The Secret Life of Violet Grant Read Online Free PDF Page B

short notice, and why he isn’t dressed more suitably.”
    I came up behind her and slipped my arm about her waist. “Isn’t he a dream? I found him at the post office.”
    â€œDelivered and signed for?”
    â€œ
Mmm.
Poor thing, he works such long shifts at the hospital. He carried up the package for me with his last dying surge of energy, and then he just”—I waved my hand helplessly—“collapsed.”
    â€œImagine that. What do you plan to do with him?”
    â€œWhat do you suggest?”
    She resumed her journey to the liquor cabinet. “Just don’t sleep with him right away. It scares them off.”
    â€œFunny, Mums already warned me. Tell me about Violet.”
    â€œThere isn’t much to tell. Not much that I know, anyway. I was the baby of the family. I was only nine years old when she left for England. That was 1911, I believe.” Aunt Julie wandered back from the kitchen and leaned against the table, drink in hand, staring lovingly at Doctor Paul.
    â€œWhy did she leave for England? Was she sent away?”
    â€œNo, the opposite. She wanted to be a scientist, and naturally that didn’t go down well in Schuylerville. I remember the most awful rows. They let her go eventually, I suppose—there’s not much you can do with a girl if she’s got her heart set on something—and washed their hands of it.” Aunt Julie cocked her head. “What color are his eyes?”
    â€œBlue. Exactly the same shade as his scrubs. And stop trying to distract me.”
    â€œI’ve changed my mind. Get him in bed pronto.”
    â€œYou know, I’ll bet he can hear you in his subconscious.”
    â€œI hope he does. You could use a good love affair, Vivian. It’s the one thing you’re missing.”
    I wagged my finger. “You’re the most miserable excuse for a chaperone in the history of maiden aunts.”
    â€œI am not a maiden aunt. I’ve been married
several
times.”
    â€œRegardless, I’m not going to sleep with him. Look at the poor darling. He’s exhausted.”
    â€œI find,” said Aunt Julie, swishing her gin, “they can generally summon the energy.”
    I crossed the floor to my bedroom—it didn’t take long—and took the extra blanket from the shelf. I called back: “Now talk. What did Violet do in England?”
    â€œGot married to her professor, like the sane girl she was. She was very pretty, Violet, I’ll say that, though she didn’t care about anything except her damned atoms and molecules.”
    I returned and spread the blanket over Doctor Paul, taking extra care with his doughty shoulders. “But then she murdered him.”
    â€œWell, I don’t know the details of all that. The family hasn’t spoken of it since, never even uttered her name. I don’t think there was a trial or anything like that. But yes, the fellow was murdered, and Violet ran off with her lover. From a suite at the Adlon, of course. She did have taste.” She snapped her fingers. “And poof! That was that.”
    â€œThere must be more to it.”
    â€œOf course there’s more.”
    â€œAnd you were never curious?”
    â€œI was young, Vivian. I hardly knew her, really. She was at school, and then she was in England.” Aunt Julie set her glass on the table and crossedher arms. “I wondered, of course. Once or twice, when I was in Europe, I asked a few questions. But nothing ever turned up.”
    She was staring at the valise now, her lips turned down in a crimson crescent moon. She stretched out one claw and touched the lonely leather.
    â€œI don’t believe you,” I said.
    â€œOf course you don’t. You’re young and suspicious.”
    â€œAnd I know you, Aunt Julie.” I pointed at her duplicitous chest. “Out with it.”
    She spread her hands. “I’ve told you all I know.”
    She