Well Kept Secrets (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 4) Read online

  “An apothecary shop,” Vic stated with interest.

  “If her killer worked here, you would expect her murder to be by a poison that mimics a natural death,” Stone stated. He glanced down at Pete and his brow crinkled with worry. “Maybe you should take Pete home now. He’s done what is needed to get this matter started.”

  Stone knelt down and faced the boy. “I promise you, Pete. We’ll do everything we can to find your mother’s killer. I will even place one of my best men on the case.”

  “Can we have Sergeant Meyers?” Vic asked. He was her favorite policeman, both highly knowledgeable and most cooperative.

  Stone pushed himself up. “No, you cannot.” Before she could demand why, he continued, “Meyers is no longer a sergeant. All those cases you’ve helped him solve have resulted in his promotion to captain.”

  Vic smiled, pleased with her friend’s promotion. “Well then, can we have Captain Meyers on the case?”

  “It won’t help his numbers, but I’m sure when he learns the particulars…” Stone glanced down at Pete. “He’ll want to find who did this.”

  “It could be a bigger case than it appears,” Vic offered. “This man is a practiced murderer and holds power over this neighborhood. No telling what other crimes he’s committed.”

  Pete’s head popped up and his eyes narrowed.

  Xavier gripped the boy’s head with his expansive hand. “Pete, Vic is only making wild assumptions. He has no evidence to back his claim.”

  “While I’m here, I’ll interview the owner of the pharmacy,” Stone stated.

  As a plan formed in her head, Vic gripped Pete’s hand. “Pete and I will head on back so we can get Davy and the carriage for you.”

  Stone’s eyes rounded with surprise. “Thank you, Victor. That would be greatly appreciated.”

  Xavier eyed her with calculating eyes. “Very considerate indeed.”

  She ignored her partner’s speculative glance and led Pete away. “Pete, my unsubstantiated intuition triggered something inside your head. Who do you know who fits the bill?”

  Pete pulled her to a halt, glanced around, ensuring they were alone then motioned for her to lean down. He whispered, “Could be our landlady. She’s a scary woman with lots of power. Get on her bad side and she’ll rent out your room while you’re at work. When you get home, all your possessions will be gone and someone else moved in.”

  Vic considered the possibility, but didn’t like it. Her gut told her this was a man.

  “Who else?”

  “There’s this guy call Sojourn…he’s got lots of power around here, but I don’t see how me mum could have crossed paths with him.”

  While Vic agreed it seemed doubtful Maggie would be involved in the black doings of a crime lord, she couldn’t ignore the possibility. The bastard had almost killed Xavier a year ago for nothing more than staring at the wrong building at the wrong time. Her partner hadn’t even been after Sojourn. He’d been trying to discover the whereabouts of the spy called the Mesmerist. But that didn’t stop the paranoid criminal from hiring a small boy to shoot an old bum sitting on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, that bum just happened to be Xavier.

  Her partner had come very close to dying from an infection caused by the lead bullet in his shoulder, which no one removed for weeks. For that, she would hate Sojourn for the rest of her life.

  “I’ll have Tubs look him over, all the same.” Since Tubs used to work for Sojourn, he’d know what the bastard was up to. “Anyone else have power around here?”

  Pete shrugged. “There’s the bizzies, but they never gave us trouble.”

  Bizzie was slang Lower London used for police. Some said it came from the fact they were always ‘too busy’ to actually stop crimes. Others insisted it came from them always sticking their nose into other people’s business, often taking something for themselves.

  The officer beating on Tubs when they arrived struck her as the type.

  “You ever see that bizzie talking to your mother?”

  “The one pestering Tubs? No. He ain’t our copper. Ours is fat and lazy and spends all day in the shops eating for free.”

  She could hear the contempt in Li’l Pete’s voice. He might only be nine, but he was a child of Lower London. He knew how thin the line between survival and death was for people, including shopkeepers. Those free meals could push a family over the line.

