“At any rate, I am deeply sorry to cut this short, but I have a number of duties I need to see to. I simply must be on my way,” said Mrs. Attleby. “If there’s nothing else?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, but turned on her heel and hurried off into the house.
Byron watched her go, a pained expression on his face. “The country, it’s always so… backward.”
“I had a thought,” said Jane. “It’s so obvious, really, I cannot believe I didn’t think of it before. So, I don’t know if you’re aware, but when Mr. Seward, that is, Anne’s father, passed on, he had left no will and testament at all, at least not one that anyone could find. In situations such as this, the typical thing is for all of a man’s property to pass to his closest living male relative, who is a nephew, Anne’s cousin. His name is also Seward, of course, but I have never met him. However, from all accounts, he arrived in town upon the death of his uncle and expected to take control of the tavern himself. I understand he wanted to sell the building and all of its contents and pocket the money.”
Byron turned back to Jane. “I only want you to know that whatever passed between Thomas and me is long finished, and that we were only boys experimenting, as boys do, and that—”
“Oh, stop with that,” said Jane, making a face. “I find I really don’t want to know anything about that.”
Byron considered for a moment, shrugged, and then flashed her a mischievous grin. “Very well, then.”
Jane composed herself. Well, there was one thing to say about having come by this bit of information, she supposed. Itdid tend to dampen any of that pesky infatuation she had been feeling. “Where was I?”
“You were saying that Miss Seward’s cousin murdered her,” said Byron.
“Well, I was coming around to that,” said Jane. “I hadn’t quite got there yet. But it does seem as if he would benefit if she were out of the picture. And it was a bit of a struggle for her to wrest the tavern away from him at all. That was how Mr. Hardy came into it.”
“Oh?” said Byron. “What did Mr. Hardy do?”
“I don’t know specifics,” said Jane. “But whatever he did, the younger Mr. Seward, the live one, left town afterward and entirely relinquished his claim on the place.”
“Fascinating,” said Byron. “Well, we’ll have to talk to him. Where does he live?”
“I don’t even know,” said Jane. “I suppose we must go back into town and make some more inquiries. But if it is very far away, I don’t see how I can accompany you there.”
“We could take a carriage, clearly,” said Byron.
“Well, a journey of that distance, just you and I alone, it wouldn’t be proper,” said Jane.
“Perhaps your sister would like to come along,” said Byron. “She seems to have a number of astute insights, just from that conversation we had with her this morning.”
“That might work,” said Jane, nodding. “All right. Well, to town, then?”
“To town,” said Byron, smiling at her.
WHEN THEY GOTto town, they found that Mr. Reginald Seward was in the tavern, standing over the body of his cousin. At first, they didn’t know who he was, but he introduced himself to them both, asking if they’d come to pay their respects, andsaying that the burial would be on the morrow, so it was good they’d come.
Byron, bold as always said, “Actually, we’ve come directly to speak to you, so it’s fortuitous that you’re here.”
“Truly?” said Mr. Seward. “I suppose it would make sense to seek me here, since I do now own this tavern. But I’m afraid I am too distraught to speak about anything in depth at the moment. If you’re interested in purchasing the building, however, I would be amenable to speaking about that. Could we set up an appointment, perhaps for tomorrow? Oh, no, drat, I suppose that won’t work. I shall be entirely occupied with the funeral tomorrow. Perhaps we could make some time this afternoon, then?”
Byron began speaking. “I don’t wish to purchase—”
“That would be acceptable,” interrupted Jane, giving him a sharp look. “How about around two o’clock? Here?”
“All right, then,” said Mr. Seward.
Jane dragged Byron out of the tavern.
“Why did you interrupt me?” said Byron, when they were out of earshot of Mr. Seward. “Now he thinks I want to buy this place. Really, what would I do with a tavern?” He peered up at it, as if thinking it over.
“I interrupted you because it occurs to me that we cannot go about accusing people of murder, not if we want them not to be horribly offended and on their guard. You have just been accused yourself, and you know that it tends to make a person defensive.”
“That is true,” said Byron, nodding. “But what are we going to ask him about, then?”
“I don’t know,” said Jane. “Perhaps if we pretend to be interested in buying the tavern, we can get him to reveal more than we could otherwise, however.”
