Beregond found Frodo soon afterwards, still standing where Imatibin had left him. "Are you ready to go on with our questioning of the former councilors?" he asked.
"Not today," said Frodo, although it was why he'd come here this morning. "I've just learned of something that we must look into right away. Will you take me into the treasure-house, please? I need to talk to the secretary there."
He repeated the story that Imatibin had told him. Beregond was astounded--he'd never heard a hint of such rumors before--but he agreed that, if true, it was a most serious crime. They went swiftly to the treasury, Beregond escorting the hobbit past the guards who kept watch outside with only a brisk nod of his head.
The secretary Gathin was seated at his desk, as if he had not moved from it since Frodo had last seen him. At their entrance, he looked up and rose to greet them. "You are welcome, as always, Captain. How may I assist you and the King's Investigator?"
"We've heard the most alarming rumors about a misuse of the city's gold, and come to you to know the truth of it," Beregond explained.
"Will you tell us the truth, please?" Frodo added.
"I always try to," Gathin replied.
"I've been told that when Carathir and the others were planning for the city's defense, he did use money from the treasury to fund-" Frodo began, but he got no farther, for the placid secretary suddenly turned very red and looked very angry.
"No!" he exploded. "A thousand times, no! I've told you once already--such a thing would be a breach of a great trust. My lord Carathir wouldn't dream of it. He would've let the city fall, and fallen dead himself, before he'd steal the smallest bit of the treasure."
"Never-the-less, it is said-"
"Then those who say it tell lies! Their vile gossip slanders an honest man!" Gathin answered Frodo, but his eyes were on Beregond.
"I'm sorry if it distresses you, Gathin. I've no wish to darken your master's reputation after his death, but the accusations has been made and we must look into the matter for ourselves," Beregond answered patiently. "It is my place to examine all crimes and claims of crime within the city walls and, if this has a part in the murder of Carathir and his son, then Frodo has the King's leave to investigate it too."
Gathin was angry, but Beregond had the force of the law behind him and could not be turned aside from his duty. "Very well," the secretary answered shortly. "If you must see for yourselves, then look!" He turned to take down one of the heavy books from the shelf behind him and set it down flat on the desk with a dust-raising bang! "These are the accounts for the last year of Lord Denethor's stewardship. If there has been any mismanagement of the treasury funds, you will see it writ here."
Frodo approached the desk and climbed up onto Gathin's chair to have a look at the enormous book. He opened it to turn the vast pages. Long columns ran down every page, recording monies paid out for various expenses at regular and sometimes irregular intervals, with noted dates for each expenditure; all seemed to be subtracted at the far right-hand margin and totaled at the bottom. Now and then, new funds were added with red ink. Frodo was better at mathematics than most hobbits, but the most complicated sums he ever had to do involved balancing Bag End's household accounts. The city's finances looked infinitely more complicated and unfathomable. If there was a discrepancy, it would not easily be detected. Beregond had also come over to the desk to view the accounts, and looked even more lost at the columns of numbers.
"You see!" Gathin said, as if he'd been vindicated. "The King himself might study these books and count every coin in the treasury, and find no fault."
"Yes, I see," said Frodo. He offered an apology to Gathin for disturbing him, and he and Beregond went out.
Once they'd gone past the guards at the door, Beregond leaned down closer to the hobbit and murmured, "Did you understand what you looked upon, Frodo?"
"Very little," Frodo admitted. "I think only another mathematician as skilled as Gathin--if there is another!--would understand it."
"As Gathin himself says, the King must find such a one to look upon those books and count the coins," Beregond answered. "Whether or not this business has anything to do with Carathir's murder, we must bring it to the King's attention, Frodo. He must know."
"Yes, we'll have to tell him, but I want to hear what Larengar has to say about it first. The Council won't be out for at least another hour. Will you wait with me, Captain?"
Beregond was about to accept, when a guardsmen came toward them, looking as if he wanted to speak to the captain urgently. Beregond pardoned himself and went to talk with the young guard. Frodo returned to the great hall alone. He sat down on one of the marble benches outside the council-chamber door to wait for the councilors to emerge.
When the doors to the chamber opened, Frodo stepped forward to catch and tug on the sleeve of Larengar's robe as the councilors followed Gandalf and Aragorn out. "My lord, a moment, please," he requested. "I have a question for you."
The large Man stopped and smiled down at him. "Yes, what is it, little one?" He was so pleasantly unsuspecting that Frodo almost felt guilty about the shock he was about to deliver.
"It's about your quarrel with Carathir," he explained in a low voice, since there were still others nearby. "Was there more to it than you've told me? Did you talk of anything besides Caradan?"
"No," Larengar answered. "I've told you all I remember."
"You didn't discuss money?" Larengar only looked perplexed at this question, and Frodo made himself more plain, "About funds Carathir is said to have taken from the treasury-"
Like Gathin, Larengar's face turned red and he cried out, "No! How did you hear-?" Several of the councilors--including Grangirtan, and Imatibin--had not gone yet. At this shout, they turned to stare. Larengar glared at Imatibin; there was no mistaking whom he was referring to. "Is there any abominable lie that Man will not tell to implicate me? I refuse to stand and listen to such slanderous nonsense against a friend who is no longer able to defend himself."
Imatibin looked triumphant as Larengar brushed past indignantly--but his face changed when the older Man turned to hiss something. Frodo couldn't hear what Larengar said, but his words wiped away Imatibin's smirking expression as abruptly as a slap. Imatibin's brother, who'd been standing at the end of the corridor to wait for him, came quickly forward to intervene before the two councilors came to blows. Larengar snorted furiously, but departed without another word. The brothers walked away together, one holding the other's arm, both whispering furiously.
