A Cozy Little Murder: A Violet Carlyle Cozy Historical Mystery (The Violet Carlyle Mysteries Book 24

as well as one would have wished. They weren’t troublesome then, it didn’t seem. Just…just…unregulated.”
“Of course,” Vi agreed as if she knew them as well. “Of course. Later, though—”
“Later,” Mrs. Meyers sniffed, “Tessa was the first to get into trouble.” Mrs. Meyers paused so long that Vi wondered if Tessa Tapper’s trouble had an answer that came nine months later. But finally, Mrs. Meyers added, “Too much makeup. Wanting to sing on stage. A little too loud, if you get my meaning.”
Vi had no idea, but she nodded as if she did. Too loud could mean anything from exuberant to hard of hearing. “What about this Ted Tapper?”
Mrs. Meyers scrunched her nose. “He always has a plan, doesn’t he? Some scheme to trick his way through life. Hard work, steadiness, that is what gets you where you need to go. I don’t hold with schemes.”
“I understand completely,” Vi agreed.
“Or loud laughter.”
“Of course,” Vi said. Did that mean untoward jokes and pranks? Did it mean mocking things Mrs. Meyers found sacred? Or perhaps, it just meant that unwanted exuberance that had crossed Vi’s mind before.
“My Jason is a good boy,” Mrs. Meyers said again, still fierce.
“He’s lucky to have such a reliable ally as yourself, Mrs. Meyers,” Vi said. “Did you raise him?”
“Well no, my son and his wife did.”
“Have they been gone long?”
Mrs. Meyers frowned and then muttered, “They’re always gone.”
The present tense had both Vi and Jack stiffening, but Vi hoped that her surprise didn’t cross her face. “Where do they go?”
“Oh they flit about. No steadiness. No ethics. Jason isn’t like that.”
Vi carefully paused and then asked, “And is Jason an only child?”
Mrs. Meyers shook her head and sniffed. “There’s Rebecca. Very squinty. Margaret. Spoiled. Young Thomas. Always full of shenanigans, and such terrible reports he gets from school. Very unlike my Jason.”
“Do I have your family tree right then? You have your son and daughter-in-law and your brother-in-law and your four grandchildren?”
“Well no, there’s Hannah as well.”
“And who is Hannah?” Vi asked carefully.
“My daughter. She has two daughters. They’re both quite tepid. A son, nearly as tepid.”
“Tepid?” Vi asked, but Mrs. Meyers didn’t explain what that inexplicable description meant. “Are we complete then?”
Mrs. Meyers nodded.
“And your dear Jason is long-time friends with the young Tappers? Was there anyone else who holds an influence over Jason?”
Mrs. Meyers frowned deeply as she sniffed. “You might talk to Bethany March.”
Vi was desperate to know who this March woman was and even more so to shake Mrs. Meyers for being so restricted with her information. Instead Vi asked, “How might we find her?”
“She’s the Reverend’s daughter.”
“Which church do you attend?”
Her answer was nearly as snappish as her responses had been at the beginning of the interview, but Vi simply let the woman mutter to herself and then reached in and took her hands again. “You want your grandson found?”
A sharp nod.
“And you want to know what he was doing?”
This time there was a pause before she nodded.
“I’m sure that Jack and Mr. Barnes will be more than capable of discovering just that.”
Mrs. Meyers frowned and then wiped away a tear. Vi wondered if the waspishness was simply from being overcome with feelings. Her favorite family member had disappeared and she was worried. Worried and, perhaps, never indulged by her children and grandchildren.
“How long has he been gone?”
Mrs. Meyers sniffed again, pressing her handkerchief against her eyes before she answered. There was a bit of wail in her voice when she said, “A fortnight.”
Vi glanced at Jack while the old woman’s eyes were covered, still holding her hands. He nodded once and Vi guessed that he had enough to start.
“Jack will be in touch, Mrs. Meyers. If you’d like, I’ll return with him.”
The older woman nodded around her silent tears and Jack rose. Vi carefully stood as well, wrapping an arm around the woman and asking, “Do you need anything before we go?”
She shook her head, never removing the handkerchief and Vi squeezed her gently once again. “I’m sure you have Jack’s card. All will be well,” Vi promised, hoping she wasn’t wrong.

Chapter 5
“How do you do it?” Jack muttered. “That woman said nothing helpful yesterday. Ham said we should just decline her work, but he didn’t want to tell Smith we didn’t find out whatever is off with the woman.”
Vi grinned at him for a moment and then felt guilty for it. Rita. Ham. How was the baby? “I need to go home.”
Jack didn’t need an explanation for Violet’s thoughts, so he turned the auto towards home. The ride was quiet and she was overcome with anxiety. Finally she turned her thoughts to Mrs. Meyers just to stop endlessly circling around what was happening with Rita.
“Why did she say she hired you yesterday?”
“She said that her grandson was missing.”
Vi scratched her arm, realized it was the deep bruise making itself known, and carefully moved her hand away. It was too late to hide that her arm was bothering her and she glanced at Jack through her lashes to see if he’d noticed.
Of course he had, she saw and scowled. He said nothing, so she said nothing, and the tension ratcheted up in the auto. Vi sighed and then asked, “Did she tell you anything else?”
“She came by Smith’s office and told him that her grandson was missing and the constables weren’t taking her reports seriously.”
“Why?” Vi asked. “Did you ask them why?”
“Ham did. They said that the boy had come and gone time and again, and it wasn’t her first complaint. The most they’d say for her was that this was the longest he’d been gone. The local bobby who walks that beat said that the old woman gave Jason money when he asked for it. The bobby assumed the woman was either out of money, or young Jason—who is at least 25 years old—has been having a better streak at whatever his vice is.”
Vi didn’t like that one bit. She rubbed the back of her neck. “If she’s