Holiday Gone

by Beth Byers

“Murderess.”

  They met each other’s gazes and the amusement faded. It was different when you knew the killer and didn’t hate her.

  Chapter 15

  “Let me follow this out for a moment,” Ro said. “Janet was having an affair with Cecil.” Ro paused and then added, “Ew.”

  “And possibly so was Amy,” Hettie added, shuddering.

  “It’s nearly as good as confirmed that both of them were involved with Cecil personally, even if Amy wasn’t actually sleeping with him.”

  Hettie shuddered again, rubbing her arms.

  “So setting aside the business issues entirely for a moment, let’s assume that Janet and Cecil got into a lover’s quarrel. Perhaps Janet discovered that Amy was having an affair with Cecil and confronted Cecil in her compartment.”

  “Mmm,” Hettie said, “Maybe.”

  “So now we know why Cecil was in the compartment. Of the two, Janet is far more distraught over Cecil’s death than Amy.”

  “Amy was using Cecil, I think. If she was doing anything more, it was a means to an end. Janet, however, she didn’t have business shenanigans to work on with Cecil. She’s simply married to an old man and I bet Cecil was around.”

  “He made attempts at charming with you,” Ro said. “They were feeble but considering the way Humphrey snuffles it might have been the balm to Janet’s wounded heart.”

  “So, perhaps, Janet lost her temper, hit him with her clock and then as he fell, he grabbed the brooch that was pinned to her. It tore off the cloak and slipped under the table where we found it.”

  Ro and Hettie stared at each other and then glanced at the clock in their compartment. Nearly identical. Heavy enough to maintain its position on the moving train. It would have been within easy reach.

  “If what Linney saw is accurate,” Hettie added after a moment. “I wonder where the cloak is at now? If she were wearing it at the time of the murder, it wouldn’t be in her compartment and I haven’t seen her in it since.”

  “Wait,” Ro exclaimed. “Humphrey said something about Amy borrowing the cloak from Janet, didn’t he? If that was in fact before the murder, it could have been Amy, disguised as Janet. If Amy killed Cecil while wearing that cloak, perhaps she’s disposed of it on the train? I’ll bet that we’d find blood on that cloak, wherever it is.”

  “There was rather a lot of blood, wasn’t there?”

  “So—” Ro announced, “we should try to find the cloak, but are we back to suggesting it was Amy who killed Cecil? Moments ago we were certain it was Janet. And moments before that, we were fairly convinced it was Amy based on those documents we found.”

  Hettie groaned and shook her head. She had no idea. “I’m more confused than ever. What a tangled mess this is.” She rubbed her temples. “I think we should explore Cecil’s room for a clue, and we need to talk to Janet. Ask her directly. But we need to get her away from Humphrey. She won’t answer honestly in front of him.”

  “I doubt she’ll answer honestly either way,” Ro said, “but I’ll distract Humphrey in the bar car. A thousand pounds says they are still there and if luck is on our side, they are both very, very drunk by now. All that booze should act as a truth serum.”

  They’d snuck into Cecil’s room on the way to the bar car and were now sneaking back out.

  Ro whispered quietly while they moved quickly away from Cecil’s door. “That was quick and easy. I can’t believe he left that note behind. And that no one else found it.”

  “I doubt he knew he was being invited to his death,” Hettie said. “And we don’t know if anyone has thought to search his compartment. Or they left the note behind when they did so.”

  The note they had found under a half-filled glass of gin read, “Dearest C, Meet me in my compartment at 3:30 p.m. I’ve convinced H that I’ll need a nap while he plays chess with Jonas in the bar car. I need to see you again. It’s urgent. Yours.” There was no signature, only a heart, but Janet wasn’t all that bright. The H in the note confirmed the author.

  “So do we think it’s that simple?” Hettie asked. “Janet invited Cecil to her compartment after making sure Humphrey wouldn’t be there so she could have a rendezvous with her lover? Either that or to confront him about his affair with Amy.”

  “Given that he ended up dead, I imagine it was for the latter reason. Don’t you?”

