Page 171 of The Love Letter

‘Of course.’

Simon zoomed into the kitchen and collected the champagne, depositing it on the drawing-room table. ‘I’ll leave you to it now.’ Then he left and mounted the stairs two at a time.

Monica Burrows was waiting on the first floor of the house. ‘She’s here. I’ve just seen her, in the boy’s bedroom. She went into the next-door bathroom when she saw me,’ she whispered.

‘Okay. Leave this to me. Go downstairs and station yourself by the front door.’

‘Sure. Shout if you need me.’

Simon watched Monica run down the stairs. Then he settled himself outside the bathroom door to wait for Joanna.

A scream from Zoe echoed up from the kitchen. ‘Simon!’ she yelled. ‘In the kitchen!’

‘Warburton!’ The Duke’s voice joined hers.

Simon careered down the two flights of stairs, along the hall and into the kitchen.

‘Get him out of here!’ Zoe shouted, aghast at the man standing in the back doorway of the kitchen, stoically taking photos even as Simon manhandled him to the ground and removed the camera from his grasp.

‘Only doing my job, guv.’ He grimaced as Simon shoved the camera back into his grasp, minus the film roll, and marched him through the house to the front door. He pulled the man’s wallet from his jeans pocket and took a note of the name on his driver’s licence.

‘You’ll be charged with breaking and entering. Now get the hell out.’ Simon opened the front door, threw the photographer out and slammed the door behind him. A shaken Zoe was being comforted by the Duke in the kitchen.

‘You okay?’ he asked her.

‘Yes. It’s my own fault. I hadn’t locked the back door.’

‘Hardly. It’s Warburton’s job to attend to security matters. Bloody shoddy of you.’

‘My apologies, sir.’

‘Don’t blame Simon, Art. He’s always reminding me to lock everything. He’s been absolutely wonderful, and I don’t know what I’d do without him,’ Zoe said defensively.

‘Hear! Hear! He’s a great guy, aren’t you, Simon?’ Joanna entered the kitchen behind him.

Simon turned and knew then, in that instant, that she’d found it.

‘Well, I’d rather like to settle down and get on with the evening,’ the Duke remarked irritably. ‘We’ll call you if we need you, Warburton, okay?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Simon left the kitchen and made his way upstairs to Jamie’s bedroom. It was as he’d expected. It had vanished. Walking into the bathroom, he saw the empty frame in the wastepaper basket. The exquisitely embroidered nursery rhyme, which had lain inside the glass for all these years, innocently holding its secret, was gone.

‘We all fall down,’ muttered Simon under his breath as he left the bathroom and went up the stairs to his bedroom. Hastily digging in his pocket for his mobile, he dialled a number.

‘She’s here, sir, and she has it.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Downstairs, enjoying a pleasant dinner party with the third in line to the throne. We can’t touch her and she knows it.’

‘We’ve made sure O’Farrell won’t help her. We found the story on his computer. All he was waiting for was the letter. And we have Welbeck Street surrounded. She can’t escape this time.’

‘No, but at present, with HRH in the house, there’s very little we can do.’

‘Then we must remove him immediately.’

‘Yes, sir. And, if you’ll excuse me, I have an idea.’

‘Fire away.’