The Death of Deception

Abigail Starr

Description

Exciting faith-based novel that caters to a love for mystery and romance! As exciting as mixing Agatha Christie and Jane Austen!
Evangeline Alarie returns to Gwynedd, a place she joyfully now calls home. Expecting to renew friendships and romantic interests, as well as continue to raise some of the fastest race horses in England, she arrives home instead to find that murder has once again struck her little paradise.
Never one to turn down a mystery, Evangeline looks to team up with the handsome Inspector Bixby as the investigation draws them into depths unknown. Deceit and trickery run deep as someone tries to subdue their efforts. Their inquires may draw them closer to answers, but their strong personalities and pride could be the undoing of the forceful pair.
Will they be able to push through the deception to find truth? Can they put aside their own feelings and prejudices as they hunt for the killer? Or will all their hopes for the future and finding the guilty come undone before time runs out for another victim? Join them and find out on this exciting new journey of The Death of Deception!

Sujets

• Investigation
• Period
• British
• Mystery
• Murder
• Christian
• Enquête
• Romance
• Love
• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664290334
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE DEATH OF DECEPTION
 
 
 
 
 
ABIGAIL STARR
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2023 Abigail Starr.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9032-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9034-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9033-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901688
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 02/15/2023
DEDICATION
To the readers of my first book, and all the ones that
asked for the second one.
Thank you.
CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Return of Adventure
Chapter 2 Strange Encounters
Chapter 3 A Reunion of Two
Chapter 4 Thus, It Begins
Chapter 5 Old Friends & New Annoyances
Chapter 6 A New Arrival
Chapter 7 Revealing Clue
Chapter 8 Darkness in Turn
Chapter 9 A Time for Peace
Chapter 10 Festival Confusion
Chapter 11 A Most Surprising Day
Chapter 12 The Beginning of the Light
Chapter 13 Manipulation at its Finest
Chapter 14 Scattered Pieces
Chapter 15 Conversations, Bad & Good
Chapter 16 Dinner or Interrogation?
Chapter 17 Sad Revelations
Chapter 18 The Deception Unveiled
Chapter 19 Happy Ending
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
God, for without Him, none of this would have come to be!
Thad Conley, for the amazing cover!
Stephanie Lamm, for the many hours of editing!
Members of First Baptist Church, the guinea pigs!

ONE
RETURN OF ADVENTURE
His head was pounding as if a drum in a rhythmic dance was playing through his mind, yet not an enjoyable one. His eyes refused to open. He wondered if he was standing up or lying down. He could feel a hard surface beneath his hands and, assuming gravity was still a factor, he concluded he was lying on the ground.
As he felt around, trying to determine his whereabouts, he groaned, willing his eyes to open and take in his surroundings. Slowly his vision started changing from blurry to a dim haze as the fog started to clear.
He extended his hands, patting the surfaces around him, hoping to find something to pull himself up with. His fingers brushed against something solid. As he reached out to retain a stronger grip on it, he realized the object was solid, yet spongy. His grip tightened to pull the object toward him so he could roll onto his knees. As he pulled, the item felt strangely cold and weighted, and it half slipped, half dropped from his grip.
He was startled, yet he once again reached for the object, willing his eyes to see clearer. When his fingers touched the ice-cold surface once more, his vision suddenly returned. Fear and panic began settling in as Frederick stared in terror at the limp form of a young girl just inches from him.
Her blond hair was tangled and matted about her young face and her dress was torn to shreds. Her feet were bare, no shoes or stockings. But most disturbing were her eyes, which were open and facing him, wide and terrified! Bile began to rise within his throat.
The girl before him was most definitely dead, Frederick realized. And he had just woke up lying right beside her.