  “Well, the policeman who will be in charge of discovering your mother’s killer is nothing like a bizzie. Captain Meyers is a very good fellow. He’s not only very smart, but he also listens to my suggestions, and never lectures me the way Stone does.”

  Pete smiled through his underlying misery. “Then I’m glad he’s working this case. Me mum deserves the best for she was the greatest mum…” His lower lip trembled, and his breathing quickened.

  Without finishing his statement, Pete set off in a fierce walk, arms pumping at his sides. Vic hurried to catch up with him, worried about the sudden change in his mood. She thought he might have tried to get ahead so he could cry in relative privacy, but there were no tears in his eyes, only hard resolution.

  Pete was angry, possibly at God, and certainly at the murderer.

  Vic didn’t try to distract the boy from his rage, nor slow him down. She just widened her stride to keep up with him.

  One upside of their emotional walk was they returned to Davy faster.

  “Where the bloody hell have you been?” Davy yelled upon sight of Vic.

  She glared at her driver, or more precisely, Xavier’s driver. When she’d first come to work at Thorn’s Private Inquiries, Davy had been a pleasant, competent fellow who did what he was told. But over the years, he had become utterly impossible. That he would yell at his second boss in the middle of Lower London didn’t surprise her in the least. Hardly a week went by that he didn’t bellow over something. She had more than once threatened to get her own driver, but she never followed through, probably because deep down she suspected she was the cause of all the anxiety that caused his temper tantrums.

  She stuffed Pete into the carriage and followed him in, yelling out their destination to Davy.

  “Where’s the Inspector and Xavier?” Davy demanded.

  Vic leaned out the window. “At the address I just gave you!”

  She slammed back against her seat and rolled her eyes.

  As the carriage pulled up to the apothecary, she reached for the door to get out, only to have it open from the outside.

  For a moment, she thought Davy regretted his ill temper and had come to do his job.

  She realized her error when Xavier pushed inside and half-crushed her until she scooted over and gave him more room. Inspector Stone followed and sat politely next to Pete—no crushing whatsoever.

  “That was a bloody waste of time,” Xavier muttered.

  “Did he say when Maggie left last night?” Vic snapped. If they had failed to properly interview the client, she’d go in and do it herself.

  “The owner said she left at five and seemed perfectly fine during her day.”

  Pete huffed and looked at Xavier. “Me mum has been working later than that all week. Did he give a reason why she left early last night?”

  Xavier ran his hand through his hair. “No, but rest assured I will soon find out.”

  “How?” Stone and Vic asked in unison.

  “I plan to apply for Maggie’s position,” Xavier stated.

  “The hell you are! That’s my plan,” Vic challenged.

  Stone chuckled. “Well, if you want my opinion, Vic would make a far more appealing young woman than you, Xavier.”

  “Your opinion is decidedly not wanted,” Xavier snapped.

  However, Vic gave the head of Scotland Yard a smile. “Thank you, Inspector Stone, for being rational enough to see that I am by far the better candidate for this assignment.”

  Xavier chuckled, while Stone furrowed his brow.

  “What?” she demanded.

  Xavier shook his he
ad and looked up at the ceiling of the carriage. “That was a dreadful compliment…unless you intentionally meant to challenge Stone’s rationality, in which case, it was damn clever.”

  Vic grimaced and met Stone’s stern eyes. “I apologize, Inspector Stone. Challenging your rationality was not my intention. It’s Xavier’s rationality I’m questioning. I did not meet the proprietor of the store, but unless he’s a most unusual man, I do not see him hiring an unseemly, tall, skinny woman with a giant beak of a nose.”

  The sternness left Stone’s expression. “I believe Xavier wishes to prevent you from entering a disguise that made lead to challenges during your assignment.”

  “Precisely,” Xavier snapped, his knuckles rapping the window with great intensity.

  “I understand the danger. Pretty young women are more at risk in some ways, but tall ugly ones never get hired at all.” She turned to Xavier and smiled. “However, if you wish, we can both show up for interviews and let the owner choose.”

  The carriage stopped and Xavier opened the door and leaned back. “Thank you, Stone. I will be in contact with Sergeant Meyers later today.”

