Final Bow at the Bijou (Evie Harris Mysteries Book 1) by Amy E. Lilly

Author:Amy E. Lilly [Lilly, Amy E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Old Crow Press
Published: 2022-10-03T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The next morning arrived much too early for Evie. She’d failed to close the silver drapes in her room the night before, so the morning sun shone through the windows and eventually forced her to open her eyes. Sitting up, she raised her arms to stretch then stopped. Tonight, she would be on stage before hundreds of people.

Evie wrapped herself in her favorite dressing gown, then peeked in on Maeve. She was still asleep. Evie let her rest. It was even eight o’clock and Maeve didn’t have to be at the newspaper until ten for her Friday shift. Maeve’s father was the editor of the newspaper. What Maeve wanted was to write stories, but her father insisted she learn the newspaper business from the ground up. Mr. Clement was proud his oldest daughter had taken such a keen interest in journalism.

Downstairs, Evie found Aunt Dorcas already at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Her aunt looked none the worse for the late evening. In fact, her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes sparkled when she saw Evie.

“I’ve been awake for hours, but I let you sleep. I’ve been thinking about the receipt at the boarding house. She paid rent through until last week. Do you know if Jack picked up Flora’s belongings already?”

“I don’t know,” Evie said.

Jack had mentioned he didn’t know where Flora had been lodging while she was in Richmond. Evie couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of finding out where she and the rest of the troupe boarded. Surely it would have been one of the first places the police would have checked when Jack reported his sister was missing.

“I have an idea,” Aunt Dorcas said. She took a sip of her coffee and motioned for Evie to have a seat. “I think you should talk to Mrs. Brompton to see if she has Flora’s belongings. You’re a cousin sent by the family to retrieve her things.”

“What if the police picked up her belongings?” Evie asked.

“You could say that communication must have been lost amid funeral preparations,” Aunt Dorcas replied.

Evie agreed it would be an excellent cover. “I have to be at the theater by ten, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have something else I need to take care of first, and I hope you’ll help.”

Her aunt arched an eyebrow and peered over her cup of coffee. She waited for Evie to continue.

“I need to tell Daddy what I’m doing. I hate lying to him even more than I hate how he treats me like a child. I need to come clean and let him know I’ll be performing tonight before someone sees me and tells him.”

Aunt Dorcas pondered Evie’s words before she spoke. “I have never known my brother to be levelheaded outside of the police force. I think he used up all his common sense dealing with criminals every day. Let’s hope now that he’s retired, he will listen to reason. I’ll telephone him now and invite him to breakfast.

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