A Death at Crystal Palace Page 7

  Once out in the fresh air, he strode quickly down an incline and out of sight of the building, still towing me behind him. By the time we stopped by a park bench I could hardly breathe. Fitzroy had not even broken a sweat. ‘Living with the Mullers has made you lazy, Euphemia. Tell me, does your maid have trouble lacing you into that corset?’

  I sat down and sought my handkerchief up my sleeve. I had sprinkled it with lavender water before we left. I mopped my brow. ‘Don’t divert your anger to me,’ I said waspishly. ‘It was not my intention to come here and it certainly wasn’t my idea to bring Amy. At least not without some means of restraint.’

  Fitzroy’s frown lightened slightly. ‘Such as a straitjacket?’ he said.

  ‘Nothing short of clapping her in irons,’ I said. ‘Poor Rory.’

  The frown descended once more. ‘He handled matters badly.’

  ‘He isn’t a nursemaid,’ I said.

  ‘You’re very keen to defend him,’ said Fitzroy. ‘I wonder how Bertram would feel if he knew that?’

  ‘What?’ I said and scowled back at him.

  ‘Does he know you were once engaged to Rory?’

  ‘It’s hardly a secret,’ I said. ‘He is not pleased but it was a long time ago.’

  ‘But does he fully appreciate what the two of you got up to?’ said Fitzroy.

  I stood up. ‘Stop right there,’ I said. ‘If I ever aid you again it will be for the sake of my country and not because you think you can somehow blackmail me into assisting you. I will not bow to such dastardly intimidation.’

  Fitzroy gave a crack of laughter. ‘That’s my Euphemia,’ he said. ‘Thank you. I rather like being called dastardly. Do you think I should grow my moustache longer and wax it to be worthy of the title?’

  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘You’re just trying to keep me from going back inside.’

  Fitzroy nodded. ‘I suppose I was also testing to see how open you are to the notion of being blackmailed. As I have informed you before, I am not a gentleman.’

  ‘No, you are not,’ I said with feeling.

  ‘I should imagine it’s all over by now. I am sorry to say, Euphemia, that my money is on Amy, not Rory. It would not surprise me to learn he was in the back of a police van on his way to jail.’

  ‘You need not sound so pleased about it.’

  ‘I am not. I could have used him,’ said Fitzroy. ‘Did you notice that when Rory addressed Amy, he used her full name? If things had gone against her, the crowd may decide to indulge in some anti-German feeling, which on today of all days would not suit my purposes. Needing to spring Rory from a jail cell would be infinity preferable to having to deal with the discomfort of the German delegation. Speaking of which, I have learnt that you were most helpful in convincing Klaus of the truth of Madame Arcana’s vision.’

  ‘Really,’ I said, taking the opportunity to sit down again as Fitzroy seemed to be in an unusually chatty mood. ‘I tried very hard not to be convincing.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Fitzroy, leaning against the back of the park bench as if we were the closest of friends, ‘And, thereby, convinced him much more than if you had told him you believed in it. Well judged, Euphemia. I knew I could count on you.’

  ‘More than I can say for Madame Arcana. Her impression of my father might have been well meant, but it inadvertently convinced Richenda that her brother, who arranged this gathering, has turned over a new leaf.’

  ‘What? She cannot be that stupid?’ said Fitzroy. ‘What did Arcana say? I did not brief her on a message for you. Do you think I am turning sentimental?’

  I frowned. ‘No, I agree, that does not fit. Perhaps it was merely a kindness she intended. It is not the first time she has impersonated my father.’

  Fitzroy’s face showed what I took to be genuine surprise. ‘I shall have to speak with her. I do not like my operatives to be…’ he paused.

  ‘Friends?’ I suggested.

  ‘Intertwined,’ said Fitzroy. ‘Although I long ago accepted with you that Rory and Bertram came along as part of a package.’

  I blushed fiercely.

  Fitzroy gazed up at a passing cloud. ‘Although I always knew you’d chose Bertram in the end. Rory is even more flawed than I.’

  Before I could reply to this extraordinary statement Fitzroy interjected, ‘And there is the very man.’

  I saw his gaze had fallen in the direction of the Palace. There, descending the slope at a speed that surprised me, came a figure in dark clothing. Fitzroy’s eyes must be much better than mine, for I only realised it was Bertram some moments later. My shoulders released tension I hardly knew I had been carrying when I saw him. Being alone with Fitzroy is always trying.

