"We knew that something was amiss when he didn't come home for dinner," said Emeliadoc, who stood beside a table in the long hall of the guardhouse in Newbury--the same table Merimas had been laid out on a week before--and gazed down at the body of his younger son. Marly stood beside his father with tears rolling down his face. A piece of cloth had been placed over the wound in Eliduc's throat, but the dark red of the dried blood showed through the thin white cloth and there were stains of blood down the front of his shirt and coat. "If the boys are off with their friends and going to be late, or stopping for dinner elsewhere, they'll let us know in good time. His mother was worried. After Merimas and Ilbie, she's been afraid that something terrible would happen to one of our boys too. I feared there'd been some mischief tonight, but I never imagined..."
"Where is Aunt Sirabella?" asked Frodo. "She didn't come with you?" He had seen no lady seated on the bench outside when he'd come in with Pippin and Sam, nor was she in the room.
"No," Emeliadoc answered. "She swooned when she heard the news. Great-aunt Agapantha from next door is sitting by her while we're here. I had to come and verify that it was really Eli, but there's no reason she should have to see him like this." He turned to Frodo. "What is happening? Who would do such a thing to our son?"
He sounded as if he were expecting an answer, but Frodo had no answer to give. "I'm so terribly sorry, Uncle," he said, and meant it. He should have prevented this somehow. He should have found the murderer long before this, but Eliduc's death left him more lost than ever. "Do you know what took him to that path? Was he visiting the Pogses, or some other farm-folk down that way?"
What other farms lay on the eastern border of Buckland? Where did the cart track go? Since Frodo had been on the same road himself, he knew that that the northern end met the Hedge lane outside Newbury and led into town. And to the south..? He would have to find out.
Emeliadoc shook his head. "I didn't know he'd gone outside of Bucklebury." Marleduc said nothing.
"Then how was he discovered there? Who found him?"
"It was one of Old Pogs' daughters," Chief Muggeredge told Frodo. "The cows usually bring themselves back to the barn when it starts getting dark, but there was one or two stragglers today, so she went out to the far pasture to bring 'em in. She found Mr. Eliduc there, in the cart track that runs along beside, and when she saw that he was dead, she came running here to fetch the shirriff. As I didn't know if you were at Brandy Hall or not, Mr. Baggins, I sent to Master Merry."
"And I sent Pippin to you while I went to Uncle Em's," added Merry. He too now carried his elven dagger in his belt.
"How did you know it was Eliduc? Did Miss Pogs recognize him?"
"No, 'twas me," said Muggeredge. "I knew when I saw him that it was one of Mr. Emeliadoc's lads."
"And when the shirriff came, I said that Marly was fine when I last saw him, but we'd been waiting for Eli this afternoon and he never showed up," said Pippin. "So we knew it had to be him."
"You said that his throat was cut," said Frodo, and glanced at the dark stains on the dead young hobbit's clothes.
"Not cut so much as stabbed, Mr. Baggins. Here-" Chief Muggeredge stepped up to the opposite side of the table and tugged aside the cloth laid over the wound. Emeliadoc turned away quickly and walked out the front door. Marleduc followed his father. "Here, you see," the Chief Sherriff went on. "That doesn't look like a cut you'd get from a knife. 'Twasn't anything so sharp as that, and there's dirt in that cut that never got there when the poor lad fell a-dying. My guess is that it was on the blade he was struck with."
Frodo leaned closer to examine the wound and verify that there was indeed a lot of dirt in and around it, although he felt a little nauseated as he did so. In spite of all the murder victims he had viewed, he'd never become accustomed to the sight of gore. "A spade or trowel, do you think?"
"Could even be the edge of a shovel. Plenty o' such things about a farm, or anybody's garden," the Chief confirmed.
While Sam, who knew his gardening tools, came forward to and see if he could identify the weapon from the shape of the cut, and Merry made arrangements with the shirriffs regarding Eliduc's body, Frodo went outside for a breath of air. The long hall suddenly seemed rather stifling. Emeliadoc was sitting on the bench by the door, and Marleduc paced; the younger hobbit looked toward the High Hay across the green once or twice, but he did not go far from his father. A number of local hobbits stood outside the tavern, staring at them and murmuring.
Frodo approached Marleduc. "You knew where your brother was today, didn't you, Marly?" he asked in an undertone.
"I didn't know!" Marleduc hissed back. "Not 'til Merry came and told us where he'd been found."
"Didn't he tell you who he was going to see?" Frodo pressed. "Marly, your brother's been murdered-"
"Don't you think I realize that? I've seen him! I'll see him, the way he looks in there, when I try to sleep tonight, every time I shut my eyes."
"Here," Emeliadoc couldn't hear what they were whispering, but he could see their expressions and hear the vehemence in his son's voice. "Frodo, what're you saying? You don't think Marly has anything to do with this, do you? How could you imagine such a thing?"
"Oh, Frodo's practically accused me of murder before," said Marly. "Merimas and Ilbie, so why not Eli too?"
