Solely A Coward: A 1920s Historical Mystery (A Smith Investigates Mystery Book 6) by Beth Byers

Author:Beth Byers [Byers, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Mr. Huggins was a tall man. His hair was thin on top, and he had a rather normal face. I wouldn’t have expected Mrs. Woodhouse, who was rather lovely, to be so intrigued by this fellow. Then, I immediately scolded myself for assuming that they weren’t a match based off of their looks. Perhaps they had the same sense of humor or the same interests. Or perhaps her ability to see past his mask was enough to draw him to her.

I shook off the thought as Smith said, “Huggins, my old friend.”

Huggins paled for a moment and then tried for a jolly expression. “Smith! Fancy finding you at my door.”

Smith reached out and pushed on the door until Huggins let us in. “My wife.”

Mr. Huggins glanced at me and then somewhat frantically back at Smith. Mr. Huggins absently said, “Pleasure.”

“Mmm,” I replied, following Smith through the door.

Smith pulled out a chair for me, and I took a seat while my husband sat next to me. He crossed his ankles in front of him, leaning back casually, and then said, “Do tell me, Huggins, why you’ve been nosing around my house.”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.” His high-pitched voice gave the lie away.

“Also,” I added, “we would like our key back.”

“I don’t know that we need that, Bea,” Smith said easily. “They have already murdered Mary in the house, and honestly, the locks are being changed as we speak.”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You tried that one already.” Smith crossed his fingers over his stomach. “Don’t waste my time, Huggins.”

Huggins laughed, if it were possible stammer during a laugh. Whatever the noise was, it wasn’t all that humorous.

Smith rose then. “Don’t get up, darling Bea. You are carrying a baby.” His eyes snaked to Huggins, and there was such overt threat in it that Huggins’s fake laughter turned into a croak.

“Smith—” Huggins tried.

Smith crossed to the bookcase and started flipping through the pages of every book.

“What are you doing?” Huggins asked.

Smith started whistling in reply.

“I believe he’s searching your place,” I told him helpfully. “I wonder if you might answer a question for me?”

Huggins looked at her.

“You see,” I said. “That looks like a picture of you and a woman on the mantle.”

Huggins nodded.

“There seems to be a few children in that picture.”

“There are,” he said, sounding uncertain.

I narrowed my gaze at him, thinking seriously about grabbing his ear and twisting it.

“Where is your wife?” I snapped.

“Ah—” Huggins’s gaze darted to Smith and then back to me. “She’s in the country with her mother and the children.”

“Because you’ve gotten in trouble.”

He nodded.

“And that trouble has you pretending to love Mrs. Woodhouse.”

Huggins opened his mouth to reply and flailed.

“You are a bad man,” I told him.

He flailed a little more.

“That was a very cruel thing you did. While you were using her to get into our house, she was trusting you with her time and her heart.”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a bit of a sourpuss, isn’t she?”

I stared, filled with fury.

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