  ‘Gosh,’ said Bertram on reaching us, ‘that slope is jolly deceptive. I had no idea it was so steep until I started down it. It’s small wonder no one uses this path. I can imagine all the dowagers tripping over their tiny dogs and going head over heels in a flurry of petticoats and paws.’ I giggled at this image. Fitzroy merely raised an eyebrow. He had sunk back into being enigmatic and sardonic - his favourite demeanour.

  ‘What happened?’ I asked. ‘And how did you know where to find us?’

  Bertram panted slightly. ‘Forgive me for answering in reverse, my dear. Fitzroy arranged this meeting with me earlier today while you were in with Madame Arcana. Was it informative?’

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ I said. ‘Tell me about Rory and Amy.’

  ‘Rory, Amy and Richenda,’ said Bertram, with the air of one about to embark on a long tale. ‘Do you know, she uses withdrawal of cake as a punishment. It seems most effective. Anyway, Amy was up this tree…’

  ‘The resolution, if you please,’ said Fitzroy. ‘Some of us are on the King’s shilling.’

  ‘The tree is fine, everyone else is a bit battered.’

  ‘A little more,’ said Fitzroy, his voice tightening.

  ‘Something of a scuffle broke out. McLeod’s got a black eye and has been banned from the Palace for life. One of the officials got his nose bloodied. The other left the scene limping and clutching his - er - personal parts. Richenda sent Amy back in a cab with McLeod to the hotel. The police managed to calm the situation. A couple of Red Cross volunteers soothed the nerves of various ladies. The tea shop gave out free tea. For the most part I think the women got their men under control. There’s a lot of talk about it, of course, being a little German girl that caused all the trouble, and Richenda is going around explaining to everyone how Amy is no more German than she is despite her name. Or at least she was until I bought her an enormous slice of cake and promised to go and find you, Euphemia.’

  Fitzroy leaned forward. I caught a whiff of his cologne, spicy and masculine. I also saw first-hand the weariness etched on his face. ‘What on earth possessed the child?’

  ‘Ah, well, that’s the really interesting part. She said a nice gentleman gave her a tuppence to play a trick on McLeod. She said she’d run away from McLeod because he only wanted to look at boring things and refused to buy her sweets, when she came across this nice gentleman who asked her why she was on her own. She explained she was stuck with her uncle’s servant and what a boring old sheep he was, and he came up with the tree idea. She said she wasn’t sure, but the nice gentleman gave her tuppence for sweeties, so she thought she should. Apparently, he said McLeod had once worked for him and it would do ‘old starched trousers’ good to have a prank played on him.’

  ‘Richard,’ I said.

  ‘Do you think?’ said Bertram. ‘I did wonder. Sounds like the kind of thing he’d do. Always was a spiteful child. Used to lock me in a cupboard so I missed tea when we were young. Used to eat my share of the buns.’ The memory of this indignity caused my beloved to frown deeply.

  ‘I suppose that’s where Richenda got the idea to lock me in a cupboard, before she got away from him.’ I said.

  ‘Do stop your babbling,’ snapped Fitzroy. ‘Can you not see the danger all of you, even the child, were in?’

  �
�He’s a nasty man, I’ll grant you,’ said Bertram. ‘But he wouldn’t hurt a child, would he?’

  ‘He makes the majority of his income from manufacturing weapons of war,’ said Fitzroy. ‘Who do you think they are designed to hurt?’

  ‘Well, soldiers,’ said Bertram. ‘I grant you that’s bad.’

  ‘Bertram, I believe Fitzroy is saying that Richard does not care who he hurts. He is an unscrupulous man, who will use anyone to his advantage.’

  Bertram glanced at Fitzroy. ‘I suppose it takes one to know one,’ he said.

  Fitzroy laughed. ‘Touché, Mr Stapleford. But I, at least, am on the side of the angels.’

  I was only half listening to them. ‘So, I take it that an injured Rory, Merry, Amy and two babies are now alone at our hotel suite?’

  ‘She brought the babies here?’ snapped Fitzroy, for once showing some humanity. ‘Has Muller lost all control over her?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Bertram. ‘And no, we didn’t know until it was too late. We informed Hans at once.’

