I could think of several possible answers: The first was that she had been killed elsewhere by an unknown person. Probably not Prince George in that case. Surely he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave a body where all evidence pointed to him. But perhaps he was not the child’s father, and the man who was feared exposure. Or it could have been a drug lord to whom she owed too much money. Or even a thwarted suitor. I pushed that last thought quickly out of my mind. In any of these cases her killer had dumped her at the palace, hoping to pin the crime on the royal family. Knowing, maybe, that the family would do anything in their power to avoid a scandal at this moment and thus probably not have the crime investigated too fully.

Or secondly Bobo had come to see Princess Marina, either to demand money, to threaten or to warn. But Marina hadn’t been there. How had Bobo discovered that? Had she knocked on the front door? Asked for the princess? Found that nobody was home . . . and then what? Someone had been following her? Or . . . Suddenly I realized something important. Somebody had been home. Countess Irmtraut, who would do anything in the world to protect the princess she loved.

Chapter 16

STILL NOVEMBER 5

KENSINGTON PALACE

I have had the very worst news in the world. I can’t bear to think about him. I won’t think about him. I’ll push him right out of my mind and get on with the task I’ve been charged with. I’m a Rannoch, damn it. Duty comes first!

Countess Irmtraut. I added her to my list of suspects. And now that I thought about it, she seemed the most likely. Perhaps she had opened the front door to find Bobo there. Bobo had been drinking. We knew there was a goodly amount of alcohol in her system. She told the countess things she didn’t want to hear, threatened to expose the prince, to harm Marina. So Irmtraut had given her a drink laced with Veronal. And when the drink didn’t kill her, Irmtraut had smothered her and dumped her body outside.

It seemed a little far-fetched but possible. Irmtraut was a big, beefy woman. Certainly strong enough to overpower a delicate, fine-boned specimen like Bobo, already rather tipsy. The one problem was that there were servants at the palace. Even if Countess Irmtraut had opened the front door herself, a servant would have surely seen, surely heard Irmtraut talking to someone. Then I remembered what had happened when I arrived at Kensington. Nobody had answered the front door. Nobody had seen me cross the foyer. In fact the person who had first encountered me was none other than Irmtraut.