Page 5 of Traitors Gate

‘Agreed,’ said Booth Watson. ‘However, as you well know, Christina’s a little short of cash at the moment, so perhaps …’

‘But I was the cause of that,’ said Miles, ‘just in case you’ve forgotten.’

‘All the more reason to give her some back?’ suggested Booth Watson, raising an eyebrow.

‘Possibly,’ said Miles as he devoured a sliver of smoked salmon while BW emptied his second glass of wine. ‘First, find out if she’s seen the ad in theNew York Times, which seems unlikely. If she has, you can be sure she’ll send Mrs Warwick a copy – open at the right page.’

‘I’ll need a reason for seeing her if I’m not going to make her suspicious.’

‘Once you’re confident she hasn’t seen the article, you can tell her I don’t want Superintendent Warwick’s wife to be the next director of the Fitzmolean, and I will pay good money to make sure it doesn’t happen. Christina won’t find that hard to believe.’

Booth Watson dug into his steak and smiled as the blood began to run.

• • •

Danny sped past the Savoy, only slowing down when the Special Escort Group swung right into NorthumberlandAvenue to see no other vehicle in sight. More bells and whistles allowed them to proceed across Trafalgar Square and into the Mall unimpeded before they continued on their way towards Buckingham Palace.

Startled tourists tried to take photographs as they shot by, wondering if it was a member of the Royal Family seated in the back of the car with blacked-out windows.

When they finally reached the huge gates at the entrance to the palace, no one stepped forward to demand, ‘Halt, who goes there?’ A sentry presented arms as the car entered the courtyard, went through an archway and disappeared into an inner sanctum, to find two young subalterns from the Irish Guards standing to attention waiting to collect ‘the swag’ as it was known in the officers’ mess.

Phil Harris was first to leap out when the Jaguar came to a halt. Once he’d opened the back door for the Lord Chamberlain, he quickly unlocked the boot and stood aside to allow the two guardsmen to take over. One of them removed the box containing the Sword of State, while the other gently lifted the Imperial State Crown out of the boot as if it were his first born.

William watched as the three men turned their backs on him and marched away. The Lord Chamberlain would return at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon when they would escort him and the Crown Jewels back home after their night out.

‘Let’s get going,’ said William once the two subalterns had disappeared into the palace.

Danny drove slowly out of the inner courtyard and on to Buckingham Gate, before heading back to Scotland Yard, not once breaking the speed limit.

‘It’s always puzzled me,’ said Ross as they turned into Petty France, ‘why they bother to deliver the crown to BuckinghamPalace, when we could always take it direct to the House of Lords.’

‘I can think of two reasons,’ said William. ‘First, I wouldn’t trust their Lordships with the Crown Jewels overnight – after all, there might well be a Colonel Blood among them. And second, don’t forget, the Sword of State and the Imperial State Crown have their own carriage which precedes Her Majesty whenever she travels from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords before delivering the Queen’s Speech.’

Ross nodded before admitting, ‘I couldn’t sleep last night.’

‘Why not?’ said William, turning to face his friend.

‘I always assume something will go wrong during the transfer and let’s face it, it only needs to go wrong once!’

‘Unlikely while they’re so well protected and only we know the details of the transfer. In any case, the public never think about the Crown Jewels being out of the Tower for a couple of days. Why should they?’

Ross remained silent while he considered the possibility that …

When Danny pulled up outside Scotland Yard, William was the first to leap out. He walked quickly into the building and took the stairs to the second floor two at a time, before knocking on the door of the Hawk’s office.

‘Enter!’ bellowed a voice.

William immediately informed the commander that the annual exercise had once again gone without a hitch.

‘I will only relax,’ said the Hawk, ‘when the Resident Governor calls me to confirm the Imperial State Crown and the Sword of State have been returned to the Jewel House and are safely locked up for another year.’

So Ross wasn’t the only one who thought that way, was William’s immediate reaction. He sometimes forgot that ifanything were to go wrong during those critical fifteen minutes, he wouldn’t be the only person who would have to resign.

‘Well, I’d better get back to the day job,’ said William.

‘Before you leave, Chief Superintendent, there’s something else we need to discuss.’ It took William a few moments for the news to sink in. ‘The commissioner called earlier this morning to confirm your promotion. Many congratulations, William. Heaven knows, you’ve earned it.’

Unusually lost for words, William eventually managed to say, ‘Thank you, sir.’

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