Why was he coming up the stairs toward me, step by step, slowly and methodically? He was blocking my escape route, that was what he was doing. His face was calm and composed but I was reminded that he was a trained killer. And he had killed once. After that first time, it is easy.

I was determined to keep bluffing. “Do you need something upstairs, Major? Isn’t it just Princess Alice’s suite and the royal galleries leading from this staircase?”

“I thought we might take a tour of the royal galleries together,” he said. “Since you’re here and I’m here.”

“Lovely thought, but I’ve just been to a party and I’m awfully tired.”

Wild thoughts were racing through my head. I was conscious of our voices, echoing around the foyer, of the staircase disappearing into darkness below and the feeling of being utterly isolated from the world. If I screamed, probably nobody would ever hear me. I looked around. Smooth marble, high painted ceiling above. Nothing to use as a weapon. Utterly defenseless.

“On second thought,” I said brightly, “I think I will deliver that message to Princess Alice tonight. I’ll write her a little note so that she gets it first thing in the morning when she wakes up.”

And I turned and marched deliberately up the stairs. I could sense he was right behind me, but I wasn’t going to turn around. If I could just reach her front door . . . just hammer on it . . .

But as I came to the top of the stairs he slid past, standing between me and Princess Alice’s suite. “Oh no, my dear. I suggest we go downstairs again. To my place. A nice hot drink, eh?”

He was still being polite and friendly but I knew beyond any doubt that the drink would contain Veronal. A stronger dose this time to make sure he didn’t actually have to suffocate me.

“You obviously think I’m completely naïve,” I said. “I don’t want to meet the same fate as poor Bobo. How did you know I’d figured it out?”

“I saw the way you looked at Princess Alice when she said she’d seen me coming home when she was going to bed. You sneaked a glance at me and you studied my uniform, didn’t you? I realized then that you’d noticed the sequin that got caught in the braid. A big sequin from her dress. I didn’t see it initially. No batman to take care of me, you see.”

Of course, I thought. Something sparkling. Something that my subconscious took in as incongruous. How stupid of me.

“You were going to find out what time Princess Alice went to bed, weren’t you? And when I heard her servant say she had already retired I knew you’d tell Sir Jeremy as soon as you found a telephone.”