Pat couldn’t imagine anything she wanted less than alcohol. She shook her head, and remembered the afternoon as she did so, with the dreamlike dizziness of a fact she couldn’t possibly have forgotten. Her brother and Jimmy. She couldn’t think about that, not in here.

“I need it urgently,” Bill said, taking the glass. “Do you recognise this knife? Rather odd handle.”

Jimmy peered closer, with obvious reluctance. “Yes, it’s— Oh.”

“What?”

“It’s the kirpan. Or at least, it looks like the kirpan. Or a kirpan, I suppose it could be.”

“And a kirpan is...?”

“A Sikh knife,” Pat said.

“That’s right. All the men wear one. Ours was a gift from Harpal Singh, Victoria’s father. It hangs on the drawing-room wall.”

“Not any more, I’m afraid,” Pat said. “Victoria noticed it had gone just after you went off to play cards.”

“Oh,” Jimmy said. “Hell.”

“When was that?” Bill asked.

“After luncheon. Perhaps two o’clock.”

“We’d better go and talk to the others,” Bill said grimly. “And we’ll need to lock this room while we do it. Is there a key?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Mertons stayed on guard, carefully not talking about anything, until Jimmy returned with a key. Bill locked the room, considered a moment, then slipped the key into his pocket. “You needn’t mention I have this to anyone. Let’s go down.”

They passed a couple of groups of panicky-looking servants whispering in the hall. The house party was gathered in the drawing room, all present except for the obvious omission, in total silence. Victoria sat very straight, with Preston hovering by her; Lady Anna was next to her mother on the sofa but not touching her, dry-eyed and white-faced. Jack stood behind her, as if on guard. The Earl huddled in a chair with Fen crouched next to him in a pool of skirts.

Bill touched Jimmy’s arm as they walked in. Jimmy turned to look at the fireplace, a gesture so obvious that everyone followed it. The emptiness of the sheath hanging next to the mantelpiece seemed glaring now.

“The kirpan,” Victoria said in a thread of a voice. “It’s missing. Was that—”

“I’m afraid so,” Jimmy said. “I’m awfully sorry.”

“You saw it was gone at two o’clock, is that right? Did anyone notice it was gone earlier?” Bill asked, to a general shaking of heads. “Nobody?”

Victoria’s hands were entwined, knuckles standing out. “I didn’t observe— It’s always been there. That was my father’s gift. It is an insult.”

“Some might say the insult was to my husband,” Lady Anna said, in a voice cold and sharp as broken glass.

Victoria turned sharply. Fen rose, putting herself between the two. “May I ask, what is to be done now?”

“We’ll need a doctor, and the police,” Bill said. The Countess gave a faint cry of protest.