  “Captain,” Vic corrected him. “Be sure to give him my congratulations on his promotion.”

  Stone stared at her. “Won’t you be seeing him, as well? Ah!” He smiled. “You intend to be on assignment later today.”

  She nodded. “Job openings fill quickly in Lower London.”

  “That they do…with pretty young women, when available.” Stone gave Xavier a meaningful stare and left the carriage with Davy waiting to give him a hand.

  Once the Inspector was headed into Scotland Yard, Davy stuck his head in the open door. “Where to now?”

  “Home, and close the door, you’re letting in the wind.”

  Davy slammed the door shut, but they still heard his reply. “Welcome to my world.”

  Xavier frowned and glared at Vic, as if blaming her for Davy’s regression into possibly the worst behaving driver in London. Then he moved on to Pete.

  “Pete, I can feel your anger all the way over here, but take this to heart. Anger solves nothing. It will set you on a very bad path in life and eventually be your ruin. You’ve had a horrific blow, but it’s your decision whether you want to get back up and be the man your mother intended, or if you want to lie there and let anger destroy the very fine young man your mother has made of you.”

  Pete’s arms folded on his chest, clearly not appreciating Xavier’s lecture.

  “However, let me be clear about one matter. I have already reached my quota of ill tempered employees and I will not tolerate another one. So if this is the new Pete, then you’ll need to live in Vic’s house and answer to Gregory until he straightens you out.”

  Vic smiled at her partner’s brilliance. Her butler ran her house as if he was the master, probably because her aunt and he had been lovers for a very long time. When Vic had decided to become a boy, her aunt had given Gregory the task of making Vic into a fine young man. He would probably enjoy having that task again.

  Pete just glared out the window. His arms still crossed, his body radiating intense anger.

  Xavier slammed down the window and yelled a new destination. He then shoved the window up. “Gregory, it is then.”

  “No!” Pete yelled. “I have to help find me mum’s murderer.”

  “No, you have to find the charming young man you once were. Vic and I will find the murderer.” He leaned forward. “This isn’t to punish you, Pete. I’m trying to save you from a bad blow. Vic lost both his parents.”

  “And I was very angry,” Vic added.

  “And Gregory turned him into a fine young man. The best I’ve ever met.”

  “I wouldn’t have made it without his firm but loving guidance,” Vic added.

  Pete sniffed and stared at her. “How long do I have to stay?”

  “Until the anger is gone. That probably won’t happen until after we find the murderer.”

  Pete nodded and stared out the window. “What if I don’t like it there?”

  “Then step outside and recall the temperature. There are worse things than bossy people who wish to make you into a better person. Freezing to death is a painful way to die.”

  Pete grimaced. “I’ll do my best not to get thrown out.”

  “Then you’ll succeed,” Vic assured him.

  When they arrived and Gregory let them inside without a scold or lecture, Vic felt like it was sign from above. “Gregory, this is Pete. He lost his mum this morning and has no one but us to grow him into a fine young man. Xavier has decided since you did such a fine job helping me get rid of all my anger when my parents died, that you can do the same with Pete.”

  “And what will you be doing in the meantime?” Gregory demanded.

  “Finding the man who killed Maggie,” Vic replied. God! Why couldn’t she have a butler that just did as he was told?

  “Excellent!” He then eyed Pete. “How old are you?”

  “Nine,” Pete muttered as he stared at the front door as if contemplating an escape.

  “Speak clearly, young man.”

  “I’m nine.”

  Gregory’s right eyebrow rose an inch.

  “I’m not lying. I am nine. I’m just small because me mum didn’t have much food to eat when she made me up in her tummy.”

  “I see,” his voice softened. “Well, with proper food, we will try to ameliorate that situation.”

  Pete frowned and looked at Vic. “I don’t understand half what he says. How’s this gonna work?”

  Vic knelt down and hugged the boy. “You’ll tell Gregory when he says something you don’t understand and he’ll keep talking until you do.”

  Pete turned back to Gregory. “Is that true?”

