Faro and the Royals
Alanna Knight
ALANNA KNIGHT
FARO
ANDTHE
ROYALS
The Bull Slayers
The Missing Duchess
The Final Enemy
BLACK & WHITE PUBLISHING
This omnibus edition first published 2005
by Black & White Publishing Ltd
99 Giles Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6BZ
ISBN 1 84502 045 6
Copyright © Alanna Knight
First published in Great Britain in 1994, 1995 and 2002.
The Bull Slayers © Alanna Knight 1995 and The Missing Duchess
© Alanna Knight 1994 first published by Macmillan, London.
The Final Enemy © Alanna Knight 2002 first published by
Black & White Publishing Ltd.
The right of Alanna Knight to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without permission in
writing from the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
Printed and bound by Creative Print and Design,
Ebbw Vale, Wales
The Bull Slayers 1874
For Chris and Lucie
Chapter 1
'It will be our secret...'
As Detective Inspector Jeremy Faro walked briskly away from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's words echoed through his footsteps.
'It will be our secret, Inspector Faro.' And stretching out a small white hand, still girlish despite her increasing bulk, she had beamed on him.
There was no encouraging or polite smile from Faro as he returned the letter. He was reeling from the words he had just read. Momentarily speechless, watching her fold and replace in a drawer what might be damning evidence, enough to hang an ordinary man in a court of law, he gasped out: 'Your Majesty - would it not be, er, advisable perhaps to destroy that?'
The Queen was very small, and neither Faro nor anyone else was permitted to sit in the Royal Presence. It would never have occurred to her to be this thoughtful, that a chair might be welcome to one of her loyal subjects who walked considerable distances each day.
Although Faro towered over her by more than a foot, she was not in the least intimidated since she froze statesmen twice as big as herself on any day of the week.
'We take it that you are not indicating that His Royal Highness is in any way involved in this unfortunate affair,' she said sternly.
Faro was doing exactly that, but thought better of it. He shook his head, in a valiant attempt to banish the ghastly realisation taking shape as the Queen's glance changed to one of icy displeasure calculated to demolish even a senior detective of the Edinburgh City Police. If looks could have killed...
The imperial hand moved in a gesture of airy dismissal.
'You have our permission to withdraw, sir.'
As Faro bowed himself out of her presence, followed by that ferocious glare, she added: 'His Royal Highness is quite innocent. Oh yes, entirely innocent, we expect you understand that.'
Faro didn't understand in the slightest, after the condemnation he had just read. Bewildered and with that sharp reprimand ringing in his ears as the footman closed the door on the Royal Presence, he marched smartly past equerries, attendants and various hangers-on hopeful of achieving an audience.
Moments later he emerged thankfully into the frivolous breeze of Holyrood Gardens.
'Sir... Follow me, if you please.'
A breathless footman waving frantically indicated that the Royal Command was still in operation. As Faro was wondering what further nonsense Her Majesty had in mind, he was led into the equally intimidating presence of her Prime Minister, with whom it must be confessed Inspector Faro had never been on the best of terms.
Ushered into Mr Gladstone's sanctuary, he noted that gentleman consulting his watch in the urgent manner of one who suspects that every waiting second is diminishing his not inconsiderable bank balance. And that those who wasted his time would find themselves in deep trouble.
At Faro's approach the gold watch was closed with a snap and returned to the Prime Minister's breast pocket.
'Further to your interview with Her Majesty, I must impress upon you the importance of your assignation. That on no account must you involve or invoke the Edinburgh Police. And that includes your Superintendent. Absolute confidentiality is vital. Do I make myself clear?'
'So Her Majesty has given me to understand. That is precisely why I am to go incognito.'
'A new role for you.' Gladstone's thin-lipped smile was mirthless. 'Her Majesty may have neglected, er, omitted to inform you of two paintings at Elrigg she is keen to possess?'
Without waiting for Faro's response, he continued: 'One is of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales with a wild bull from the Elrigg cattle herd, shot on a previous visit. Her Majesty is very keen to have it for Balmoral. Painted by Landseer, of course. The other painting is of the state visit of King George the Fourth to Edinburgh. The Family is very sentimental about such connections and His Royal Highness has informed his mother how it reminds him of his late father. Hence her interest,' he added with a knife-like smirk.
While Faro was considering a tactful response and how anyone with reasonable eyesight could see any likeness between such dissimilar men, Mr Gladstone came rapidly to the point.
'Unfortunately His Royal Highness discovered on his recent visit that the two paintings had disappeared from the Castle. Stolen, he was told. No one knew quite how or when.'
He sighed heavily. 'We expect that you will do your best to recover these two items and acquire them for Her Majesty. This part of your, er, duty is, I need not tell you,' he added, heading Faro to the door, 'of a most secret nature.'
Secret, indeed. Her Majesty's childlike greed regarding possessions, especially paintings for her ever-growing collection, was as well known as her childlike delight in secrets. Regarding possessions, however, few were ever bought,
