‘Where are you? What’s that chirruping sound?’
‘Birdsong. I am in Kensington Gardens. I’m sitting on a bench beside Peter Pan.’
‘You sound as though you are about to embark on some awfully big adventure.’
‘Perhaps I am. Perhaps I already have. I had coffee with Julia Henderson earlier on. Julia Henderson is James Morland’s sister.’
‘You seem to be imbuing the name “Julia Henderson” with extra special significance.’
‘Julia said something very interesting. Stella talked to her the day before she was killed. Stella was keen on making her peace with her daughter. She had a plan. She was about to do something. She hinted there was an irregularity involved.’
‘What kind of irregularity?’
‘I believe she intended to commit a crime.’
‘Are you serious? Would you care to specify the nature of the crime?’
‘Steal Tancred Vane’s sword. My theory,’ Antonia went on, ‘is that Stella meant it as a peace offering. That was the reason why she went to the Villa Byzantine on the morning she was killed. She had already stolen one of Vane’s front door keys during her previous visit. Tancred Vane had told her he would be at the British Library that morning.’
‘Did she go to the Villa Byzantine alone?’
‘No. I have an idea – it is only an idea, mind – that Julia Henderson went with her. I believe Julia might have driven Stella in her car.’
‘You think it was Julia who beheaded her?’
‘You may think I am sacrificing probability to wild speculation, but, you see, Julia does fit the bill. She had a good motive for wishing Stella dead. Julia depended on her brother financially. I got a palpable sense that she hadn’t wanted her brother to marry Stella. Stella considered Julia her friend and confided in her. Julia is a champion golfer, yet she was eager to conceal the fact. She has very strong wrists.’
‘This is all most ingenious, but it doesn’t quite tally with the Melisande-as-Miss-Hope theory, does it?’
Antonia admitted it didn’t – though did it have to?
After she’d rung off, she went on sitting on the bench under the statue of Peter Pan, thinking.
Stella was dead, but her daughter was still very much alive. James Morland was a rich man. If he were to act on his decision and adopt Moon, she would share in his fortune. He had bought a Regency house in Chelsea, which he intended to share with Moon. He had talked about hiring private tutors for her.
Julia Henderson couldn’t be happy about any of this. Of course not. Could Moon be in danger? Moon was still living at Julia’s flat. Was that why Morland had bought a house? To get Moon away from his sister? Was Morland concerned about Moon’s safety? Did Morland suspect that his sister might be behind Stella’s death and that she might try to kill Stella’s daughter as well?
Antonia heard Julia’s voice once more. My Surrey past is catching up with me. Julia had pulled a droll face. What else had she said? Something about… bull-fighting? Not exactly I have never stayed at the Corrida Hotel.
The Corrida Hotel. Antonia frowned. She hadn’t imagined it, had she? Bull-fighting. Bulls? Bulls were important somehow. One particular bull?
Something began to stir at the back of her mind…
25
The Tremor of Forgery
‘I don’t think anything’s happened to him. He is a big boy, isn’t he? Or are you saying that royal biographers can’t defend themselves? Do have another crumpet,’ Lady Grylls urged her nephew.
‘No, thank you, darling.’
‘What a shame. You aren’t eating the Patum Peperium sandwiches either. Provost made them specially for you. I read somewhere that second murders were “vulgar”. In detective stories, that is. Do you think they are vulgar?’
‘No, not really.’
‘I am so glad. I like second murders. Prevents boredom from setting in. I have a feeling practically everybody wants to write detective stories nowadays. Goodness, Hughie, you do look worried. Wouldn’t you care for a game of snap? I always find it takes my mind off things.’
‘No, thank you, darling.’
‘Only the other day Constantia was saying – remember Constantia?’
‘Big crumbling house in Norfolk, breeds borzois, unflaggingly jolly?’
‘That’s the one. Constantia was saying she had a clever idea for a detective story. She was wondering if Antonia would be interested in using it. Pay attention now. A character is addressed by other characters, alternately, as Lady Flora and Lady Beaufort – it’s the same character, you see. Those readers who know about such things assume that the author is simply ignorant about the aristocracy, as practically everybody is these days, and is confusing baronets’ wives with earls’ daughters, but, as a matter of fact, that seeming confusion is a vital clue to the killer’s identity.’
Major Payne observed that the tangles of nomenclature in the peerage were so tricky, they could trip up even the initiated.
‘Constantia’s plot hinges on the premise that a knight’s widow is impersonating a peer’s daughter and she commits a series of murders to prevent being found out – a great fortune is at stake – what d’you think, Hughie?’
‘Mind-blowingly ingenious,’ Payne said absently.
The next moment his mobile phone rang.
‘Hello? Hello?’ He hadn’t recognized the number but then Vane hadn’t given him his phone number.
‘Hi, Hugh. That puzzle you set us at the party. The party at Kinderhook. Do you remember?’
‘Good lord, it’s you!’
‘Were you expecting someone else?’ Moon’s voice said. ‘Don’t you remember the puzzle? You set us a puzzle. The music stopped. She died. Explain.’
‘Sounds incredibly silly. Who gave you my number?’ Payne passed his hand across his face.
‘I got your number off James’ mobile. He doesn’t know about it. He’d be very cross if he knew, so don’t tell him, please.’
‘Look here, Moon, I’m terribly busy at the moment. I’m expecting an important call. What the hell is that racket?’
‘We are at the zoo. Don’t ring off, please! Can you hear the monkeys? I love animals, which means I am a good person. James has gone to get me an ice-cream.’
‘I don’t think I set you any puzzles at the party.’
‘You did. There could be more than one solution, you said. Do you want to hear my solution?’
‘I am expecting an urgent call-’
‘Your solution was that she was a blindfolded tightrope walker. The music was her cue to step off. One day, the machine playing the music broke down. She stepped off too early and fell to her death. Right?’
‘I am going to ring off now-’
‘This is my solution now. Pay close attention,’ Moon said. ‘She was a blind swimmer, who swam out from her boat every day. She played a radio in her boat, so she knew where to swim back to – are you following? The transmission suddenly cut out because damp had got into the radio, so she could no longer find her boat and drowned. Cool, eh?’
Payne agreed it was cool and eventually the conversation was brought to an end.
His mobile rang again.
This time it was Tancred Vane. So he was alive and well.
Payne heaved a sigh of relief.
Tancred Vane sat slumped in his chair, a glass of whisky in his hand, a look of extreme dejection on his face.
‘That’s the exact question Stella asked me. Do you know the actress Melisande Chevret? I said no. Then the name slipped out of my mind completely, but of course it came back to me the moment you mentioned it.’
‘Well, it confirms the story Stella’s daughter told me. It proves that Moon did not lie.’ Payne leant back in his chair. ‘Did Stella say anything else about Melisande?’
‘No, she didn’t. She might have done if I’d shown any interest, but I didn’t encourage digressions. I wanted her to get on with her story about her grandmother and life at the royal palace in Sofia.’
They were sitting in Tancred Vane’s drawing room. The biographer had suggested the study or the library, but Major Payne had been eager to see the scene of the crime.