At the Kingsley estate, Victor searched his father’s study looking for any clues about Noelle. His ti was spent between being his father’s shadow and searching for clues about Noelle’s disappearance.
All Victor learned was that it was true that Noelle had not returned ho yet no one here could tell him when or why she left. Many of the servants here were new at this point and the ones who were around Noelle’s ti remained tightlipped about her.
Victor knew that his mother disliked Noelle but to order the servants to not speak of her was on another level. Sothing happened here and he was going to uncover it.
"No wonder he will not return," Victor said, understanding Ian’s feelings more. The woman he saw as another mother was ssing and no one wanted to speak of it. "Where does he keep-"
"Your father will soon return ho," said Tom, the family butler. "You must make haste and put everything back in order."
Victor closed a drawer. "I was only looking for sothing my mother asked to get."
Tom looked at the other opened drawers. "A maid told that you approached her about Noelle, the woman who looked after your brother. It’s been so years since I heard that na."
Tom walked toward Hank’s desk to help Victor put everything back as it was before. He had been employed for years to rember Noelle. "You shouldn’t look too deep into what happened with her. I don’t have the answer you are looking for. We were all told that she departed because she missed your brother after he ran away."
"Did you see her leave?" Victor questioned.
"No. None of the maids could recall seeing her pack her bags but others believed she had long moved her things to the cottage. Your parents went as far as to give the order to have the servants forget that na. I beg that you do not question the servants," Tom said as anyone who said sothing would be in trouble.
"I am only trying to find the truth," said Victor.
"We will not be protected like you if we help you to uncover so big secret. Please do not approach the maids. They are worried about what may happen to them. While your sudden interest is good, please think of protecting the servants here," said Tom.
Tom would not like to see any of the servants be hard or lose their jobs at this ti all because Victor was digging around in the past. He didn’t trust Victor to go against his parents to protect the servants he would get in trouble.
"I don’t wish for any harm to fall on anyone. I just want the truth," Victor replied, hoping Tom had sothing to share.
"And what will happen when you learn the truth?" Tom questioned, having no interest in aiding a man who couldn’t do anything. "Should sothing terrible have happened to her, would you inform the town guards and have your family questioned?"
"I will because I made a promise to soone. If my family caused any harm to her, they should not get away with it," said Victor.
"So, you are only doing this because of your brother. You wouldn’t have cared if it wasn’t of importance to him. Do not look sorry, young master. It is how life goes for us. At least there would be justice for Noelle. She was a kind soul," Tom said, regretting that he could not have helped her.
"The last that I saw Noelle, it was soti after dinner. Your brother had run away by then but food was still sent as no one knew he left then. Noelle rushed inside at a late hour looking nervous and asked where your father was. She said that she had to speak to him urgently. I said he was here and that is where she walked to. It was the last ti I saw her," Tom revealed.
Victor looked around the room. What could she have wanted to share with his father and then she was not seen again? "He might have been the one to harm her. She was always protective of Ian but he wasn’t here. What could she have wanted to talk about?"
"I believe your mother was near when I spoke to Noelle. Yes, she was," Tom said more confidently. "The lady was standing on the stairs and when Noelle saw her, she rushed to find your father. I don’t know if your mother managed to catch up to her."
"So, it could be either one of them or both that did sothing to her. If only she had spoken of what she knew to soone," Victor said since this would all be solved sooner.
"There was a maid Noelle was close to. She left the estate shortly after Noelle was said to have returned ho. I believe she still resides here in town. Her na is Marlene. I know that she is married but I don’t know her last na. We must make haste," Tom said, moving faster to clean up the room.
"Do you know her maiden na? That would be helpful," Victor said, being quick with Tom to put everything back.
"It’s been so long that I do not rember. You would need to check the records of the servants who worked here. You must know that the cottage is set to be ruined. Your mother wants to plant a large tree there and to expand the garden," Tom revealed. "Perhaps so of your answers are there. Excuse ."
Victor watched as Tom exited the room, leaving him alone. His conversation with Tom had given him far more places to look at now. Why was his mother so eager to ruin the cottage? He closed the last drawer and made his way out of the office.
’What could she have wanted to tell him?’ Victor wondered again. Did his mother have so kind of idea what Noelle found out about sothing and followed her?
Victor couldn’t help finding his mother to be the most suspicious of the two. She was the one who disliked Noelle from the beginning. She would have liked to get rid of Ian, his mother, and Noelle so there wouldn’t be anything to remind her of his father’s affair.
"There you are. I have been looking all over for you. You must tell what you did with your father today," Layla said, smiling because of the good news she received from a phone call. "I just spoke to one of his friends who spoke highly of you."
While Layla didn’t like that Victor had abandoned her and was following his father at first, she enjoyed the complints that were flowing in about how well Victor was doing. "I’ve received four invitations to sit with families who have daughters yet to wed. We must decide on one after dinner. Do you not hear ?"
"I do. I was thinking of sothing my father asked to do. I saw Ian today," Victor lied, having a plan he wanted to test. "He asked about Noelle and said that he knew what we did. I do not know what he ant. It looked like he went to speak to a town guard after."
"Ignore him. He is only trying to throw you off now that you are doing well," Layla replied, patting Victor’s arm as she thought about what Ian was doing. Her attention had been off of Ian but if he was going to dig around the past, he had her attention again.
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