Murder Across the Shadowed Room (A Lillian Crawford Murder Mystery Book 3) Read online

  MURDER ACROSS THE SHADOWED ROOM

  BLYTHE BAKER

  Copyright © 2022 by Blythe Baker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  CONTENTS

  Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  About the Author

  When Lillian Crawford’s parents sent her to stay with wealthy relatives in England, they hoped she would return a refined lady, having outgrown her headstrong ways. Instead, Lillian and her twin brother Felix stumble headfirst from one adventure into another.

  While attending a concert in the city, Lillian witnesses a deadly crime that sets her off on a new investigation to uncover the identity of a killer who will stop at nothing to silence the one woman who stands in his way...

  1

  “Your bishop? Are you sure about that?”

  I looked up from my plate of half-finished fruit, eyeing my twin brother Felix, who sat across from me at the long dining room table. A chess board sat between he and our young second cousin, William, who stared at the marble and onyx squares as if willing them to move with his mind alone.

  “Yes,” William answered, turning his furrowed face up at my brother. “Why would I not be?”

  Felix shrugged, leaning back in his seat. He may have been smirking, but the glint in his eyes was all I needed to see that he had every intention of teaching the boy a lesson or two in the ways of a proper chess game. As soon as Felix had started to play, upon our arrival in the house, it had drawn William’s curiosity, and they had begun games that would last sometimes for days.

  William’s wide blue eyes swept over the board again, examining each of his pieces that remained. Felix had taken four of his pawns, his rook, and both his knights. Even from where I sat, I could see there were at least three moves that he could make, one of which would keep Felix entirely away from the queen. Stealing the queen was one of Felix’s favorite maneuvers.

  “William, have you eaten enough?” the question came from his father, Richard, who sat at the head of the table.

  I turned to look, and saw Cousin Richard and the several guests he had invited over for luncheon were all looking keenly at the boy.

  The luncheon was, in a way, a celebration of William’s return to the family. After he had survived a recent kidnapping and been safely rescued, Richard wanted to mark the occasion of his return by throwing several parties. This morning was merely the latest in these jubilations.

  “Yes, Father,” William said, his eyes not leaving the chessboard.

  “Are you certain?” Richard asked. “I don’t believe you have been eating well enough since coming back home.”

  William took a quick glance at his plate, snatched a piece of bacon from the plate, popped it between his teeth, and returned his attention to the game.

  “He’s doing just fine, Richard,” said a gentle voice beside him.

  Miss Rosaline, to the surprise of us all, had come to every one of the celebratory get togethers. I had thought for certain she would have written Richard off for briefly accusing her of taking his son the way he had. Instead, though, it seemed the honest conversation they’d had made her, and he, think about the relationship they shared.

  “Yes, I imagine the lad is just happy to be home,” said another man to his left, a one Mr. Rogers. “He is doing as he should, distracting himself and putting his mind to productive pursuits. These sorts of endeavors will help him forget his time away from home.”

  Richard seemed less convinced, but said nothing.

  “He is doing just fine,” Rosaline repeated, laying a gentle hand on Richard’s arm. “You cannot will everything to be as it was.”

  “I realize that,” Richard said, somewhat heavily. “And I am grateful just to have him safe again.”

  He glanced toward me, and I could see the truth in his gaze.

  I gave him a small, proud smile before turning to look back at the game.

  In a way, I completely understood what my mother’s cousin meant. I could not will things to be as they were…but in a way, I wished I could.

  It would certainly make some things easier to deal with now.

  I glanced at Felix, watching as he studied William’s wary hand upon one of his pawns. Outwardly, my brother looked exactly as he always did, his dark hair sleeked back from his forehead, his long-legged frame clad in a grey lounge suit, stylish yet casual enough for the occasion. His brow was smooth, his expression entirely untroubled, with his arm resting on the table, his legs crossed one over the other, bouncing slightly. From the look of him, there was no place else he’d rather be.

  Either he concealed his worry very well…or he really was not thinking about the conversation we had just had three days prior, the conversation wherein he told me that the death of our younger brother, Daniel, had not been an accident.

  We had not spoken of it again. Had not spoken of him again. Not that I wanted to, of course. The morning he’d opened his mouth about it had been after one of no sleep, after several nights of little sleep. I had dismissed it as nothing more than worry about William, and the staggeringly difficult days we had endured. How could he not think of Daniel after William had been kidnapped? William was not much younger than Daniel had been, and the idea of the boy not surviving the ordeal had been…well, too much for either of us to bear, really.

  Maybe Felix had just said what he’d said without thinking, his mind not as clear or sharp as it typically was. That was an easy explanation, of course.

