Murder Most Royal

What was your other question?’

‘In the most old-fashioned way possible. He was poisoned, I imagine.’

Rozie nodded. Of course. In the true St Cyr tradition.

‘The thing about poison is it’s difficult to use if you want it to be untraceable,’ the Queen said. ‘I’ve read enough detective novels to know that much. If you don’t intend the body ever to be found intact, it’s much easier. Then he was hidden away, stripped of his distinctive clothes, his phone, his keys. The killer could return later, to dispose of the body at their leisure.

‘So when Flora said she saw Ned drive her father away from Ladybridge . . .’

‘She saw someone in Ned’s car, in his distinctive coat and hat. Or else she was lying.’

Rozie tried to imagine the sheer audaciousness of it. She hadn’t associated the St Cyr family with bravura. Eccentricity yes, but . . . On the other hand, was there anything you could put past the aristocracy? Even so . .

‘If you’re right, ma’am, and the killer took on Mr St Cyr’s identity, they could have been caught out in his Land Rover, his car, his house, his flat. The risk . . . So many things could have gone wrong.’

‘Do you know where it is, ma’am?’

‘I think so. There’s only one logical place it can be.’

‘I . . . I still can’t really believe it. It’s hard to imagine . . .’

‘That was the idea.’

‘But yes, I see what you mean,’ Rozie said. ‘If you’re right, I’d know where I’d look.’

‘Good.

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake. They’re saying we’re a hotbed of drugs now.’

‘May I see?’ she asked.

He handed her the paper with a flick of the wrist. ‘Bastards. Every one of ’em. The drivel they’re paid to write.’

The Queen studied the article in question.

QUEEN CONCERNED ABOUT DRUG GANGS ON DOORSTEP

The piece was surprisingly accurate. It described the money-laundering scheme, pointed out that the clubs in question tended to be in the west of the country, and suggested that she had expressed concern about her own doorstep, in the east.

Only three people that she could think of knew, or might guess, that she was personally concerned. She hadn’t mentioned the issue to anyone else. Those three were Mr Day, her loft manager, his wife, and Roland Peng, who had told her about it in the first place.