A Rope to Hang Himself by Kathryn Ramage

After dinner was over and Frodo went to bed, Sam returned to the taproom. Silvanus and Pandro had gone, but his Gamgee cousins were there. They greeted him when he came in, but seemed embarrassed and avoided meeting his eyes. They didn't offer to sit with him, but returned to the new game beginning at the other end of the room. Merry and Pippin, who'd left the private dining room before Sam, were introducing a game they'd learned in Minas Tirith to the local lads; it was called 'pitch-penny,' and it involved tossing coins at the wall and seeing how close they could get without touching it. The winner took all the pennies. Sam had played it before and enjoyed it, but tonight, only sat at some distance and watched the game morosely. He knew what the purpose of it was, and knew it wouldn't help if he were to join in. Already, he could sense some nervousness from Mose at the bar and some of the patrons who had been here earlier, when Frodo had made his announcement were glancing at him out of the corners of their eyes and whispering.

Sam drank one ale, then left the taproom go to the room he and Frodo shared. Frodo was in bed; he had taken the little memoranda book that Sam habitually carried during their investigations and was reading over the notes Sam had taken so far, occasionally adding a fresh note of his own with a slate pencil.

He didn't look up when Sam came in, but asked him, "Did you know that this was what they were keeping back, Sam? About your brother?"

"I only heard it today, from the older folk at my cousins' farm," Sam answered. "They all think it's so, but didn't like to tell me. Do you-" he paused. "Do you think so, Frodo?"

Frodo lifted his eyes. "I don't know. I haven't heard what's against him, yet. It might only be idle gossip--you know how people talk. Or there might be something in it. But you know we have to look in it. We can't avoid investigating just because it's a member of one of our families. You taught me so, Sam. Remember?"

Sam had nothing to say to that; it was true. He nodded miserably and sat down at the end of the bed, but didn't undress for bed. Frodo set the little note-book aside and lay down flat on his back, eyes shut, but he wasn't asleep. He was thinking. Sam didn't dare ask about what.

After what seemed like hours had passed and inn was quiet, there was a tap on their door. Sam got up to answer, and Merry peeked his head into the room. "Is Frodo still awake?"

"I'm awake," said Frodo, and opened his eyes. "What did you find out," he asked as he sat up, winding his arms about his drawn-up knees.

"We didn't get any girls' names," Merry answered, and sat down on the bed. Pippin came into the room behind him. "But after Sam went out, they said it was a shame about his brother and tossed out lots of hints."

"Lots of hints!" Pippin emphasized, and sat down too.

"So they all think Ham Gamgee has something to do with Malbo's murder?" asked Frodo.

His cousins nodded.

"But that's nonsense!" Sam huffed in despair. "Ham'd never do such a thing, not in his own yard! And why would he call on Frodo 'n' me to find out who did it, if he already knew?"

"Well, you are his brother," Frodo said apologetically. "They know very well one brother will protect another, even if it's murder."

"And they don't know that Frodo's scrupulously honest and will suspect anybody!" Pippin added cheerfully. "Now you know how I felt when it was my family! It's not so easy to say 'you have to consider everybody' when it's your own brother that's being considered, isn't it?"

Sam didn't answer this, but his mouth was in a tight line and his face colored. Frodo had made the same point, but it stung more now.

Frodo gave Pippin a look of warning. "Is that all they said?" he asked his cousins. "Is there actually anything against Ham?"

"It's because Malbo was found in the Gamgee's ropeyard," Merry told him. "I guess they feel differently about that than you do, Sam. He had the best opportunity to make use of the ropes, and there was no one nearby but your old uncle, who they say doesn't hear very well and wouldn't wake up."

"He doesn't," Sam had to concede.

"Some of them think that he was in on it," added Pippin.

This roused Sam from his misery. "Uncle Andy?"

Pippin nodded. "But some of the others don't think so. They say your uncle didn't have any reason."

"What reason do they say Ham has?" Sam demanded.

"According to some of the lads we met tonight, he and this Malbo had a knock-down brawl here in the stableyard about a week before Malbo was killed. It was two lads, named Gamgee, who told us," Merry said, and glanced at Sam.

"My cousins," said Sam. He'd known that they were keeping something back when he'd asked them about Ham this afternoon.

"What was this fight about?" asked Frodo.

"It all hints, as we said," answered Merry. "Nobody would tell us if it was over a girl, or something else. Maybe they don't know."

Sam appealed to Frodo. "You don't really think it's Ham, do you?" he asked a second time.

"I don't know," Frodo answered again, more carefully than before. "I don't like to think it, Sam, but he did lie to us about how well he knew Malbo. He said he barely knew him, had only seen him here at the inn a few times, but if he brawled with him less than two weeks ago, they must surely have been better acquainted than that. We don't know why they were fighting. Who knows what else he hasn't told us?" He met his friend's eyes. "Do you want me to question him, Sam, or would you rather do it?"

"I'll do it," Sam said grimly. "He's my brother, and he'd tell me what he wouldn't tell you."
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