Naughty In Nice (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

out.
    “I’ll shorten it a bit, then. But I did win money at roulette last night, so I can afford it. Also Jean-Paul taught me a method of winning.”
    “This child will have to be watched,” Mummy said. “I have a feeling that once she’s started down the road to ruin, there will be no stopping her.”
    “Just like you,” Vera said.
    Mummy laughed. “Exactly.”
    “If we send him a ticket, all arranged, he’ll feel obliged to come, won’t he?” Vera said. “I’ll see to it when we go into town today.”
    “I don’t suppose Granddad will be able to come for a few days, even if he agrees to come at all,” I said. “We should get working on this straight away.”
    “What do you suggest we do?” Vera asked.
    “Granddad always says ‘start with what you know.’ Somebody knew the jewels were real. Usually at a fashion show one would expect the accessories to be paste, wouldn’t one? So who would have heard that you were borrowing the queen’s jewels?”
    “Servants at the palace, but they are all devotedly loyal. And besides, they’d have opportunities to steal a piece anytime they felt like it. So apart from them . . .”
    “An employee at the bank,” Mummy suggested. “I presume you told them what you were locking in their vault.”
    “I did not,” Vera said. “One does not tell bank employees what one is putting in a vault. Of course I had to tell the local gendarmerie that the jewels were valuable. But the police don’t normally go around stealing things. So apart from them, I really can’t think.”
    “Surely Coco publicized the fact that you were going to use the queen’s jewels,” Mummy said. “Wasn’t that part of the appeal of the collection—royal and simple, masculine and feminine?”
    “Well, yes,” Coco admitted, looking a trifle uncomfortable. “I may well have spoken about this.” She gave a delightfully Gallic shrug.
    “So actually, anyone in that room would have known that royal jewels were going to be worn with the outfits?” Mummy insisted.
    “If you put it like that, yes,” Coco agreed.
    “So we’re back to square one.” Vera sighed.
    “Do you have a guest list of everybody who attended?” I asked.
    “We have a list of people to whom invitations were sent,” Coco said.
    “And there was a guest book at the door,” Vera added. “But how does that help? I don’t suppose anyone signed in with ‘jewel thief’ next to his name.”
    “No, but we can eliminate quite a few people right away. Elderly colonels and their wives. Those old princesses. None of them are likely to have taken a necklace,” I said.
    “I don’t know,” Mummy said thoughtfully. “Some of those old Russian princesses are frightfully hard up these days. Perhaps the necklace did fall into that old woman’s cleavage and she decided to say nothing about it.”
    “Oh, surely not,” I said. “Princesses have honor drummed down their throats from the day they are born. They’d rather starve than do anything to let the side down.”
    “Try starving one day,” Mummy said. “I noticed that the old French princess was rather taken with you, Georgie. You could pay them a visit.”
    “What, and search their house while I’m there?”
    “No, but you could let them know how terrible Vera and Coco feel about letting the Queen of England down. Play the old honor card. You’ll notice their reactions.”
    “I could do that, I suppose,” I said. I paused before saying my thoughts out loud. “The one we should really look into is Bobby Groper.”
    “Who is that? A relation of Sir Toby?” Vera asked sharply.
    “His son. He was the young man who helped me to my feet and then disappeared.”
    “And you found him again? How clever,” Coco said.
    “It wasn’t particularly clever,” I said. “We were hiding out in the same alcove.”
    “I didn’t know his son was staying at the villa,” Mummy said.
    “He’s not. He’s supposed to be up at Oxford, but he’s been sent down in disgrace. He’s sleeping on a friend’s couch and hiding out until he thinks the time is right to tell his father.”
    “And just how did he manage to disappear from the room?” Coco asked.
    “He claims he was standing next to the door and slipped out behind the gendarme when the latter came in. He says he’s quite good at doing things like that.”
    “A slippery young man, then?” Mummy suggested. “And certainly the one with the best opportunity apart from the princess’s cleavage.