Rose Cotton straightened her long skirt and stepped boldly off the stagecoach. She had come to Sleepy Hollow to solve the mystery, and solve the mystery she would. It would show them all.
She walked on through the grey town, noticing the windows closed before her, and the children swept inside. Step by step she made her way to the large house on the hill.
As she waited for an answer to her knock, a moan came to her ears. In the dim twilight she could just make out two figures locked in a passionate embrace. Rosie averted her gaze and breathed a silent sigh of relief when the doors opened. She picked up her bags and entered the light and heat.
A group of young people moved in a circle at one end of the room. As she moved through them, she heard the blindfolded young man in the middle chanting. It was something of a shock to find herself grabbed. "Is it Lila?" he asked, tracing her face with his fingers.
"Your pardon, sir," she murmured. "I am a stranger here."
Still blindfolded, the man smiled. "Then have a kiss on account," he replied, and kissed her cheek. As he drew back, another man caught her eye. Dark hair and blue eyes would have been stunning if he hadn't been so angry.
Her kisser removed the blindfold and blinked. Rose decided to ask away. "I'm looking for Hamfast Gamgee."
"I'm his son, Samwise Gamgee."
"And you, stranger? We have not heard you name yet."
Rosie sniffed and looked away. "I have not said it."
The dark-haired man moved forward angrily. "You need a lesson in manners, girl."
"Come, come, we'll have no raised voices" said a new voice, and the man of the house himself entered. "It is only to raise spirits that my wife and I have opened our home this evening."
Rosie pulled out her letter of commission and handed it to him, introducing herself as she did so. "I'm Rose Cotton, sent from Tookland to investigate the murders."
All color drained from Hamfast's face. "Yes, well, you'd better come along then."
~