  “A scorned lover?”

  “I would think so, yes. But what about the cloak? Humphrey said Amy borrowed the cloak, but we don’t know when. It would have to have been before the murder, surely. Do you think Amy wrote the note, pretending to be Janet?”

  “No,” Hettie said. “That isn’t my sister’s handwriting. Not even close.”

  “Perhaps she was pretending?” Ro suggested, then she shook her head. “You try talking to Janet. I’ll take care of Humphrey.”

  It wasn’t at all difficult for Ro to distract Humphrey. They’d joined them at the table and Ro immediately began to shamelessly flirt with the old man. Hettie was impressed. Ro had no trouble selling interest in the man to even Hettie, who knew Ro was playacting.

  “Mr. Banks,” Ro said, batting her eyelashes, “I am always so impressed by a man who can hold his whiskey. It always brings a tear to my eye and makes my feet most unreliable.”

  He blushed and Hettie groaned inwardly. Men really were idiots when it came to the wiles of women. Especially when they were drunk. It made one almost feel bad that they could be so easily manipulated. Almost.

  Although, Hettie thought, Janet’s loveliness might have given Humphrey an ill-founded confidence in his attributes.

  “Oh, my dear, it’s an acquired taste. The more you drink, the more you begin to notice the subtle differences in flavor.”

  Ro pouted. “I never seem to order the right kind, I think. Perhaps you could help me. Would you accompany me to the bar and do a taste test of sorts with me? I am just so bored, being stuck on this dreadful train with a dead body.”

  “Of course, dear. Come with me. Janet, excuse us. Hettie here will keep you company, won’t you, dear niece?”

  “Why, of course, Uncle.” Hettie studied Janet cautiously. Ro was laying it on rather thick but Janet either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

  She waited until Ro had Humphrey sitting at the bar. “Janet, I need to talk to you for a moment while Humphrey is away.”

  Janet took another sip of her olive-y drink. “Certainly.” Her voice was far away.

  Hettie didn’t have patience to try and finagle a smooth transition so she went right to it, like Ro had with Humphrey.

  “I know you were having an affair with Cecil, Janet.”

  Janet paled and then lifted her glass with shaky hands and proceeded to drink every last drop. She glanced nervously to the bar where Humphrey was very caught up with Ro and their whiskey-tasting.

  “You mustn’t tell Humphrey.” Janet’s eyes welled up with tears. “He wouldn’t understand. He saved me, you must realize. Everyone thinks that I came from money, but my father disowned me. Humphrey swooped in like a knight in shining armor. He offered me a home, safety, an allowance. He let me keep my life and all he wanted was for me to be his companion for the remainder of his life.”

  Hettie blinked, surprised she hadn’t heard that information before. How had Humphrey and Janet so easily kept those secrets?

  “Why Cecil?”

  Janet’s hand shook as she put her fingers to her mouth. “It’s harder than I thought it would be. Smiling at Humphrey’s jokes. Agreeing with his opinions. He’s so angry about things. You and your marrying Harvey left Humphrey in a rage lecturing about the idiocies of youth. He doesn’t like to dance. He doesn’t like my clothes. He wants, well, he wants his first wife but my body. And the bedroom side of things. He’s kind to me, but—”

  “He’s old enough to be your father.”

  Janet nodded, looking sick. “It’s all been harder than I thought. Cecil seemed to understand.”

  Cecil understood that Janet was lonely a
nd sad, and all she wanted was someone who would dance with her, Hettie guessed.

  “He was kind to you?” Hettie asked.

  Janet nodded, another slow tear slipping down her face.

  “He danced?”

  Another nod.

  “Shopped?”

  A nod.

  “Noticed when you wore a new dress?”

  “He remembered my birthday, brought me flowers, always knew what kind of chocolate I liked. He saw me.”

  “That must have been intoxicating,” Hettie said kindly. “After having Humphrey try to remake you into his first wife.”

  Janet nodded. Her hands were shaking as she dabbed her eyes.

  “You didn’t kill Cecil, did you?”

  Janet shook her head.

