by Rhys Bowen
“So when you took me back to your place, after the boat accident, you didn’t really care about me at all. You were trying to win a stupid bet?”
He squeezed my shoulder more tightly. “No, that didn’t cross my mind at all. When I pulled you out of that water, I realized that I really cared for you.”
“But you still tried to get me into bed.”
“Well, I’m only human and you were looking at me as if you fancied me. You do fancy me, don’t you?”
“I might,” I said, looking away. “If I felt sure that . . .”
“The bet’s off,” he said. He turned me toward him and kissed me full and hard on the mouth. His arms were crushing me. I felt as if I were melting into him and I didn’t want it to stop. The hubbub that was still going on on the terrace faded into oblivion until there were just the two of us in the whole universe.
Later, when we walked back to the house together, our arms around each other, I asked him, “So who was the bet with?”
“Your friend Belinda,” he said. “She said I’d be doing you a favor.”
Chapter 29
Rannoch House
Sunday, May 8, 1932
It was almost morning by the time I finally fell into bed. I had spent the rest of the evening giving my statements to police. Chief Inspector Burnall arrived from Scotland Yard sometime during the night and I had to repeat everything. Finally Tristram was led away screaming and weeping disgracefully. Sir Hubert would have been mortified at his behavior. According to Darcy he’d been a rotten egg even at school, cheating on exams and get Darcy blamed for something he had stolen.
I drove home with Whiffy, Belinda, and Marisa the next afternoon and arrived at Rannoch House just in time to witness Binky’s triumphant return. A crowd had gathered outside on hearing the latest news and when Binky appeared from a police car, everyone cheered. Binky went quite pink and looked pleased.
“I can’t thank you enough, old thing,” he said when we were safely inside and he had poured us both a Scotch. “You saved my life, literally. I’ll be in your debt forever.”
I didn’t like to suggest that he find a way to resume my allowance as a small thank-you gift.
“So how did they find out it was this blighter Hautbois who killed de Mauxville? Did he confess?” he asked. “I’ve only had the most sketchy news so far.”
“He was caught trying to strangle me,” I said, “which was lucky, as they’d have had no way to link him to de Mauxville’s death. Or to those other attempts on my life.”
“Attempts on your life?”
“Yes, Tristram tried diligently to push me off a tube platform, poison me, trip me down the stairs, and be squashed by a statue. I’m glad to say I survived them all.” The one thing he hadn’t done, so it seemed, was to push me off the boat. That really had been a freak accident, but it gave him the idea that it might be simple to get rid of me. “I was known to be accident-prone so nobody would ever have suspected,” I said, with an involuntary shudder.
“So they’d no proof he was the murderer?”
“Actually now they have. An autopsy revealed there was cyanide in de Mauxville’s system, and in the poor woman he killed accidentally.”
“Killed accidentally?”
“He meant to poison me with a cyanide-laced sugar cube, but some woman took the sugar bowl from me and died instead.”
Binky looked astonished. “A poisoned sugar cube? How did he know you’d take the right cube? Had he poisoned the entire bowl?”
“No, he was lucky as well as opportunistic. He had the cyanide in his pocket, waiting for a chance to use it. When the woman at the next table started speaking to me, I turned around just long enough for him to taint one cube. Then he made a show of taking a lump himself first, leaving the poisoned cube sitting on top.”
“Well, I’m dashed,” Binky said. “Smart cove, then.”
“Very smart,” I said. “He played the likeable dolt so well that no one ever suspected him.”
“And all for money,” Binky said with disgust.
“Money is quite a useful thing to have,” I said. “You only notice how useful when you don’t have enough.”
“That’s certainly true,” Binky said. “Which reminds me. I had a brilliant idea when I was locked up with hours to think: we’ll open up Rannoch House to the public. We’ll bring rich Americans for a Highland hunting experience. Fig can do cream teas.”
I started to laugh. “Fig? Can you see Fig serving cream teas to charabancs full of plebs?”
“Well, not exactly serve them herself. Preside over them. Meet the duchess, you know. . . .”
But I was still laughing. Tears streamed down my face as I laughed myself silly.
Chapter 30
Buckingham Palace
Westminster
London
Later in May 1932
“Extraordinary,” Her Majesty said. “From what one reads in the papers, one understands that this young man is a relative of Sir Hubert Anstruther.”
“A distant relative, ma’am. Sir Hubert actually rescued him from France.”
“French, then? And the man he killed was also a Frenchman, I believe. Well, that tidies it up nicely, doesn’t it?” She looked at me over her Wedgwood teacup. “What one doesn’t understand is why he picked Rannoch House to do the deed.”
“He knew why de Mauxville was in London and realized that my brother and I would have a strong motive for murder.”
“An intelligent young man, then.” She took a thin slice of brown bread from the plate that was offered her. “I always feel it’s such a pity when good brains are wasted.” She looked up at me and nodded approvingly. “You seem to have made admirable use of your brains, Georgiana. Well done. I see that your brother was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived back in Scotland.”
I nodded. For some reason there was a lump in my throat. I hadn’t realized how fond I was of Binky.
“And I haven’t had a chance to ask you about the house party yet, with all of this sensationalism going on,” the queen said. “I take it my son and that woman were both in attendance?”
“They were, ma’am.”
“And?”
“I would say that His Highness is infatuated. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.”
“And is she equally infatuated with him?”
I thought before I answered. “I believe she likes the idea of having power over him. He’s certainly already under her thumb.”
“Oh, dear. Just as I feared. Let us hope this is another of his passing fancies or that she’ll tire of him. I must speak to the king. This may be a good time to send David on a long tour of the colonies.” She took another delicate bite of bread. I had just taken a second slice myself, in the hope that she wasn’t counting.
“And what about you, Georgiana?” she asked. “What shall you be doing with yourself now that the excitement is over?”
“We’ve just had the good news that Sir Hubert has come out of his coma, and will be coming home,” I said. “I thought I’d go down to Eynsleigh and keep him company. It will be an awful shock for him when he hears about Tristram.”
“And it was all for nothing too,” the queen said. “Sir Hubert is known for his strong constitution. I expect he’ll now live for years.”
“One hopes so, ma’am,” I said, thinking that I’d have to go back to cleaning houses after all.
“Let me know when you return from Sir Hubert’s,” Her Majesty said. “I think I have another little assignment for you. . . .”
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