Gerald grinned at that and said with pride, “I did.”
Vi ignored him to fill her plate.
“I’ll end it too.”
Vi rolled her eyes at him. “You, brother mine, are a juvenile when it comes to this game. You should consider whether this is a battle you want to begin.”
She ignored him once again for the coffee Jack handed her.
“Don’t fight with Vi,” Jack told Gerald idly. “She’ll win.”
“You don’t think I could win?”
“No. She’s meaner than you.”
“I’m mean,” Gerald snapped. “I could be meaner. Look at these people. They think I’m meaner.”
No one met his gaze, but Denny snorted and leaned back with an avid look on his face that said he looked forward to the next act.
“She came up with the not letting you sleep plan while she was drunk and giddy,” Jack told Gerald.
“She did not.”
“Oh, but she did,” Jack muttered. “Why am I arguing with him? Has Ham arrived?”
“Who lives at Hill House?” Vi asked suddenly.
Jack stared at her and Vi shrugged innocently before she said, “I don’t think he likes us.”
“We were talking,” Gerald said, making his own plate and then taking the seat opposite Vi.
“But I got bored,” Vi told him. “You’re making my headache return.”
“You need a cocktail, Vi,” Denny suggested, and she shot him a nasty look.
“I’m never drinking again.”
“I bet you don’t make it one day,” Denny said.
“I’ll take that bet,” Vi countered. “If I win you have to give up chocolate for a month.”
Denny gasped, holding his hand over his heart while Jack lifted a significant brow at Gerald. “I told you she was meaner.”
“What was stolen?” Gerald demanded, deliberately changing the subject.
“Something was stolen?” Denny asked. “When?”
“You had already dragged off to your bed, Denny,” Jack said. “I didn’t see anything missing. Other than the goblet earlier in the day.”
“They probably returned for the real goblet.” Vi sighed into a forkful of beans and told Jack, “I told you Rita was naughty. She bought a prop from some London theater.”
“She did?” Hollands asked and Vi looked over.
“Oh, Mr. Hollands.”
“It’s not gone?” He was breathless.
Vi grinned at him and then glanced around the table, taking note of who was present. Denny was there, along with Smith and Beatrice, her brother and both Hollands brothers. Her cousin Algie waved at her from the corner, with his wife looking nearly as ill as Vi had felt earlier.
“We still have a chance?” Edward Hollands was begging, and his voice shrill and frustrated.
“To find your fake treasure?” Vi asked. “I guess. I don’t know what Rita and Ham will do. Let alone Smith. I’m sure he threatened you.”
“But he’s only…” Edward fell silent when everyone stared at him, some incredulous, some daring him to continue his thought.
“Oh,” Denny winced.
“If you want a chance at the treasure, Edward,” Shelby Hollands said, “quit infuriating the only people who would let you play.”
Edward Hollands turned to Smith and tried a conciliatory grin, but Smith was unmoved. His cold, snake’s gaze was fixed on Hollands, and it was all the more disturbing because of Smith’s angelic features and cruel eyes. But when Smith looked at Beatrice, somehow all the darkness disappeared even if nothing else changed about his expression.
“Are Ham and Rita coming?” Vi asked before Edward Hollands started simpering.
“I expect so,” Jack replied, refilling her coffee before she did. “Victor as well, I’m sure.”
Vi slipped back into quiet, listening to the murmur of those around her as she thought. Her wits were slowly returning. “Who else believes in this treasure?”
“The Treasure of Nemo?” Edward Hollands corrected.
“I can’t call it that,” Vi replied, pressing on her temples to keep the threatening headache at bay. “The mythical treasure?”
“It’s well documented,” Edward shot back.
“Using incredibly unlikely sources,” Smith replied idly with a low, cool voice that made the others at the table shiver.
Edward was not so wise. “Unlikely? Hardly! I learned this from a professor at Oxford.”
“One who no longer works there,” Smith added in an insinuating tone that made Edward Hollands’s upset seem all the more extreme.
“What do you think?” Vi asked Dr. Hollands.
The man flushed and glanced at his brother. He cleared his throat and said, “Well. The goblet does exist.”
“Has it been verified?” Vi asked. “All we know is that Rita’s father got it from someone.”
“From the family who owned the original property,” Edward stated pompously. “There was a strict provision in the family lore that the goblet went with the property. Something that the man who sold the property to Philip Russell felt strongly about.”
“But your brother doesn’t have the same faith. Does he, Hollands?” Smith accused quietly.
Both of their gazes, along with everyone else’s, moved to Dr. Shelby Hollands.
He fiddled with his coffee cup before saying, “We’ve gone on many adventures, Edward and I.”
Smith scoffed and Shelby Hollands added, “Perhaps I am not as convinced as Edward.”
“Shelby!” Edward Hollands snapped with a look of pure betrayal.
“It’s still fun, though, isn’t it?” Dr. Hollands added. “Why wouldn’t we chase it? Why wouldn’t we try to find it? Do I think that the family buried their treasure and didn’t go back for it? Probably not.”
“Shelby!”
“Edward, come now. You weren’t convinced when you spoke to Gregory St. Claire either.”
“Is that the professor you talked to?” Vi asked.
“The St. Claire family owned the house before Philip Russell purchased it,” Dr. Hollands explained as his brother crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back with a look that said he wasn’t going to be mocked any further. “It was one of the sons of that family who started researching this treasure.”
“Why didn’t he just chase it down himself?” Smith asked, clearly knowing the answer.
Neither of the Hollands brothers responded, so Smith answered for them. “Because no one in his family believed it. Gregory might be a St. Claire, he wasn’t of the main line and couldn’t do much at the estate himself.”
Denny laughed at that and then rose for a second plate. They all looked a
