Heirs and Graces (A Royal Spyness Mystery) Read online

  “Precisely.”

  “You’re very clever, Georgie,” Belinda said. “Too bad you weren’t born a man, or you’d have made a brilliant detective.”

  I caught Darcy’s eye, and he winked.

  Chapter 27

  By tea time, the house had returned to normal. Maids delivered plates of scones and cakes then hovered behind us, ready to pour tea when required. Everyone chatted as if nothing had ever happened, and I realized that they knew William had been taken away and were relieved. The murderer was not one of them after all. An outsider—and what’s more, someone of the lower classes. Cedric was dead but life would go on again at Kingsdowne as it always had.

  “I have conveyed to Mrs. Broad that we will be quite content with another simple meal tonight,” Edwina said as she heaped clotted cream and strawberry jam onto a scone. “Really, these policemen are so insensitive. The servants are quite upset. I caught my own maid sniveling in a corner. Says she’s frightened to walk around the house in case a murderer is lurking. I told her to stop that nonsense instantly. The person who has been killed is my son, I said. It is I who should be weeping, not you. Besides, why would anyone consider a servant worth killing?”

  She broke off as Chief Inspector Fairbotham came into the room.

  “Any news, Chief Inspector?” she asked. “We saw our former footman William being taken away. Are we to gather that he was responsible?”

  “William has been taken to the police station for questioning,” Fairbotham said. “As yet, no arrests have been made and we are still examining the evidence.” And his gaze focused on Jack. “I’m sending most of my men home for the day now, but I’ll be in touch as soon as we know anything more. Enjoy your tea.”

  “Go on. Ask him now.” Belinda dug Darcy in the side.

  Darcy got to his feet and followed the inspector out of the room. Belinda followed at a distance. I didn’t want to be left out and came along too. By the time I joined the conversation, Darcy had presumably asked his question. Fairbotham nodded. “I think that would be all right, Mr. O’Mara. I’ve no objection to your going anywhere, nor to Lady Georgiana’s. And I don’t suppose your young friend can give any further illumination to this case. But you’ll leave your home address and phone number, young lady. And you two plan to return, do you?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “Probably by the end of the day.”

  “Thank you so much, Chief Inspector.” Belinda gave him one of her dazzling smiles usually reserved for men she planned to seduce. It worked. He blushed and gave an embarrassed little cough.

  “No sense in keeping you bright young things in this gloomy place any longer than necessary,” he muttered. “I expect you’ve got parties to attend.”

  As the inspector was about to head back to Cedric’s study, I plucked up courage, took a deep breath and said, “One more thing I haven’t yet mentioned, Chief Inspector.”

  “Yes, Lady Georgiana?”

  “When you saw the body, did anything strike you as strange about it?”

  “That coat being thrown over it, you mean?”

  “That too,” I said. “No, I mean that there was so little blood coming from the wound. That was a huge knife. It must have struck some kind of organ or blood vessel.”

  He frowned at me. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I presume some kind of autopsy will be carried out?”

  “I’m sure there will be. But I don’t know what you think an autopsy can show.”

  “I’m not sure either, but I have a funny feeling about this. We may know more when I return from London,” I said.

  “You never cease to surprise me, Lady Georgiana.” He rubbed his chin as he stared at me. “The cool way you can talk about blood and stab wounds. I’d always thought that young ladies of quality had an attack of the vapors if the word ‘blood’ was mentioned.”

  “That was my grandmother’s generation,” I said. “We’re all rather tough these days. We’ve had a world war, remember. I don’t think any family came through that unscathed.”

  “You’re right about that,” he said. “We lost my younger brother at the Somme.”

  And he wandered off, still deep in thought. I went back to join Darcy, Belinda and the rest of the household.

  “I know!” Princess Charlotte broke the silence. “It’s so obvious. Why didn’t I think of it before? We should have another séance after dinner tonight. Perhaps Cedric might return to name his killer.”

