Malice at the Palace (The Royal Spyness Series Book 9)
By: Rhys Bowen
“Lady Georgiana, I’m so sorry to have to disturb you at this hour,” one of the men said. He was dressed impeccably in a dark gray pin-striped suit and had silver gray hair smoothed back to perfection. What’s more, I recognized him at the same moment that he said, “We have met before. Jeremy Danville of the Home Office. We are forever grateful for the way you helped us with a difficult situation in Scotland a couple of years ago.”
“Sir Jeremy, of course.” I shook his hand. When I had last encountered him it had been on a case involving royal security and I suspected that his job was not that of the usual civil servant.
“I’m sorry we meet again under such difficult circumstances,” Sir Jeremy said. “A tricky situation indeed.”
I nodded as my gaze went to the other man. At first glance he seemed more nondescript and unassuming but he was examining me with a keen gaze and my brain said policeman at the same time that Sir Jeremy said, “And this is Detective Chief Inspector Pelham from the Special Branch, Scotland Yard. He has plenty of experience handling difficult situations like this.” I caught a flicker of annoyance and realized of course that if Sir Jeremy was really in some kind of secret service the last person he’d want to work with would be someone from Special Branch. It was rumored that both departments thought the other was superfluous.
“How do you do, Lady Georgiana.” Chief Inspector Pelham nodded to me but didn’t shake hands. His voice betrayed a trace of a northern accent and I noticed he didn’t smile. Special Branch, I thought. Usually handles matters of national security. The royal family was certainly taking every precaution to make sure this news did not leak out.
“Please do take a seat, Lady Georgiana.” Sir Jeremy indicated the armchair by the fire where he had been sitting, then drew up a wooden chair from the desk in the corner for himself. “So you were the one who actually found the body, I understand?”
“That’s right,” I said.
“What time was this?” the chief inspector asked.
“I would say about ten thirty last night. We left Buckingham Palace a little after ten, that much I know.”
“And how did you happen to come upon this body, Lady Georgiana?” the chief inspector continued. “Since the place where she was lying was nowhere near the door to the apartment where you are staying?”
“Well, there was a puddle outside the front door,” I said, “so the chauffeur had to stop the car quite a way farther along, so we didn’t get our feet wet. Princess Marina got out of the motor first and walked straight to the door. I was about to follow but as I got out of the car I thought I saw something under the archway and went to look closer.” I had been going to say that I saw a strange sort of glow and I wanted to see if it was the ghostly light, but that would have sounded silly.
“But surely the body wasn’t visible from where the car stopped?” the inspector asked sharply. “And I don’t know how you could spot a body in that kind of darkness.”
“I’m not quite sure what made me go and look,” I said. “I thought I saw some kind of light first and it was only when I came close to the archway that I saw something lying there.”
“Some kind of light? Like a torch shining, you mean?”
“No.” I shook my head. “More like a gentle glow.”
“I suppose a light could have been shining out from a window,” the major said. He was still standing beside my chair, ramrod straight, a military man to the core. “There are a couple of windows that look onto that courtyard. Lady Georgiana’s room, for example. And my own bathroom.”
“And you didn’t hear or see anything, Major?” Detective Chief Inspector Pelham asked.
“I’m afraid I’d been out all evening—our usual monthly regimental dinner in mess. Can’t miss that, you know, even for a visiting princess.” He gave an apologetic smile. “I had literally just come in when I was given a note from Lady Georgiana. And frankly even if I’d been here, one hears plenty of strange noises in an old building like this.”
“If there were windows without the curtains drawn then someone might have seen something,” Sir Jeremy suggested, looking up at the major.
“Hardly likely. The suite next to mine is unoccupied. I believe the rooms at the back of Princess Louise’s suite are not in normal use, and the only room with a window facing the courtyard that is currently occupied is Lady Georgiana’s own.”
“Did you ask your maid if she saw anything?” the major asked me.
“She did,” I replied. There was an intake of breath. “She said she saw something going on under the archway, but I think it must have been Major Beauchamp-Chough with his torch when I brought him to see the body.” I looked up at them. “I can ask her again exactly what she saw, if you like, but she is rather an impressionable girl and has heard the stories about ghosts in the palace.”
“Ghosts?” Chief Inspector Pelham looked amused.
“Yes, apparently the palace has more than its fair share of ghosts,” I replied. I didn’t add that I had seen one of them.