Oxford Crimson: Milestone Agency Victorian Mysteries, #4

By Cynthia E. Hurst

As Christmas approaches, Theo Stone and Rose Miles are house hunting, but the property they want to buy comes with some unexpected and unwelcome features. Holiday spirit is in short supply as the Milestone Agency duo discover the deadly secrets hidden in an ordinary house on an ordinary Oxford street.

 

'Oxford Crimson' is the fourth book in the Milestone Agency Victorian Mysteries series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lilax Books
• Release date: Oct 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215639344

Cynthia E. Hurst

Cynthia E. Hurst is the author of two mystery series set in present-day Seattle, the R&P Labs Mysteries and the Zukie Merlino Mysteries, and the Silver and Simm and Milestone agency series, which both take place in Victorian England. Like her characters, Cynthia grew up in Seattle, then earned a degree in journalism and worked on several newspapers and magazines in the US and UK. The R&P books are based on her time spent in the small research lab where her parents both worked, and many of the R&P staff's projects are ones actually undertaken by the lab. The Zukie books were inspired by her Italian relatives. She now lives in Oxfordshire, the setting for the two Victorian series. She is also the author of the Time Traveller trilogy, which visits various bits of English history, and which stemmed from an unfortunate incident.

Book preview

OXFORD CRIMSON

CYNTHIA E. HURST

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Milestone Agency

Victorian Mysteries 4

Copyright © 2022 Cynthia E. Hurst

All Rights Reserved

Lilax Books

Author’s note:

The city of Oxford needs no introduction, except to note that this book is a work of fiction and the characters and situations portrayed here do not represent any actual persons, businesses or academic institutions. Some locations are also partly or completely fictionalized.

In Victorian England, especially in London, most people lived in rented accommodation, rather than owning their own houses. In Oxford, the various colleges owned a great deal of property (and still do), so Theo and Rose were justifiably pleased to be able to consider purchasing a house.

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This book uses American spelling.

Table of Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

ONE

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Theo Stone waded through the slushy snow, ignoring the dampness creeping into his boots. Snowflakes fell on his face and he brushed them away impatiently. His goal was a small cardboard notice propped up behind grimy glass and he read it with interest. Then he stepped back and looked upward.

To the casual observer, the object of his intense scrutiny might have seemed just another house on a busy Oxford street, three stories of sturdy brick with a small front garden and a pair of bow windows through which the occupants could watch activity outside. A short flagstone walk led to the front door, with a few hardy stalks on either side indicating what in spring would be a flower bed. Crimson berries on a holly tree against the wall added a dash of color.

A small brass plate identified the house as Willows, with the number 37 underneath. Theo supposed there might be a willow tree somewhere on the premises, prompting the name, and that would be a pleasant feature. But the entire house looked somewhat forlorn, as if pleading for attention from new occupants.  

Others might have moved on quickly, but Theo lingered, taking stock. In his eyes, Willows was brimming with potential and only slightly less impressive than Buckingham Palace. He shook some snowflakes off his shoulders and gazed longingly. Then he turned and hurried back along the street.

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"I refuse to consider an announcement in the Times, Mama. What on earth for?"

I admit your upcoming marriage is nothing to boast about, if indeed it takes place, but it is expected that you would inform people. Otherwise, they may imagine you are indulging in all sorts of unsavory behavior.

Oh, I see.

Rose Miles looked at her mother, who was perched on the very edge of an armchair, no doubt poised to spring into action if necessary. Charlotte Winters could radiate disapproving looks like no one else, and Rose had been on the receiving end of them for twenty-six years. None, however, had been quite as eloquent as the look she had received a fortnight earlier when informing her parents she was intending to marry for a second time.

Her father had not been too vocal, perhaps relieved that he wouldn’t need to provide financial support for a widowed daughter, but Charlotte had been far more reluctant to accept the announcement. Rose could see her mother was still quivering with a certain amount of suppressed indignation that her eldest daughter would embarrass her this way.

Don’t worry, Rose said. "Theo and I will let anyone who needs to know that we are marrying. I doubt there will be a frantic search through Burke’s Peerage to locate his family."  

Hardly. Charlotte managed to put a wealth of meaning into the single word.

And yet you did admit he is quite presentable, well-spoken and well-mannered.

Charlotte inclined her head an inch or so.

Not the rough, unlettered thug you seemed to think he would be.

No. It was a reluctant admission.

He and Papa got along quite well, I thought. And when his parents were kind enough to invite the three of us to their home, Papa seemed to enjoy his conversation with Theo’s father.

Charlotte’s face expressed her opinion of her husband’s judgement. Yes, he seemed to. More than I expected. And the house was quite ... acceptable.

It was courteous of you, Mama, not to show your surprise too openly. But there will be no formal announcement.

The calculating look on her mother’s face prompted Rose to add, And I do not want you going behind our backs and placing one. We will marry quietly, without fanfare.

