The Plot Thickens

Tasha snuggled back against the soft pillows and pulled the bedcovers to her waist. Maybe the good old days hadn't been all that bad. At least for the rich, she amended.

"I'll be right back with your hot tea, my lady." A maid curtsied at her bedside with another young woman almost like her shadow standing behind her, mimicking her actions. "If you need anything else, please ring the bell and we'll bring it straight away."

They were both so serious. Just as Bracken had exited the room, they had appeared as if by magic ... two young women in black and white maid's uniforms.

Despite Tasha's weak protests, she'd been divisted of her wet clothes, her body dried off with a soft towel, a lavendeer scented nightgown was slipped over her head and she'd then assisted to the fireplace where she'd sat on a stool to have her hair dried.

"Thank you." Tasha smiled at the young woman who now appeared suprised at the courtesy. Oops. Maybe royalty wasn't supposed to thank the help. She watched the two young maids give her a furtive glance as they walked out of the room.

"Elvira, get your butt in here." Tasha whispered the command afraid a servant might be lurking outside her door. "Right now." She examined the large opulent room as she waited for her fairy godmother to appear.

"I'm coming. I'm coming. Don't get your panties in a wad." The all too familiar voice resounded in Tasha's head as Elvira materialized sitting cross-legged on the bed. "How are you doing?"

"I don't know." Tasha straightened her spine against the pillows. "You tell me."

"You know the drill." Elvira stared at Tasha over her reading glasses. "Find out who's trying to kill you ... I mean her."

"And how am I going to do that?" Tasha raised her arms to encompass the room. "Remember you've dropped me into the nineteenth century." She tried to keep her voice steady when what she wanted to do was scream. "I don't think young women, even rich young women, are allowed to go traipsing around trying to find out who's trying to kill them."

"Need I remind you that I dislike whiners?" Elvira adusted her glasses.

"I need some help here," Tasha persisted. How was she going to get it across the Elvira that this was not something she'd be able to do alone.

"This is your assignment, not mine." Elvira pulled at a thread on the coverlet. "You're the one doing penance."

Tasha studied Elvira's bent head. Her fairy godmother needed to make an appointment with her hair stylists. Tasha could see white roots peeking through. The ladies in this century had no such options. She recalled the visegrip of the whalebones along her torso. "Have you ever worn a corset?"

Elvira glanced up in surprise. "Where did that come from?"

"Do you know why the ladies in this century were incessantly fainting?" She paused to see if Elvira would answer. When she saw a blank stare she continued. "They couldn't breath!"

"Okay. Where are you going with this?"

"Poppy is pretty much restricted." She took a deep breath in frustration and let the air out slowly, hoping her annoyance would exit along with the hot air. "She's an unmarried woman. How am I going to do any investigating if I can't go anywhere by myself."

"All right, Tasha. I get the message." Her fairy godmother gazed at her in disapproval. "Let's assume I'm aware of your problem. But for now let's get back to what you have to do. At this moment in time do you have any idea who the murderer could be?"

At this moment in time, Tasha wanted to wring Elvira's neck. She took several calming breaths and began to go over in her head what she'd heard and seen since she'd arrived. "Her stepfather. When she marries, Lady Hatchere takes her money with her. If she dies before she marries, he inherits it all."

"So you think he did it?" Elivra smiled with approval.

"I don't know. I've only met three people, not counting the maids. Prince Galahad ... I mean Bracken ... and his buddy Jacob." Tasha recalled Bracken carrying her up the stairs, breathing in his clean scent and wishing she really was Lady Hatcher. "I don't think Bracken would've saved me if he wanted me dead. Besides Poppy ... Poppy ... I woudn't give that name to my dog ... had agreed to marry him and the marriage will be financially benefically for him." A loveless marriage was something Tasha wouldn't wish on any woman.

"The stepfather's a start." Elvira stared up toward the very high ceiling. "You know. You don't have a deadline, as it were." She smiled at her own cleverness. "Unless someone tries to kill you again."

"I need some information on the lady," Tasha pleaded. "Besides her stepfather, who else would profit by her death or who hates her enough to kill her?"

Elvira stared at Tasha for a long moment. "All right," she relented. "I'll tell you what I know. There's another person who dislikes her enought to want her dead. A thwarted lover."

"She's had a lover?" Tasha had to smile. "Naughty Lady Hatcher."

"Not her lover, her stepsister's, Lady Elizabeth. They call her Lizzy. Neither her father nor Lady Hatcher provided Lizzy with a dowry. In spite of it, she fell in love with a young lieutenant and he with her. Even without a dowry, he was about to ask for her hand in marriage. But before he could do that, her dad accumulated large gambling debts with no way to pay them off. He had his honor to uphold. So Daddy used his own child to clear the debt. Lizzy is now engaged to a man twice her age.

"Why didn't Lady Hatcher's stepfather ask her for the money to pay off his debt instead of enslaving his daughter?"

"He did, to no avail. Lizzy also begged her step-sister to pay her father's debt. She refused. I believe the young lieutenant could have some motive to want Lady Hatcher dead. What do you think?"

"But he'd lose everything if he did that."

"Maybe he thinks he already has," Elvira answered.



"I have to find out where these people were when Poppy was was pushed into the water. How do I do that?"

A knock sounded on the bedroom door.



Tasha turned toward the sound. "Come in."


She turned back toward Elvira. Damn. She was gone. There wasn't even an indention on the bedcovers to show where she'd been sitting. She'd left without answering her question. Coward.

"I've brought your tea, my lady." The maid walked into the room holding a silver tea service.