At which point there was a tap on the door and Adrien himself looked in. ‘The doctor is here, and the magistrate. He has sent his man for the Coroner.’ He appeared to notice suddenly that we were all staring at him. ‘Is something wrong? I mean –’

Chapter Three

‘That will be all, thank you, Grainger. I suggest you gather the entire staff together. I am sure the magistrate will wish to speak to them. In the meantime they should not talk about this amongst themselves. Mr Prescott, a word if you can spare a moment.’

‘My lord.’

The butler left and Adrien came right in to the room.

‘Close the door and come and sit down,’ Luc said. ‘Were you aware that your father was here last night?’

‘He was? When? I thought he was at a reception at St James’s Palace. They all were.’ Then the import sank in and he sat up abruptly. ‘At what time?’

‘According to Grainger, he arrived at about eleven in response to a message and left at half past the hour in no very good mood. Tight-lipped, apparently.’

‘He must have been the last person to see Cousin Henry. Other than the murderer, of course.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Luc said, expressionless. ‘He got on well with his nephew, I assume?’

‘Of course.’ Adrien started to shrug, then froze. ‘What are you suggesting, my lord?’

‘Nothing whatsoever. I am simply puzzled as to why he would leave a, presumably important, reception to answer a summons at that hour.’

‘My father is a stickler for the proprieties. Henry is – was – head of the family and, therefore, his word must be obeyed. He was only fifteen years younger than my father, and quite, er, mature in his attitude. It wouldn’t have been like an older man running because some youngster snapped his fingers.’

‘I feel a family tree coming on,’ I muttered, trying to make sense of what I knew of the Prescott clan.

‘We will set up the boards once the officials have gone,’ Luc said. When Adrien looked puzzled, he explained. ‘We find that when we are dealing with a crime it is helpful to create boards to which we pin information in an orderly manner: witnesses, suspects, the timetable of events, that kind of thing.’

‘Yes, I see. That must be helpful in bringing order.’ The sudden flare of interest flickered, then was gone again and the worry was back.

I suddenly remembered something completely obvious that we had forgotten to ask. ‘What about enemies? We have heard about the footman who was dismissed, but your cousin was in public life. Was there anyone?’

‘No.’ Adrien shook his head. ‘He could be dogmatic about his opinions, but he never allowed himself to be involved in acrimonious disputes. Not while I have been with him, anyway.’

‘What about his private life?’ I persisted. ‘No enemies at all? No arguments or disputes?’

Adrien looked oddly uncomfortable. ‘Only – No, it could not have been that.’

‘What? Out with it,’ Luc ordered.

‘There was someone who visited last week. An, um, irregular connection of the family.’

‘You mean someone’s illegitimate child?’

He shot me a harassed glance and blushed.

‘Oh, for goodness sake, Adrien! You ought to know by now that I am not some mealy-mouthed female.’

‘Yes, he was that,’ he admitted. ‘But Cousin Henry knew about him and he was only sorting out the paperwork, as it were. There was a legacy involved.’

‘Whose child?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know. My cousin was very disapproving of that kind of thing, so he did not tell me any details. In fact I only heard about it through servants’ gossip. I mentioned it to Cousin Henry on Saturday, I think it was, and he brushed my concerns aside. He said that the matter was in hand and that the person was irritated by his meticulous approach and had become rather heated.’

‘How did the Viscount react to that?’

‘Oh, he was very calm about it.’

Tags: Louise Allen Science Fiction
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