“Don’t be silly. People in the theater learn to cope with difficult types all the time. Temperamental leading ladies, harsh critics, crabby wardrobe mistresses . . . but they don’t go around killing each other. They get out their frustrations on stage. If only Cedric . . .”

He broke off as heavy footsteps could be heard in the hall, and the chief inspector appeared. “Ah, there you are,” he said. “Everyone here? Good, because I’ve a couple of questions to put to all of you.”

He stood in front of the fire, facing us. “Now then. According to your statements, nobody saw anything unusual this morning. Nobody even saw the duke get up or go out. Nobody knows any reason why someone would want to murder the duke. In fact, you are all a big, happy family with not a care in the world.” He paused and looked from one face to the next. “Right, let’s take another approach, shall we?” He glanced across at the entrance to the Long Gallery, and beckoned. A police constable came toward us, carrying something wrapped in a cloth. The inspector took it carefully and unwrapped it.

“Now look carefully. Have any of you seen this object before?” he asked, and held it out to us. I heard a gasp from some people and Nicholas called out excitedly, “I’ve seen it before. It’s cousin Jack’s knife.”

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

“Cousin Jack’s knife?” The chief inspector stared hard at Jack. “I take it he means you, young man?”

“It’s my knife, right enough,” Jack said. “The duchess—I mean, my grandmother—made me go and put it in the tack room. She said she didn’t want it in the house, and she was cross with me for showing the nippers how I could throw it.”

“He threw it into the tree above my head,” Kat said.

“It was brilliant,” Nick added. “Just like William Tell.”

“I see.” The inspector paused. “So when did you see this knife last, sir?”

“When my grandmother told me to put it in the tack room—several days ago now.”

“Did anyone else know the knife was going to be left in this tack room?” He pronounced the words as if they were both unfamiliar and amusing to him.

“I believe we were all out on the lawn when the incident occurred,” Edwina said. “So I suspect that everyone overheard my telling John where he was to put his knife for safekeeping.”

“And is this tack room left unlocked?”

“Of course,” Edwina said. “The grooms come in and out all the time to saddle up the horses. Really, Chief Inspector—we live on a big estate, cocooned from the rest of the world. We don’t need to keep things locked. We have servants looking after us and our property. The grooms actually sleep above the stables.”