Jamie raised both hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. Toby ran a hand over his face.Damn it to hell.Now the inquisition would begin.
“Now before we discuss what needs to be done for Florence, will you tell us what happened with Lady Liberty Talbot, Toby,” Anthony said. “Clearly there is anger between you, and a great deal more than what you told us earlier. I would go so far to say that there is a lot of history between you.”
“I don’t share my entire life with you two,” he said as the server brought their order. Three large mugs of steaming bitter chocolate, and a plate of food.
“Well, perhaps it is time you do,” Anthony said.
“We were once close,” Toby said, looking at the two men who knew more about him than anyone else. Men who had been beaten and tortured in the name of fun at Blackwood Hall. Tortured by older boys, a housemaster, and others who should have known better.
“And now she hates you,” Jamie said.
“Yes, and with good reason. I came home after Mathew’s death, which was a year after I arrived at Blackwood. Liberty visited me, but I didn’t speak with her, and she understood that was due to my brother’s passing.”
“But it wasn’t, because you’d changed, as had we all,” Anthony said solemnly.
Toby nodded, and then sipped his drink, needing it to ease the ache in his throat. He’d gone home bruised, broken, and grieving for the little brother he’d no longer see. His parents hadn’t realized what he’d become as they’d been deep in their own grief, and he’d not told them. Liberty would have listened, but he’d refused to spend time with her.
“But you saw her when you came home after your father passed away?” Jamie asked.
“Yes. She found me leaving the house one day. I’d sent her away the previous times she’d called. I said some things, and she left, and I don’t regret that our friendship ended,” Toby added. “Only the way I did it.”
They fell silent, and for a few minutes, the only sounds were of them eating, which they all did well, and often.
“All right, so we know some of your history now, but surely you were young when you and she were friends?” Anthony asked. “Was your bond that strong?”
“It was, but I severed it.” Liberty was a raw wound inside Toby, no matter how much he’d denied it to himself.
“Back to this business in Bidham then,” Jamie said.
“When is the fair?” Anthony asked.
“Three weeks,” Toby said.
“First, you need to write to whomever you need to write to and tell them a Corbyn will once again be in attendance,” Anthony said.
“They may have no wish for me, too.”
“You’re a Corbyn; of course they will,” Anthony added. “Then send in your man to snoop around. You also need to speak with Lady Liberty again and find out where those barrels were delivered. We must search that place. If, as you both suspect, there is smuggling going on.”
“We need to investigate Sally Ackers’s death too, because someone murdered her, and that kind of thing just doesn’t happen in my village,” Toby added.
“Oh, so it’s your village now?” Anthony raised a brow.
“Smuggling is happening up and down the English coast,” Jamie protested. “Why is what’s happening in Bidham a threat to the village… if it is?”
“We need to visit there,” Anthony said. “I’m quite sure Evangeline would like a nice trip to the country. She has a way of getting information out of people.”
“Only you, because you are so pathetically in love with her,” Toby scoffed. His friend smiled, and in that moment, he could have leaned across the table and plowed his fist into his face, because that look of genuine love and happiness was something Toby knew he’d never achieve. He wasn’t worthy of it.
“Considering Florence is arriving this week, I’m unsure we will attend the fair,” Toby added gruffly.
“She is a child, and it’s a fair. Of course, she will love it, and by then you will be comfortable with each other,” Jamie said. “You’ll see.”
Liberty slid into his head again, and he pushed thoughts of her aside. Once, he’d wondered if she’d be his wife one day even though they’d been children. She’d always seemed to understand him. Seemed to fit, which was an odd way to put it, but the minute he’d met her, she’d felt like part of him.
“Toby, you need to make amends with Lady Liberty,” Anthony said.
“No, that will not happen, and I will soon have little time for anything.”
