He leaned even closer to me. “Normally in a case like this I’d have a team of men already questioning everyone in Kensington Palace, in Miss Carrington’s block of flats, everyone in her address book. But I’ve been given orders from the top brass to lay off. Frankly I think their feeling is that they don’t care why this girl was murdered or who did it as long as nothing appears in the press. I didn’t become a policeman to sweep dirty crimes under the rug, Lady Georgiana. Whoever this woman was, whatever her lifestyle, she deserves justice. But any move I make has to be sanctioned by Sir Jeremy. I am not allowed to question the prince, nor anyone at Kensington Palace. Sir Jeremy is adamant that Princess Marina hears nothing about this.”

“I can understand that,” I said. “She might call off the wedding and cause great embarrassment to the royal family.”

“Precisely. That’s where I hope you might come in.” He sat up straight again and toyed with the fountain pen in his right hand. “You’re one of them, Lady Georgiana, and Sir Jeremy thinks highly of your abilities. You could ask questions. Not directly interrogate, of course, but in a subtle way. You could find out if anyone at the palace saw or heard anything.”

“I already started to do that this morning,” I said. “And I could certainly question the servants.”

“And the elderly princesses?” he said. “They are your aunts, aren’t they?”

“Great-aunts. Yes, I could ask them too, but it wouldn’t be easy if I’m not to mention that somebody died outside their door. They’d certainly be curious why I wanted to know whether anyone had heard or seen anything strange outside their windows.”

“Maybe we could invent some sort of crime or incident that did not involve them in any way.” He frowned. “Something that didn’t make anybody put two and two together and come up with four.”

“What sort of crime would not involve any of us and not raise suspicions?” I asked.

“A robbery, maybe? We found a thief trying to hide out in the courtyard?”

“Possible,” I said. “What if one of the servants actually spotted the body but has said nothing so far?”

“Or vagrants,” he said. “There are quite a few homeless men sleeping rough in the London parks these days, aren’t there? A falling-out among vagrants? A vagrant taking shelter at the palace on a stormy night, who died of natural causes?”

“I don’t think anyone would mistake the body of a silk-clad young woman for a vagrant,” I said.

“That’s presupposing anyone saw her body. Ghosts,” he said, suddenly animated and wagging a finger at me. “You said the whole place is haunted. How about asking everyone if they saw the ghost of a white lady going through the courtyard?”