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‘This is so exciting!” Harriet said.

“Why?” asked Brutus, at a loss.

“Are you crazy? It’s the future king and queen paying us a visit!”

“Oh, okay,” said Brutus, not convinced.

The future king and queen walked into the house, their faces masks of concern. Jeremy was a tall, thin man with thinning mane, while his wife Jennie was a kind-faced, rangy brunette. When she saw Tessa, Jennie immediately streaked forward, arms outstretched.“Oh, you poor thing. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” said Tessa with a strained smile. The events of the past couple of days had clearly left a big impression on her, and her customary sunny disposition had suffered.

“This is so awful! Do they know what happened?”

“Kids setting off firecrackers and a fuse box meltdown,” she said automatically, as if reading from a teleprompter. “The whole thing gave us a big scare. But nothing bad happened. Just a concatenation of circumstances.”

“Yes, I heard just now—you must have been terrified.”

“It was pretty scary,” Tessa admitted.

Meanwhile Jeremy clapped his brother on the shoulder.“Gave you quite a fright, the whole dreadful business, what?”

“It did,” Dante admitted. He clamped his lips together, clearly wanting to say more and being in two minds about Tess’s information embargo.

“Kids, eh?” said Jeremy. “Blimey.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Lock them up in the Tower?” Jeremy suggested, eliciting a weak smile from his younger brother.

Jeremy directed a worried look at him.“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You don’t look all right. I’d say you look… awfully pissed off.”

“Well, I am,” said Dante. “How would you feel if your wife was suddenly under attack.”

“From firecrackers?”

“We didn’t know it was firecrackers. It sounded like gunfire.”

Jeremy smiled indulgently.“Surely an ex-military man like yourself can tell the difference between a firecracker and gunfire?”

“I didn’t know what to think. Everybody hit the floor and there was panic for a few moments, especially when the lights went out immediately after.”

“Shock to the system, eh?” said Jeremy knowingly. “Good for you, old chap. Brings out the old fighting spirit. Makes you feel alive. Speaking of which, I’ve heard through the grapevine Gran is on her way over.”

“Oh, dear God, no,” Dante groaned.

Gran, who’d heard her name mentioned, pricked up her hears. “Excuse me,” she said, approaching the two brothers. “Who’s on her way here?”

“Our grandmother,” said Dante. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Where are my manners? Vesta Muffin, this is my brother, the Duke of Bristol.”

“Please call me Jeremy,” said Jeremy graciously.

But Gran wasn’t interested in niceties or social decorum. “Are you telling me the Queen of England is on her way over here?”

“Yup,” said Jeremy. “She must have heard about the incident at the shelter and wants to see for herself what the fuss is all about. I honestly believe this goes to show your security people don’t know their arse from their elbow. What an astonishing cock-up.”

“They couldn’t have foreseen something like this would happen,” said Dante, though I could tell he was thinking the same thing his brother was thinking.

“They could have performed a sweep of the room. Confiscated those blasted firecrackers. Made certain those little blighters weren’t anywhere near you or Tessa. And then there’s the fuse box. They should have checked.”

“You’re probably right,” said Dante.

“Of course I’m right! Who’s in charge of your security?”

“Kingsley Para.”

“I’d take a long hard look at his credentials. And talk to Protection Command. There should be consequences to a disaster like this.”

“I will,” said Dante. “Trouble is, one of the security people is actually Tessa’s cousin. And she tells me he’s quite good at what he does.”

“Well, obviously he’s not, is he, old boy? I’d think about chucking him—family or no family. Can’t have nepotism stand in the way of keeping safe.”

“What’s nepotism, Max?” asked Dooley.

“When you give an unfair advantage to members of your family in the distribution of jobs and such,” I said. “Like when the president of a country appoints friends and family to important jobs, without following procedure.”

“Like if Tessa would make Fluffy her head of security?”

“Maybe she should,” said Brutus. “Prince Jeremy is right. What a screwup.”

“Could it be that her security team is in on this?” I asked.

“You mean, could they be working with the killer?” asked Harriet.

“It would explain how he got through security just now, and managed to fire off a shot. And how he got into the house and laced her tea with Belladonna. Or sneak past security to tip over that stone ball.”

“It would explain a lot,” Brutus agreed.

“But wouldn’t her cousin know if a conspiracy was being hatched?” asked Harriet.

“Not if he’s in on it,” I said.

We all glanced up at Tessa, who was keeping it together, even though the strain the incident had caused showed on her face and her rigid posture.

“I think Odelia should have a chat with the cousin,” I said.