Murder Most Royal — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

She had just finished talking to Mrs Maddox about the next few days’ arrangements when Rozie appeared at the drawing room door. As her efficient APS curtsied, the Queen noticed that, rather ominously, she held a closed laptop under her arm. ‘Your Majesty, do you have a moment?’

‘Is there a problem?’ the Queen asked, hoping there wasn’t.

‘Not exactly, but there’s something you ought to know about.’

‘Oh, dear.’ They caught each other’s eye, and the Queen sighed. ‘The small drawing room, I think.’

She led the way to the room next door, whose floral, silk-lined walls gave it a gentle, feminine air, somewhat in contrast to the lively bird sculptures that Prince Philip chose to keep there: reminders of one of his chief pleasures of the estate.

Rozie closed the door behind them. The Queen looked up at her. Rozie, a striking young woman of thirty, was over six feet tall in her signature heels. At her age, and at a shrinking five foot two, the Queen was used to looking up at almost everybody . . . figuratively speaking.

She didn’t find it problematic, except when she had to shout up at tall, deaf dukes and ministers. Fortunately, her APS’s hearing was excellent.

‘All right. What is it? Nothing to do with the new president?’

‘No, ma’am. The police have been in touch. I’m afraid there’s been a discovery.’

‘A hand was found yesterday morning, in the mudflats at Snettisham Beach.’

The Queen was startled. ‘A human hand?’

‘Yes, ma’am. It was washed up by a storm, wrapped in a plastic bag.

’

‘My goodness. No sense of where it came from?’

‘Ocado, ma’am, since you ask. They deliver food from Waitrose.’

The APS frowned. ‘Not yet. They hope to identify the victim soon. One of the fingers was wearing an unusual ring, which may help.’

Rozie shook her head. ‘A man’s. It’s a signet ring.’

At last, the Queen understood the presence of the laptop. Sir Simon would have come without it, but fortunately – in the circumstances – he wasn’t here. Her private secretary liked to spare her any ‘unpleasantness’.

But after ninety years, an abdication, a world war, the early loss of her father and a rich selection of family scandals, she was more capable of dealing with unpleasantness than most. Rozie was more realistic. Women understood each other, the Queen found. They knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and didn’t underestimate the strengths.

‘May I see?’ she asked.

Rozie placed the laptop on a little writing desk in front of the window.