“Since I didn’t find out about it until after she was dead, I would say it’s hardly relevant,” I said.

“That’s your word.”

“Surely you can’t think I had anything to do with Miss Carrington’s death?” The laugh sounded a trifle uneasy.

He leaned forward again now, hoping to be intimidating, I suspected. “That’s exactly what I might be thinking. But the one thing I’m not sure of—was it you alone, luring her to the palace in a fit of jealousy, or had Mr. O’Mara found that he needed to get her out of the way and you helped him to do it? Because, you see, he has an alibi for the whole evening she was killed.”

This time I did chuckle. “Oh, and I didn’t? I think dinner at Buckingham Palace with the entire royal family is a pretty watertight alibi.”

“We’re not sure exactly when she was killed,” he said. “It could have been earlier in the evening, given the bitter cold out there. And you were seen, you see.”

“I was what?” I looked up, startled. “I was seen where?”

“In the courtyard where the body was found.”

I gave another chuckle, this time of relief. “Of course I was seen. I believe I told you how I saw something and went to investigate and discovered the body lying there.”

“That was when you returned from dinner, and actually I’ve been puzzled about your statement. It didn’t make sense at the time that you thought you saw something—because from the front of the house there is no possible way you could see anything under that arch.”

“I told you—I saw a glowing sort of light.”

“We checked. There is no light source under that arch, or in that courtyard, apart from a couple of windows. And the time you were seen was before you went to dinner.”

“Before?” I shook my head. “But I wasn’t in that courtyard before we left. I came straight out with Princess Marina and got into the car. It was still raining. A footman held an umbrella over us.” I glared at him. “Who says they saw me?”

“The foreign lady. The countess. Sir Jeremy had a little talk with her today because you had told him you suspected her because her coat was wet. And the interesting thing was that she claimed she had seen you in the courtyard, prowling around, right before you went to dinner.”

“How utterly absurd,” I said. “I never went near the courtyard. What does she think she’s playing at? And how did she explain away her wet jacket?”