We sat in silence. Then Charlotte said, “He hasn’t had time to find his spirit voice. We must use the board. Place a finger upon the planchette.” We did so.

“Cedric. Can you hear us?”

The planchette moved painfully slowly over to YES.

I heard a little gasp from across the table. “He’s here,” one of the Starlings whispered.

“Cedric, do you know who killed you?”

YES, again, but with even more hesitation this time.

“Can you tell us?”

The planchette began to move. C.

Eyes went to Charlotte. Then it moved to A.

The planchette seemed to hover between S and R, finally settling on S. Then even more slowly to what seemed to be T. And then O, then R.

The life seemed to have gone out of the planchette. Our fingers were still touching it but it refused to move.

“Castor?” Countess Virginia broke the silence. “What does that mean?”

“Sometimes the board says funny things,” Charlotte admitted.

“Castor oil? Castor bean? Castor sugar?” Adrian asked. “But he wasn’t poisoned. He was stabbed.”

We waited, but nothing happened. The wind seemed to have died down too and the only sound was our tense breathing.

“The spirits are no longer with us,” Princess Charlotte announced.

“That was strange,” Darcy muttered as we left the room. “I felt that wretched thing moving around. I know I wasn’t pushing it.”

“It was like that last time,” I said. “Creepy.”

“Creepy? Darlings, it was brilliant,” Belinda said. “Now, how about finding a gramophone and . . .”

“Belinda, there’s been a death in the family,” I reminded her. “No music, remember?”

“Then at least let’s find a cocktail cabinet,” she said.

“Everyone’s going up to bed.” I looked around. “We probably should too.”

“At ten o’clock? I haven’t been to bed at ten . . . at least not alone . . . since I was in the nursery.” And she grinned to us. Darcy and I exchanged a glance and I saw a question in his eyes. Just then, Huxstep appeared in that way butlers have.

“I’ve told Frederick that he is to help you disrobe, Mr. O’Mara, since you brought no valet of your own.”

“Oh, that’s quite all right, Huxstep,” Darcy said. “I don’t need help.”

“It’s no trouble, sir. It’s what the servants are here for. He’s waiting in your room.”

And he stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching us as we went up.