Anne Perry: Buckingham Palace Gardens

Cahoon went into the dining room ahead, leaving her to follow, with Olga beside her. The Prince of Wales was obviously not joining them, so there was little formality observed. They each took the places at which they had sat the previous day, the women assisted by servants.

This room also was magnificent, but too heavy in style for Elsa’s taste. She felt dwarfed by the huge paintings with their frames so broad as to seem almost a feature of the architecture. The ceiling stretched like the canopy of some elaborate tent, with the optical illusion of being arched. It was beautiful, and yet she was not comfortable in it. Certainly she did not wish to eat.

The soup was served in uncomfortable silence before Hamilton Quase joined them, taking the one empty chair without comment. He was tall and slender, and in his late forties. He had been handsome in his youth, but his fair hair had lost its thickness. His face was burned by the sun and marred by an absentminded sadness, as if he had forgotten its exact cause, or possibly chosen to forget it.

Liliane looked at him anxiously. The footman offered him soup but he declined, saying he would wait for the fish. He did accept the white wine, and drank from the glass immediately.

“You’d expect a place like Buckingham Palace to be safe, wouldn’t you!” he said challengingly. “How the devil can a lunatic break in here? Can anyone walk in and out as they please?”

“Nobody walked in,” Cahoon told him. “Or out.”

Hamilton set his glass down so violently the wine slopped over.

“God! You mean he’s still here?”

“Of course he’s still here!” Cahoon snapped. “He was always here!”

Hamilton stared at him, the color draining from his face.

“You’re frightening the women,” Julius said critically to Cahoon.

He glanced around the table. “Nobody broke in, and nobody will.

One of the servants completely lost control of himself and must have hit her, or strangled her, or whatever it was. It’s a tragedy, but it’s none of our business. And there is certainly nothing for us to be afraid of.

The police will deal with it.”

Hamilton raised his glass in a salute to Julius, and drank again.

Liliane relaxed a little and picked up her fork.

“Knifed her,” Cahoon filled in as the butler placed the fish in front of him. “Cut her throat and. . and her body. I’m afraid this is going to be unpleasant.”

“How do you know?” Simnel asked with more curiosity than alarm. He glanced at Minnie, and then back at Cahoon.

“I found her,” Cahoon said simply.

Elsa was startled. The wineglass slipped in her fingers and she only just caught it before it spilled. “I thought she was in a linen cupboard!”

“What on earth were you doing in a linen cupboard so early in the morning?” Julius asked with a very slight smile. “Or at any time, for that matter.”

“The door was open,” Cahoon told him tartly. “I smelled it.”

Liliane wrinkled her nose. “If we must have this discussion at all, could we at least put it off until after we have finished dining, Cahoon? I’m sure we are grateful that you seem to be taking charge of things, but your zeal has temporarily overtaken your good taste. I would prefer to have my fish without the details.”

“I’m afraid we are not going to escape all of the unpleasantness,”

Cahoon said drily. “The servants are bound to be useless for a while.

Some of them may even leave.”

“One of them needs to,” Julius pointed out.

Elsa wanted to laugh, but she knew it was out of fear rather than amusement, and wildly inappropriate. She choked it back, pretending to have swallowed badly. No one took the slightest notice of her.

“It makes you realize how little you know people,” Olga murmured.

“One doesn’t know servants,” Minnie corrected her. “One knows about them.”

“If they knew about him, they would hardly have employed him.”

Julius looked at her coolly.

“I imagine they thought they did.” Cahoon began to eat again.

“None of us know as much about people as we imagine we do.” He glanced around the table, his eyes for a moment on each of them.

“We have all known one another to some degree for years, but I have no idea what dreams are passing through your mind, Julius. Or yours, Hamilton. What do you wish for most at this moment, Simnel?”

“A peaceful luncheon and a productive afternoon,” Simnel replied instantly, but there was a touch of color in his cheeks and he did not meet Cahoon’s eyes, still less did he look at Olga.

Elsa knew he was thinking of Minnie. Probably they all did. She stole a very quick glance at Olga, and saw the pallor of her skin and the pull on the fabric of her dress as it strained across her hunched shoulders. For a hot, ugly moment she hated Cahoon for his cruelty.

Minnie was concentrating on her plate, the shadow of her eyelashes dark on her cheek. She seemed to glow with satisfaction.

“Slashed with a knife?” Elsa said aloud. “Whoever takes a carving knife to an assignation in the linen cupboard? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Cutting a whore up with a carving knife doesn’t make any sense wherever you do it, Elsa,” Cahoon said abruptly. “We aren’t looking for a sane man. Surely you realize that?”

She felt humiliated, but she could think of nothing to say that would rebut his remark. Of course she knew it was not a sane thing to do. It had been an impulsive observation.

Oddly, it was Hamilton Quase who defended her. “Someone who is sane enough to pass as a Palace servant probably appears sane in most things,” he said with a casual air, as if they were discussing a parlor game. “If he were running up and down the staircases with wild eyes and blood on his hands, someone would have noticed.”

“Providing they also were sober,” Olga said waspishly. “And not doing much the same! Were any of you sober enough last night to have noticed such a thing?”

“Unkind, my dear,” Hamilton responded, picking up his glass again. “You should not remind a man of his lapses, especially in front of his wife.”

“She is the one person with whom they are quite safe,” Cahoon responded, looking across the table at Liliane.

Liliane’s eyes were very bright and there was a touch of color in her cheeks. She too seemed to search for something to say, and not to find it. For a moment a shadow crossed her face with possibly hatred in it. Then, as if the sun had returned, it was gone. “Of course,” she said with her lovely smile. “Are we not all loyal to family and friends?

Such a thing is hardly worth remark.”

Julius applauded silently, but none of them missed his gesture.

Minnie shivered. “It’s a horrible thought.” She looked at her father, shrugging her shoulders elegantly, avoiding everyone’s eyes but his. “I hope they find him very soon.”

“Don’t make any assignations with servants in the linen cupboard in the meantime,” Julius told her. “You should be safe enough.”

Cahoon froze, his face red. “What did you say?” he demanded, his voice like ice.

Julius paled slightly, but he held Cahoon’s eye and repeated his words exactly.

Cahoon leaned forward, knocking a water glass over and ignoring the mess on the table. Elsa knew she should intervene, but she was afraid of Cahoon when he lost his temper. She tried to speak, though her mouth was dry and her throat tight.

“You are speaking of my daughter, sir!” Cahoon said loudly. “You will apologize to her, and to the rest of us, or I will horsewhip you!”

“No, sir,” Julius corrected him. “I am speaking of my wife. I think sometimes you forget that. And undoubtedly sometimes she does.”