  ‘Then you had better hope he has sent people to your hotel,’ said Fitzroy.

  ‘Why?’ said Bertram.

  ‘Because otherwise,’ I interjected, ‘the children, Merry and McLeod are in the utmost danger.’

  ‘You don’t think that Richard would…’ said Bertram.

  ‘Kidnap them?’ said Fitzroy. ‘Set the whole damn place on fire? I would not dare to predict what injury he would contemplate. He is as unpredictable as he is evil.’

  ‘I cannot understand his intentions,’ I said. ‘It is all muddled to me.’

  ‘That is because you believe him to be acting on only one agenda whereas it seems he is attempting to fulfil two objectives at once,’ said Fitzroy. ‘His main objective will be to unsettle the German delegation and undermine our efforts at making peace. Richard would make far less money in peacetime.’

  ‘The devil,’ said Bertram under his breath.

  ‘Also, gathering you in London gives him the chance of taking out all the children at once. I take it he is somehow behind the whole trip.’ I nodded. ‘It is one of the signs of his insanity,’ continued Fitzroy, ‘that he is determined to own Stapleford Hall himself. So far, his new bride shows no sign of obliging him with an heir. So regardless of what may be agreed legally, Richard is not one to take any chances. He intends to remove any rivals to his own future children.’

  ‘We must go back to the hotel at once,’ I said to Bertram. I rose to my feet, as did Fitzroy.

  ‘I am genuinely sorry,’ said the spy, ‘But I cannot allow you to do so.’

  Chapter Seven

  Falling for The Enemy

  ‘What the devil do you mean?’ cried Bertram.

  I curled my hands into fists. My nails cut into my palms. I truly wanted to strike Fitzroy. ‘He means, Bertram, that he needs our help to smooth over any difficulties with the German delegation. He will say our duty is to our country first and as it was your, and my soon-to-be family, we must help him. He will enforce this by saying that hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance.’

  ‘Not quite, Euphemia,’ said Fitzroy. He took a full hunter watch from his pocket and flicked open the lid. ‘The German and British delegation are currently at lunch and, for the time being, I believe them to be in no immediate danger. I chose and vetted the caterers. There are too many people around - they are dining in the Palace’s central dining hall - for anyone to interfere. However, this afternoon they will be dispatched in smaller groups around the Palace for the final leg of their tour.’

  ‘You must have men on site,’ said Bertram.

  ‘There are diplomatic aides from both sides present, but on our side, at least, there are no other counter-intelligence agents. I need to arrange for back-up and it is not as easy as a simple telephone call.’

  ‘Should you not have thought of this before?’ said Bertram. ‘It is not our problem. It is yours. Euphemia and I are civilians.’

  ‘Civilian assets,’ said Fitzroy. ‘Perhaps I should have foreseen this. But I researched thoroughly the delegates who were being dispatched from Germany. I have only this morning discovered there has been a substitution.’

  ‘How does this affect us?’ said Bertram.

  ‘He is pro-war, isn’t he? This substitute,’ I said.

  ‘I am afraid so, Euphemia,’ said Fitzroy. ‘And the man he is accompanying is the man we chose to target for the cascade.’

  ‘Klaus?’ I said. ‘You mean that supercilious aide of his, Friedrich?’

  ‘I have now received information that Friedrich has been sent by the pro-war faction in Germany to counter any British sympathies. How far he is prepared to go to achieve his aim I cannot say.’

  ‘You cannot expect Euphemia to put herself in the way of an assassin,’ exclaimed Bertram. ‘That is no work for a lady.’

  ‘Some of the best assassins in history, and more recently of my personal acquaintance, have been women.’ said Fitzroy.

  ‘Stop trying to distract me,’ said Bertram. ‘I will not allow Euphemia to do this.’

  Fitzroy raised an eyebrow and looked from Bertram to me.

  ‘I do not believe Eric here is asking us to place ourselves physically between the assassin and his target. Rather that we keep Baron Klaus Von Ritter from being alone with this Friedrich. You used the word assassin, Bertram, not Fitzroy. This man may only mean to expose the exploits that Fitzroy has planned for what they are - a set of tricks.’

  ‘You make me sound like a parlour magician,’ said Fitzroy in a wounded voice.

