The ladies were startled when the doors of the drawing room flew open.
Tyrion cleared his throat. "Forgive me. I didn’t mean to scare you."
Eleanor’s right hand rested on her chest as she calmed herself. "After the shock we faced today, you must be more careful, Prince Tyrion. Lady Penelope is seated near the window. She is so lost in thought that she didn’t hear of your arrival."
Tyrion excused himself and walked further into the room to find Penelope gazing out the window.
"Is there something you left outside?" Tyrion asked, noticing how she jumped. He was careless again.
"Tyrion!" Penelope gasped, looking up at her husband. "When did you arrive? No one informed me."
Tyrion sat down beside Penelope. "Did you not hear how I almost needed to repay your father for a door?"
"No. I must have been distracted. The guards have men captive. I sent Damien to find out what else the guards found. Are you going to the dungeon now?" Penelope asked, hoping to hear more news from Tyrion.
"You sound more excited to go to the dungeon than to see me," said Tyrion.
"I am happy to see you, but I also want to know who was behind this. For as long as we have lived here, no one has ever done such an attack. No one has ever gotten drunk and wandered onto my father’s land. Even a drunken mind knew to be wary," Penelope said.
"I am most certain that Quinn had something to do with it, and he had help from someone who hated your father. It was going to be a moment to point fingers at the duke for killing intruders and to rile up your family. I have the man who helped him," Tyrion said, taking hold of Penelope’s hand.
Tyrion circled the wedding bands Penelope wore.
"You have him? Already," Penelope said, surprised Tyrion figured it out so fast. "Did you find clues during your outing today?"
"The more you ask about his case, the more rides you will owe me," Tyrion said, expecting Penelope to give up.
"Very well," Penelope agreed.
"You’re killing me here, Penelope. You should say no. Do not think you can say this now because my time is taken by the case, and I will forget about it. I suspected Henry, the former town guard, and his interaction with Quinn today awoke more suspicion," Tyrion shared.
"Henry? It is surprising since he liked to scold my father about the laws of the kingdom, yet he would work with a deranged murderer. What is his goal? To see my father be arrested?" Penelope questioned, annoyed by Henry’s secret.
"For a long time, he has been trying to arrest your father. He stumbled upon Quinn, who bears an interest in toying with your father. That, and he lost the position of town guard. The man to replace him has recently fallen ill. It is hardly a coincidence," said Tyrion.
"I don’t think it is one either. He must bear great hatred for my father to do this, unless he has been working with Quinn from the start. His anger with my father always felt misplaced. Where is he now?" Penelope asked, hoping Henry got all that he deserved.
"He should be questioned by guards right about now, and then he will be sent to the palace. I will question Felix to know if he recently got a visit from Henry. Right now, your father must be questioning the intruders. I want to stay," Tyrion said, yearning to be with Penelope. "But there is something I must look at."
"What is it?" Penelope inquired.
"I need to visit William’s home before Quinn can get someone else on his side. I am certain that when it came to their victims, the brothers worked alone. They simply hire men to do work which had nothing to do with their secrets. I need to check William’s home myself," said Tyrion.
"Do you think any victims could be there? Before now, I never heard of anyone visiting that home. I did not think it was safe for anyone to venture in since it was so old and no one was maintaining it," Penelope said, worried Tyrion might take the wrong step.
"Quinn spoke of making repairs when I mentioned tearing it down. William hid many secrets there, so I would not be surprised if Quinn did the same."
"You should. From how he was described in the case, what the court found didn’t match how he was said to be," Penelope said. The source of thɪs content is n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Penelope looked at everyone else talking amongst themselves, forgetting the earlier attack.
"What do you mean?" Tyrion asked, missing what Penelope spoke of.
"His wealth. Lily and I read a little about him because of our mother’s case. I knew that he was a rich man who made loans to others, and he had an eye for art. It is all in the court papers," Penelope said, puzzled as to why Tyrion was so confused. "The court took what valuables they found in William’s home."
"The value of all that was found was listed, and seeing that, I don’t understand why it was noted that William thought he could rival my father. I could be wrong about how much wealth my father had then, but it never seemed close. Tyrion," Penelope called, trying to get his attention. "Did I say something wrong?"
Tyrion started to think back to his talk with Quinn. "He mentioned being left with a few belongings from his father. I didn’t think anything of it."
"Well, unless he took something when he was younger, or he has someone working in the court with him, that’s not possible. The court took everything they found from William’s home. It would be foolish to leave anything of value behind," Penelope said, trying to think back to the papers.
With no one to guard William’s home, any valuables could have been stolen if left behind.
"Lily and Elijah have read it. My father was around to know of it, and Mark was the one to make the report. They would know better than I do, but is this important?" Penelope wondered.
"It is," Tyrion replied, leaning forward to kiss Penelope’s forehead. "If what the court found didn’t match what was said about William, he might be due to William hiding some of his wealth. Like your father, he would have been a target for thieves."
Edgar had men to protect his home, whilst William could have been paranoid and hid it.
"Quinn grew up there. It might have been long again, but he has some memories of being there. If William had a secret stash, perhaps Quinn knew of it. A place that could hide wealth from the court might be good enough to hide people from us. I need to speak with your father," Tyrion said, getting up.
The intruders were the least of their concern.