In the early hours of the next day, Tyrion returned to the estate with his guards at his side. He didn’t return bearing good news that he had found any of Quinn’s victims. All he returned with was news of where Quinn tended to frequent.
The front doors were opened for Tyrion by the butler.
"Welcome, Prince Tyrion," Gerald greeted, holding the door open for Tyrion and his guests.
"You are up quite early. Is it the norm on the estate?" Tyrion asked as he strolled in.
"It is not. The duke and his son arrived shortly before you, as the duchess had ordered, I was awoken to have the servants tend to them. I will have your food warmed shortly. Lady Penelope is lying with the duchess and her sisters," Gerald shared.
"Then, I mustn’t wake her. Where is the duke resting if his bed is taken?" Tyrion asked, wanting to speak with Edgar.
"The duke is having a drink. Should I escort you?"
"No. I know my way around," Tyrion said, leaving Gerald to make his way to Edgar.
Tyrion soon found Edgar sitting with a bottle of wine to his right and a glass in his hands. "That’s an expensive bottle. You have the pleasure of drinking it alone."
"It was a gift," Edgar said, taking another sip.
"Someone must have been desperate to win you over. It wasn’t my father, was it?" Tyrion asked, hoping it wasn’t so.
"No. It was a gift from someone who owed me," said Edgar.
"And you took wine? That’s surprising," Tyrion said as he walked to get a glass.
Edgar examined the wine in his glass. "When did I say all I took was wine? Why are you sitting with me? I have a large estate, yet you pick the one room I am in. You adore me, don’t you?"
"Don’t flatter yourself, Edgar. I want to be with my wife, but she is enjoying herself with her mother. Is that not why you drink alone? Surely you returned in hopes of going to bed with your wife. We are both in the same boat," Tyrion said, returning to where Edgar sat. "May I?"
"Haven’t you taken enough from me?" Edgar asked, but still, he pushed the bottle forward.
Tyrion chuckled. "I haven’t taken Penelope from you. Is she not in your estate at the moment? You don’t have anything to fear since Penelope will always love you more. I don’t mind, she will love you more."
"It is not easy to beat me. You would have doomed yourself if you tried," said Edgar.
"This is why I never think of competing with you. You are so confident, and you have the means to back it up. Once again, thank you for what you offered me. Penelope and I will start working on our forever home outside of Lockwood," Tyrion shared.
"Do you not intend to return?"
"We do. After all, we have many family and friends here. We cannot leave Elijah alone in the estate, though I have a feeling he will not be alone for long. Then there is Teo and Hailey. I cannot leave them," said Tyrion.
Tyrion needed to be at Teo’s side during the early years of his reign, and he had to protect Hailey as she neared the days when she, too, would be searching for a husband.
"Luckily for my mother, my aunt Sophia is returning with her husband to take Hailey away for a few weeks. She won’t have to hear the awful news of what Quinn has done. Isabelle could join her if you wish," Tyrion offered.
"My daughter will stay where I can see her," Edgar rejected the offer.
"You want her to be where you know she is well. I understand it. I hope to experience the joys of being a father soon. Thanks to me, you will experience the joys of being a grandfather. I won’t ask that you thank me," Tyrion said jokingly.
Edgar drowned the last of his wine and set the glass down. "I will shoot you."
"It is the wine speaking," Tyrion dismissed Edgar’s threat.
"It is me speaking," Edgar said, reaching into his coat to reveal a gun. "This isn’t enough to make me drunk."
"I admire the way you always have a gun on you to warn others with. Did you find any news about who Quinn is working with? The men he has become acquainted with only speak highly of him as a businessman," said Tyrion.
"He was careful. He’s going to have us on a wild hunt. I suspect where he kept his victims is somewhere before us, but we are overlooking it. I could be wrong," said Edgar.
"No assumption is wrong when we don’t have any clues. I say we need to take a look at Simon’s old home. For that, someone will need to inform the Kennedys," Tyrion said, curious if Edgar would do it.
"Your father is the king. He will deal with that matter. We’ll need to speak to Quinn again," Edgar said, suspecting Quinn was anticipating their arrival.
"He’ll feel on top of the world to see us again. I don’t think you should go. Not because I fear you will kill him, but I hear he looks forward to your visits. We should make him feel he is not worth your time. Anger him," Tyrion suggested.
Edgar considered the idea. "He appeared impatient for us to figure out who his father was. He plans well, but his eagerness gets the best of him. We’ll be endlessly searching for clues since he appeared out of the blue. We need him to slip."
"I would do so by sending him someone from the court. Someone he doesn’t hold any interest in. Then I would send a guard or a maid to question him. If I were him, I would be upset. After all, he thinks his father is someone important," said Tyrion. The rıghtful source is NoveIＦire.net
"I will arrange it with your father tomorrow, but the search must continue. Was there anything useful at the Fenwick home?" Edgar asked,
"I learned that the young lady there is blinded by what she thinks is love, and she will get herself killed. Robert Fenwick is missing. Just like the others, he stumbled upon money, but now his work isn’t doing well," Tyrion shared.
"What’s even more interesting is that Cassius led Harper and her family to believe that he planned to marry her. We might have caught him just before he trapped the Fenwicks. Unfortunately, Robert left him before he could be saved."
"He might be alive," Tyrion said, holding hope for the family. "It wasn’t long since he left, according to his wife. We must bring him home."