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Palace is not full of early risers, Detective, as you have likely noticed. The group rehearsals
generally commence at seven, and are finished by nine, when everyone goes to supper.” Ella paused,
considering her own words. “So if you are asking who might know that the ballroom was likely to be
empty between the hours of five and seven, the answer would be many people. Certainly anyone
connected to preparations for the ball and most likely their spouses and their servants, if they have
any.”
“Do you have any suspicions of your own?” Alix asked. She spoke so rarely that, as always,
anything she said seemed to carry more import than the words of others. Trevor supposed such a trait
might serve her well some day as a tsarina. “Is there any evidence indicating why Mrs. Kirby might
have been killed?”
“We have a photograph,” Trevor said.
The Queen looked up, her eyes suddenly alert. “What sort of photograph?”
Was it just Trevor’s imagination, or had this news also shocked Ella? She had finally stopped
her agitated walking about and chosen a chair, giving him her full attention for the first time since he
had entered the room.
“A photograph of the dancers who were killed, Your Majesty,” Trevor said. “Posed as they
were left after their deaths and shot from a position high above their bodies, presumably from one of
the theater’s many balconies. If you will forgive me, your Imperial Highness, do you know why Mrs.
Kirby might have had such a thing within her possession?”
“I do not,” Ella said. “She was a curious person. Some said she stuck her nose into places
where it did not belong. That is most likely what led to her death, is it not?”
“Ella…” the Queen said warningly, and her granddaughter stopped and slumped in her chair
like a scolded schoolgirl. “Whatever the gossips may have said about her character, Mrs. Kirby died
in service to the crown.” The Queen shifted in her chair to address Trevor. “She will be transported
back to London by us, when we leave, and there given a full and proper funeral. You must promise
me that her body will not fall into the hands of the Russian police.”
“We will certainly reclaim her body before we depart, but as for the palace guard… I regret to
say that they are examining her as we speak, Your Majesty,” Trevor said. “I fear it was unavoidable.
After all, the crime did occur within the palace and not even the Russians can pretend that a woman
might manage to break her own neck and then wrap herself in a flag and lower herself over the side of
a balcony. To be more precise, it is impossible for the authorities to brush aside this most recent