"You might at least consider a small announcement in the Journal."

Very well, we will consider it. Rose supposed a short announcement in the Oxford newspaper wouldn’t be too ostentatious. And it might even bring more custom ...

And I hope that if and when you marry, you will cease to pursue this ridiculous ... enterprise ... you and Mr Stone are engaged in.

Our investigative agency? No, of course not. It will be even easier to manage once we are both living under the same roof.

Rose twitched a little uneasily at saying that, because the roof in question was her own. She had inherited the house from her late husband Edward, and although she was fond of it, she knew Theo had reservations about living in a house that held so many reminders of her first marriage. She couldn’t really blame him for that.

At the moment, Theo had no alternative to offer, having left his own substantial family home the previous year for two rented rooms over a millinery. However, the writing career which had prompted the move was now beginning to gather momentum, and she suspected he would like them to start their married life in a house they had chosen together.

Must you, Rose? Charlotte asked. It is humiliating when people ask me if you are involved in it.

I hope you assure them I am, and encourage them to consult us if they have need of our services. More tea, Mama?

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It’s not far from here, just a bit further up St Giles, Theo said, and looks a very pleasant property. Not that different from this one, in fact. It needs some work, I fancy; nothing too startling. Of course, I am only judging from the exterior. I couldn’t see through the windows.

It would be worth considering, I expect.

Rose offered the cake plate and Theo took a piece of shortbread, while trying to gauge whether she shared his enthusiasm or was merely agreeing out of courtesy. He moved his feet a little closer to the coal fire to dry his boots, still damp from standing in the slush while he stared at the house.

I suppose it is selfish of me to want to provide us with a home, rather than simply riding on Edward’s coattails, as it were, he said. Yes, of course we could live here, but I feel it would always be your home, not ours.

I do understand, Theo. Rose smiled at him over the teacups. It’s an entirely reasonable point of view. And now that your writing career is doing so well, it is financially possible, isn’t it?

Theo had always admired her habit of going straight to the point, and not pretending to be ignorant of anything involving money, as most young women of her class had been taught to do. It was one of the many attributes that had drawn him to her.

It is indeed. As you know, I have been given an advance for three more novels, an amount beyond my wildest dreams, and since I owe much of my inspiration to you, it is only fitting that you should benefit.

So perhaps we could look at the house and see if it may be suitable. Could this one be sold without too much difficulty, do you think? We shouldn’t want two houses.

No, we wouldn’t. And we could continue to manage the Milestone Agency from the new house, assuming we are still attracting customers. I would suggest changing the name after our marriage, but we have established ourselves well enough by now that I feel it would merely be confusing.

I agree. Rose put her cup down and braced herself. I have to ask, Theo – did you notice that my mother had called earlier?

She felt sure he had; although Theo was tactful enough to avoid more contact than necessary with her mother, he could just glimpse her front door from his rooms above the milliner’s shop.

Yes, I did. Had she come to scold you some more about the agency? Or was it the marriage itself?

"A bit of both. She is still criticizing the agency, and she wanted us to put an announcement of our marriage in the Times, so people wouldn’t think we were living in sin. I refused and we have tentatively compromised on a small announcement in the Journal."

That seems reasonable, although if I were thought to be living in sin with anyone, I would want it to be you.

Oh, hush, Theo, Rose said. She felt herself blushing, which was absurd. After all, she was a widow, not an innocent young maiden with no knowledge of the intimate side of marriage. However, she has admitted you are a better man than she feared you were.

Theo grinned. I did make a supreme effort when I met your parents, you know. I’m glad it yielded satisfactory results.

It did, at least with my father, and if my mother knew about the publisher’s advance, I feel sure you would rise several steps further in her estimation.

"Only until she discovered it was for the production of the sort of novels I am sure she would sneer at. I’m sure I have mentioned the title of my third work, the one I’m writing at the moment. A Deadly Gamble hardly suggests a work of great literary merit. I would apologize for writing such rubbish if it were not for the fact it sells, something my more serious work failed to do."

It’s not rubbish, Rose objected. You are a very talented writer, and if the subject matter is somewhat sensational, well, as you say, that is what readers want. I know I thoroughly enjoy your books, although I admit to being biased. Don’t apologize for being successful.

I’m not. It’s about the only reason I dared propose marriage to you. Theo paused. That, and the fact I was afraid some other man would scoop you up once you emerged from mourning. Having fallen in love with you, I couldn’t have borne that.

They smiled at each other, acknowledging their courtship had not been a conventional one. They had first met the previous spring when Rose was escaping the seclusion forced on her by mourning and Theo was fleeing from a bailiff pursuing him for rent money. That accidental encounter had led to a tentative friendship and the establishment of a small business to investigate and resolve clients’ problems. Their friendship had deepened along the way, and a few weeks earlier, Theo had surprised both of them by suggesting that they marry.

