As readers of The Adventures of Xavier & Vic
know, my sleuths acquire the most interesting employees. Today, I’m sharing
more of L’il Pete’s history. This section from book 2.5 (A Right to Love) where
charming Pete discovers the scary Mr. Tubs might like him.
Jacko returned to
Xavier’s room and found L’il Pete sitting on the bed beside Xavier telling him
of his scary escape from Tubs.
Jacko didn’t want the
boy getting too confident about his ability to escape dangerous thugs. Xavier
evidently had the same concern. “I can see you have courage, but a great man
needs to use his brains, as well. You should have never taken that job, and the
reason you got away from Tubs is not because you were smarter or faster than
the giant. I happen to know he is deadly fast.”
Pete tilted his head in
confusion. “Then why’d I get away?”
“Because Tubs hates
killing little boys. So he moved fast enough that anyone watching would think
he was trying, but not so fast that you couldn’t escape.”
L’il Pete shook his
head in disagreement.
Jacko spoke up. “It’s
true, Pete. I was just talking to Tubs. I had a favor I wanted him to do for
me, and in return, he asked me to get you a better job. He said he’d been
ordered twice to kill you. He was worried the next man sent wouldn’t have a
problem killing little boys.”
Pete looked up with a
grin. “Does that mean Sonny Tubs likes me?”
Jacko nodded. “I have
no idea how a person couldn’t like you.”
Xavier studied Jacko.
“Why don’t you hire the boy to take your messages?”
The boy sighed heavily.
“He did, but me mum don’t trust the job and says I have to quit.”
“Evidently, I paid him
too much, although to be fair, twenty pounds of his money was for the
information about you.”
“Bloody Hell! First,
you charge Victor ten pounds for a map I drew and then give this boy a mere
twenty pounds to lurk in Ransom’s alley?”
Pete waved his hands
frantically in an attempt to calm Xavier. “He didn’t pay me to be there. I was
there watching vendors when I saw you. I’d heard about the reward and sought
him out. While he said it didn’t warrant the grand prize, it got me a great job
and twenty pounds.”
Xavier frowned. “I wish
to speak to your mother. She is being entirely foolish in this matter.”
The great Victorian sleuth Xavier Thorn and his
partner Vic Hamilton take a case close to home. Their youngest staff member,
L’il Pete, discovers his mother murdered in the alley. Jacko is called up from
the country to assist in solving the crime. The good woman’s murder proves to
be tangled up with a much larger and shocking list of crimes perpetrated by a
powerful man who may truly be above the law. Making matters more complex: Vic
discovers her recent weight gain may be the result of a condition that could
destroy her life and everything she loves.
Jacko didn’t expect a giant, a grumpy driver, and a
former pirate to receive an overly warm welcome when they arrived at Vic’s
house. However, Gregory surprised him with what looked to be a genuine smile.
“Please come in. Peter will be so pleased to see you.”
Jacko grimaced at the gentrification of L’il Pete’s
name. Poor boy was no doubt in desperate need of rescue from this place.
Gregory led them to the parlor where Vic’s sister,
Claire, was reading aloud about colored moths. Pete sat in quiet misery on the
sofa next to some poor dope clearly bewitched by the petite beauty. While Jacko
had never met Vic’s sister before, he was prone to dislike her from the stories
his wife had shared.
Claire looked up from her reading and frowned at
their arrival. “Vic isn’t here. How can you not know that?” She showered her
scold upon Tubs. “I was under the impression it was your job to watch over
him.”
“Vic’s with Xavier, so we came to visit Pete,” Jacko
replied, resenting that this hothouse flower dare scold Tubs about anything.
She clearly didn’t appreciate the difficulty of the fellow’s task.
Pete jumped from the sofa, his smile stretching from
ear to ear. “You came for me?”
“We missed you,” Tubs stated.
The boy ran to Tubs and wrapped his arms about the
giant’s leg.
“Peter, stop that. One does not go about
hugging…people.”
Without a doubt, the lady had intended to say
‘servants’. Jacko was no longer on the fence regarding his opinion of her. His
wife was right. Vic and Claire were exact opposites, with Vic having a genuinely
good heart while Claire possessed only a false veneer of the same.
The besotted fellow stood and approached Jacko. “I
don’t believe we’ve met. I’m David Brown, Claire’s husband.”
Gads! Someone married her? He shook the fellow’s
hand. “Jacon Bienora.”
“He’s the pirate Alice married,” Claire said.
Jacko eyed her, then returned his focus to David. He
seemed like a nice fellow, shame he’d married so poorly. “Former pirate. I’m
reformed now.”
Book 4
Well Kept Secrets
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Need to catch up?
Book 1
Book 2
Book 2.5
Book 3
All Xavier books Free with Amazon Unlimited
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats,
left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved normally. But all those bad
behaviors have given have lots of fodder for her humorous romances. Please buy
these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels
instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
Mostly humorous
books by Liza:
Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the
same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And
there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary
Romance)
Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia,
tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.
A
Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic
proportions.
Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s
impossible.
Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint
comes to reason.
Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a
great one.
The
Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England
hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian
England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100
servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded
Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well
Kept Secrets — L’il Pete’s mum is murdered, and
discovering who & why reveals a great many secrets.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
Investigate
these sites:
Thank you for having me over today. I love to share cute L'il Pete with everyone.
ReplyDeletePete is very lucky that Tubs is so nice! :)
ReplyDeleteWe are all lucky that Tubs is so nice.
DeleteLiza, I'm glad you checked the comments.
Delete