A Treasured Little Murder: A Violet Carlyle Cozy Historical Mystery (The Violet Carlyle Mysteries Bo

stopping and napping under the trees and carrying on in the cool of the evening, but the weight of Jack’s and Ham’s worries kept them going.
They reached London and found their way to Vi’s house. The usual servants were at the country house, but Vi’s business manager and friend, Beatrice, lived in the city house full-time. They also kept at least one servant on the premises to look after things.
When Vi arrived, she let herself in and then crossed to the parlor, throwing herself on the Chesterfield with a sigh.
“What now?” Rita asked.
“Baths,” Vi declared.
“Dinner out?”
Vi shook her head against the seat of the couch. No one was present to cook and neither of them were reasonable cooks, but Vi figured they were likely enough to have eggs and bread in the house, and she could manage toast and an omelet. “It’s too hot.”
Vi eventually dragged herself up the stairs to bath and put on her coolest sleeping wear covered by a light kimono. She wandered across the hall and knocked on Rita’s door. “Rita darling, are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine,” Rita called. “Are you being solicitous because I’m a breeder now? Or is it the heat?”
“Both.” Vi laughed. “Your poor child. Over-protective father on one side and a mad mother on the other.”
“Let alone the crazy Aunt Vi,” Rita countered. “What are the chances we’ll find something frozen and delectable in the kitchen?”

Chapter 4
“Low,” Beatrice said from the open doorway. She grinned widely at the two women. “Hello. So glad you made it safely. There’s a fellow here who wants to see you. He’s come time and again.”
Vi squealed and spun, hugging Beatrice. About the visitor, Vi said, “I’m still covered in sweat and dust from the road, and we are not at home. Tell whoever dared to show up at our house almost the moment we arrived to go away. Channel my stepmother if necessary. Be imperious and dismissive. My heavens.”
“What if it is your father who sent the fellow?” Rita asked quizzically as Beatrice nodded without surprise.
“It isn’t,” Vi told Rita. “He doesn’t keep a lookout for me, and I certainly didn’t tell him I was coming.”
“Gerald?” Rita asked, referring to Vi’s oldest brother. “Or Tomas?” Vi’s brother-in-law was one of Vi’s long-time friends, and she had been closer to him than anyone other than Victor for years. She loved them both but neither were at the door.
“Is the visitor a member of my family?” Vi asked to stop Rita’s teasing.
“No,” Beatrice replied with a laugh.
“Then, make him go away, please, dear one.”
Beatrice assured she would while Vi finally escaped to the bath to wash her face and rinse off. When she returned to her bedroom swathed in a kimono, she found Rita had done the same and Beatrice had brought up chilled coffee and cucumber sandwiches.
“You don’t have to wait on us,” Vi said, but she took the coffee gratefully and sank into a chair in her boudoir. She and Jack shared the master bedroom, so they turned the very Victorian mistress-of-the-house bedroom into Vi’s private space. The dragons on her armoire, the typing table and covered typewriter, the photograph of her mother and great-aunt all proclaimed this room fully Vi’s.
“Did you confess?” Vi demanded.
Neither Beatrice nor Rita appeared sure if Vi was speaking of themselves, so Vi grinned and expanded on her comment. “Both of you have been up to no good, I can see.” To Beatrice Vi said, “Rita’s going to be a mother and a sister.”
Beatrice’s mouth dropped opened just as Vi was struck with a pillow from behind.
Vi tossed the pillow back at Rita but her aim was off. She blamed it on the heat. “Now,” she said to Beatrice, “what have you done?”
Beatrice blushed brightly, but she said nothing.
“Something,” Rita mused. When Beatrice didn’t disclose her secret, Rita told Vi, “She’ll confide in us eventually.” She sighed as the heat hit her and she attempted to fan herself with her hand. “Do you think Smith could be sent for ices?”
“Smith?” Beatrice asked and then laughed.
“Smith?” Vi demanded with a snort. “Not Smith. Have you gone mad? We left him in the country with our husbands.”
Beatrice’s love was a private investigator as well as a man who seemed to have no morals and no mercy. “He’s in Edinburgh,” Beatrice told them with a frown.
“Edinburgh? I thought he was working a case with Jack and Ham,” Rita said, brow crinkling as she tossed her pillow back to the bed. “Perhaps I have gone mad. The heat is just so sweltering.”
“Smith is following a lead to find that man who absconded with company funds.”
Vi lifted a brow and then fanned herself. “So we’re on our own for ices?”
Beatrice rolled her eyes. “No. Jemmy is here looking after the house. I’ll send him and tell him he can have one too. He’ll be thrilled.”
“Ooh, then send him for those spicy Chinese noodles,” Rita begged.
Vi shook her head and told Beatrice, “Here we go again with another round of food madness. Of course she wants the noodles that make you feel as though you’re on fire, it’s as hot as Hades outside. If we didn’t know she was expecting, we’d know it now.”
“I do feel like I tripped right into the nether realm,” Rita said. “It’s hot here, Bea. Why don’t you come with us back to the country house? We’re having a ridiculous party. All of the oddest things we can think of that, when put together, create fun and frivolity.”
“Yes,” Vi said instantly, “I insist. You can wait until the heat wave is over to come back to London. Especially with Smith gone. It must be lonely here.”
Beatrice was shaking her head but Vi groaned and said, “There’s nothing truly needing your attention, is there?”
Beatrice paused long enough that Vi could see the answer was no but that Beatrice felt guilty for leaving. “Surely anything could wait?”
Beatrice hesitated and Rita added, “Vi could use the help with her party.”
“That’s what we