Murder in the Maze: A Redmond and Haze Mystery Book 18 (Redmond and Haze Mysteries) by Irina Shapiro

Author:Irina Shapiro [Shapiro, Irina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Merlin Press LLC
Published: 2026-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Monday, January 3

Jason set off for Scotland Yard immediately after breakfast and arrived a few moments after the superintendent. They exchanged pleasantries in the duty room, then Ransome invited Jason to follow him to his office. Jason shut the door behind him, hung up his coat and hat, and sat across from Ransome. He then took out Latham’s notebook and slid it across the desk.

“What’s this, then?” Ransome asked.

“Latham’s notes from his trip to Dublin. They’re in code.”

“Dublin?” Ransome asked, but Jason got the impression that Ransome wasn’t all that surprised.

“Evidently he was searching for documents related to Edward V. You could have provided some context, John.”

Ransome smiled tiredly. “I could have, but I didn’t want to involve you in the what or the why.”

“Just the how?” Jason asked.

“And no one knows how better than you. I liked your assistant. Adair, was it? Think he might be in the market for a job?”

“He might be, but don’t change the subject.”

“What do you want to know?” Ransome asked.

“Is there really a threat to the royal family in the form of a York heir?”

Ransome guffawed. “I knew you were sharp, my lord, but I didn’t think you’d be able to figure it all out on your own.”

“I didn’t.”

Ransome sighed. “Seems I told Haze too much.”

“He has a right to know what he’s dealing with,” Jason snapped.

“You’re right, he does, but I was only trying to see him safe.” Ransome had the decency to look contrite.

“By keeping him in the dark?”

“Look, this is an ongoing and delicate situation, and if someone gets wind of our suspicions, it could create a very volatile situation indeed. It’s best for everyone involved if they think the professor was murdered by a rival. A straightforward, run-of-the-mill case that will get no coverage in the papers.”

“But it’s not straightforward, is it?”

“That’s what I need you to find out,” Ransome replied. “If someone out there murdered Latham because of what he’d uncovered, that person might now be in possession of information that could destabilize the monarchy. And that person would be guilty of treason if they made that information public.”

Jason fixed Ransome with a direct stare since he was certain that Ransome wasn’t being completely honest with him. “It is my understanding that this mythical heir would have no claim to the throne.”

“Not in the legal sense, no.”

“What other sense is there?”

The superintendent hesitated, then unlocked the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a slim file. He took out a document and passed it to Jason. “I think this might answer all your questions,” he said.

Jason nodded and began to read.

Home Office – Confidential Memorandum

Whitehall, 14 November 1870

To: Sir David Hawkins, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service

From: Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, Under-Secretary, on behalf of Home Secretary Bruce

Subject: Potential Yorkist Line of Descent – Sensitive Inquiry

Sir David,

I beg to draw your attention to the enclosed memorandum concerning Professor Frederick Latham’s recent researches into the fate of the Princes in the Tower, and his assertion that a surviving line of the House of York may yet exist.

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