home,” T’Hawthorn said not quite automatically and met Garrett’s gaze for a few seconds, then said, “I think we understand each other and will work well together. Please call me Laev.” He offered his arm once more and Garrett grasped it in beginning ... acquaintanceship.
“I’m Garrett,” he said, then felt foolish. Of course a noble would call a commoner who worked for him by the first name. Well, Cowitch hadn’t since he hadn’t recalled Garrett’s name on the few occasions they met.
T’Hawthorn, Laev, smiled as he dropped his hand, then continued on to a corner set with a square rug that Garrett belatedly realized served as a teleportation pad.
The door opened and the housekeeper bustled in, “Wait, Laev, where are you going?”
Obviously the Residence had been listening in and reporting on their conversation.
Laev T’Hawthorn stepped onto the rug and sent her a bland look. “Out for business.”
“You don’t have any appointments on your calendarsphere!”
“Later,” he said aloud, but sent Garrett a private telepathic stream. Do what you can to follow this case through.
Garrett also replied mentally, I will be searching for some of your lost items this afternoon.
Lave looked surprised. The housekeeper sidled toward him. “Now, Laev, dear ....”
But T’Hawthorn vanished.
The housekeeper whirled and hissed out a breath. Garrett wondered if she’d been hanging around too many cats. He had, but he made sure he didn’t mimic their behavior.
“That man!” Her hands fisted, and when she caught Garrett watching her, she smoothed both face and fingers.
“He is a man, and a FirstFamilies GreatLord, and I’ve gotten the impression that the loss of these treasures came as a shock to him.”
She sniffed. “Some treasures.”
“Nothing you’d care to claim?” Garrett asked mildly.
“Nothing to cause so much fuss.” She swept a glance around the room, as if noting changes the new lord might have made, focused on the comfortchair, the up-to-date scry panel, then frowned at the corner where Laev T’Hawthorn vanished. “But he won’t give up on this situation and he won’t listen to us.”
“Just as he didn’t when seventeen?”
“None of your busi--” she stopped.
“The Residence told me, and I think the past very much affects this case.” He raised his voice. “Residence?”
“I hear,” the Residence said with a tight creak.
“How long has that ring, the last item to go missing, been gone? he asked.
The housekeeper gasped, clutched her arms, curled into herself. Oh, yeah, Garrett nosed down the right trail.
“Sixteen months.” A whisper on the air came to Garrett.
He tensed and repeated, “Sixteen months.”
Mouth screwed narrow and shut, the housekeeper marched from the room.
“That is correct.” The Residence fell silent.
Over a year -- three months over a year -- and no one said anything to Laev Hawthorn until a ... kitchen worker became newly jealous of a cat and a chef.
Garrett had to push this. “Sixteen months. The late GreatLord Huathe Hawthorn knew of the thefts, then.”
After a few seconds, the Residence said, “Yes.”
“But he didn’t report them to the city guards.” As soon as the words fell from his mouth Garrett knew them to be stupid. Of course the lord wouldn’t report personal Family thefts to the guards. And no one else of the Family who kept this secret for all these months would go against the GreatLord’s wishes.
And the old GreatLord hadn’t bothered to contact a private investigator like Garrett either. So he knew the thief.
The case cracked wide open.
“But why did he ... allow the thefts?” Garrett asked.
Another pause. “We did not discover the thefts for some time since the items were ... are ... very minor heirlooms. Not worth finding.”
“In the former GreatLord’s eyes.”
“Yes.”
“But not in the current GreatLord’s mind.”
“Apparently not.”
And disappearing sixteen months before. Well, there could only be one thief, then, right? Laev T’Hawthorn’s estranged wife, Nivea Sunflower Hawthorn. The woman no one liked, the wife the Residence still seethed over.
But GreatLord Huathe Hawthorn loved his Son’sSon and would not have told him a grief like that, that Laev had married a woman who would steal heirlooms from the Family. Huge blow to the pride and honor of the man, not to mention the honor and integrity of the House.
“The late GreatLord discovered the thefts after his daughter-in-law died,” Garrett said matter-of-factly.
“Ye-es,” the Residence slowly confirmed.
“And GreatLord Laev T’Hawthorn only recently discovered antique items had gone missing. After his FatherSire’s death.”
“Yes.” A long creaking groan of a wood sigh from the Residence as if reluctant.
Since he hadn’t gotten an answer before, Garrett said, “I ask again, T’Hawthorn Residence, did the late GreatLord T’Hawthorn respect and