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"I'm afraid so," Edward laughed. "But it is still good to see you, old boy."
"You, too," Andrew replied, shaking his friend's hand, only to turn to Leah to kiss hers instead. "And you look as lovely as ever, my dear."
"Always the charmer," Leah chuckled. "Let us all sit down and have some tea. Edward and I have something to share with you."
"I hope it is not gossip," Andrew frowned. "I am not dreadfully keen on those."
"Neither are we," Leah agreed. "This is something far more important than mere gossip."
"It is?" Andrew's eyes widened curiously.
Leah and Edward proceeded to share with him everything that had happened in the past several days, endeavoring not to omit a single piece of information, so he could get the whole picture. Once they were done, Andrew seemed to be lost in thought, tugging at his chin hair with his fingers.
"So, you are telling me that your parents hired a criminal?" Andrew wondered, to which Edward merely nodded. "Thatdoessound like something they would do, to help him out, of course. And you knew nothing of this?"
"Of course not," Edward shrugged. "It was none of my concern whom my parents would employ."
"I see," Andrew was still pondering. "Well, there is the answer to your mystery, right there," he finally said, sounding all important.
"Where?" Edward and Leah both exclaimed at the same time. Neither of them could see what Andrew was referring to, at least not without being pointed in that direction.
Andrew got up and started pacing about the room, with his hands crossed at his lower back. He looked like a detective about to reveal the entire mystery of how the crime was committed and send the guilty party to prison. Leah liked detective stories. She wished that things were that easy in real life, though. There were some difficulties for the protagonist as he or she tried to find the solution to the mystery, then suddenly, with one single piece of evidence, everything would start to make sense. All the pieces of the puzzle would fall into their rightful place and voila! The mystery was solved.
Unfortunately, that was not how things were in real life. If they were, Leah would have found out what happened to her mother a long time ago. The same would be with Edward's parents. But they were still in the same place as before, with the exception of that address that they knew about. Leah could not wait to head there and see who was hiding on the premises. Whoever it was, they had to know something.
"It must have been someone from the footman's criminal past," Andrew offered his view of the events. "Someone who was out for revenge, and the duke and the duchess were simply caught in the middle of it all."
Leah looked at Edward. That seemed too simple of an explanation. The way he gazed back at her assured her that he felt the same way. Something simply wasn't adding up.
"What? It doesn't sound plausible?" Andrew wondered, his head turning toward Edward, then Leah, then back at Edward.
"It does," Edward shrugged. "It just seems like too much effort to murder three people when you only want to murder one of them. Wouldn't it have been easier to catch Harry alone? Perhaps when he went to visit his family. If your version of events is true, Andrew, then whoever murdered Harry took a great risk in murdering both a duke and a duchess along with a common criminal. It just... doesn't add up."
"I have to agree with Edward here," Leah nodded. "It seems like making a plan much more twisted and complicated by adding two such high ranking people in society. No. I just don't see it like that. "
"Well, do you have any theories on what happened?" Andrew asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"That is the problem," Leah admitted. "We don't. We cannot figure out what happened, even if our lives depended on it."
"Perhaps you don't know everything you need to know," Andrew reminded them. "There is still that address you need to go to."
"Yes," Leah sighed. "Edward thinks we need to find out more about this whole thing and especially about Harry's criminal dealings, but I think we ought to go to there as soon as tomorrow." She looked at Edward, expecting a reaction. She thought he would again disagree, but to her surprise, he did no such thing.
"Maybe you're right," he acquiesced. "We have been waiting for so long already. There is probably no point in wasting any more time on this. We have an address that your mother thought was important enough to write down in her diary. It is at least worth looking into as soon as possible."
Leah beamed at hearing his words. "Then, we can go tomorrow?"
"Yes," he nodded. "But whatever or whoever we find there, we need to be cautious. We don't know what to expect."
"I know," Leah confirmed.
"Maybe you would like a third musketeer to join you?" Andrew suggested playfully.
"No, old boy," Edward shook his head. "We need you to remain put. Someone needs to stay behind, someone who knows everything we've been doing so far."
"I understand," Andrew nodded. "You can count on me."
The rest of Andrew's stay was spent in conversation about less serious matters, and both Edward and Leah welcomed the change of topic. Andrew had spoken about upcoming balls that they were all to attend, about his own trip to Spain several months back and the lady he had only recently started to court. Upon his departure, cordial goodbyes were exchanged, and both Edward and Leah watched his carriage disappear down the gravel pathway that led away from the mansion.
