Murder Most Royal — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if Ned intended to reintroduce those, too. And meanwhile, the land is turned to scrub.’

‘I’ve been looking into the idea of wilding,’ Philip mused. ‘It has its merits – if done in the right places.’

‘You don’t really think so?’ the earl asked, astonished.

‘That so-called “scrub”, as you put it, blackthorn and dog rose, is a haven for wildlife. Some extraordinary results have been achieved in Holland. Several species are coming back from the brink of extinction.’

‘Norfolk is the breadbasket of England, for Christ’s sake.

‘You can’t feed a nation without pollinators,’ Philip said. ‘They absolutely thrive in these places. It’s fascinating.’

‘Ha! You sound like your son, sir,’ the earl said with a smile.

Philip’s gaze was cool. ‘We have more in common than you may think.’

The earl caught a hint of steel in his voice and his florid face flushed further. ‘No doubt,’ he muttered, dropping the subject. They returned to the topic of Brexit.

The racing had just finished on Channel 4 when the shooting party got home, fresh-faced, tired and happy, eager for hot baths and tea. Philip found the Queen in the drawing room, soothing her throat with honey in hot water after an enjoyable afternoon shouting at the television set with her fellow racing aficionados. Having complained vigorously about the noisy Nerf gun battle raging along the corridors – which the Queen found rather unfair, in the circumstances – he was keen to update her on his day.

‘Extraordinary end to the fourth drive. Cassidy, the new bean counter, is a liability. He shot for Oxford, which is why I agreed he could join us today. I was hoping to see a fine performance. But he only got one bird in four and he practically shot Helena Fisher, who was on the next peg.’

‘An idiotic misfire. The fool forgot to check if both barrels had fired before swinging his gun around prior to unloading.

‘According to the head keeper, it was the talk of the Fens in the summer,’ Philip said. He explained how it worked, and the use of wild animals to keep encroaching vegetation at bay.

‘Helena Fisher filled me in on the details. Ned, being Ned, was intoxicated by the whole thing. Instead of waiting and planning like any sensible person, he’d ordered the animals in by the truckload. Beaver, boar, those deer we saw . . .