“Maybe she thinks that marrying Meyers will save her from her current lot.”
Vi considered, and remembered the edge of contempt in Hepzibah Sinclair’s tone. Vi really didn’t think so. What she thought was that Hepzibah Sinclair knew rather too well what her father wanted of her, what Jason Meyers wanted, and what she wanted. Given the way she stabbed her flower into that embroidery, Vi thought that the woman might well be very aware that all of those wants didn’t align.
“What did her father say again?”
Jack shook his head for a moment, his own mind picking at the case just as hers was. “He said that his daughter knew what was expected of her and that she was a good girl. He also said that he’d lose her to a blight on humanity like Jason Meyers over his dead body.”
“Over his dead body?” Vi repeated. She replayed that sentence in her mind, imagining the good reverend with the steepled fingers and the heavy brows. His daughter knew what was expected of her and that she was a good girl. Vi shuddered. Did Hepzibah Sinclair find being relegated to an eternal childhood obedience as suffocating as Vi did? Was the reverend’s daughter happy with her lot?
And, Vi frowned, why was the grandmother so intent on finding her grandson right then? Smith was right. Something was off about this case, and it was the reason Mrs. Meyers was searching for her grandson so earnestly. Maybe she was worried, but Vi couldn’t quite imagine it was that alone.
This Meyers character was someone that everyone recognized as a snake. He wasn’t someone you started looking for after a few days or even a fortnight. He was someone you knew would turn up. There was no way, Vi thought, after a lifetime of knowing the man, that his grandmother hadn’t waited for him to turn up a few times. That she hadn’t wondered and worried. No, Vi shook her head and then turned to Jack, laying out her thoughts only to find he’d been thinking the same.
“We need to talk to her,” Jack said. “Something is pressing this need to find him right away. Ham and I aren’t the most economical of sleuths, Vi. It weeds out the men chasing their wife’s lovers, and she paid that retainer without a pause.”
“Whatever the reason as to why she’s looking so hard for him might well illustrate where to find him.”
Jack nodded.
A light drizzle started and the smell of rain in the air was sufficient to make her relax into her seat. “It’s idiotic that she’s paying you and not giving you all the information.”
“That reason might be enough to give us what we need to find him,” Jack mused. A crack of thunder snapped overhead and it was quickly followed by lightning. The drizzle had changed to a heavy downpour and Jack said, “We’ll talk to her tomorrow then.”
Chapter 10
The run from the auto to the house was enough to soak Vi through to her shoes. The sky had darkened with the storm, and when they stopped the auto outside of their house, the rain was coming down in sheets. Vi glanced at Jack, nodded, and then darted from the auto, racing towards the house. Despite her speed, she was dripping in the great hall moments later.
Hargreaves took her wet coat and she held out her arms somewhat shocked. She was fully soaked from her knees to her toes and every part of her hair that hadn’t been covered by her hat. She hadn’t expected a storm, and she hadn’t been wearing the heaviest of her coats, so the top half of her dress was wet, though in the musty, half-damp way that is possibly more irritating than dripping.
Violet scowled at Hargreaves and then heard a lazy voice say, “Well, well, this is what comes of being industrious.”
“Denny,” Vi muttered, “shouldn’t you be lurking in your own doorways?”
“Lila and I have invited ourselves to dinner. Also we’ve lost power, so we were hoping you had it. The baby and nanny have already installed themselves upstairs.”
Violet met his gaze, nodded in amusement, and then headed upstairs.
When she reached the top of the stairs, Denny called, “We invited Victor and Kate along with Rita and Ham.”
She turned back to him, noted his mischievous grin, and shivered. “Then I suggest you start making hot toddies. It’s a deluge.”
Vi passed the guest room usually used by Lila and Denny and found Lila had just changed into one of Vi’s dresses.
“Sorry darling,” Lila said, taking in the very wet Vi, “all of the dresses I left here are too little, but you had this one.”
Vi was more slender than Lila, but the dress Lila had found could be wrapped and tied on the side so she could just make it work. It was far more revealing on Lila than on Vi, but that just added to the lush beauty that Lila wore so effortlessly.
“Lila, hullo. Must change. Would you mind pushing Denny through making hot toddies? I fear I’m freezing and anyone else who comes will be as well.”
Lila nodded. “We were fools to leave our house. I can’t imagine anyone else coming in this downpour. Denny was going on about something your chef makes as though he can just do it on demand.”
Violet rolled her eyes. Denny hadn’t a clue how the kitchens worked, and she doubted he’d ever done any scrambling of food for himself beyond cold meats, cheese, and bread. Perhaps, he could be expected to slice himself a piece of bread and slather it in butter.
“He makes himself helpless in order to get you to do it for him,” Violet told Lila who nodded and then glanced beyond Vi. The sound of Jack on the stairs was enough for Lila to shoo Vi into her