  The trouble was that I could not stop thinking about it now, and whether or not what he’d said had been in jest, self-deprecation, or worst of all, the truth. I could hardly bear the idea that he somehow had been responsible for Daniel’s death. It just…didn’t make sense.

  What did make sense was that he’d blamed himself for the accident all those years before. It had nearly eaten him alive. His cool, indifferent exterior was nothing more than a shield to hide his true thoughts, which were often plagued with anxiety and doubt. But I knew that of him. I knew him better than I knew myself, better than he knew himself.

  That was how it was, as his twin. We were closer than ordinary siblings could ever be. He was my right hand, I his left.

  Felix glanced at me as if my thoughts had somehow drifted across the table to him, and gave me a lazy stare before returning his gaze back to the board, where William had decided to finally let go of the pawn.

  What, then, was this distance between us? We had never gone so long dancing around something before, something that was so big and so important, yet we both seemed to ignore it when we were around one another? Why?

  “Sir, tea will be served out on the terrace,” Hughes, the butler, said as he entered the room.

  “Very good,” Richard said, getting to his feet. “Well, if you all would care to join me outside.”

  The group rose, one by one, talking of their appreciati
on for the lovely weather we had been having and the anticipation of tea after such a delicious meal.

  “Father, may we finish our game?” William asked.

  Richard lingered near the door as the other guests passed by.

  The stricken look on his face told me that it would be a long, long while before he could comfortably leave William out of his sight. His jaw muscle tightened, and he tried to force a smile. “Yes, all right,” he said. “But don’t take too long. You need some fresh air today.”

  William nodded obediently, but it was clear his mind was filled with the chess game.

  “Keep an eye on him, will you?” Richard asked in a lower voice, his eyes falling upon me.

  “Of course,” I said.

  Richard nodded, his gaze lingering on the boy for a moment before forcing himself to turn and walk away.

  “You really shouldn’t worry your Father so,” I said, pushing my finished plate aside, leaning on my arms. “If he had his way, he’d have you glued to his side so that nothing could happen to you.”

  William looked up at me. “It’s not as if you or Felix are going to let anything happen to me,” he said.

  “We certainly would not,” Felix said. “Your father is just very happy to have you home.”

  “I’m happy to be home, too,” William said.

  Felix glanced at me in warning, telling me not to say anything further. It seemed that everyone in the household had an unspoken agreement about not telling the boy how much danger he had truly been in.

  I looked down at my wrist, which had been wrapped tightly by one of Richard’s friends, a physician who knew at a single glance that I’d sprained it when the kidnapper had thrown me during a struggle. It felt better, even after a few days, but I knew I still had to be careful with it.

  William had yet to mention the whole ordeal with fleeing the room he had been imprisoned in, but I imagined that if he ever thought of it, it would have frightened him. Now that the danger had passed, it was probably much easier for him not to dwell on it all too much.

  The door to the dining room opened once more, and Hughes stepped in again.

  “Yes, we know Richard wishes for us to follow him,” I said, getting to my feet. “We were not dawdling, just letting the boys finish their game.”

  “Oh, we’re miles away from finishing,” Felix said with hardly a look up. “We could be here all afternoon.”

  William’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think it will take me that long.”

  “At the rate you are going right now, we could be here until the end of next week,” Felix said.

  “It’s not that, Miss,” Hughes said. “Mr. Eugene Osbourn is here to see you. I assumed you were out with the others, and so, he is outside waiting for you.”

  “Mr. Osbourn?” I asked, my forehead wrinkling. “What’s he doing here?”

  Felix got to his feet. “Coming to see you,” he said. “Come on, William, we’ll pick this up later.”

  “But I was just about to checkmate you,” William said, frowning.

  “Of course you were,” Felix said, doubtfully. “Let’s go see Mr. Osbourn, shall we?”

  William was not at all pleased with this idea, but followed us out all the same.

  The other guests had made themselves comfortable out on the terrace. The round table was already occupied by Miss Rosaline, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, and Richard, all of whom were playing cards.

  Mr. Osbourn stood beside them, staring out over the garden, engaged in conversation with Richard and the others.

  As we approached, he turned to regard us, and smiled.

  It struck me, upon seeing him again, how blue his eyes were. For some reason, I still half expected to see him wearing the dark shades that he’d worn when we had first met, as he had been so recently cured of his blindness. He stood straight and tall, dressed in a fine suit, a grey fedora tucked beneath his arm. As much as I did not like to admit it, he really was quite handsome.

  “Well, hello there,” he said as we approached, a smile growing on his face as his eyes fell on William. “And there he is. My word, it is a relief to see him here, happy and healthy.”

  Felix and I stopped beside Eugene as William continued down the wide steps to the garden to chase after a pair of ducks making their way toward the lake. “I take it you just heard the news?” Felix asked.

