Within an hour's time, no traffic on the road, the Ratty-Tin arrived at Eden, brimming with tourists and people alike, even with the spring storms, they aren't deterred from their goings, shops brimmed with people buying what's sold, and the kitchens working at max capacity fulfilling orders, as the Ratty-Tin drove through the cobbled streets.
It stopped at the library, causing confusion amongst Theodore and Lila, before Arthur informed them that despite the town's attempts, there's still someone who's trying to keep the truth alive.
Enter, the librarians.
Odd bunches, them, but Arthur's been at this for years that he has connections with every known person on the island, at this point, he pulled strings to get them into helping.
And.
There's something unusual in the library that'll help them getting back inside the mansion without Harold knowing.
"What's that?" Lila asks Arthur as they're led through the library, still as it looks some decades ago, but with a few touches, the council wanting to keep it "authenticate" for the tourists.
As the cane tapped against the floor, Arthur briefly turned his head, telling her that it's like he said before, unless there's a reason, builders won't touch anything when they renovated the library.
There's also historical preservation present, meaning even if they wanted to, they couldn't touch what's hidden inside the library.
Arthur met with the librarians who enthusiastically greeted him before they led the group towards the basement, giving Hammond the keys, before returning to the front desk.
With the key, Hammond unlocked the basement, and they walked down the stairs into the basement, smelled of old books, temperature controlled, there's a large fan that kept the air circulating, so there's that.
"What are we looking for?" Theodore's curious as Arthur took lead, his cane swaying as he used it to guide himself.
Going towards the back area, towards the wall on the right, Arthur stopped as he pointed towards the wall.
Unlike other sections of the walls, this part had a different wall installed against it, Arthur says that this was a tunnel that the library blocked off when it was renovating.
Due to the concerns of the tunnel collapsing and the inability to dig it out, it was decided that they simply walled it off from any curious visitors in the basement.
There's a plaque somewhere in the library describing the tunnel, one of the uses for it before it was closed's transporting contraband during the Troubles, but now it's a history that no one will experience, until now.
"Where does it go?" Lila asked Arthur where the tunnel leads and as he went around the area, feeling the walls with his free hand, Arthur tells her that when it was in use, people dug out more tunnels for their own uses, but some collapsed over the years since they were illegally dug, and weren't kept like they should.
The one they're looking for goes directly to the mansion and if Arthur's correct, it's no longer blocked.
Why would a mansion have a direct access to the library?
Arthur thinks it has to do with the Thorntons.
"You think one of them tampered with their records?" Theodore summed Arthur's belief and he confirmed this, saying that he hasn't found any birth records from either men, no marriage certificates, nothing suggesting that there's any children in the mansion during their stay.
Arthur doesn't think the town did it, they're not stupid enough to do something like that, they'll sugarcoat the ghost stories and whatnot, but they wouldn't do something illegal.
No, someone came through here and made work of documents that would've suggested a discrepancy in family bloodline.
"The Second said he was a cousin of the Thorntons, the Third said he was his child," Arthur summed what he found during his discovery period.
No one goes through that kind of effort unless there's something they're concerned about slipping through.
Although, Arthur doesn't suspect they're frauds, bastards with no legitimate stake in the family that this was their attempt, he wasn't sure what they took out.
"Strange place to hide those kinds of records," Lila pointed out that putting sensitive documents in the basement of the library didn't seem ideal, until Hammond mentioned that the clerk office caught fire one year, they managed to put it out, but the building was damaged, whatever survived had to be put somewhere while they worked to rebuild it, so the library volunteered.
Nobody goes into the basement except librarians, the thought went, and there's nothing particularly interesting in the documents.
Everything's shifting to the digital world that there's no point trying to tax evade, they've been digitized.
"They thought no one would steal old documents," Hammond summed.
Of course, in normal times, nothing would be thought of it, things happen, but here they were, and cogs turned in Theodore's head as he then asked the cause of the fire.
Hammond says that officially, the boiler caught fire, it'd been giving the clerks problems in the past, but that night happened to be the night it finally broke out into a fire.