  “Really, Charlotte. Don’t you think we’re going through enough without bringing farce into it?” Edwina snapped. “This is no time for your strange fancies.”

  “My last séance prophesied death, did it not?” Charlotte said frostily. “And it would be so much nicer for all of us if Cedric’s killer were found and apprehended. And who better to tell us than Cedric himself?”

  “Cedric was never particularly helpful in life. I don’t see his being so in death,” Irene said, putting down her tea cup firmly on the table.

  “Really, Irene,” Edwina said. “I find it most uncharitable to speak in this way of your departed brother. You two never got along, even when you were children.”

  “He was always a bossy little prig,” Irene said. “I’m sorry, Mother, but I can’t bring myself to weep for him. And don’t forget, he was prepared to cast us all out. He thought of nobody but himself.”

  “Nevertheless, I was brought up with the maxim that one did not speak ill of the dead,” Edwina said. “And however badly he behaved, I still mourn the loss of my son.”

  We sat in awkward silence, each of us wishing we were somewhere else. It had begun to rain heavily again so we couldn’t even escape by taking a turn around the grounds.

  “Perhaps we should go up and see how the children are faring,” I said. “They are no doubt dying of curiosity about what has been happening downstairs.”

  “Poor little things. I expect they find it all quite disturbing,” Irene said. “The less they know about it, the better.”

  “Nonsense, Irene. They are relishing every moment of it,” Edwina said. “By all means go up to them, Georgiana.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Darcy said.

  “I just had to escape from that room,” I said. “So much tension.”

  “I’d say the dowager duchess is holding up remarkably well,” Darcy said as we climbed the first flight of stairs. “One would hardly think that she’d lost her only remaining son today, and almost her daughter too.”

  “I wonder if Fairbotham is really looking into what happened to Irene,” I said, pausing to stare down the hallway toward Irene’s bedroom. “His men have taken fingerprints now. They should be checking the glass that Irene used last night to see if there are any strange fingerprints on it. And I wonder if they ever did count the number of sleeping powders still remaining.”

  “If she has a semi-efficient maid, the glass will have been washed,” Darcy said.

  “Perhaps I should remind the inspector . . .” I began, turning back.

  Darcy put a firm hand on my shoulder. “You’re getting too worked up about this, Georgie. Too involved. Leave it be. You’ve got to stop this belief that all crimes are your responsibility. You are the daughter of a duke and the granddaughter of a princess, and your job is to do charitable good works, enjoy yourself and choose a suitable husband.”

  “I’ve obviously already failed at all of the above,” I said as Darcy laughed.

  Nursery tea was still going on in Sissy’s room as we came in. Mr. Carter and Nanny were sitting with the three children. Nick and Kat jumped up excitedly when they saw us.

  “What’s been happening?” Nick asked. “We’ve been dying to know. We heard shouting and we saw the police bundling someone into a police car.”

  “It was William the footman,” I said. “It was a good thing that you told the insp
ector what you’d seen, Sissy.”

  “But I didn’t see how he could have had anything to do with Uncle Cedric’s murder,” she said. “I’m sure I saw him come up to the house well before eight. My clock had just chimed half past not long before.”

  As if on cue, the clock chimed again, striking four. We turned to look at it.

  “Well, that explains one discrepancy,” Darcy said. “Your clock is slow, Sissy. It’s already four twenty.”

  “Oh dear,” Sissy said. “That clock has always been unreliable. That was Papa for you. He couldn’t even give me a trustworthy clock.” She turned away and stared out of the window. “So I really might have seen William running up to the house after he murdered Uncle Cedric?”

  “He claimed that he stumbled upon the body and that was why he was running up to the house,” I said. “Then he realized that he might be implicated.”

  “What does ‘implicated’ mean?” Katherine asked.

  “Involved. Possibly guilty,” Mr. Carter said. “Really, Katherine, if you read a little more, you’d increase your vocabulary.”