Evangeline was utterly giddy with anticipation as the train rattled noisily down the tracks toward their destination. If she were a child, she would be bouncing up and down in her seat. She looked out the window at the passing scenery. The beautiful green fields were spread out like a soft blanket with trees dotting the landscape and the occasional cottage popping out here and there.
She suddenly remembered her last journey along this line, and her heart gave a tug. She reminisced for a moment about that first journey when she had had a traveling companion. Evangeline looked at the empty seat before her and could clearly remember Roman sitting there watching her with worry and trepidations mounting about their path ahead.
That first journey had been one of planning, scheming, and revenge. Thankfully, this one was much changed in both perspective and attitude.
Yet if only she could have Roman traveling with her once again. Roman Alexyev had been her most devoted companion. His duties had ranged from being a bodyguard to being caretaker of all her needs and business dealings. Years before, she had saved him from a life in the clutches of the Peaky Blinders gang. He had been a loyal friend and confidant since then.
It was still difficult to believe that only just a few months ago he had been murdered by Evangeline’s overly loyal lawyer, Edward Carfax.
Edward had been under the mistaken assumption that Roman was the initiator of Evangeline’s quest for revenge. In a demented effort to protect her, Edward had not only gone to the extremes of poisoning Evangeline’s prized horses, causing the death of her mare Aphrodite, but he had ultimately poisoned Roman too.
Evangeline had been devastated by the losses, almost to the point of returning to London with Edward. Yet it was the cunning investigation orchestrated by Inspector Bixby that had brought the truth to light and Roman and Aphrodite’s murderer to justice.
“Luther”, she murmured quietly to herself.
She could not resist smiling when she thought of the dear charming inspector. He was a rare species of man who seemed almost unaffected by Evangeline’s charms as a woman. Yet there had been times when Evangeline realized she did affect him in some ways.
Luther had not had it easy solving this case. He had even accused Evangeline herself to be Roman’s murderer, which she had been greatly hurt by. But truth had reigned supreme, and he had been able to piece the puzzle together and solve the case, with a little help from Evangeline, of course.
Evangeline sighed and glanced out the window once more. Her eyes were darker in the morning light, almost black instead of their usual onyx appearance. Long raven-black hair was pinned neatly underneath her black miniature bowler hat. She smoothed out her emerald-green traveling dress and nervously adjusted her gloves again.
Two nights prior, Evangeline had finally determined that she would return to Gwynedd. Evangeline had written to the Bayards, her devoted housekeepers at her home of Belleville Manor, that she would be returning. To everyone else, her sudden arrival would be a most wonderful surprise, she hoped.
She wondered if Luther, or Inspector Bixby, would be anxiously awaiting her return. She had mentioned in her previous letter that it would be near a week’s time, yet she had not mentioned specific timing.
It was all rather sudden, but her business dealings in London had expertly been handled. A new lawyer had been contracted and had been brought up to speed on many of her smaller ventures. At present, she would remain in charge of her larger ones until the man proved his worth and the season had wrapped up nicely at her racetracks.
There would be a few smaller races to end out the summer, but the larger derbies and handicaps had ended for the season. Evangeline had relocated her prize racehorses, Spartan and the up-and-coming Prince Dupont, to Belleville for rest.
Upon her return, she might have a mare or two ready to breed but for the most part, the staff she had procured at Belleville had most expertly taken care of all the breeding. She would happily be greeting some thirty new foals come next summer, God willing!
Evangeline heard the whistle blow as the train began its deceleration into the station. She prayed that Javier would not be welcomed as roughly as he had last time. Just in case, she would make haste to the cargo cars that her three horses and stable hand were traveling in.
Javier was her head stable hand and now a champion race jockey. It had been near three years now, that Javier had been beside her. Once again, she had pulled him off the street, an urchin who had no family and had been caught stealing food for another poor beggar. She had given him the opportunity to become something more, and he had risen to the occasion. Javier too was most loyal. Evangeline could not have made it the last few months in London without him.
Evangeline looked back on those months with great annoyance. The records Edward had left behind had been poorly kept. It was not as if he had lost her any money or been dipping his own hand into the pot. The poor man had simply been suffering from an overlooked case of dementia that had quickly caused him the loss of his sanity.
Without Roman’s assistance, she had struggled with many of the decisions while in London. She had difficulty with the balancing act of maintaining