason I’m thinking of that vampire novel.”
“It’s the ‘ya,” Rita said. “Transylvania…Slovenia.”
“Well, I feel like I might start eating bugs. I feel certain there are nightmares ahead.” Denny shrugged. “What else is there?”
“It’s different and exotic,” Jack pointed out. “Isn’t that what we were looking for?”
“Rio De Janeiro was an option.” Ham stepped out of the way of a bypassing family with three shrieking children. The entire group paused and watched them head towards one of the boats. “That was Slovenia.”
“Rio de Janeiro is different and exotic,” Rita said, looking excited. “I’ve wanted to go there for so long.”
“Perth, Australia,” Jack finished, “was the final option for today if we want to spend the whole of the year traveling. These places take at least two months to get there and back.”
“Perth,” Vi and Victor said in unison.
“Two months, Vi,” Jack added. “And that’s if we only spend a short time actually there.”
Vi shrugged and said, “Australia sounds like an adventure for certain. They have those marsupials with babies in their tummies or whatever they are.”
“Rio,” Rita offered. “They have beaches, casinos, night clubs, and it’s the other side of the world.” Her mouth twisted and she said, “But that is another few months. I…want to. But I’m not prepared to be quite so wild on a whim and without research. I suppose reality is settling in. I don’t think Father should like it if we disappeared for months without notice.”