Murder Most Royal

They have several lines of enquiry. Mr St Cyr had a certain amount of debt, for example; he liked to gamble.’

‘I remember,’ the Queen said. ‘He played cards for money here sometimes. He was very good at it. We had a roulette table once and he was glued to it all night.’

‘There’s a team looking into his finances. No obvious communication yet regarding large wagers that might have got him into hot water. No sign of unusual withdrawals from his bank accounts. Or at least, there were many, but lately they were almost exclusively for things like electric fencing and wild ponies.

‘I know what it was,’ the Queen told him. ‘Rewilding.’

‘Look it up, Simon. It’s been the talk of north Norfolk. The duke thinks it’s the next big thing.’

‘I will, ma’am. “Rewilding”.’ He made a note. ‘Meanwhile, they’re searching Abbottswood itself for the body, in case the trip to London was some sort of double bluff. Then they’ll move on to Mr Fisher’s estate at Muncaster.’

The Queen’s eye roll did not escape her private secretary.

‘He did threaten to kill Mr St Cyr more than once, in front of witnesses,’ he reminded her.

‘Yes, but honestly, Simon. Mr St Cyr had that effect on some people. He wasn’t the easiest neighbour.’

The Queen sighed. ‘Anyway, I gather that Mr Fisher wasn’t in the country on the fifteenth.’

‘No, he wasn’t, ma’am – but then, nor is he the kind of person, I think the reasoning goes, to do his own dirty work, so to speak. Which becomes rather difficult for us.

‘The last person Mr St Cyr called before he left for London was Julian Cassidy.’

‘Mr Cassidy? Our new conservation manager? The bean counter?’

‘Yes, ma’am. As you know, he was working for Mr Fisher until November. I understand there were various disputes about the land. Mr Cassidy was seen scuffling with Mr St Cyr in the car park of the Horse and Hound in Castle Rising in early December. Mr St Cyr didn’t press charges, but there were several witnesses.’

‘Oh, dear.’ The Queen sighed.

‘Not really. He claims it was a parking dispute.’

‘But the police think Mr Cassidy might have killed Ned on Matt Fisher’s behalf, even though he stopped working for him several weeks before. I must say, Simon, that sounds incredibly unlikely.’

‘They don’t know what to make of it at the moment, ma’am. He doesn’t have an alibi for the fifteenth, unlike Mr Fisher. He did try to punch Mr St Cyr. But it seemed out of character.