  Bertram ignored him. ‘It’s clear Fitzroy has lost control of the situation and needs someone to stand in. He said this man is here to counter any schemes to make the Baron look unfavourably on war. Well, if he is an arms dealer himself, or anything like my own brother, I can tell you there would no scheme that he would not stoop to. You are correct, he did not use the word assassin. He does not want to frighten us off. He would never tell us that, but I would lay odds that it is exactly what this Friedrich is.’

  I looked at Fitzroy. ‘What do you know of him?’

  ‘Not very much. He joined the party so late our informants have not been able to come up with much. This could mean one of many things. I am not inclined to guess.’

  ‘You mean he could be some kind of counter-intelligence agent, who is so good as his job you have never heard of him?’ I said.

  ‘Or an assassin,’ said Bertram.

  ‘Yes, Bertram, or an assassin. He could equally be an arms dealer or a war sympathiser who was the only one who could be added to the party at the last minute. What happened to the man he replaced?’

  ‘Ah, well,’ said Fitzroy. ‘That all seems a bit unfortunate.’

  ‘Oh, here we go,’ said Bertram. ‘He was murdered, wasn’t he? The assassin’s first target.’

  ‘We have no actual confirmation that the replaced man was murdered.’

  ‘But he is dead, is he not?’ I said.

  ‘Fell under the wheels of a carriage. It happens more often than you might think,’ said Fitzroy.

  ‘Bah!’ said Bertram, rudely, throwing up his hands and walking off a few steps.

  I turned to Fitzroy. ‘I understand you are in a difficult position. Do you really have no other assets in the field?’

  Fitzroy shook his head very slightly.

  ‘The other man at Madame Arcana’s séance?’

  ‘You are most acute,’ said Fitzroy. ‘I cannot locate him.’

  ‘His body is probably hidden under a tea trolley,’ said Bertram tartly.

  ‘He works for Edward, not me,’ said Fitzroy referring to the head of his brother agency, who concentrated on internal matters for the sovereign. ‘He does not need to answer to me for his whereabouts, but…’

  ‘But under the circumstance you might have expected him to say he was leaving?’ I said. ‘Perhaps he has had the same idea as you and has gone to arrange help?’

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Fitzroy. ‘I do not kn
ow, but I cannot count on it.’

  ‘Send Euphemia,’ broke in Bertram, striding back into our midst. ‘You and I, Fitzroy, we can deal with this fellow while she gets reinforcements.’

  ‘It is too difficult and too complex to explain to Euphemia how to signal…’ Fitzroy broke off. He appeared to age before my eyes. I noticed how lacking in colour his skin had become, and had he always had so many lines on his face? His eyes looked past me into some dark place. ‘If I had an alternative, do you not think I would use it?’ His voice sounded dull and hollow, quite unlike his normally robust self. ‘We are at the last chance. A last chance that is barely a sliver of hope and upon which rests the lives of so many.’

  ‘Of course we will help,’ I said quietly. ‘We have no option. The stakes are too high. However, I fail to see what we can do, except to keep the Baron in public places. I have some slight acquaintance and I imagine I might construe a situation. But I sensed from him that he was not averse to the company of young ladies and I would need to tread carefully. If I could keep him occupied for up to half an hour, perhaps Bertram could then construct some ruse to divert him for some time longer. I take it we are competing against what he believes to be his schedule, so we will need to be either more pressing or more entertaining to attract his attention.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Fitzroy.

  ‘Yes what?’ said Bertram.

  ‘Yes, to everything your intelligent fiancée said.’ He flicked open his watch again. ‘I estimate you have ten minutes before they leave the dining room. You will need to move fast.’

  I knew Bertram well enough to know he could continue to argue the point for hours. He prefers any plans to be detailed and well thought out. So do I, but I am more prone to thinking on my feet than my beloved. I assume this ability arises from the necessary skills I had to invent to keep the Staplefords from learning my real identity over the past three years. I nodded to Fitzroy, gathered my skirts in a modest fashion, but one that allowed me to move at more than the gentle pace normally preferred by ladies, and headed off up the path to the Crystal Palace. In my peripheral vision I saw Fitzroy turn and move away at a speed that was just short of a sprint. Bertram made bleating sounds some way behind me, but in a few moments, I knew he would follow.