  “Did you lend Amy your cloak?”

  Another shake of the head. “No, of course not. I can’t stand your sister. She’s always so conniving. I told Cecil that Amy always looks like she was stealing candy from a baby.”

  “I would wager he found that quite funny.” Hettie would wager that Cecil would have pretended amusement at any of Janet’s jokes in order to find himself in her arms later.

  “I feel like I’ve lost the love of my life and everyone wonders why I’m upset.”

  Hettie took Janet’s hand. “I’m worried about you, Janet. I found your note in Cecil’s compartment asking him to meet you. It looks very much like you lured him to your compartment and then killed him.”

  Janet gasped in surprise, then looked around. When she was confident Humphrey hadn’t noticed, she leaned in, her eyes narrowed, whispering, “I never wrote him a note.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No,” Janet breathed. “Did someone…did they…did they use our love to kill my Cecil?”

  Hettie had no answer to that. Janet disappeared into her silent grief and Hettie moved a few seats away. She had to wait for Ro to escape Humphrey. It seemed it was rather easier to draw him in than to escape him, which did sum up Janet’s situation, too. In the end, Hettie ordered herself a hearty tea and partook while Ro started to drown in her cups. Ro was going to fly past zozzled and go straight to a long winter’s nap.

  Chapter 16

  Hettie finally left Ro and returned to the compartment alone. She paced the small aisle between their benches, looking at the brooch in her hand. Hettie believed that Janet had not killed Cecil. Janet might have believed she was in a tragic love story, but she seemed to have truly cared about Cecil.

  And, Hettie thought, Amy didn’t have a motive unless she really was cuckolding Frederick with Cecil. Did Hettie believe that her sister had taken the clock and murdered her lover? On Janet’s part, Hettie could almost see it. But Amy? Amy was too cold of heart to have murdered Cecil over jealousy.

  Hettie turned to the clock and tried to imagine using it to murder Cecil. Surely one would be driven by rage to strike a killing blow on the man’s head? She crossed to pick it up and gasped. It was quite heavy, just as Ro had said. Even so, Hettie had been unprepared for the weight and it had thrown her off.

  She’d guess it would have thrown off Janet and Amy. Wouldn’t it have given Cecil time to dodge or even stop the blow?

  Hettie realized she was forgetting one other person who was involved. Humphrey’s pretty young wife had made a bargain with him. Humphrey was a proud man. Hugely so. If it got out to society that Janet was cuckolding him, who wouldn’t say that he should have expected it? He’d look like not only an impotent old man, but a blind fool as well.

  Hettie tried to imagine how Humphrey might react and shivered. He was prone to anger. His rage would be intense. It would be one of those things where if she knew the storm was coming, she’d flee rather than watch the show.

  Hettie left her compartment and found her way to Ro. She was worried about her friend, but she had another reason to seek them out. Humphrey was drunk. When he was drunk, Hettie knew, he was belligerent and loud.

  She ran into Officer Fishe outside the bar car. She put her finger over her lips, then nodded to a spot out of the way but within earshot. He hesitated until she nodded toward her uncle who was obviously drunk.

  He nodded and moved into place.

  Hettie hurried to her uncle, grabbed his arm, and whispered frantically, “Uncle Humphrey, they know!”

  He stared blearily at her. “They don’t!”

  Ro raised her head, looked without truly seeing them, and then let her head fall back to the bar.

  “They do!” Hettie hissed. “They know you took your wife’s cloak and lured Cecil to your compartment for what he thought was an assignation.”

  “They can’t know that.”

  Hettie let her eyes well with tears. She was becoming good at it with so much practice, like her lock-picking skills. “You have to run!”

  “I won’t,” Humphrey declared. “Unmanly.”

  “They’ll put you in jail for killing Cecil! They know you did it!”

  “Of course I killed that good-for-nothing Cecil. He was having an affair with my wife. And he was trying to destroy my brother’s company. He had it coming and if he was standing here in front of me, I’d hit him with that clock all over again. He deserved it.”

