“And they’ve arrested the count for it, have they?” Godfrey’s eyes were positively bulging. “And I was on the spot. My dears, what a coup.”

“They haven’t arrested the count for it,” I said coldly. “They want him to help them with something quite different. A little matter in London. They weren’t even local police.”

“Oh, I see. Well, no matter.”

Ronny put an arm around Belinda. “Let’s go, shall we? I can’t bear it here another second.”

“And I must get back to the castle,” I said. “Please excuse me.”

Godfrey was staring down the road in the direction of Balmoral as Ronny and Belinda walked up to Ronny’s weathered old Morris Cowley. “Now that was strange,” he said.

“What was?”

“Two guns,” he said. “Why would one need two guns?”

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

A cottage and then a lochside
August 20

As soon as I arrived back at the castle I put the estate car away and was going up the front steps when I decided instead to find Granddad. I needed someone solid and unflappable at this moment. The last few days had all been too much excitement. Perhaps Granddad and I could even have a simple dinner together at the cottage, away from the hustle and bustle and the Simpsons and the cousins and Fig. I almost broke into a run as the cottages came into sight on the other side of the walled kitchen garden.

Granddad was sitting outside with a cup of tea beside him. He stood up as I came toward him. “This is the life, ain’t it? Nice fresh air, good cup of tea. I can just feel these old lungs getting better already.”

“I’m glad,” I said.

“The pot’s still warm,” he said. “Fancy a cuppa yourself, love?”

“Yes, I would, actually.”

He looked at me critically. “You’re looking decidedly peaky. Don’t tell me something went wrong today?”

“Horribly wrong.” I recounted the whole thing. “So it seems to me that someone was aiming at the Prince of Wales,” I said. “They were standing quite close to each other and they would have looked awfully similar from behind. Because nobody would have wanted to kill Hugo. He’s nothing to do with the royal family.”

“And you are sure this really wasn’t an accident?” He looked up from pouring hot tea into a coarse earthenware cup decorated in blue and white stripes.

“How could anyone mistake Hugo for a grouse? It was misty, but surely anyone could have made out the shape of a person through the mist. And after everything else that has happened, I can only conclude the shooting was quite deliberate. Darcy thinks so too.”

“Oh, so he’s here, is he?” Granddad gave me one of his cheeky Cockney smiles. “Well, that should make you perk up.”