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“Who else?” she prompted when neither Beatrice nor Isaac seemed inclined to speak.
“Vernon.” Beatrice and Isaac replied in unison.
“Vernon?” Estelle looked around the room and wondered if Vernon was another familial straggler.
“He is er-” Isaac looked a little nonplussed for a moment.
“Odd,” Beatrice declared bluntly.
“Eccentric,” Isaac said, throwing Beatrice a rueful look. “Vernon is another of our family’s vagabond relatives with no place of his own to stay. He is as destitute as Eva.”
“Simple.”
“Pardon?” Estelle’s neck was starting to ache from looking from Beatrice, to Isaac, and back to Beatrice again.
“Vernon is odd. He rarely speaks to anybody. He doesn’t really like people, and spends most of his time playing that dreadful harpsicord of his in the tower room,” Beatrice explained.
“He also plays the harp,” Isaac added with a heavy sigh. “So if you hear harp music, you are not meeting your Maker, it is Vernon.”
“He lives in the south tower.”
Estelle nodded. She had wondered earlier why it had not been searched. Myles had just said to her that he would go in there later. She had been so eager to finish the search that she hadn’t stopped to question him. Now, she realised that Myles hadn’t wanted her to meet his strange relation.
“He is not like everybody else,” Beatrice added somewhat furtively.
“Myles?” Estelle asked. She closed her mouth with a snap when Beatrice and Isaac looked at each other.
“Vernon,” Isaac prompted.
Estelle’s cheeks turned pink, but she was prevented from having to explain herself by Beatrice, who looked cautiously about the room before she slowly leaned forward and lowered her tone to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Vernon is strange. He doesn’t keep the same hours as everybody else. He walks the corridors at night. If you see him talking, he won’t be talking to you.” She tapped her temple. “He is talking to his imaginary friends.”
“Imaginary friends?” Estelle whispered weakly. She looked at Isaac when he snorted.
“Come off it, Beatrice. You are scaring her,” Isaac chastised but without heat.
Estelle had the distinct impression that he wanted her to be afraid, but had no idea why other than he suspected her of being the killer.
“Vernon is shy, especially around strangers,” he explained, ignoring Beatrice’s snigger.
Estelle glared at the woman. The more time she spent in Beatrice’s company, the less she liked her. Beatrice was spiteful, a little cynical, and enjoyed making situations as unpleasant as possible. She also appeared to enjoy scaring people, especially Estelle, and was so callous that not even the death of her brother upset her.
“I am sure he is quite nice,” Estelle replied defensively. While she looked at Isaac as she spoke, her gaze turned quite pointedly to Beatrice. “After all, Myles and Barnabas seem are kindly gentlemen.”
“I am sure you think so,” Beatrice murmured silkily, her voice rich with hidden meaning.
Ignoring the heated flush in her cheeks, Estelle was pleased to turn the focus of her attention on Isaac, who seemed considerably less snide, and more apt to be brutally forthright.
“Then there is Beatrice. She is strange as well,” Isaac said with a shrug when Beatrice glared at him. “She is here because she likes to live in a house with servants so she can lord it over everybody and pretend she is somebody for a while,” he whispered, throwing Beatrice a teasing look which held just a slight hint of malice. “She is financially no better off that Eva, really. She just likes to pretend she has money. Barnabas pays all of her bills because she cannot control her spending.”
“Shut up, Isaac,” Beatrice snapped, her eyes flashing fire.
“Why are you here then?” Isaac challenged. “I mean, it isn’t time for your advance yet, is it?”
Beatrice glared at him, suddenly sitting upright in her seat, her back and shoulders rigidly straight with outrage.
“I am here because I received a letter just like Myles and your father. I take it you didn’t get one but came because your father insisted on it,” Beatrice snapped. She flopped back in her seat, glaring evilly at Isaac as though daring him to deny it. Then, she pointed one perfectly manicured finger in Isaac’s direction and levelled a hateful glare on him. “You go too far, Isaac. You are only here for the cash as well, don’t forget. You cannot live in the manner to which you have become accustomed either, and you know it. You are as much of a scrounger as the rest of us so be careful who you throw stones at.”
