“So you see we were glad to know that you were on your way home. You are part of their inner circle. You can move freely among them. You’ll be the ideal person to keep your eyes and ears open for us.”

“I’m not actually invited to Balmoral for another week,” I said.

“That’s no problem. Castle Rannoch is close enough, and several members of the Balmoral shooting party are currently staying with your brother. We’ll let Their Majesties know that you will be arriving early and will be joining the shoot as part of your brother’s house party.”

House party! That certainly didn’t sound like Fig. Surely no guests would stay long enough at Castle Rannoch to shoot anything, particularly if Fig displayed her usual meanness and allowed only half a slice of toast each for breakfast and two inches of hot water in the bathtub. Another thought struck me.

“Do Their Majesties know about this?”

“Nobody knows except for a handful of our men,” Sir Jeremy said. “Not even the Prince of Wales or his brothers suspect that these are anything more than accidents. In fact the Prince of Wales made a joke that he should probably check his horoscope before venturing out. And nobody is to know. Not the slightest hint, you understand. If this is true, then we are dealing with a cunning and ruthless person, and I want to make sure that we nab him before he manages to do some real damage.”

“And you have no idea who this person might be?”

“None at all. We’ve conducted a thorough check into the backgrounds of all the royal staff, in fact into all those who might have access to the Prince of Wales and his brothers. And we’ve come up empty.”

“I see. So you weren’t exaggerating when you said it was one of us. You really meant one of our inner circle.”

“As you say, your inner circle.” Sir Jeremy nodded gravely. “All we ask of you is to keep your eyes and ears open. Our man on the spot will make himself known to you and you can report anything suspicious to him. Naturally we do not expect you to place yourself in any kind of danger. We can count on you, can’t we?”

It was hard to make my tongue obey me. “Yes. Of course.” It came out as a squeak.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Castle Rannoch
Perthshire, Scotland
August 17