  Truth serum, indeed, Hettie thought. The whiskey he’d consumed with Ro, her frantic whispers, and his pride had done the trick.

  “Oh Uncle Humphrey, you could have divorced her.”

  Humphrey snorted. “Then I’d be all alone when I die. A pretty face and a gentle hand go a long way, Hettie. I’ve spoiled Janet since the day I married her so I wouldn’t be alone. I’ll get what I paid for.”

  “No,” Officer Fishe told Hettie’s uncle as he approached, “I’m afraid you won’t.”

  Hettie stepped back, taking the extremely drunk Ro with her. They watched as the train’s security officer and Officer Fishe removed the extremely drunk Humphrey.

  “It wasn’t you?” Amy asked, standing at a nearby table. Hettie hadn’t seen her. “I thought for certain it was.”

  “I thought it was you as well.” Hettie shook her head at her sister.

  “Me? Why would I?”

  “To hide that you were selling your shares of Father’s company. He’s going to disown you, Amy.”

  “I got them back,” Amy hissed. “He won’t know. Cecil and I had a contract that he had to get you to accept his proposal for this to work out. He couldn’t sell the shares to Jonas until you did.”

  “Why would you do that to Father?”

  “He laments my not being a son. The plan was to show him what I was capable of. Too late for him, of course, because I wouldn’t let him have the company back, but he’d have learned.”

  Hettie stared at Amy. “You’re going to break Father’s heart.”

  “Father won’t believe you,” Amy said. “He always preferred me.”

  “I’m not telling Father,” Hettie replied softly.

  Amy breathed out a quick sigh of relief.

  “But I suspect that Officer Fishe or one of his peers will.”

  Amy’s mouth dropped open and Hettie took her chance to escape. She dragged the drunk Ro back to the compartment, nudged her onto the seat, and then looked back at the door. They were supposedly safe, but she stacked their luggage in front of it anyway. She’d spent too much time with the criminals in her family to feel entirely secure.

  It was a long time before Ro asked, “Now what?”

  “Our tour, then a hot air balloon, and I rather think—Cuba.”

  Ro yawned. “I’m starving.”

  “Ribsy said we’d reach our destination soon. Can’t you feel us moving?”

  “I feel it,” Ro said and groaned. “I’m not sure I’m up for a sleigh ride.”

  “Oh we’re doing it,” Hettie countered. “Sleigh rides, snowmen, the full holiday treatment.”

  “Do you promise?”

  Hettie handed Ro two aspirin and a glass of water. “I promise.”

  The END

  Hullo friends! We are so gra
teful you dove in and tried out Hettie and Ro. Their friendship is very similar to the friendship of Bettie and I. We met more than 6 years ago and have been close friends ever since. We hope you’ve enjoyed how we’ve indulged our friendship in this book. If you wouldn’t mind, we would be so grateful for a review.

  The sequel to this book is available for preorder now.

  March 1923

  In their next adventure, the sky is the limit for Hettie and Ro.

  The effort to grow their new textile business requires they journey to many exotic locations. The first stop on their trip: Costa Rica. Determined to find rest and relaxation amid a bit of adventure in the tropical rain forests and volcanos of Central America, they’ve chartered their own hot air balloon tour. Given their luck with autos, motorcycles, yachts, and trains, they’ve decided Fate must only have their good fortune in mind going forward.

  When the body of one of the aeronauts turns up in bizarre circumstances ,the desperate duo decide to view the crime scene from the air. Pushing the limits of their safety and their friendship, they face their fears in order to catch a criminal and prevent more deaths in this country that has come to mean so much to them.

  Order Your Copy Here.

  If you’re interested in diving into another Christmas book, you might check out one of the following books by Beth Byers.

  December 1922

  It's the first holiday away from home for the Wode sisters, and they're all homesick. All too soon, they realize they aren't the only ones who are restless.

  It's time to discover why the dead are antsy, and what they’re going to do about it. Will Ariadne, Circe, and Echo discover what is wrong? And will they be able to somehow solve the problem and fix their holiday spirits? Or, will they give up and go home?