“Good morning, sir. Were you aware that you were traveling at almost ninety miles an hour?”

“No, I wasn’t,” admitted Seb. “I’m very sorry.”

“Could I see your driving license, sir?”

Seb opened the glove compartment, took out his license, and handed it to the policeman, who studied it for some time before saying, “Would you be kind enough to step out of the car, sir.”

Seb got out as the other policeman opened his briefcase and extracted a large yellow balloon-like bag attached to a tube. “This is a Breathalyzer, sir, and I have to ask if you are willing to be tested to see if you are above the legal limit.”

“At ten o’clock in the morning?”

“It’s standard procedure for a speeding offense. If you choose not to do so, I shall have to ask you to accompany me to the nearest police station.”

“That won’t be necessary, officer, I’m quite happy to take the test.”

He carried out the instructions to the letter, well aware that he’d only had two Campari and sodas the previous night. Once he’d blown into the tube twice—evidently he didn’t blow hard enough the first time—the two officers studied the orange indicator for some time, before one of them pronounced, “No problem there, sir, you’re well below the limit.”

“Thank God for that,” said Seb, climbing back into his car.

“Just a moment, sir, we’re not quite finished. We still have a couple of forms to fill in. Your name, please, sir?”

“But I’m in a hurry,” said Seb, regretting his words the moment he’d said them.

“We’d gathered that, sir.”

“Sebastian Clifton.”

“Home address?”

When the officer had finally filled in the answer to the last question, he handed Seb a speeding ticket, saluted, and said, “Have a good day, sir, and please drive more carefully in the future.”

Sebastian glanced desperately at the little clock on the dashboard, but it faithfully recorded the correct time. In forty minutes, his mother would be calling the board meeting to order, and he couldn’t help remembering that the election of a new deputy chairman was the first item on the agenda.

*   *   *

Lady Virginia took her time telling Sir Edward what really happened on the first morning of the Buckingham’s maiden voyage.

“Fascinating,” he said. “But it’s not something we can use in evidence.”

“Why not? Mrs. Clifton wouldn’t be able to deny it, and then she’d have to resign as chairman of Barrington’s and we couldn’t lose the case.”

“Possibly not, but the judge would rule the evidence as inadmissible. And that’s not the only reason we couldn’t use it.”

“What more do you need?” asked Virginia.