Frodo woke late the next morning with the back of his head still aching, but otherwise he felt much better. He was able to sit up without dizziness, and ate the breakfast Sam brought in to him. He would have tried to get up and dressed, but both Sam and Aunt Esme insisted that he rest.
For the remainder of the morning, Frodo lay in bed drinking willow-bark tea to ease his headache and receiving visitors--first Merry and Pippin, then Melly, Celie, Dodi and Isalda, Fatty and Flora, Melisaunte, and even Ilbie with his own head bandaged and his right arm in a sling, escorted by Hilda and Estella--until the bedroom was crowded with people who wanted to hear how he had solved the murders.
"I didn't solve them," Frodo protested. "I almost ended up as the last victim."
"But Chief Muggeredge said you knew it was Jeb afore you saw him," said Sam. "You told him so. You figured it out, even if you didn't get a chance to tell anybody. However did you know?"
"I didn't see the truth until after I'd left the Pibbles' smial. Before that, I suspected... someone else." No, he wouldn't tell them; no one would know how he'd suspected his lonely and embittered uncle. "It seems obvious now. You remember, Merry--When we first interviewed the Todbrushes after they 'found' Merimas, Jebro said he'd stayed in Newbury later than usual the night before to visit his wife. Perhaps that was his intention, but I don't believe he ever saw her. Milli will confirm whether or not I'm right. I think what happened is that, when he went to her house, he saw Merimas arrive before him."
Here, Frodo hesitated. This was a delicate subject, one he was reluctant to speak of before Merimas's wife, mother, sister, and mother-in-law, not to mention the rest of the family who had always believed Merimas to be a most respectable young hobbit. But he would have to tell them if they were to understand how and why he and Eliduc had been killed.
Dodi gave a long, low whistle of surprise. "You mean, she was the mysterious girl-friend after all? Merimas was courting one of our housemaids!"
"According to Milli, they went walking together a few afternoons on her days off," Frodo answered, "but he was always a perfect gentleman, she said."
"What about the little boy?" asked Melly. "Is he Berry's child?"
"No, he isn't."
"Is he Merimas's?" asked Celie.
"No," Frodo lied.
While he could see curious and doubtful looks in a few eyes around the room, for the most part the Brandybucks were relieved to hear this. Everyone felt that if the child were truly one of their own blood, they had a responsibility towards him, but Frodo thought that acknowledging the relationship would be no aid to Milli nor her son. He would talk to Merry later about discreetly doing something for them, especially since she would no longer have her job at Crickhollow once he left it.
"There was nothing in the old gossip about Berry and Milli," he continued, "but Jebro Todbrush believed it. He must be an extremely jealous and suspicious sort of hobbit. When he saw Merimas enter the Pibble smial, he drew the worst conclusions--although Milli says it was nothing of the sort," he added for Celie's sake, even though she didn't seem very upset at learning where her husband had gone on the last night of his life. "When Merimas left, Jeb followed him and served him out the way he once meant to serve out Berry. He struck in anger. Perhaps he didn't mean to kill Merimas, but once Merimas was dead, he had to protect himself. He brought his brother along the Hedge path the next day to be sure that the body was found and any signs of his being there earlier thoroughly tramped down and confounded. When he learned that I would be investigating the murder, I think he kept an eye on me to see if he was in danger of discovery. After Merimas's funeral, he watched us at Ivysmial, and Ilbie unfortunately saw him and went to investigate. I should have guessed that it might be him earlier. His brother Ted told me that they'd parted company just after the funeral. Jebro said he was going home, but there's no indication that he did so, while Ted dawdled at the Buckle's Notch."
"And talked to Eliduc," Pippin remembered.
"Ted said something to set him off on his search, since Eliduc lit upon Milli not long afterwards. Jebro must have seen him call at her house too."
"Perhaps Jebro thought Eli had gotten too close to finding him out," said Ilbie, "just like me."
"Or else he thought poor Eli was up to no good with his wife as well," laughed Dodi. "And you too, Frodo."
"You may be right," Frodo said. "We can't know what was on Jebro's mind until he confesses."
When Chief Muggeredge called at Brandy Hall that afternoon, Frodo gave him an even more circumspect version of the events that led to Merimas's murder. The family could know of the relationship between Milli and Merimas, but Frodo didn't want it to become common gossip for both Celie's and Milli's sake. He had to reveal that Merimas had called on Milli that night, in order to explain why Jebro had followed and killed him, and trust to Muggeredge's discretion.
The Chief Shirriff heard his explanation with only a nod or two, and few questions. When Frodo was done, he said, "You needn't worry, Mr. Baggins. The tale won't get about. Nobody concerned wants it to. Jeb daren't talk about Mr. Merimas and his missus. He an't saying anything for the minute."
Indeed, Jebro Todbrush refused even to say why he had assaulted Frodo, or explain how Mrs. Pibble's spade had come to be found at his farm with blood on it. Ted Todbrush, on the other hand, had provided some information that Muggeredge thought Frodo would like to know: after he and his brother had found Merimas, Jebro had drunk enough at the High Hay to talk about false wives and wicked, seducing gents getting what was coming to them; Ted had heard Jeb speak so about Milli and Berilac Brandybuck, but he wondered if this time his brother was talking about Merimas. When he'd met Eliduc in the Buckle's Notch after Merimas's funeral, he'd brought up the subject of Milli seeing Merimas to find out if any of the dead hobbit's family knew about it, and learned that there was some old gossip. Eliduc was eager to hear all he knew. Tedro's suspicions of his brother had increased after Ilberic had been attacked and Jeb had come home very late, and began to spend more time away from the farm, spying on Milli. Thereafter, Ted had followed Frodo to try and protect him, but couldn't bring himself to speak his suspicions to the detective and betray his brother without being certain of Jebro's guilt. He'd told Muggeredge that, once he'd heard about Eliduc's death, he'd wished he had.
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