Grace made some notes. ‘Despite the threat you’ve had, are you still up for doing an in-depth interview — to see if we can jog your mind any further?’
‘My husband defended — and prosecuted — criminals,’ she said. ‘He regularly had death threats when he prosecuted. None of them came to anything. No one is going to silence me.’
43
Thursday 23 November 2023
As they left the cottage, Grace asked Potting to drive, so he could focus on making a series of urgent phone calls. As the DS started the car, he said, ‘Chief, whoever this was who rang Mrs Stratten, has police knowledge. Cognitive witness interview?’
‘My thoughts exactly, Norman.’
For a good two minutes Grace had a frustratingly poor signal, then finally he got his phone to connect. As soon as one of the Incident Room team answered, Grace asked to be put through to Luke Stanstead.
He instructed the researcher to speak to the two London detectives on the Op Asset team and see if they could establish from the profiles that they had on the individual Not-My-King protestors, a number of key facts. The first was the names of any Geordies or people from the Newcastle region. Second, to check with the DVLA — the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency — for any who had a motorcycle licence. And, third, to check if any were former — or even serving — police officers. He wanted as much information as he could gather about this protest group to rule them in or out of his investigation. This was an important line of enquiry.
Next, Grace checked his watch. It was 12.15 p.m. He knew from what Sir Tommy Magellan-Lacey had told him that his daily audience with The King was normally between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. He dialled Sir Tommy’s mobile number. After a few rings he heard his familiar, upbeat voice.
‘Roy, good morning — sorry — good afternoon! Are you calling with good news? You’ve arrested the killer?’
‘I wish I could tell you that, Sir Tommy.’
‘Well you certainly worked your charm on Their Majesties yesterday!’
‘I did?’
‘You impressed The Queen. She thought you were very different from the stereotypical detectives in crime fiction novels — and on the screen.’
Grace was fleetingly lost for words. ‘I’m very happy to hear that, sir.’
‘And The King, too, was very taken with you.’
‘Really? I wasn’t sure how that went.’
‘It went well. He called me in later yesterday and told me he has complete confidence in you. So, no pressure, eh?’ He gave one of his characteristic bursts of laughter.
‘No pressure,’ Grace echoed.
‘HMTK is a very astute man, Roy. If you have his approval, I can tell you that is very significant.’
‘So now I have to live up to it,’ Grace said.
‘What I learned in the military, which may give you something to think about: We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. My opinion, in the short time I’ve known you, is that you have damned good training. I don’t think you are going to let us down.’
‘I appreciate your confidence, Sir Tommy. And I appreciate what you’ve told me about Their Majesties. Perhaps you could relay to them that being the SIO on this case is a great honour. And I will do whatever it takes to find the man who shot Sir Peregrine and any accomplices he may have had.’
‘Absolutely will do!’
‘Something I need your help on,’ Grace said, ‘is one of my lines of enquiry. Do you know how many officers there are on the Royal Protection team?’
‘Yes, about six hundred.’
‘All of them carry firearms. Quite a number come from Armed Response backgrounds in the police and many have military service?’
‘Yes, absolutely, Roy.’
‘There are two things I need to know, Sir Tommy. Firstly, the names of every Royal Protection Officer who has a motorcycle licence, and secondly if any of those have a northern accent — especially a Geordie one.’
‘Are you saying you think this might be an inside job, so to speak, Roy? This is very deeply alarming if that’s the case.’
‘I’m not ruling anything out at this stage,’ Grace replied.
‘But what could be the motive?’
‘You told me there are a lot of undercurrents within the Royal Household staff — is there something more serious we don’t know about yet?’
‘That’s possible — but there is also a great deal of respect and loyalty to both the bosses. I’ll find out what I can.’
Grace sat in silence a few minutes after he ended the call. Never in his entire career, up until now, had he felt so out of his depth. The enormity of what he was dealing with was sinking in and seemed immense. Perhaps it would have been easier if Sir Tommy had told him that Their Majesties had thought he was a lightweight and wanted someone from the Met, who really knew what they were doing, to take over the case.
He felt deeply honoured that he had the trust of both The King and The Queen. But what if he was wrong in his hypothesis and it actually was The Queen who had been the target?
He was scared as hell.
44
Thursday 23 November 2023
The huge vault, formerly used as a cold store in the days before fridges and freezers, was accessed past a wall of fuse boxes, and through a series of whitewashed interconnected arches, deep in the basement of Buckingham Palace. Now, instead of being kept cold it was being kept dry, by a battery of dehumidifiers.
It was temporary home to a different kind of perishable from the food that would once have been stored here: oil paintings, some of which were here for safe keeping while the rooms where they normally hung were being renovated and redecorated. And others that were particularly old and delicate were occasionally rested here to protect them from too much exposure to light.
In addition to paintings, a large number of ornaments and items of glassware were also being stored down here for safety during the renovations.
But it was a picture that Sir Jason Finch, dressed as always in his three-piece chalk-stripes, had come down here to find. A black and white dog — a Newfoundland — painted by Sir Edwin Landseer in 1867. A similar size and subject had recently sold at auction for £1.1 million.
He looked around with greedy eyes, bewildered, at the racks and racks of paintings, all in protective wrapping. Every single package worth tens or hundreds of thousands, or millions.
‘Sir Jason!’
Startled, he turned at the sound of the haughty voice, to see the tall, elegant Director of the Royal Collection Trust, Lorraine McKnight, standing right behind him.
‘Lorraine — ah — hello — yes.’
‘Can I help you with anything, Sir Jason?’
‘Well — actually — ah — I was wondering — about — a Landseer — black and white — a Newfoundland dog — I... I wanted — to have a look at it.’
She was giving him a strange look. ‘He was a fine painter,’ she said. ‘So talented with animals. Dogs, horses, stags.’ She was still looking at him oddly.
‘Yes, gosh yes, indeed. Animals. Landseer. Terrific painter.’
‘It’s rather coincidental,’ she said. ‘The Landseer Newfoundland dog — that’s the reason I’ve come down here — to try to locate it.’
45
Friday 24 November 2023
Polly Sweeney rang the bell at the St James’s Palace residence of Lady Greaves and wondered what lay in store for her here today. She knew from long experience as a Family Liaison Officer that there were generally five stages of grief that a bereaved person went through — the times between each stage varying considerably, from days to weeks to months.