  “Reading is boring. I like doing things better,” Kat said. “Like our experiments. They’re good. And detecting, like Sherlock Holmes. I bet we could find some good clues if you let us loose in the grounds. I bet we could solve the murder before those silly policemen.”

  “So now the police think William did it, and not Jack?” Nick asked.

  “I don’t think Chief Inspector Fairbotham has made up his mind yet,” I said. “He still wants to suspect Jack.”

  “It sounds awful to say that I hope it was William,” Sissy said, “but I really do.” Her cheeks were quite pink.

  We chatted a little longer then took our leave.

  “You will come up again when there is any more news, won’t you?” Nick asked. “We simply have to know what’s going on. It’s so unfair.”

  “We’re going up to London tomorrow,” I said. “So you’ll have to find out from other sources.”

  “You’re so lucky.” Kat sighed. “We’re stuck up here and never go anywhere.”

  “Let’s hope it’s a fine day tomorrow,” Nick said. “Then we can go outside and look at the scene of the crime. Maybe there’s bloodstains. Maybe we’ll find clues.”

  “Enough of such talk,” Nanny said. “Bloodstains, indeed. Since when did nicely behaved children mention such things?”

  “Those children need to go away to school and lead a normal life,” Darcy said to me as we came back down the stairs.

  “They want to. It’s a question of money. Now that Jack is Duke of Eynsford, perhaps he’ll pay for their schooling.”

  “If it turns out. . . .” Darcy didn’t finish the sentence. There were so many ifs at the moment.

  “Let’s hope that Scotland Yard and my grandfather can solve this quickly and everything will be all right,” I said. “I hate this feeling of not knowing, of suspecting everyone.”

  As we came to the end of the landing, Darcy grabbed my arm.

  “What’s wrong?” I jumped a mile, looking around for potential danger.

  “Nothing. I just thought that we might take this opportunity . . .” He drew me close to him and his arms came around me.

  “Darcy, do you think we should?” I asked, looking around nervously.

  He chuckled. “I say take our chances while we can.”

  I didn’t protest as his lips came to meet mine. I suspect I was looking somewhat guilty as we came back to join the others in the Long Gallery. Belinda noticed and raised an eyebrow but nobody else paid any attention to us, as Fairbotham was addressing the assembled company.

  “So I thought I should tell you that no fingerprints were found on the handle of the knife used to kill the duke,” he was saying.

  “No fingerprints?” Edwina demanded. “You mean no strange fingerprints.”

  “No, I mean absolutely no fingerprints at all. Whoever did this wiped the handle clean afterward.”

  “So the killer had time to wipe the handle clean but not time to move the body or to remove the knife,” I muttered to Darcy. “This gets stranger and stranger.”

  “So we’re no further ahead, unless William confesses,” Irene said.

  “Actually no, we are a little further ahead.” A glint came into Fairbotham’s eye. He turned to Jack. “Remember this morning you told us that you never went anywhere near the path in the glen, sir?” he asked. “And you even pointed at your boots and said how different your footprints would be from anyone else’s?”

  Jack nodded. “That’s right.”

  “Well, it might surprise you to know that we found your footprints on that path—and nice and clear and recent they were too.”

  Jack blushed bright red. “I can explain that,” he said. “You see, I popped down to the pub in the village for a quick one.”

  “The public house in the village?” Edwina actually fanned herself with a copy of The Tattler. “You went to a common, ordinary public house? You, a duke?”

  “Well, I felt like some common, ordinary beer,” Jack said defiantly. “I’ve been cooped up here too long. I feel like a bloody chook in a pen.”

  “And when was this, sir?”

  “About one, I suppose,” Jack said. “I can’t tell you exactly.”

  “We can verify that he came up that path around two o’clock,” Darcy said. “And told us he had been to the pub.”

  “I see,” the chief inspector said. He was still staring at Jack. “Rather convenient, wouldn’t you say?”

  “What do you mean?” Jack demanded.

