Robb hesitated, avoiding his gaze. “More or less.”
“I have been told the two of you parted in an ... unfriendly manner.”
Robb jutted out his chin, nostrils flaring. “I suppose meddling Moseley told you that.”
“Why did you not mention it?”
“Because Mr. Mayhew does not like us speaking ill of any guest, no matter if heisa miserly skinflint.”
“So you argued with the author?”
“Not argued, exactly. But he didn’t take it too kindly when I pointed out a few errors in his novels. Was only trying to be helpful.”
“I see.”
“I offered to read his next draft in advance, to review his facts.”
“He declined?”
“That’s right.”
“And did you see him again after that?”
“No,” Robb replied. Then he quickly modified, “Well, Iglimpsed him in the dining room one night, but I didn’t talk to him.”
Frederick regarded him with some surprise. “You were in the dining room?”
“No, I...” Robb lowered his head and shifted uneasily. “I simply looked inside ... out of curiosity.”
Frederick noticed the young man’s neck redden and wondered what he was hiding.
“Where were you between, say, midnight and eight a.m. the day of Mr. Oliver’s death?”
“Asleep in my bed.” Robb’s eyes widened. “Wait—you don’t think ...? I was vexed with the man, I own, but I went nowhere near him. Didn’t even know which room he was in. I rarely venture farther than the hall. Anyone can tell you that. And I’ve never once been upstairs.”
“Then how did you know his room was up there?”
Robb blinked. “I ... Most are, are they not?”
Frederick watched him squirm a moment, then replied. “Yes. Well...”
Mrs. Somerton knocked on the door to announce that the undertaker had arrived.
Frederick excused Robb and asked the head housekeeper if he could ask her a few questions while she was there.
Her eyes widened in surprise but she said, “Of course. Anything to help.”
He smiled to assure her and began, “Did you have occasion to meet Mr. Oliver?”
“Unfortunately, no. I was overseeing the repair of the laundry mangle when he arrived. Raymond would have been at the desk, and Anton showed him to his room.”
“You have keys to all the rooms, is that right?”
“I do, yes.”
“None have gone missing?”
“No, sir. I take prodigious care of them.”