"Who was the owner of the mansion, then?" Theodore asked Hammond.
A heavy sigh, Hammond says, "The Second, could've easily swooped in through here to get those documents, no one would know."
It'd seem neither parties believed the fire was an accident, that it was caused by Harold Thornton the Second to force the documents to move to the library while work's done on the building.
"Problem is, we don't have proof of the theft, if he's paying the taxes, and hasn't done anything illegal, they won't do anything," Arthur heavily sighed as he informed them that they couldn't claim that Harold Thornton the Second stole documents or the cause of the fire.
He played it to the hilt, so is his alleged son, they didn't do anything illegal, and without any evidence, there's no reason to suspect them.
It's because of their ironclad alibis that made it difficult for Arthur finding what happened to his uncle.
"What about his staff, what have you learnt of them?" Theodore broached Arthur with a question while helping them find a hidden keyhole somewhere in the wall.
Meant for maintenance inspectors to check the integrity of the tunnel every now again, in case they needed to do an emergency construction to prevent total collapse.
Librarians weren't supposed to have the key, but someone forgot to tell them that, hence Hammond using it to open the hidden doorway into the tunnel with lights installed for the officials when they stop by every now again to check the integrity of the tunnel.
"Immigrants, different regions in Europe, it's a good way of keeping things tightly sealed," Arthur summed that he found that the men employed immigrants, using hidden threats to keep them from doing something they shouldn't.
With them so far from home, they'll be on edge as they're in unfamiliar places, thus it'll help keep them complacent in the affairs within the mansion.
Though, there's no records of abuse from either men, no loose lips describing anything unsavory, from the way his uncle describe Harold Thornton the Second, he didn't care much about those who worked for them in the sense, they're there to tend to the whims of his guests, nothing more.
"We did get something from one of his maids," Hammond mentioned all wasn't lost in their quest for the truth, one of the maids sent to retrieve replacement wine let it slip that something meticulously broke different wine bottles in the wine cellar.
She informed Harold Thornton the Third about the incident and mentioned how he reacted, subdue anger, not towards her, something else.
Rather have her clean it up, he sent her to buy replacement bottles, it's unusual since he'd normally have them clean up the messes.
Told her and the others not to go down into the wine cellar until further notice, the only bottles they have in the kitchen were for the meals and the requests, when they run out, they won't know what to do until Harold Thornton the Third tells them.
It's not the first time something peculiar happened within the mansion, either, however her employer always had an explanation.
"Couldn't say much without risking her employment, she's got a family," Hammond summed that Grace wasn't able to tell everything, worrying that if it gotten back to her employer, she'll lose her job, something that frightens her, having a young family relying on the money she sends.
Looking between them, Arthur asked them if they're ready to enter the tunnel and heard Theodore and Lila respond that they're always ready, but Hammond balked at Arthur coming with them.
"Oh no, ser, you're not coming with us," Hammond balked at Arthur's attempt coming with them to the mansion, causing Arthur to muster, "I can handle myself, Hammond."
Shaking his head, Hammond stated, "Like I said, ser, it's too dangerous, this isn't a trip to the bigwig's place in Manchester."
Despite Arthur's insistence, Hammond put his foot down, he won't risk his charge's life, as he said, there's hidden tunnels, false walls, an unfamiliar layout, he can't easily traverse without risking getting stuck somewhere Hammond can't reach him.
"What am I supposed to do?" Arthur gestured as he stared at Hammond.
Pondering Arthur's question as he scratched the side of his chiseled face, Hammond finally said, "You stay with the librarians, they already helped us enough, and they won't turn you over to him if he tries, it's better than nothing, ser."
Due to Arthur's condition being a concern, Hammond wanted him to stay with the librarians and have them watch over him while he and the other two go into the tunnel.
Arthur tried to argue, but Hammond poked holes through them, enough that Arthur finally gave up trying, only asking for Hammond to come back in an acceptable state.
Scoffing at him, Hammond responded with, "Ser, your uncle didn't hire no wallflower!"