  With his fingers squeezing the bridge of his nose, Gregory managed to reply, “Yes.”

  Just then Claire entered from the living room. “I thought I heard your voice.” Her eyes went instantly to Pete and she hurried beside Vic and smiled at the boy. “Hello, little fellow. What is your name?”

  Pete eyes rounded as if an angel had just floated down from heaven. “I’m Pete Dully. You’re the most beautiful lady I’ve ever seen.”

  Vic groaned and stood up, leaving the poor mesmerized boy in her sister’s arms.

  “And you are the cutest little cherub.” She looked up at Vic. “Any chance we can keep him?”

  “Pete is going to be staying here while we discover who killed his mother.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Claire pulled the boy tight against her chest.

  Vic rolled her eyes. Only her bored sister would declare a woman dying a brutal murder as wonderful because Pete could now be her entertainment.

  She turned to Gregory. “Do not let Claire spoil him,” she hissed.

  Gregory glared in return. “I know how to raise a young boy, even difficult ones.”

  Pete turned in Claire’s arms and looked up at Gregory. “I won’t be difficult, sir. I promise.” He leaned his head back so he could stare at Claire’s smiling face. “I like it here.”

  Claire kissed him on his forehead and frowned. “First thing we need is a bath for Peter and new clothes. Gregory, can you send for a tailor at once please.”

  Gregory nodded and left the hallway, always quick to do Claire’s bidding. Whenever Vic wanted something done, he’d challenge her with a hundred where and why-forths. Sighing at the unfairness, she glanced up at Xavier. “Let’s go. We have work to do.”

  Chapter 4

  Once Vic and Xavier settled in the carriage, he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple. “I apologize. I had not considered Claire’s influence on the boy. I had only thought what a wonderful job Gregory had done with you. I’ll start looking for some other place for Pete and this time I’ll get your approval first.”

  Vic smiled, appreciative that Xavier saw Claire as she did. All her life, everyone acted as if Claire was perfection incarnate. “It’s all right. Had you asked my opinion
, I would have agreed with your suggestion. I have faith that Gregory’s need to raise a proper young man will triumph over Claire’s need to have a living doll to play with.”

  “But he could be outnumbered now. David will always side with Claire,” Xavier warned.

  She sighed with disappointment at her friend David. Xavier was right. He acted more like an acolyte to a goddess than a husband to a wife.

  When the carriage stopped, Vic followed Xavier out, took in her unfamiliar surroundings, and released her frustration out on their driver.

  “Damn it, Davy! You were supposed to take us back to the office!”

  Xavier grabbed her arm and walked her to the brownstone before them. “I gave Davy an extra stop first.”

  “Xavier! The job is going to be taken before either of us applies.”

  A kindly old woman peeked out and smiled when her eyes set upon Xavier.

  “Oh, Mr. Smith, please come in. Your friend, as well.”

  “This is Grumpy Jones.” Xavier motioned toward Vic. “Could I trouble you to run out to the second hand store and pick up a few dresses. Nothing too nice.”

  “Oh…Oh!” Her eyes widened. “Yes…I suppose that would be all right.” The woman eyed Vic with a raised brow.

  “If it’s all the same. I would rather accompany you and select my own garments,” Vic stated.

  “Of course, dear.” The woman grabbed her coat and put it on. “Shall we head off now? I will say you are my nephew from Bath if anyone should ask. Have you ever been to Bath?”

  “No.”

  “Lovely place. I’ll tell you all about it as we walk.”

  Vic avoided looking at Xavier before she left. He was no doubt gloating. Truth was she had totally forgotten that she would require female clothes, not possessing any of her own. Nor could she borrow Claire’s since her sister was considerably smaller and wore only the most expensive current styles made.

  And for what? Claire never moved in society. No, the world’s most expensive clothes were donned solely to mesmerize her besotted husband and now a small boy of nine. Seemed a waste of money. Those two would be besotted if she wore nothing at all.

  She frowned at her ridiculous last thought. God, she was losing her mind today. What was wrong with her?