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skirt was even, and there was no seam. A piece had been removed and
its absence disguised. More blood? An accident? An illness?
But it was not yet completely caked in. It could not be more than
a few days old in other words, it occurred since the Queen had left
and been at Osborne on the Isle of Wight.
He walked back to the Limoges plate again and bent down to the
floor below the mantel. It was old, beautiful, weathered by time and
years of polishing. But in between the boards there was a fine white
dust, as of broken porcelain. Something had been smashed here.
He turned very slowly and stared around the room. They were all
watching him, the Princess, the lady-in-waiting, and both footmen.
With the horror of certainty, he knew what had happened: For what-
ever reason, whoever had done it, this was where Sadie had been
murdered.
She had been moved from here to the linen cupboard for the
most obvious of reasons. But why the extra blood in the port bottles?
To make it look as if she had been killed in the cupboard, so no one
would look any further? Was it animal blood from the kitchen? Had
someone used the port bottles simply to carry it upstairs?
Three bottles seemed excessive. There had not been that much
blood in the cupboard. Had they poured the rest away?
238 A N N E P E R R Y
His mind was racing on fire.
Who had? Certainly not the Prince. He had still been slow-
moving with the remnants of a drunken hangover when Pitt had seen
him the morning after. The answer was obvious: Cahoon Dunkeld.
The Prince had woken to a horror almost beyond belief: Not only was
there a dead woman beside him, but he was in his mother s bed. He
must have been hysterical. He had sent for Dunkeld, who had come
instantly and done all he could to contain the situation, disguise it,
and even find someone to blame his son-in-law, Julius Sorokine,
whom he hated anyway: for not loving Minnie, and perhaps for tak-
ing Elsa s love, real or imagined.
And of course the Prince s debt to Dunkeld could never be paid.
Even all the support he could give for the Cape-to-Cairo railway
would be a small thing in comparison with what Dunkeld had done
for him. It was the most brilliant piece of opportunism Pitt had ever
seen. He despised Dunkeld s morality, and at the same time admired
his nerve and his invention.
Did Minnie Sorokine have any idea how her father had used the
crime?
And if the Prince of Wales was guilty, what could be done about
it? Even as the question formed in Pitt s mind, he knew the answer.
The Prince would be put away quietly. They would claim some illness
for him perhaps typhoid, like his father! There would be no scandal.
As with Julius Sorokine, he would simply disappear. There would be
a tragic notice of his death. No one would ever know the full truth.
He thanked the Princess and walked out of the room, his mouth
dry, his legs trembling, hands slick with sweat and yet cold.
C H A P T E R
ELEVEN
i mnel marquand looked exhausted, as if there were
Snothing of life or passion left inside him. He was in the yellow sit-
ting room with Elsa. They stood side by side, staring through the high
windows at the formal gardens in their bright, rigid beauty.
 God knows! he said bitterly.  Personally I think the man is to-
tally incompetent. If he were worth anything, Minnie would still be
alive. The pain in his voice was lacerating.
Elsa avoided looking at him. To do so would be intrusive, like
watching someone whose bodily functions were out of control. And
yet she was angry with him for blaming Pitt.  What would you have
done? she asked him, her voice almost level in spite of the pitch of
her own emotions.
 I wouldn t have spent my time infuriating the Prince of Wales,
and the entire staff, about some damn plate! He almost choked on
the words.  The man s a buffoon!
It was really Julius she was trying to defend, but she spoke as if it
were Pitt.  What could he have read from the evidence? There was
nothing to prove who killed the woman, or even why anyone should
want to.
 Minnie worked it out! he shouted in accusation.  She deduced
it from the evidence.
 What evidence? Now she swung round to face him, as hurt and
desperate as he was. The only difference between them was that Min-
nie, whom he had loved, was dead, and Julius was still alive, at least
for a short while longer.
240 A N N E P E R R Y
He did not answer. There were shadows around his eyes and the
skin there was puffy, as if he were ill. She knew he had been obsessed
with Minnie, beyond his ability to control it. She had seen men be
like that over gambling, growing to hate it and yet unable to stop
until they had lost everything.
Would she lose everything when they took Julius away and shut
him up for the rest of his life? Was he really the man she thought she
knew and loved, or a creature that existed only in her own hungers?
It was absurd, she and Simnel standing together in this beautiful
room, total strangers at heart, attacking each other, while suffering
the same pain.
 If you knew he was going to kill Minnie, why didn t you do
something yourself? she asked. It was a cruel question, but he de-
served it for accepting so quickly and so blindly that Julius was guilty.
Julius was his brother! He should have had some loyalty, whether
they were rivals or not. Minnie had destroyed his judgment, the
things in him that were best.
 For God s sake! he burst out.  Don t you think I would have if
I d known? I loved her! Minnie was . . . she was the most passionately,
marvelously alive person I ve ever seen. It is as if he had destroyed life
itself!
 Don t you suppose he knew how alive she was? she asked, hurt-
ing herself as she was saying it.
 He didn t love her, Simnel replied very quietly.  He didn t de-
serve her.
 You say that as if loving and deserving were the same thing, she
retaliated. They avoided looking at each other again.  In that case,
Olga deserves you. Or hadn t you thought of that?
 You can t help who you love, he said between his teeth.  You
can t love to order. If you had ever really loved anyone, not simply
chosen to marry them as the safest and most profitable alliance you
could make, then you would know that.
She could not accuse him of cruelty she had been just as cruel
herself.  The marriage where I loved was not offered to me, she an-
swered him.  Any more than it was to you, or perhaps to Minnie. You
are totally naïve if you think we can choose to do or undo at will. Or
B U C K I N G H A M P A L A C E G A R D E N S 241
that what you want will turn out the way you believed it would. Olga
wanted you. It looks as if she still does, but do you suppose that will go
on forever?
 I loved Minnie, he said again.  I don t think you understand [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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