We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen

Author:Rhys Bowen [Bowen, Rhys]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2024-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

November 6

Eynsleigh

It’s all too horrible and unbelievable. Mrs. Simpson and Rosie Trapp vanish on the same morning. They can’t be linked, can they? Oh dear. I wish they had never come.

I suddenly felt the need to see James. To know he was safe and all right. I almost ran upstairs, and found him blissfully asleep in his cot, his thumb in his mouth. Then another thought struck me. I went up the next flight of stairs to the nursery. Addy was now playing happily, having a tea party with the stuffed animals.

“Would you like some sugar, Mrs. Elephant?” I heard her saying as I came in.

Nanny was sitting in the rocking chair, mending a sock.

“She’s not going down again to do that acting and that’s final,” she said firmly. “The poor wee mite was a block of ice. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t come down with a chill.”

“They’ve stopped shooting outside for now,” I said, my brain toying with the word “shooting.” I remembered the explosions from last night that we assumed were Guy Fawkes fireworks. People didn’t go around shooting other people in England but what if American gangsters had followed the film people from America? I had seen on newsreels how casually they mowed people down. Surely this was too far-fetched. It belonged in a film, not in real life.

“Addy, I need your help,” I said. “We can’t find Rosie and we wondered if she might be hiding. You’ve played hide-and-seek in this house, haven’t you? Do you want to come and show me your favorite places?”

“Rosie is playing hide-and-seek?” She jumped up and took my hand. “I want to play too.”

She dragged me around the top floors, pointing out a cupboard under the stairs, the linen closet and a big oak chest in a spare bedroom. We even opened wardrobes but to no avail. It seemed clear that Rosie Trapp was not hiding anywhere in the house.

“Rosie’s a very good hider,” Addy commented.

“She might have decided not to play anymore and gone back to her mother,” I said, not wanting to worry the child with the truth. I deposited her in the nursery and came downstairs. As I came into the front hall I saw that several police vehicles had now arrived. A smart-looking man in a well-cut overcoat was coming toward the house, accompanied by a younger man and a constable in uniform. I opened the front door to them.

“We’re here to see Sir Hubert,” the man said. “Be a good girl and let him know we’re here. I’m Chief Inspector Harlow.” And to my surprise he handed me his hat and gloves.

Realizing that finding a little girl was more important than making a fuss at this moment, I was about to accept them meekly when Sir Hubert appeared in the foyer. “Ah good. You’ve arrived. I’m so grateful,” he said, stepping forward to shake the policeman’s hand. “I see you’ve met Lady Georgiana.”

I must say I enjoyed watching the chief inspector’s face turn beetroot red.

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