Part 21 (1/2)

When I went to cash them in I was amazed and delighted to find that I had apparently won several hundred pounds. On any other occasion this unexpected windfall would have brought relief and jubilation. Tonight it was like a condemned man hearing that his horse came up on the Derby.

As soon as I was able I slipped away, up to my room. Still no sign of Queenie. I felt a growing knot of fear in my stomach. People didn't just disappear without reason. One person had been murdered already. Had Queenie stumbled upon the killer and been in the wrong place at the wrong time? If it was our light-haired young man, then she had seen him in her room and could identify him. Of course then so could I, which might mean I was also in danger. I went across and peered out into the night. It was snowing gently now and outside was the silence that only comes with snow.

”I wish you were here, Darcy,” I said into the night. ”I hope you're all right.”

I latched my shutters, pulled the heavy drapes back into place and stood staring at the dying fire. My nerves were wound as taut as watch springs. In one day the head of a secret police had threatened me with jail, I had found that I was engaged to the repulsive Siegfried and my maid had vanished. Not to mention that there had been a murder in the castle. I certainly couldn't go to bed not knowing what had happened to Queenie. I lit a candle and made my way up to her room again. But it was untouched. The hallways and stairs were deserted. I really didn't know what else I could do. I stood peering down one dark pa.s.sageway after another. Dragomir had promised to send servants to look for her and I didn't know my way around half of the castle. I had no choice but to go back to my room and get ready for bed.

I lay there for a long time, unable to sleep. I was just drifting off when I heard a sc.r.a.ping noise outside my window, then the rattle of my shutters. I sat up, awake and alert. I had latched the shutters from inside, hadn't I? I stared into the darkness, wis.h.i.+ng the heavy drapes weren't covering the windows, every fiber of my being poised for flight. Nothing moved. There was no more sound. I relaxed. It must have been a sudden gust of wind that had rattled the shutters, nothing more, I told myself. But just to be on the safe side, I went to the mantelpiece and retrieved that candlestick again.

I lay there, gripping the candlestick, and began to feel rather silly. I was worrying too much, I told myself. Queenie had slipped and fallen down some disused stair. She'd probably twisted an ankle and would soon be found. And there was no such thing as vampires. Even as I had this thought I felt a waft of icy air strike my face and the curtains moved. Then, as I stared in horror, a white hand appeared between the curtains and a figure slipped noiselessly into my room.

Chapter 28.

My bedroom in the middle of the night Friday to Sat.u.r.day, November 18 to 19

I sat up, gripping the candlestick. The dark figure came closer to my bed, moving with catlike grace. As he pulled aside the bed curtain and bent toward me I raised the candlestick to strike. Then I saw his silhouette against the fire. His head and neck were covered in fur. I must have gasped as I raised the candlestick because a hand grabbed my wrist as another hand came over my mouth.

”Don't make a sound,” said a voice in my ear.

I stared up at him, trying to make out his features in the firelight glow. But I recognized the voice all right.

”Darcy? What on earth are you doing here?” I demanded, relief flooding over me. ”You nearly scared the daylights out of me.”

”I can see that.” He took the candlestick from me. ”Quite the little tiger, aren't we? If you hadn't taken a breath I'd have been lying here with my head bashed in. Rule one of the secrecy game-never breathe.” And he smiled as he took off his coat and hat and perched on the bed beside me.

”I gasped because I caught sight of your head and I saw it was s.h.a.ggy fur. I thought you were a werewolf.”

”First vampires and now werewolves. What next-witches, fairies? Come to think of it there are some fairies in the castle already.” He grinned. ”For your information, it's only the sort of hat the local chaps wear to go hunting.” He undid the strap under his chin. ”See-it has earflaps. Wonderful for keeping out the cold.”

”But what are you doing here?” I asked. ”I thought you'd gone off with Pirin's body.”

”I did,” he said. ”But I decided I didn't quite like what was going on at the castle so I thought I'd double back and keep an eye on things. Field Marshal Pirin won't mind. I left the car in a suitable snowdrift and skied back down again.”

”Did you really just climb up the wall?”

”Not as impossible as it sounds,” he said. ”Someone had conveniently left a rope hanging down.”

”What if it wasn't properly tied? You'd have fallen and been killed,” I said.

”A fellow has to take the occasional risk in life, you know.”

”Not this fellow,” I said. ”I don't want to find your broken body lying on rocks, is that clear?”

He looked at me tenderly and brushed back a strand of hair from my face. ”Don't worry about me. I lead a charmed life. Luck of the Irish.”

”Oh, Darcy, you are so infuriating I could kill you,” I said and flung myself into his arms. My cheek nestled into the wet wool of his coat as he held me tightly. ”You smell like wet sheep,” I said, laughing.

”Stop your complaining, woman,” he said. ”I've plowed through a snowstorm and climbed a castle wall to see you. You should be grateful.”

”I am. Very grateful. You don't know how happy I am to see you.”

”So has anything significant happened since I went away?”

”Not much, apart from discovering for whom the poison was really intended, having evidence planted on me by the secret police, oh, and finding out that I'm engaged to Prince Siegfried.”

”What?” He started to laugh. ”You are joking, aren't you?”

”Deadly serious about all three things.”

”You didn't really agree to marry Siegfried. Promise me you didn't.”

”No, I didn't actually, but he thinks I did. His father announced the engagement at dinner tonight, so I could hardly leap to my feet and make a scene in front of all those people, could I?”

Darcy was scowling now. ”What on earth gave Siegfried the idea that you were going to marry him?”

”I suppose I gave him too much encouragement last night.”

”You encouraged him?”

”I had to find a way to keep him from going up to visit Marshal Pirin,” I said. ”So I begged him to dance with me. Then he said something to me this evening, but Matty was talking at the same time and I didn't quite hear what he said so I smiled and nodded.” I looked up at him hopelessly. ”What am I going to do, Darcy? I have to get out of it without causing an international incident.”

”For now you'd better go along with it, I suppose,” Darcy said. ”Don't worry. We'll sort it all out somehow. At least you don't have to worry about Siegfried trying to slink into your bedroom at night. So what about the other matters? You say you've found out that the poison wasn't intended for Pirin?”

I nodded and told him about the gla.s.s. His face was grave. ”So it was intended for Nicholas. Have you mentioned this to anyone else?”

”To Nicholas himself. I thought he had a right to know and to be extra vigilant. I don't know if he's told anyone else. He might have told Matty for all I know.”

”That would have been a mistake. It may be all around the castle by now.”

”At least the poisoner is warned that we know the truth. He'll hardly dare try it twice.”

”But he may try something else instead. It's all too easy to dispose of a person in a place like this.”

”I know,” I said. ”My maid has disappeared too. I'm so worried about her. I can't think where she's gone.”

”And you said the secret police attempted to plant evidence on you?”

”What appeared to be the vial of cyanide showed up in my trunk.”

”That idiot Patrascue, I suppose.” Darcy scowled again.

”You know about him?”

”Oh, yes. We've met before.”