"I'm not accusing you," Frodo responded, "but I think you know more about Eli's whereabouts today than you've said. What was this 'surprise' you told us about? Pippin?" He appealed to his cousin, since both Pippin and Sam had also come outdoors, hearing raised voices.
"You did say so, Marly," Pippin confirmed. "You told Frodo that when Eli showed up-"
"But he never did!" cried Marly. "He was probably already dead by that time!"
"Boys, please!" said Emeliadoc. "Why must you discuss this now? Haven't we endured enough?"
"You've had more than enough to bear, Uncle Em," said Merry as he joined the group at the guardhouse door and put a comforting hand on Emeliadoc's arm. "It's all right. You and Marly needn't stay any longer. You've done what you had to. I'll take care of whatever other arrangements are necessary, and see that Eliduc is brought to you tomorrow to be laid out properly. You'll have much to do then."
"There'll have to be another funeral," Emeliadoc said desolately, and rose from his seat on the bench.
"Sherriff Treadel here will escort you home," Merry offered, but the shirriff on duty balked nervously at the prospect of walking to Bucklebury and back in the dark with a murderer about. "Will you go with them, Pip?" he quickly amended his offer.
After Pippin had escorted Emeliadoc and his son away, Frodo told Merry, "Marly does know what his brother was doing today--I'm sure of it."
"I believe you, Frodo, but he and Uncle Em were too upset to be questioned tonight. You can't possibly think Marly killed his own brother?"
"No," said Frodo. "He said they had a surprise that would make me stop suspecting them--but I can't think that this was what they had planned!"
"Then Marly can wait to tell you what he knows." Merry turned to Frodo. "You won't come back to the Hall and spend the night? I know you've got Sam to keep watch over you, but you both might be safer at Brandy Hall."
Sam had been standing by the doorway all this time; Frodo was aware that his friend was watching him and Merry closely.
"No, thank you," he refused the offer. "We'll be all right."
They remained a little while longer. After Merry had finished giving instructions to the shirriffs and gone on his way, Frodo told the Chief Sherriff what Ilbie had told him that morning. Vague as it was, Ilbie's glimpse of the person he'd seen in the garden of the empty cottage was the only description they had of the murderer. He also made arrangements to view the place where Eliduc had been found the next morning.
He and Sam walked silently back to Crickhollow. The hour was late, past Frodo's usual bed-time; he was very tired, but too distressed to think of sleeping. Like Marleduc, he knew he would see Eliduc's dead face whenever he closed his eyes. When they entered the cottage, Frodo went into the sitting room and sank down in one of the chairs before the dark and cold fireplace.
Sam locked and barred the front door and hung up his coat, then went to the sitting-room doorway. "This Eliduc," he said softly after regarding Frodo's slumped figure for a minute. "Was he a close kin to you?"
"No, not close," answered Frodo, lifting his head from his hands. "I've known him and his brother Marly since they were small boys. They used to come to the Hall to play with Dodi and Ilbie, but I've seen little of them since I went away to Bag End." He turned to look over his shoulder, and found that Sam had come closer to stand behind his chair. "I should have known that something was going to happen when he didn't show up this afternoon at the Notch, Sam. He and Marly were up to something. You heard what I told Merry: Marly said they would have a surprise for me when Eliduc arrived... only Eliduc never came."
"What d'you think they were up to?"
"I don't know. Whatever it was, I'm sure it's the reason why Eliduc was killed. If Marly knows about it, he may be next."
One thing was clear to Frodo: Uncle Merry couldn't have done this; he hadn't left Brandy Hall today. There must be someone else involved. Who? Was it an independent agent, or were they working together? It had been dark on the Newbury green, but Frodo thought he'd seen Ted Todbrush among the crowd before the tavern--by coincidence, or was his presence tonight a sign of something more sinister? The High Hay was the Todbrushes' usual haunt, but Ted had been talking with Eliduc, and now Eliduc was dead...
"Mr. Pippin's seen 'em safely home," Sam told him, "and we'll go over to Bucklebury tomorrow and you can ask him private-like, so his Dad won't get upset." He put a hand on Frodo's shoulder. "It's too late tonight for more investigating. You ought to be abed. You need your rest."
"Yes, Sam," Frodo agreed wearily, and let his cheek rest on the back of his friend's hand. He understood that Sam was trying to set aside his jealousy and support him in this time of need, as Sam had always done, and he was grateful for it. He let Sam help him to his feet, and leaned on his friend as they went into the bedroom.
As Frodo undressed and put on his nightshirt, Sam stood hesitantly in the doorway. "If you'd rather," he said, "I can make up a bed for myself on the sofa quick enough and let you be."
"No, Sam. I don't want to be alone." Frodo was too sick and stunned by this latest murder to have any romantic feelings right now, but it would be a great comfort to have Sam nearby during the night. As he sat down on the bed, he looked up at Sam with eyes wide in appeal. "That is, if you want to be with me."
"You know I do," Sam answered, then added, "You could've gone to stay with Master Merry tonight."
"I didn't want to go," said Frodo. "I'd rather be here." He held out a hand, and when Sam came to him, they clung to each other.
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