Part 15 (1/2)

”You must have some ideas on the subject,” he said.

”Actually I don't,” I said. ”I was sitting opposite him at dinner. And I don't see how he could have been poisoned. The only people who came anywhere near him were servers and Dragomir. The servers put food from the same platter on everyone's plate, and as for wine, well, the rate he was drinking it, his gla.s.s was being constantly refilled.”

”You saw it being refilled, did you?”

”Yes, I did. From the same carafe as everyone else.”

Darcy frowned. ”Cyanide takes effect almost instantly,” he said, ”so it's unlikely to have been in the food because he'd cleaned his plate pretty well. Unfortunately he knocked over and spilled the remnants of his wine when he collapsed, but there doesn't seem to be any residue in his gla.s.s.”

”Is it possible to put cyanide into some kind of capsule, so that it wouldn't work on the system until it was digested?”

Darcy nodded. ”Possible, I suppose, but at the rate he was chomping and drinking, it seems likely he would have bitten through a capsule much earlier.”

I nodded. ”I suppose he would.”

”Baffling,” Darcy said. ”Well, now that the pa.s.s is open I can send out the utensils to the nearest laboratory for testing and perhaps we'll know where the cyanide was hidden. But that still brings us to motive.”

”Oh, I can think of a lot of people who'd want Pirin dead,” I said.

”Can you?” He looked at me sharply.

”Well, he was an odious man, wasn't he?” I laughed uneasily. ”He ogled women, he insulted men. He called Nicholas by his first name, you know. In public. Imagine an English general calling the Prince of Wales David. Only Mrs. Simpson dares to do that.”

”I'm well aware that Nicholas and Anton disliked him,” Darcy said, ”but they are both intelligent young men. They realized his importance to the stability of the region. And if one of them wanted to kill him, there would have been better opportunities. They were out hunting, I gather. Why not mistake him for a wild boar? For that matter why not push him out of the train on the way here?”

”You're a bloodthirsty person at heart, aren't you?” I asked.

He grinned. ”Oh, no, my dear, I'm a romantic. But I've seen plenty of hard reality in my life. So who else would have wanted him dead?”

”What about the servers?” I asked. ”Did you have a chance to talk to them?”

”Only very briefly, but I have their names, and again, I can have someone look into their backgrounds further when we are back in communication with the outside world. But as far as I could gather they all seemed to be as that Dragomir chap described them: local men, long in the employ of this castle and thus with no reason to be concerned with what happened in Bulgaria.”

”Which leaves Dragomir himself,” I said. ”He was standing behind the table. I wouldn't have noticed if he'd moved forward and dropped something onto Pirin's plate or into his gla.s.s. What do you know about him?”

”Dragomir? Very little.”

”Do you know, for example, that he is not from Romania?”

”He's not?”

”Siegfried told me. He said that was why he hadn't risen higher in Romanian government. He comes from a border area that has changed hands several times. He could be in the pay of another government.”

Darcy's eyes lit up. ”He certainly could be. Good thinking, old bean.”

I had to laugh.

”What?”

”I didn't know you thought of me as 'old bean.' I'd hoped for something a little more romantic.”

He moved closer to me and slipped his arms around my waist. ”I'll reserve those words for the bedroom at some more opportune moment,” he said and then he kissed me. ”Mmm, what deliciously cold lips. They need warming up.” The second kiss was not so gentle and left us both breathing hard. ”I suppose I should be getting back to help Nick and Anton,” Darcy said, releasing me with reluctance from the embrace. ”Any minute now their father is going to want to visit the field marshal's bedside. I've no idea how we're going to pull this off, and I just wish that I had something concrete to tell them about Pirin's death. I can ask Siegfried about Dragomir, but again I can't find out much more about him until the telephone service is restored.”

”And Siegfried will want to know why you are interested in Dragomir's past,” I said. ”He may be obnoxious but he's not stupid. He wanted to go up to the field marshal's room to check on him last night, and I had to dissuade him with my feminine wiles.”

Darcy burst out laughing. ”I don't think that feminine wiles work particularly well on Siegfried,” he said.

We started to walk back up the slope to the castle.

”Siegfried talked about marriage again last night,” I said.

I'd expected him to find this amusing. Instead he said, ”Perhaps you should accept. You might not get a better offer. Princess Georgie, maybe Queen Georgie one day.”

”Don't say that, even in jest,” I said. ”You wouldn't wish me married to Siegfried, would you?”

”I'm sure he'd let you keep a lover, since his own interests lie elsewhere.”

”He actually said that. I suppose it's the way it's done in royal circles, but it's not for me.”

I felt Darcy's grip tighten on my hand. ”Georgie, you know I'm a rotten catch,” he said. ”I have nothing to offer a woman. I don't even have a nice little castle in Ireland any longer. I live by my wits and I can't see how I'm ever going to support a wife. So maybe you should think more sensibly and forget about me.”

”I don't want to forget about you,” I said shakily. ”I don't need a castle.”

”I can't see you being happy in a little flat in Putney,” Darcy said. ”And I don't think your family would be too happy either. But anyway, I'm not ready to think of settling down yet. I have to make my mark in the world first, and you have to experience more of life.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence. Would I be happy in a little flat? I was thinking. Would I be able to fit into a world I didn't know, living a life only just getting by, with no luxuries, and with a husband who couldn't tell me about his career but who disappeared for long periods? I decided to put the future on hold for now.

Chapter 21.

As we approached those formidable gates I looked up at the castle and a thought struck me. ”Darcy, that man I saw climbing up the wall-the one who came into my bedroom. You don't think he had anything to do with Pirin's death, do you? You don't think he was sent here with that mission?”

Darcy frowned. ”I don't see how any outsider could have administered the poison. As I said, death is usually almost instantaneous. And I discount your theory of vampires.” He glanced at me and saw my mouth open, about to speak. ”That man bending over you . . . who knows, maybe one of Nicholas's groomsmen took a fancy to you. Or more likely someone got the wrong room. It's easy to do in a place like this.”

”I know,” I said, remembering with embarra.s.sment. ”I went to Siegfried's door by mistake. His room is next to mine.”

Darcy laughed. ”Well, that explains everything, doesn't it? I'll wager the young man was paying a nightly visit to Siegfried. No wonder he was shocked to see you instead.”

I considered this as we went back up the steps. It did seem a likely explanation and one that I liked better than anything supernatural. It didn't get us any closer to solving who killed Field Marshal Pirin, but at least it made sense.

The door guards stepped forward smartly to open the castle doors for us. They saluted although their expressions betrayed that we were mad for trying to venture forth on a morning like this. In the entry hall we encountered Lady Middles.e.x and Miss Deer-Harte, dressed in their overcoats.

”Oh, there you are. We've been looking all over for you. Where have you two been?” Lady Middles.e.x demanded.

”Just for a quick hike over the pa.s.s,” Darcy said.

”Rubbish,” Lady Middles.e.x said. ”n.o.body could go far in this sort of snow.”