‘He or she is here as well,’ declared Charlotte with confidence. ‘I’ve been thinking it through. Look at the circumstances. If someone had wanted Sir Roger killed, it would have been much easier to arrange the murder in some quiet place with nobody else around. Instead of that, the stage door of the Covent Garden Theatre was deliberately chosen as the venue. My feeling is that it was selected by the paymaster rather than the assassin.’

‘I see what you mean,’ said Huckvale.

‘So do I,’ added Ackford, ‘and I wish I’d paid more attention to the actual scene of the crime. It tells us something. Most murders take place in private so that the killer can make his escape without being seen. This was, in effect, a public execution. Why?’

‘I wish I knew,’ said Charlotte, ‘but you take my point, don’t you? Whoever is behind this assassination chose the theatre for a purpose and could count on Sir Roger being there at a particular time. How on earth could they do that?’

‘Are you saying that Peter is wasting his time going to Nottingham?’

‘Not at all, Gully. Who knows? There may well be enemies there who are party to the murder and who need to be called to account. But the person leading the conspiracy – if that’s what it is – lives here in the capital and is keenly aware of how Sir Roger behaves whenever he comes here. That made it possible to set a trap for him. It was surely a pure coincidence,’ she went on, ‘that the Prince Regent happened to come along at the same time.’

‘Without meaning to,’ said Ackford, ‘he actually helped the killer. That’s what Paul told me. The moment Prinny arrived at the stage door with the Runners, all eyes turned to him. The man with the pistol couldn’t believe his luck. He struck almost immediately.’

‘Sir Roger must have been a very important man,’ said Huckvale. ‘You can see that by the amount of reward money being offered. It’s bound to arouse a lot of interest.’

‘It certainly will, lad. At this very moment, a queue is probably forming in Bow Street. It will consist of deep-dyed rogues ready to tell any lie to get a slice of that cash.’