  “Yes,” Eugene said. “Only just. In fact, I was about to rush over here to the estate to inform you of a rumor I’d heard, thinking it to be just what you would need to find the lad.”

  “Oh?” I asked. “You heard who took him?”

  Eugene nodded. “Yes, talk finally made its way through to some of my connections, though the specific knowledge of William’s kidnapping is still quite secret.”

  “And we would like to keep it that way,” Richard said, coming over to stand with us.

  “Mr. Sansbury,” Eugene said, holding his hand out. “It is very good to meet you properly, sir.”

  “Likewise,” Richard said. “I have heard you in concert. Quite remarkable.”

  “You are too kind, sir,” Eugene said.

  “How is the new eyesight?” Richard asked. “Still working well since the surgery?”

  “Indeed,” he said. “I think my vision might even be better than it was when I was a boy.”

  The two men laughed together like they were old friends.

  “I do apologize for interrupting your gathering,” Eugene said. “But when I heard the rumors I did, I rushed over here as quickly as I could.”

  “Rumors?” Richard asked. “About William, I take it?”

  “Yes,” Eugene said. “I had caught wind of a rumor about a particular person being seen with your son, but before I left my family’s property this very morning, I learned that Lillian and Felix had already resolved the matter and that William was back safe and sound with you.”

  “Yes, and thank God he is,” Richard said with a visible sigh of relief. “Where did you learn of this?”

  “Well, I learned of their uncovering the truth about the death of one of your servants, which is all that the newspapers have been reporting it as,” Eugene said. “I realize, as you said, that you wish to keep William’s part in it unknown.”

  Richard nodded. “My son has been through enough. I do not need half of London to know he was kidnapped.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Eugene said. “Well, I am glad that he has been found, and is home. How is he handling it all?”

  “Well enough, I suppose,” Richard said. “I’ve hardly been able to sleep since he’s been back, checking on him constantly. I’ve actually had a servant stand guard at his door all night in case he needs something or wakes frightened.” He shook his head. “I realize how ridiculous it sounds, but I worry that someone might crawl through the window in the dead of night, or that he will have a terrible nightmare and be inconsolable.”

  “You are a good father,” Eugene said. “I’m sure one of the reasons why he seems so happy is that he knows he is safe here with you, and that you would do anything to protect him.”

  “Yes…” Richard said, his eyes finding the boy at once. “I hope he does.”

  “We also have not told him the extent of the danger,” I said to Eugene. “Yes, I fled with him, but I still do not think he realizes what, exactly, it was all about.”

  “I have yet to tell him of George’s fate, either,” Richard said. “The servant who was killed when William was taken. I…haven’t had the heart.”

  My stomach dropped, and I looked at him in surprise. “He doesn’t know?”

  Richard shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “He hasn’t asked?” Felix asked.

  “I’ve been avoiding the answer,” Richard said.

  I shook my head.

  “I know he suspects something, but I would rather him think I dismissed George or something more innocent than that he was murdered,” Richard said, dropping his voice. “He does not need to know.”

  “If you w
ant him to trust you, you must tell him the truth,” Felix said.

  I looked sidelong at him. Interesting that he would choose to talk of truth, given his lack of a desire to do so with me.

  Richard sighed. “I will, just not right now,” he said. “He’s been home for three days. We are still trying to deal with the situation at large, with the police reports, the upcoming trial for the kidnapper…everything.”

  Yes, he had his hands full. “As he gets older, he will have questions about what happened to him and why,” I said. “It’s only natural.”

  “I know,” Richard said, his tone displaying his thinning patience. “I know. For now, however, I am going to do what I can to help him adjust to being home. I know he has settled in again well enough, but I want to be sure he truly is all right.”

  “Of course,” I said. “That certainly seems the wisest way to proceed.”

  Richard nodded, and looked over at Eugene again. “So am I to presume that you simply wished to come over and congratulate these two on a job well done?”

  “Well, in a way, and also to introduce myself properly to you, sir,” Eugene said. “I’d hoped I would have the chance to ask Felix and Lillian to come to my next concert in London in a few day’s time. I am certain they could do with some downtime, as well, given their involvement in the matter.”

  Richard looked over at us. “Yes, I am certain they could. They have been holed up here since William’s return, and I can’t imagine they would miss a chance to hear you play. Am I right?” He looked at Felix and me.

  “We would be happy to hear the famous Eugene Osbourn play at last,” I said, smiling. “We have yet to have the chance, as your concert was canceled on the ship.”

  “Excellent. I have brought tickets for you,” Eugene said, procuring them from his coat pockets, handing one to each of us. “Front and center, for my guests. There will be food and drink provided in a private lounge during the intermission, and of course, I’ll be there to greet you when I am not up on the stage.”