  “Meaning that if we found your distinctive footprints on that path, you’d have a good excuse for their being there—one that had nothing to do with the murder.”

  “That’s bloody rubbish,” Jack said, standing up belligerently.

  “Watch it, young man.” Fairbotham wagged a finger in Jack’s face. “I’m not arresting you right now, but I’m placing a police guard on the door, and you’re not leaving this place again. Do I make myself clear?” When Jack didn’t answer, he looked around at the rest of us. “And the same goes for all of you. I’ve given permission for Mr. O’Mara and Lady Georgiana to be away tomorrow, but that’s it. Nobody else is to go anywhere. Is that clear?”

  Nobody spoke.

  “Well, I’m clearing off for the night now but I’ll be back bright and early in the morning,” Fairbotham said. And off he went, his large boots clattering along the hallway.

  Chapter 28

  We went up to change for dinner. “Maybe you should go and help Miss Warburton-Stoke,” I said to Queenie. “She hasn’t brought a maid with her. But please do be careful.”

  “Don’t worry, miss. I’ll be as gentle as a lamb.”

  “Lambs gambol around and knock things over,” I said. “Luckily, there are no candles so you can’t set her on fire.”

  “That was only once I set someone on fire,” Queenie said peevishly. “It ain’t fair to keep reminding me.”

  Then she went off with her nose in the air, looking like a respectable lady’s maid.

  A little while later Belinda tapped on my door, looking elegant and somber in dark green. So Queenie could do things right if she tried occasionally! I hadn’t brought a black dress with me so I was stuck with the burgundy velvet. In respect of the situation, however, I had decided not to wear any jewelry and put on long, black gloves and my black-velvet stole. As we went downstairs, Belinda glanced up at the ceiling again. “They really should cover those nymphs and satyrs if this is a house in mourning,” Belinda commented. “They are enjoying themselves far too much.”

  “The ancient Greeks seemed to go in for that sort of thing, didn’t they?” I said. “Zeus was always changing into the shape of some creature or other to visit an unsuspecting lady.”

  “Mmmm.” Belinda’s face became pensive
. “I wonder what sort of creature might have produced a rather nice encounter? I never thought much of the swan, did you? Too much flapping around.”

  I laughed. “I’m actually glad you’re here, Belinda. You’re so nice and normal.”

  She looked surprised. “You have Darcy here, darling. You should be in absolute bliss . . . creeping down the halls at night for a nice roll in the hay.”

  “Belinda!” I frowned. “The dowager duchess is a close friend of the queen. If word got back to her . . .”

  “What could she do, darling? She can hardly send you to the tower or marry you off to a mad prince.”

  I had to smile. Belinda went on, “You’re over twenty-one, aren’t you, and your cousin the Prince of Wales misbehaves all the time.”

  “Yes, but not at Buckingham Palace, I’m sure.”

  Belinda sighed as we entered the foyer of the dining room. “You royals and your sense of duty. Quite amazing!”

  Edwina and the other members of her family were all wearing black, and we apologized for not bringing black frocks with us.

  “How could you possibly have known something like this would happen?” Edwina said. For the first time one could see the distress on her face. “How could anyone ever have thought that Cedric, of all people . . . that such tragedy could strike this family again. I am only glad that my husband was not alive to experience this. It would have broken his heart.”

  The dinner gong rang, and we went through. Jack sat beside me, looking uncomfortable in his dinner jacket. I noticed that he kept tugging at his bow tie as if it was strangling him, and wondered if he was thinking of the silken noose that is the privilege of a duke.

  “You look very smart,” I said, trying to ease the palpable tension in the room.

  “I feel like I’ve fallen into a bloody nightmare,” he said. “For two pins I’d run off and jump on the next boat back home.”

  “Don’t do that, for heaven’s sake,” I said. “That would definitely make them think you are guilty.”

  He gave me a despairing look. “He’s made up his mind, hasn’t he, that police bloke? He’s not going to find out the truth. He’s determined to nail me.”