Bloody Royal Prints Read Online Free

empty.”
    â€œWhen had you last looked in it?” Rachel asked.
    â€œFriday night before I went to bed, when I put some new works away.”
    â€œSo they must have been stolen Saturday, Sunday, or this morning?” Rachel said.
    â€œI suppose so. I was in and out all day Saturday and Sunday—a few friends came for drinks on Saturday, and I gave a little dinner Sunday night. Most people in London go away for Saturday and Sunday, of course, but I was able to round up some friends who, like poor me, are forced to stay in town, unless we are fortunate enough to be invited somewhere.”
    â€œDid you keep other valuables in the safe? Or just the prints?” Rachel asked.
    Stephanie shook her head. “Nothing else, just the prints.”
    Rachel raised her eyebrows. “What about your jewelry? Wasn’t it in the safe?”
    â€œActually, all I own is costume jewelry. If I need jewelry for an important occasion, I borrow it from a jeweler. I keep my inexpensive bits and pieces in a box in a dresser drawer. Nothing else in my flat was touched, just the safe,” Stephanie said.
    â€œDoes the safe work with a combination?” Rachel said.
    â€œYes, it’s my birthday—twenty-one eleven—November twenty-first.”
    Dinah and Rachel exchanged glances. Stephanie’s birthday celebrations had probably been covered by the press every year since she could toddle. Most of England would know that November 21 was her birthday. Only an airhead would choose such an obvious code.
    Dinah wondered what advice Rachel would give the princess. And when. The “when” was increasingly important. She needed to get back to the house of horrors at least an hour before Jonathan arrived for dinner, and before she went home, she had to pick up food for dinner. She had a list she rotated—mostly cold food. Smoked salmon. Sliced ham or roast beef. Roast chicken. Cheese and fruit. Anything to substitute for the ghastly meal Mrs. O’Hara would serve. The cook’s dinners were even worse than her breakfasts. O’Hara insisted on serving dishes Jonathan detested—mostly offal, which he couldn’t abide, as the cook had been told repeatedly. Every day Dinah had to purchase food that would prevent Jonathan’s nightly tirade about Dinah’s inability to manage the servants.
    When Rachel asked who had a key to Stephanie’s flat, the young woman claimed that only the building manager had a key to use in case of emergency. She seemed rattled and hesitant when Rachel wanted to know the names of those who’d visited her flat on the critical days. Dinah thought her reaction suggested that the list would be long, or that she didn’t want to disclose the information. When Rachel insisted that she couldn’t help Stephanie without the names, the girl reluctantly agreed to compile a list when she could consult her diary.
    â€œIs there anyone in the palace in whom you can confide? Someone who would help you?” Rachel asked.
    Stephanie shook her head. “Actually, anyone I told would be forced to take this to the highest level. That would be disastrous for me. Isn’t there anything else I can do?” She looked as if she might cry again.
    â€œI suggest you wait until tomorrow, and see if one of the prints appears in that paper you mentioned— Secrets , I think you said? If it does, you must speak with someone at the palace. Come for coffee tomorrow morning at eight thirty. Bring the newspaper if the photo of the print is in it, and most important, your list of weekend visitors. We then shall see where we stand,” Rachel said.
    At last Stephanie left.
    Dinah took a long breath. She felt as if she’d listened to that piercing voice and constant use of the word “actually” for weeks. She should get on with her errands, but she was too full of questions.
    â€œIs Stephanie really a princess? I never heard of her before I came to