The four boys, Daniel, Brydie’s nephew, and the two eight-year-old earl’s heirs, were arranging furniture in proper rows.
Daphne and Brydie’s niece had opted out of furniture pushing and were sitting on the floor by the bookcase, evidently hunting for books with pictures.They glanced up with interest when Minerva and Brydie entered, but noting they carried nothing exciting, returned to the books.
Verity led Minerva and Brydie away from the activity and into Mr.Birdwhistle’s smaller schoolroom where they had privacy.“Any news?”
Minerva shook her head.“Other than Cooper, none of our newcomers attended the service.We’ll have to find some other way of questioning them.We miss your ability to engage people who visit the inn.”
Verity turned anxiously to Brydie, who made a wry face as she explained, “I’ve been reading through Margery’s letters to Willa.The ones from this past year have disappeared.The most recent we can find occasionally reference Margery’s parents in the Americas.The really old ones mention aunts in Bath.Margery calls them Bee and Boo, so one assumes Willa knew them.We have no notion of their family names or where they are now.Margery didn’t reference them again after she married and left their home nearly ten years ago.”
“Paul is writing the vicar in Bath to have him search the registry for the marriage, but we can’t trace aBeeorBoo.If Willa knew them, then perhaps Mr.Cooper does.The men didn’t ask.”Minerva produced a notebook she kept her notes and tasks in.“What we need to do is start a list of questions we must ask the people who knew Willa, or might have known her, and the strangers who arrived about the time she died.”
“You don’t think Willa’s killer has left?”Verity asked worriedly.“Surely, he would not stay to be caught.”
Minerva examined the schoolroom tables, noting only slates scribbled with unfathomable sums.Her notebook would have to suffice.“The men fear the killer wants something and may not have achieved it.If Willa’s death is related to the death of the nanny...”
Looking very pale but determined, Verity had apparently reached the same conclusions.She retrieved paper from a shelf and sat down at a student desk.“Did this Margery mention any names after she married?People who visited?”
“There were fewer letters once she married, mostly mentioning excitement at setting up her own household, at learning she was to have a child, and worry over her husband when he left for war.”Brydie paced the room, examining the view from the windows.“If Margery had visitors, Willa probably didn’t know them.She occasionally asked for recipes, although how Willa would have sent them, I don’t know.We need to have the recipe book copied.Perhaps we could sell copies to raise funds for the chapel.”
“Concentrate, Brydie.”Minerva settled in the small chair across from Verity.“What questions do we need to be asking and to whom?And how?”
Minerva had a high respect for Verity’s astuteness—or cynicism.The former sailor’s daughter had spent a lifetime observing people.She might be quiet and ladylike, but she understood human nature better than most.
“We should probably give the list of questions to Rafe and not try to ask them ourselves,” Verity suggested.“We really can’t be talking to people like the hardware clerk or a chicken thief.And who wants to volunteer to question Fletch?”
Brydie laughed and continued exploring the schoolroom.“Fletch just walks away.Even Rafe can’t question him.We ought to have my sister do it.No one can be impolite to Kate.”
Verity cleared her throat to catch Brydie’s wandering attention.The innkeeper’s wife generally maintained a proper decorum, with her golden-brown hair brushed into a tight chignon and her good broadcloth gowns topped with fine linen and pinned with brooches.Since Verity had come into her inheritance, her wardrobe had been helping keep Lavender’s sewing ladies employed.
But Minerva had seen the polite lady in full warrior mode.Long lashes concealed a militant gleam now.
“Kate and I have spoken,” Verity admitted.“She agrees it might be unwise to have Lynly and Rob at the inn, but with Christmas and Boxing Day on Monday and Tuesday, school won’t start for over a week.”
What else had she and Brydie’s older sister spoken of?Fletch?Minerva waited.
Brydie paced, wearing a worried frown.“Kate needs to work.She’s helping Lavender sew new gowns for several of the ladies for the festivities.Thank you for taking her children while we attended the funeral, but Itoldher I’d look after them.Only, if I keep them home, there is no one to watch the inn while Rafe investigates.”
Ah, now it became clear.Minerva enjoyed it when she didn’t have to be the one manipulating.She watched Verity expectantly.The lady had obviously been plotting here in her lonely tower.
“Kate has suggested that she might do her sewing at the inn, if I will look after the children here.And as you say, few men dare ignore Kate.She might not be large, but she could intimidate a queen, if required.”
Minerva wondered how a quiet, polite woman like Kate Morgan had developed that defiance, but she was a Calhoun, like Brydie.There might be little physical resemblance, but upbringing would tell.They had been the daughters of a wealthy squire, raised to take a role in the community.Older than Brydie, Kate had quietly raised her children through turbulent times.Having recently cast off her widow’s weeds, she was apparently ready to start taking her place in the village.
“For the children, foranychildren, my sister will cut off noses if necessary.”Unable to settle into the schoolroom’s small chairs, Brydie halted her pacing to think about it.“Kate needs to take the children home at night to feed the animals and fix meals.Arthur cannot be left to roam alone and should go with her.But I?—”
“Don’t say it until you talk with Damien,” Minerva warned.“He will not like you staying in town at night, unchaperoned.”
“I will have to be running the back of the inn all day.Kate can’t be in the kitchen and sewing gowns at the same time,” Brydie remonstrated.“She can greet people at the desk, tell the staff what to do, but if Rafe is out and about, someone needs to take charge of the kitchen and pub.And night is when working men need their meals, if Rafe is to have an operating pub.”
“Let’s take one thing at a time,” Minerva suggested.“What questions do we need to ask and to whom?I can question the ladies helping decorate the chapel and plan Christmas services, but how much will they know?”
Verity turned a page in her papers.“I have started a list of questions.I want this villain caught and those poor orphans safe.I am not convinced finding their family will help in either case, but we need answers.”
“First, we have to find out where everyone was the night Willa died, and find witnesses to confirm their claims.”Minerva already knew what needed asking.She doubted they’d gather satisfactory answers.She’d been through this before.But collecting all the stray pieces eventually painted a picture.
“It would be good to know where they were in the daysbeforethe buggy crashed,” Verity added.“The ‘bad man’ Danny mentions was in Beanblossom then.”
“We must find the servants from Beanblossom.I have utterly no idea how we do that.”Minerva jotted another note.
