“I expect you’d like some tea,” Sir Jeremy said. “Do take a seat. Beastly old day, isn’t it? I don’t know why anyone stays in England during November.”

I sat in one of the big red leather armchairs. It was so big and so soft that it was hard to sit upright and when Sir Jeremy handed me a cup of tea I had a moment’s panic that I’d tip over backward and deposit the contents all over myself and the chair. I managed to put the cup down on the table and perched myself at the front of the chair to avoid future accidents. Sir Jeremy let me work my way through some smoked salmon sandwiches, a scone and a slice of Dundee cake before I realized that he was an important man and probably didn’t want to waste his time watching me eat.

“I should probably tell you why I called you,” I said.

“No rush. I’m expecting another visitor,” he said.

Almost on cue the doorbell rang. I heard a manservant’s voice say, “Good evening, sir. Sir Jeremy is in the sitting room.”

And to my surprise the visitor was Darcy.

“You made it.” Sir Jeremy held out his hand. “I believe you two know each other. Take a seat, O’Mara. Tea or are you ready to move on to whiskey?”

“Nothing right now, thank you, sir,” Darcy said. He pulled up a padded upright chair beside me and gave me a cheeky little smile, one that said, “You didn’t expect to see me here, did you?”

“Lady Georgiana, I invited O’Mara to join us as he might be able to look into some aspects of this case that would not be possible for you. He had already been observing Miss Carrington’s connections to drug trafficking as part of an ongoing project for my department.”

I nodded.

Sir Jeremy turned back to Darcy. “But as yet you’ve not found what we’re looking for?”

“Not yet, sir. We know about the smaller players but we still don’t know how the drugs get into the country.”

“Too bad she died when she did. She needed a regular supply. She might well have led us to the big boys.” He sighed, then got up, walked across to the drinks table and poured himself a generous amount of Scotch. He came back to his chair and sat down before he said, “Lady Georgiana has some news for us, I believe.”

“I have,” I said, and I recounted my visit to Worthing, and to Bobo’s mother. I was pleased to note that both men looked impressed.

“So now you’ll be able to take a look at the birth certificate and see if she listed the father,” I said. “Oh, and a servant told me that she planned to keep the child at a house outside London.”