"It's a shame you should be caught in the midst of their battle," a voice spoke behind Frodo, and he turned to find Hilabar standing there. The youngest member of the Council usually left the citadel immediately at the midday break to return to his lady, but he too had stayed to observe the scene between Imatibin and Larengar. When Frodo's eyes met his, Hilabar gave the hobbit a sympathetic smile. "They set you upon each other with their accusations. I would feel more sorry for the old Man, if he hadn't accused me as well." His smile broadened. "What did Imatibin tell you, Frodo?"
"He said that Carathir had borrowed money from the treasury during Denethor's last days and not returned it, and Larengar had quarreled with him over it. I've no idea if it's true. Larengar says not, as you saw, but it's obvious that he knew what I was referring to. Whether he confronted Carathir or no, he'd heard something before I spoke. Perhaps you can help?" Frodo appealed to the young councilor. "Did you know about it?" Imatibin had said he did.
"Yes," Hilabar confirmed. "I'd heard... certain rumors."
"From Imatibin?" Frodo prompted; Imatibin had said otherwise, but he wanted to see how Hilabar would answer.
"Yes," said Hilabar.
"When did you first hear of it?"
"Perhaps two months ago. There was never a word spoken against Carathir's integrity before his death, but since then, stories are whispered around the citadel."
"You didn't suspect at the time, when you were all trying to defend the city?"
"It never occurred to me to wonder," Hilabar admitted. "With Men so wealthy as Carathir, Grangirtan, and Larengar, I'd assumed they had plenty to pay whatever was needed from their own purses. If we failed, all money would be meaningless."
"And once you heard, you looked in the treasury books?"
"Yes, that's right. Carathir was such an honorable and trusted old nobleman--I found it hard to believe these terrible rumors, and I thought I'd better go and look for myself before I spoke of it to anyone else."
"Did you find any discrepancies?" Frodo wondered if Hilabar had the mathematical skills to detect any gaps; since he desired to be keeper of the treasury, he must have some ability as a bookkeeper, even if his household accounts were said to be lacking.
"No, none. The books of these last years appear to be in perfect order."
Frodo's head was whirling. After this, the only sensible thing to do was to go to the King and tell him all. Aragorn needed to know about this. Frodo would have preferred that Beregond accompany him, but the captain had not yet returned by the time Hilabar departed. He went up to the royal chambers to find Aragorn.
"I don't know who to believe," Frodo confided once he'd repeated all he'd discovered today. "Imatibin said he'd heard of the misplaced money from Hilabar, but Hilabar said that Imatibin had told him about it. One of them must be lying. I think it's Imatibin. I feel almost certain he started the rumors himself, or at least did his best to spread them about once they came to his ears. It'd be very easy for him to claim that he heard it from someone else first. I also suspect he's lying about the reason for Larengar's quarrel with Carathir. After all, he didn't really hear anything. And yet, as much as I mistrust and dislike Imatibin, I'm afraid there's a kernel of truth at the heart of his story."
"The theft from the treasury," Aragorn said, and looked grim.
"Well, yes. Gathin and Larengar deny it most vehemently--but they would, even if it were true. Gathin wishes to protect Carathir's reputation at all costs, and he's clever enough to do whatever he likes with the treasury accounts. And Larengar would also want to protect his old friend."
"I will have those accounts studied. Every book in the treasury must be thoroughly examined for discrepancies before I put another keeper in Carathir's place." Aragorn rose and to pace the floor of the tiny counsel-closet; he could cover it from end to end in three long-legged steps. "Oh, Frodo, you don't know what you've done!"
Frodo stared up at him in alarm. "What've I done?"
"This investigation of yours has torn a veil from my eyes. Even if you find there is no murderer among them, I can never see my councilors in the same light again. It seems I have a nest of vipers governing Gondor! I see them to be liars, vicious gossips, and now my long-respected treasurer a possible thief. I knew they had differences among them, but I thought them honest Men, devoted to the city."
"I would say that most of them are devoted to the city, in their own ways." At least, he could say that of Hilabar, Larengar, and the late Carathir even if the rumors were true. Who or what Imatibin was devoted to, Frodo couldn't guess. "Even the very worst of the Men I've met has done what he's done out of some idea of loyalty. They're frightened now, because of these poisonings, but perhaps they'll remember to behave themselves better when my investigation is over."
"I hope you're right, Frodo." The King sat down again--the room was too small for much pacing. "Sometimes, I heartily believe I would've done better to remain a Ranger, wandering the Wilds. The Men about me were Men I could trust with my life. I would have them about me now, if they were not abroad on other errands in the lands of old Gondor. But they are Men of arms, no politicians, and no more used to courtly intrigue than I am."
"Are you sorry, Strider?" Frodo asked timidly. He knew how long the lost heir of Gondor had waited for his destiny to unfold, and how reluctant he'd been at first to become the great king he must be. Did he regret claiming his throne?
"No..." Aragorn lifted his eyes to Frodo's and gave the hobbit a wry smile. "It is what was meant to be--we accept our destinies, for both good and ill. And there are compensations for the hardships of rule. I could not have married Arwen until I was king."
As they went out of the counsel-closet, Arwen was waiting for her husband. She invited Frodo to join them for lunch, but he refused politely; he'd promised Merry he'd be home by lunchtime, and he also felt, as the two gazed at each other, that they would prefer to be alone.
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