‘Who’s that walking out onto the middle of the pitch with William?’ asked Jackie, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun.
‘Chief Inspector Colin Brooks. He was on the PM’s security detail until the Hawk transferred him to head up Royalty Protection in place of Milner.’
‘He can only be an improvement on that man.’
‘He may be doing Milner’s old job, but that’s where the similarities end. Brooks is an old-fashioned copper who thinks of himself as a small cog in a big wheel. Milner had begun to believe he was the wheel.’ Ross frowned. ‘Looks like we lost the toss.’
‘How come an Irishman knows so much about cricket?’
‘Don’t forget I spent my youth at a boarding school in Belfast,’ said Ross, ‘before I was expelled.’
‘What did you do to deserve that?’ asked Jackie as the two captains walked off the pitch together, chatting amicably.
‘I broke the sixth commandment for the first time.’
‘Who was the lucky girl?’
‘My housemaster’s wife. If the truth be known, it was she who seduced me, but they couldn’t expel her, so I had to go,’ said Ross as William walked across to join them.
‘We’re fielding,’ he said. ‘You’ll be opening the bowling, Ross, so you’d better get warmed up.’
Ross stood up to find someone pulling at his trouser leg.
‘Can I have an ice cream?’ asked Jojo.
‘Please,’ prompted Ross.
‘Can I have an ice cream, please?’
Ross took a pound coin out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘Make sure Artemisia and Peter get one as well.’
‘Yes, Daddy,’ said Jojo as she ran away.
‘Wrapped around her little finger may well be a cliché,’ said Jackie, ‘but it sure applies to you.’
‘Guilty as charged,’ said Ross, watching as Jojo, holding up the coin in triumph, joined Artemisia and Peter, who had been waiting for her by the ice cream van.
Jackie smiled. ‘Thank heavens she’s got Beth to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground.’
‘Right again. Truth is, I couldn’t have taken on my present job without her support system.’
‘Where are you taking Jojo for her summer holiday?’ asked Jackie.
‘Belfast. We’re going to spend a week with her grandmother. If she can survive that, I’ll sign her up for the SAS.’
‘And what about the other woman in your life?’
‘I’m going on holiday with her as soon as I get back, but I confess I’m not looking forward to it.’
‘Why not?’ asked Jackie, looking surprised. ‘Half the world would like to go on holiday with Princess Diana.’
‘I don’t much care for her present...’ he hesitated for a moment ‘...paramour. A playboy, who enjoys basking in her reflected limelight.’
‘Have you ever told her how you feel about him?’
‘It’s not my position to do so,’ said Ross, sounding unusually formal. ‘Although I’m not very good at hiding my feelings,’ he admitted as William reappeared and tossed him the cherry. ‘Right, Super,’ he said. ‘This is one lot I won’t be protecting. I plan to send them straight back to the pavilion as quickly as possible.’
‘Not too quickly,’ whispered William. ‘Remember our long-term plan.’
Beth’s father, Arthur Rainsford, and Sir Julian were seated in the pavilion waiting for the first over to be bowled. They had, over the years, become close friends, and Sir Julian didn’t make friends easily. They both wore smart blue blazers, Sir Julian’s double-breasted with Lincoln’s Inn brass buttons — even at play he was at work — white shirts and MCC ties, as if it were the opening day of a test match at Lord’s, rather than a hastily arranged fixture between two branches of the police force.
‘Who’s opening the bowling?’ asked Arthur as he focused his binoculars on a tall man who was shining the ball on his trousers.
‘DI Ross Hogan,’ replied Sir Julian. ‘He’s got a foot in both camps as he’s currently the Princess of Wales’s protection officer, which is useful because it means William had someone on the inside from the start.’
‘Not an easy job at the moment,’ said Arthur, without further comment.
‘I think you’ll find that Ross will be up to the challenge. He enjoys flirting with danger.’
‘Beth tells me that’s not the only thing he enjoys flirting with,’ said Arthur as they watched Ross measuring out his run up while William set the field. ‘You must be very proud of William. The youngest Superintendent in the force.’
‘Nelson was a vice admiral by the age of forty-three, I had to remind him,’ said Sir Julian. ‘And Eisenhower was only a colonel when America entered the Second World War, but just two years later he was the supreme Allied commander in Europe.’
‘So where will William end up?’
‘He certainly won’t be President of the United States,’ said Sir Julian, glancing across at his daughter-in-law. ‘How’s Beth coping after being treated so appallingly by Sloane?’
‘She seems fine, as far as I can tell,’ said Arthur. ‘She and Christina Faulkner are up to something, but I don’t know what.’
‘I hope Beth knows what she’s doing. Mrs Faulkner isn’t someone I’d want to rely on.’
‘Good shot, sir!’ shouted Arthur as the ball raced towards the boundary rope. ‘The ministers have got off to a good start.’
‘On a more serious note, Arthur,’ said Sir Julian, ‘now the children are at school, I think we’ll have to top up their trust fund.’
‘Fine by me. Ross Hogan has more than played his part since Jojo joined the fold.’
‘Yes, that arrangement has worked out well, especially now Beth has been able to spend more time with the children since she resigned.’
‘Well bowled, sir,’ said Arthur as one of the opening batsmen’s middle stump was uprooted and the fielders ran over to congratulate the bowler.
‘I have a feeling,’ said Christina, nodding to the old gentlemen, ‘that those two are talking about us. Do they know we’re partners?’
‘Certainly not,’ said Beth. ‘And I don’t intend to tell them until we’ve made our first hundred thousand.’
‘I bet Julian finds out long before then,’ said Christina as she opened a half bottle of champagne and poured two glasses. ‘Any recent coups?’
‘We made a couple of thousand profit when I sold the Brabazon Brabazon to the Chris Beetles Gallery in Mayfair.’
‘Chapeau,’ said Christina, raising her glass. ‘So, what’s next on your hit list?’
‘Have you heard of the Newlyn School?’
‘Can’t say I have,’ admitted Christina.
‘A group of artists who worked in Cornwall at the end of the last century, and are just coming back into fashion. I’ve got my eye on a painting by Albert Chevallier Tayler that’s coming up for sale at Cheffins in Cambridge. If I can pick it up for around three thousand, it would be a bit of a coup,’ said Beth as Ross leapt in the air and cried, ‘Howzat!’
A man in a long white coat pondered for a moment before raising a forefinger high in the air to indicate the fall of the second wicket.
‘William’s side seem to be doing quite well,’ said Christina. ‘Not that I have the slightest idea what I’m talking about.’
‘That’s never worried you in the past,’ teased Beth as the batsman who’d scored a half-century left the field to cries of ‘Well played, sir,’ ‘Bravo,’ and ‘Fine innings!’
‘I hadn’t realized,’ Beth went on, ‘that all the contacts and knowledge I’ve acquired over the past ten years could be turned into a profit. What’s more, I’m more relaxed and have more spare time to spend with the children.’
‘What’s that called?’ asked Christina as a ball soared high over the boundary rope and the crowd cheered loudly.