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Their search of the balcony in the west-facing corner of the ballroom had revealed little.<br />
Certainly nothing that would suggest that a woman had been killed there, even by the bloodless<br />
method of strangulation followed by a twist of the neck. They had been ready to write the entire<br />
venture off as the waste of a morning when Davy had spied a lone thread, tucked beneath a chair, its<br />
wiry texture indicating it most likely came from a rope. With it reverently folded within a piece of<br />
paper, Tom, Trevor, and Davy returned to their rooms where they sat down in straight chairs and<br />
stared at each other wordlessly.<br />
“We’re missing quite a lot,” Trevor finally said.<br />
“Indeed,” said Tom. “As in witnesses, suspects, a murder weapon, and a motive. Other than<br />
that we’re well on our way.”<br />
“I would not say we’re entirely missing motive,” Davy said. “Mrs. Kirby was most certainly<br />
killed because she knew something about how or why the ballet dancers died.”<br />
“Agreed,” said Trevor. “Something that for some reason she neglected to mention to us.”<br />
“Oh, and we’re missing a table,” Tom said. “It feels rather strange to sit here in straight chairs<br />
without one, does it not?”<br />
“None of the rooms in this part of the palace seem to have desks or working tables,” Davy<br />
said. “They have angels on the ceiling and flowers on the bedposts but they don’t have tables.”<br />
“I hadn’t noticed, but you’re quite right,” said Tom, looking thoughtfully around him. “I<br />
suppose it’s because no one who has stayed in these rooms before us has ever felt the urge to do any<br />
sort of work.”<br />
“You know when the Queen first described Mrs. Kirby to me she said the woman was a crack<br />
shot,” Trevor mused. “Certainly a unique trait in a female of her age and background, and it implies<br />
she was the owner of a pistol. Yet we found no such weapon among her things, nor did she have one<br />
with her when she died.”<br />
“Two possibilities come to mind,” Tom said, idly slapping out a rhythm on his thighs as he<br />
talked. “The gun is still in her room and well hidden, which implies she did not perceive herself to be<br />
in danger, at least not of the type which would prompt her to carry a weapon wherever she went.<br />
Certainly not when meeting me. The other scenario is that she did have the pistol with her when she<br />
was attacked, but since she was likely jumped from behind, did not have the chance to use it. Her
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