Page 60 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
The man eyed Brownie with suspicion, and for some reason, that made me feel better.Someoneneeded to be sensible in this room, and it certainly wasn’t going to beme.
I’d felt overwhelming embarrassment and apology when they’d escorted Bronwynn into the room, despite the fact that even now she wasstillthe leading suspect in the molten ash vane smuggling. It was natural to return her tuning peg and offer her a seat … and not because I wanted to manipulate her into a false sense of security.
I honestly felt like she wasn’t to blame. That there was just no way thatMinstrel Bronwynnwas the murderer. If I hadn’t felt this passion for the woman for a year already, I’d think I was under some sort of mind magic or love spell. No. Of her many listeners, I was just one of the more intense fans … and getting to know her on this trip wasn’t helping me knock her off that pedestal. If anything, it was making me like her all the more.
Yes, I had a problem.
“A good lead into questioning,” I acknowledged Pjori’s pointed message to start. “Minstrel Bronwynn, can you tell us everything you did leading up to Lady Tate’s assassination attempt?”
Bronwynn’s face lit up in that way it did when she was ready to tell an elaborate tale. Her arms came up to animatedly accompany the story, and she happily went into minute detail on her wake up, morning routine, and performance practice. I found myself nodding along, enraptured; she could turn brushing her teeth into an interesting adventure.
Pjori, luckily, had taken over taking notes.
We were at the part where the grimalcat had arrived when a hurried set of footsteps sounded down the hall. Pjori was at the door ready to open it when the flurry of panicked knocks hit its rough wooden surface.
A young page girl stood there, her cheeks cherry red from the run. She had the fluffiest curly purple hair I’d ever seen, and big fearful eyes that were hardened with an inner courage.
“It’s my fault!” she exclaimed.
“Page Saryl, you may come in.” Pjori motioned her inside. Rufus didn’t know if he had already met the girl previously while staying in the castle, or if he’d pieced two and two together from the minstrel’s testimony so far.
The page girl fit Bronwynn’s description of her perfectly.
When the door clicked close behind Page Saryl, the girl jumped and glanced back, but otherwise held her shoulders stiff and her back straight. She looked like she was waiting to be sentenced to the gallows.
“Page Saryl here didnothing wrong,” Bronwynn said, coming to her feet. The minstrel was a large and tall woman who loomed over Pjori and the child in the tight space. For the first time that evening, she didn’t seem like she was playing audience to a great show or performing her part in the story.
“I understand, Minstrel Bronwynn,” Pjori replied. “But we still need to ask her a few questions.”
I put out a hand and placed it reassuringly on Brownie’s arm. “We won’t jump to any conclusions without discussing it first, I promise.”
“Alright.” She relaxed and resumed her seat. She looked like she wanted to remain standing guard beside the page, eyeing her with a regretful expression, but the holding room wasn’t big enough for everyone to just stand around two empty chairs. Pjori also took a step back, giving the young girl space to talk.
Page Saryl took a deep breath through her nose and then exploded in an unending cacophony of word torrent. “It was me! Minstrel Bronwynn entrusted me with her red bag. I brought it to her room, and I left it on her bed. The bag was so pretty and fashionable and-and someone must have snuck in after m-me.”
The idea that someone in the mansion had actually stolen the bag seemed difficult for the page girl to even voice, and she had to force it out. She took another breath and continued. “I don’t know how it got into Lady Tate’s rooms, but it wasn’t Minstrel Bronwynn’s fault. It can’t be!”
I liked the page; she had a good sense for these things. “Thank you, Page Saryl. We will do everything we can to find the true culprit. Now, we might want to start questioning everyone else that Lady Tate and Minstrel Bronwynn spoke to. Could you go and tell Sir Thistlewick to round up Hostler Jimmie, Attendant Claire, and Jack—”
We all started as the door suddenly opened and a man casually leaned against the frame. It was none other than the duke’s man himself, Jack Laverick.
“Did somebody call my name?”
CHAPTER 34
Red Herringbone Bag
Brownie
“Master Jack!” Page Saryl bowed low to the man who’d just interrupted.
Brownie was almost pleased to see the man, if only because he was a suspect and about to be subject to interrogation.
It wasn’t like she held agrudgeagainst him for his part in her kidnapping. She knew that he had been undercover and actually working for Duke Wyldon; she just missed Suzette, and he reminded her of the destroyed lyre harp.
Jack nodded at the page girl and smiled a sunny half smile. His teeth almost shone with a sparkling light. The man must have at least Charisma thirty to be that suave. “Saryl, I’d like to ask you to hold off summoning anyone.”
Rufus was not amused, cutting in. “Why?”
