Who Is Killing the Brandybucks? by Kathryn Ramage

As usual, Frodo deputized whoever among his relatives was willing to aid him in his investigations. Since all the young hobbits at the Hall had expressed an interest in finding Merimas's killer, they held a conference after dinner to form their plans.

They couldn't meet in the best drawing-room, where the older ladies of the Hall were sitting, nor in the back parlor, where Merimas was laid out for the funeral tomorrow, nor in the Master's study; Uncle Merry was sitting there, alone with his pipe and a glass of wine, and the room was too small to accommodate so many. The bedrooms were likewise too small for such a gathering. So they went up to the nursery, where Melly could sit with little Addy asleep in her lap while they talked and Celie could keep an eye on her children.

The nursery wasn't a single room, but a maze of cubbies and nooks at the very top of Brandy Hall, beneath the crown of the hill. Frodo had spent the first twelve years of his life here with his Brandybuck cousins. Little had changed since those days, for the nursery had been shut up after the last of the children had left, and it was only partially opened now that the young hobbits were old enough to have children of their own. As they sat down in one of the larger playrooms on child-sized chairs that made Frodo wonder if this was how Big Folk felt using hobbit furniture, old memories crowded in upon him: Celie howling in her crib, Dodi and Ilbie as toddlers very like their little nephews, Mentha and Melly playing with their dolls, Berry spying on him and Merry to carry tales to their parents, Merimas scolding them for some long-forgotten mischief. He remembered how he had sobbed through the nights after his mother and father had drowned, and Merry had crept into his bed to sleep beside him.

He explained to these same cousins--those who were still alive--plus Pippin, Fatty, Estella, Flora and Isalda what he hoped to accomplish after the funeral tomorrow. "I don't know if any of the people Dodi's gathered are involved in Merimas's death, but one of them may be. That's where all of you can help. Most of you know them better than I do. Get them to talk. You don't have to ask leading questions. I expect they'll all be eager to talk about Merimas, and about you, Celie, and you only have to encourage them to speak their minds and listen to what they have to say. Perhaps something interesting will come to light."

"And if it does?" asked Ilbie.

"Then you'll tell me about it. Don't come running and shouting in the middle of the reception, for goodness sake, but make note of anything curious. We'll sit down tomorrow evening after everyone else goes home and talk over what we've found."

"I'm not certain I like this," said Isalda, and shook her head. "I didn't when Dodi first told me about it. Of course, I want whoever killed Merimas to be found, but it doesn't seem right to trick our friends to saying unguarded things in hopes of trapping someone. It feels like spying. It's horrible, looking at people we know and wondering if one of them could have done such a thing. Knowing that we're suspected ourselves."

"No one could suspect you, Issy," Pippin teased.

"No, but Frodo's had ideas about my husband and Ilbie." She turned to Frodo. "You asked them their whereabouts when you went out to Bucklebury together last night, didn't you?"

"I did, but that's the sort of thing that has to be asked of everyone," Frodo explained. "It's a routine part of any investigation, to pry into coming and goings and private affairs that wouldn't normally be any of my business."

"You said so before," said Celie, "but I thought you were talking about my old boy-friends. I didn't know you meant my brothers too!"

"It's what Frodo's been engaged to do, by me," Merry supported him. "It's his job to suspect everybody. You can't say he isn't fair about it."

"Besides," joked Ilbie, "what sort of investigation would it be if Frodo didn't suspect me and Dodi at some point? We don't mind it, and you shouldn't either."

"You needn't be frightened for Dodi's sake," Frodo told Isalda. "He and Ilbie both accounted for their whereabouts that evening. They were having dinner with you at Ivysmial. You can swear to that, can't you?"

She brightened. "Yes, I can, and I will. They were with me every minute until Ilbie went home."

"Except for when we went out to sit in the garden for a pipe after dinner," said Ilbie. "You forgot about that."

Isalda whirled to stare at him, mouth open and cheeks pink at the implications of this cheerful contradiction. "They were only outdoors for a few minutes, Frodo, not above ten or fifteen while I was clearing the table and washing up," she quickly amended her previous statement. "That's not enough to matter."

"We never went out of the garden," added Dodi.

"I believe you," Frodo told them, "but I want you all to understand what we're doing. This isn't a game. Isalda is quite right: it isn't nice to suspect people, especially when they're friends or relatives, but it is necessary when you're investigating a murder. You can't discount someone because you're fond of them. I learned that lesson in my first investigation, when I looked into Berry's death. I couldn't allow myself to say 'Dodi wouldn't ever do this, or Melly wouldn't do that,' even if I believed it in my heart. I must find proof that it's so."

Dodi and Melly looked surprised and curious at hearing their names mentioned. Fatty also looked intrigued. "Who said that, Frodo, about Dodi and Melly?" he asked. "You were quoting someone."

"It was Sam, wasn't it?" asked Merry.

"As a matter of fact, it was," Frodo answered. "It was just after I'd found out who that piece of broken jewelry that no one would tell me about belonged to. He said I ought to consider you too, Merry. It upset me very much at the time." So much so that he had had a bad turn and woke up the household with his screams that night; they all remembered that. "But he was right. You have to consider every possibility, like it or not, and examine them before you can discard them. It's the only way to find the truth. If you aren't able to do that, you needn't help. I'll understand. But I ask that you don't give us away tomorrow, say anything that will put the people we're speaking to on guard, or lie to protect someone. You may mean well, but it will only confuse matters and make things look worse than they are for the very person you're trying to shield. If they are innocent, they won't be harmed by questions, and if they aren't..."

Isalda nodded solemnly.

In one of the nearby cubbies, one of the children began to cry for "Mama!" and Celie left the playroom to go to him.

"I can't do as much as I used to in the old days," said Merry. "When Pippin and I would go around questioning everybody, riding halfway across the Shire and sleeping in the woods because you asked us to. Remember, Pip?" He grinned at his cousin, and received a beaming smile in return. "I'll have to put in an appearance at the Hall tomorrow as host and be there to greet the guests after the funeral, but I'll come to Dodi's as soon as I can, Frodo. You'll have plenty of other people to poke about and find out secrets for you before I get there."

"It's what I came here to do," Pippin agreed.

"So did I," said Melly. "I'll ask whatever questions you like, Frodo. I mean to find my brother's murderer. I know he wasn't well-liked. He wasn't kind to Celie, and I can't forgive him that, but he was my brother and he's dead and I can't allow that to pass. He always did what he thought proper for a gentlehobbit and a Brandybuck, and he looked out for Mentha and me in his own, old-fashioned way."

"I'll help too," Estella said softly. "We've helped before, haven't we, Fatty?" she asked her brother. "When poor Cammie Stillwaters went missing. Only, this time it's Celie I want to help. She's been my friend since we were little girls. I won't lie, Frodo, but I won't do anything to hurt her."

"Nor will I," said Melly. "She's had to endure enough without more suspicions."

"I don't want to hurt Celie either," Frodo assured them. "But I this does involve her. I think it was done for her sake, even if she doesn't know it."

"I guessed as much," said Fatty. "We've heard that they're talking about her in Newbury and Bucklebury, and obviously we see how you're considering the boys she used to go around with."

"I don't think there's anything in it. Celie used to tell me an awful lot about the boys she went out walking with," said Estella. "She talked a lot about of kissing, with Berry and some of the other lads. I thought it terribly shocking at the time." Her eyes went to Ilbie, and a little smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. "I'd never kissed anybody. But I think it was mostly talk."

"Then I can count on you?" Frodo asked not only Estella, but the others seated around him. They all, even Isalda, agreed.
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