We set off, then turned from Victoria Street into Whitehall and the familiar red and white brick of Scotland Yard appeared in front of us. I think I gave a little sigh of relief that it really was our destination. We passed under the archway and into the courtyard. My driver got out, opened the door for me. “Follow me, please,” he said.

I was taken up in a lift, whisked along corridors and finally halted outside a door. My guide tapped and was answered with a deep “Come in.”

I stepped into a bright office with a view toward the Thames. I had rather hoped I was going to meet Sir Jeremy, but it was DCI Pelham who sat at a large dark oak desk.

“Good of you to come, Lady Georgiana,” he said.

“Did I have a choice?” I smiled. He didn’t. Instead he said, “Please take a seat.”

I did so. He was seated in a leather armchair; I was offered a wooden upright. He leaned forward toward me, resting his elbows on the desk so he was staring straight at me. “We’ve been waiting to give you the results of the autopsy, but before I do, I must impress upon you again that what I tell you must go no farther than these four walls. I have your word on that?”

“Oh absolutely,” I said.

“Right. The doctor has finished the preliminary tests on Miss Carrington, and I’m afraid you were right. It was murder.”

“So not a drug overdose?”

“No trace of cocaine or heroin in her body.”

“I see. So how was she killed?”

“Suffocated,” he said. “The doctor found both alcohol and Veronal, which you probably know is a strong sedative, a barbiturate, in her system. A significant amount of both, but he reckons not enough to kill her.”

“But enough to put her to sleep? To knock her out? And then someone finished her off?”

“It looks that way, yes.”

“Could she not have vomited and aspirated into her lungs, thus suffocating herself?” I asked.

He looked surprised. “Now how does a young lady like you know about such things?”

“I’ve had a couple of brushes with murder before,” I said. “I can assure you I’m not squeamish.”

“Obviously not. And in answer to your question, no. She was suffocated manually. There were signs of bruising around her nose and mouth where someone clearly clamped a hand to stop her from breathing.”

“How horrid,” I said. “And your men turned up no clues in the courtyard to indicate who that person might have been?”

He shook his head.

“I wonder what she was doing at Kensington Palace,” I said. “She must have known she wouldn’t find Prince George there.”