Murder at the Villa Byzantine: An Antonia Darcy and Major Payne Investigation by R.T. Raichev

Author:R.T. Raichev [Raichev, R.T.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Soho Constable
Published: 2011-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

18

Light Thickens

‘I saw something on the internet last night. You know I’ve been looking for information on the internet as well? I told you, didn’t I?’

‘No, you didn’t. Information – you mean information about Prince Cyril?’ She resumed her seat beside the window.

‘Yes. I told you sources were scarce. King Simeon’s office sent a very stiff letter saying he was reluctant to discuss his late uncle with anyone. Anyhow. I’ve been looking for information on the internet and last night I found something.’

‘What did you find?’ She didn’t sound particularly interested.

‘It was an architectural enthusiast’s website. Some Italian – lives in Siena – who seems to be a nut about royal residences. He displays pictures, photos, plans, drawings of European royal palaces, past and present, and so on. There was a picture and a plan of the royal palace in Sofia. A very detailed plan.’

‘I have little patience with detailed plans,’ she said.

‘This Italian had got hold of the original plan somehow, that goes back to the time the palace was first built in the 1880s – after Bulgaria’s liberation from Turkish rule in 1878. The palace was built for Bulgaria’s first German prince, Alexander Battenberg.’

‘I am perfectly familiar with the historical facts, Tancred.’ Miss Hope was looking out of the window, shading her eyes.

‘The palace is very small. I mean, as royal palaces go.’

‘Bulgaria is a very small country, Tancred. Once, centuries ago, it was the largest kingdom in the Balkans, but then it became the smallest. It has had a turbulent history. The Berlin treaty was particularly unfair to it.’

‘The royal palace in Sofia is no larger than a Viennese rentier’s residence, someone wrote.’

‘That is quite true. Here we go again, exchanging bits of not very interesting information, instead of which we could have been talking about things that really matter!’ She was looking at him with great intensity. ‘That’s exactly the point I wanted to make earlier on, Tancred. We could be talking about things that matter.’

‘The plan shows the main building and the gardens around it – but it shows no lodge.’

Miss Hope bowed her head slightly. ‘What do you mean, no lodge?’

‘There are stables and a pavilion or two and a pagoda and what looks like a small ornamental lake, but there is no sign of a lodge.’

‘Where thou lodgest, I will lodge,’ she murmured.

I’ve started slipping up, she thought calmly.

It was inevitable that sooner or later she’d make a mistake. She had always known that, so she was not particularly surprised. Inspector Davidson had caught her out first – then she had given the dog a different name – and now this ridiculous absence of a lodge. Keep your head, she told herself and felt the irresistible urge to laugh out loud. Keep your head. Had Stella ever been given the same advice?

‘Let me show you the plan.’ She saw Tancred, silly boy, pick up a sheet from his desk and half rise from his chair.

She put up her hand. ‘No need. I believe you.

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