It had taken Rose only a few seconds to decide to accept his proposal, realizing that although Theo’s family was engaged in what her mother referred to as ‘trade’, with invisible quote marks, she enjoyed his company far more than she had her wealthy first husband’s, and she would be perfectly content to live with him. Marrying a man she had come to love, rather than one her parents had advised her to marry, seemed a sensible and desirable course of action.

And of course, there was no denying he was quite good-looking, too, with his dark hair and hazel eyes and the way his smile lit up his face ... Rose forced her attention back to the issue at hand.

Perhaps you could arrange for us to view the house? If you think it would be suitable, I’m sure it will be, but I’d still like to have a look before we commit ourselves.

Certainly. I’ll make some inquiries. It may be a bit difficult with Christmas so near, but I’ll see what can be done.

Ah, yes, Christmas.

Theo eyed her cautiously. In a way, he had wished they could marry before the holidays, so as to present a legally sanctioned front to their respective families, but he also appreciated that Rose had been widowed less than a year previously, and it would appear to outsiders that she was re-marrying in a scandalously short time. Waiting a year would still bring raised eyebrows and critical comments, since widows, even young attractive ones, were not supposed to consider a second marriage for at least two years following their husband’s death. As a bachelor, he faced no such restrictions.

Is your family expecting you to spend the day with them? he asked.

I believe so. And your parents and brothers will be expecting you to be there at your family home.

Perhaps we shall have to creep off and meet in some secluded corner of Oxford if we want to spend any time together.

Rose laughed at the thought, then sobered up. Well, it is only for one day. I shall return home in the evening and you are welcome to join me for Boxing Day if you wish.

I will accept with pleasure. And as soon as I can arrange it, we shall view the house I saw, and you can give me your honest opinion.

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As Theo had noted, it was not long until Christmas, and Oxford was  gripped with holiday spirit. The shops were filled with tempting items to be given as presents, and any establishment selling food or drink was doing a roaring business. Butchers, poulterers, greengrocers, confectioners and bakers were all rubbing their hands with glee as trade picked up, knowing full well it would drop off again in the doldrums of January.

The light snow which had fallen hadn’t stopped the residents from hurrying along the streets as they prepared for the holidays. Those streets were quieter than usual, however, and the pubs half empty, since the undergraduates who normally made up a good proportion of Oxford’s population had gone home for the duration.

Rose found herself at something of a loose end, as she was planning to spend Christmas with her family and thus had no need to decorate the house or arrange a lavish meal on the day. She did need to buy presents for her relations, and make sure enough food was available for her staff’s Christmas meals, the latter chore being largely left to her cook.

The servants would then be more or less relieved of their duties and free to spend Boxing Day as they wished, meaning Rose might well be on her own for the day after Christmas. Of course, Theo would probably spend much of the day with her, but not for the first time, Rose felt somewhat surplus to requirements.

The previous Boxing Day, Edward had still been alive and so she hadn’t needed to worry. Had it really been less than a year ago she had been widowed? It seemed an eternity. She brushed the thought aside, thinking it would all change once she and Theo were married and living together in a different house.

That led her to think about the logistics of moving her entire household to a new location. If Theo was correct about the house being much like the one she was now living in, then it shouldn’t be too difficult, and his enhanced income would cover the cost of their wages. Her cook, two maids and her butler-cum-bodyguard Pickett could all be employed in the new household. Pickett might even revert to his previous position as a valet, which he had been before Edward’s death.

And that made Rose smile, since she knew Pickett was enjoying the additional authority he now exercised as a butler, and she doubted Theo would feel the need for a personal valet. Well, the extent of his duties after the wedding was something the two men would have to thrash out between themselves.

Eventually, she dared to think, they might have to employ a nursemaid as well. Rose and Edward had not had children in the two years of their marriage, and she knew Edward’s family had blamed her for this. In some ways, Rose felt it was a blessing they hadn’t, since it would allow her to make a complete break from the Miles family once she remarried. She could easily picture Theo as a doting father, so who knew what might happen?

Ma’am? It was Cora, who had been Rose’s maid since before her marriage.

Yes, Cora?

There’s a parcel come for you.

Oh, it’s probably the book I ordered for Th .. for Mr Stone. Where is it?

In the dining room, ma’am.

I’ll come have a look at it.

The parcel was on the dining room table, neatly wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Rose had debated for some time as to what would be an appropriate Christmas gift for a fiancé and finally decided that a leather-bound copy of a book Theo had said he wanted to read would be perfect.

She carefully unwrapped the parcel and took the book out, turning it in her hands.

Mr Stone will like that, I’m sure, Cora said. Most maids wouldn’t have dared venture an opinion, but Cora had been with Rose so long she was almost more a friend than a servant. She had been thrilled to learn of the engagement, possibly because it meant there was no longer any danger of Rose being forced to move back into her parents’ house. Although Cora respected Charlotte Winters, she had no wish to work for her.

I do hope so.

"I wonder what he’ll give