‘… in the middle of a conversation as far as I remember …’
‘I say, are you sure this is all right?’ Bacchus heard him murmur gallantly.
At last Miss Peterson found her courage. She put her hands on his shoulders, pushed him back into the cabin and stepped inside after him. Bacchus heard the door click shut.
Grinning with relief, the Branch man went to dress and prepare himself for a lonely dinner.
Chapter Forty-One
Scotland Yard, Sunday morning
‘Well, that’s it. For better or worse, they’re afloat. The lovebirds are out of our reach on the high seas,’ Joe announced happily, waving a message sheet at Lily. ‘And Bacchus is safely aboard to ensure a good outcome. The admiral’s funeral went as well as you could expect and no one else dropped down dead, though a certain young airman made a hasty departure, looking, I’m pleased to say, rather green about the gills. I took your advice. The boot was firmly put in. Well, thank you for coming in on a Sunday morning. Charge it to overtime, won’t you? I thought the least I could do was to invite you to come along with me for a final confrontation with the princess. She owes us a macaroon or two.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Might even get a sherry.’
‘The princess! Do I have to? Honestly, sir, I’ve seen enough of that double-dealing old fiend for a lifetime. The acting! I still can’t believe how she pulled the wool over my eyes. She knew what was going on right from the beginning. She’d always known who Anna was. She sat there and listened to the guff you made me spout without cracking a smile. She actually twisted a lock of dear dead Tatiana’s hair around her finger, sighing with emotion.’
Joe grinned. ‘And the dear, un-dead girl was hiding in the woodwork at the time. She’s awfully good, isn’t she, the Princess Rat? I sometimes wonder what she’d get up to if we didn’t have Foxton keeping a close eye on her. Oh, yes, she’s well aware,’ he added in response to a lifted eyebrow. ‘We both pretend his presence in the house is for her own safety … as indeed it is, of course. Damn dangerous place, London. And she was right to conceal Tatiana’s identity. The girl wouldn’t have lasted five minutes if it had become known.’
‘But wait a minute, sir. What was that you said about lovebirds? They, sir? Are you saying Bacchus is watching two people?’