Well, he is certainly not going to endear this random pubgoer by revealing his true political feelings, but his interest's piqued.

The pubgoers, it turns out, have STRONG OPINIONS ON THE INCOME TAX.

Rich people should pay more of it, think the pubgoers.

Have some ale/cider/water and some enthusiastic 'boo, income tax!"

...they are pretty sure all of these out-of-towners are rich and are semi-directing their opinions at them.

Hanging around with foreigners: very rich-person thing to do.

Does Inaaya look rich to you, thinks Sal, accepting the ale and downing enough of it to feel comfortable talking to strangers that hate him. There are many rude stereotypes people could throw at Inaaya but from an urban perspective mainly hanging around rich folks is a wild one. (Jing Yi is also there but Inaaya is much more obviously working class to Sal.)

Terrence will attempt to ask sensible questions and then have strong reactions that, coincidentally, happen to line up with what they already agree on.

This isn't even lying! It's being friendly.

Oscar, refusing to do this on something that vaguely resembles principle, stands there awkwardly.

Investigation is 50% unbelievably depressing metaphysical revelations and 50% being at a really bad party.

Jing Yi can drop tales of ridiculous rich Londoners while also dropping tidbits of 'whoa, turns out I've been poor sometimes!' subtle-like.

In fact Jing Yi has had it so hard.

Would it literally kill you to be less snide for thirty goddamn seconds, Oscar.

He did go to boarding school and has the particular accent he has, in Sal's defense. (If this also defends Oscar, that's neither here nor there.)

"What are you guys in town for?" asks one of the locals.

You know, they might actually get better reception if instead of the research they emphasize the murderer.

Glances at the others. "I'm a history student at London University. Ancient history and religions and such. We had some free time and I hadn't been in the area before. In fact, I'll buy you a drink if you can point me in the direction of anything nearby that might be of interest."

Terrence is aware this is a bit of a risky maneuver, but it's the best one he can think of. On one hand: This religion is maybe not ancient and may have local practitioners, perhaps even in this bar. On the other hand, people really like free drinks.

"The archaeologists came here, must have been-- '06?"

"'07."

"Right. They dug up Springer Mound. Didn't find anything, though."

"Researching a cult of Shangurry or something like that."

"Huh. Where's Springer Mound? Love a good mound."

"It's near Jennings Farm."

"Jennings is weird. Bit of a crank. Doesn't much take with seeing others, after his wife died."

Terrence nods sympathetically. "Mm. Elderly? - Also, what's your poison?"

"Ale!"

"Don’t think you’ll be chatting to him — he’s more likely to try and put a hole in you if you’re on his land."

"What a charmer."

Terrence happily buys one for the guy! Asked and answered.

"Appreciate the warning! He sounds like a character."

"What's really weird is that land he keeps not working," the guy says thoughtfully.

He has a premonition of where this is going a bad feeling about this.

"He's not, uh, farming? On his farm?"

"Oh, yeah. An acre of the land near the footpath. He won't farm it. Bad luck or something."

"What a weird guy."