A Three Dog Problem

‘Only that it’s possible,’ the Queen said, from her study at Windsor, where she was weekending as usual.

‘We’ve been considering it as a potential line of enquiry, of course. It happens. But this would be a pretty extreme case.’

‘True,’ the Queen acknowledged. ‘But I can think of lots of reasons why Mrs Harris might have wanted to attract attention and sympathy, a bit like Lady Caroline’s schoolmate. She wasn’t popular. She knew she was disliked. Having managed to come back after retirement, she may have wanted to make it difficult for the Master to get rid of her.’

Strong agreed, somewhat reluctantly. ‘Well, that was certainly the effect.’

‘If it’s possible for someone to behave that way – to do themselves so much damage – then I wonder if she did. You haven’t managed to establish how anyone here could have known about her abortion, have you?’

‘Er, no, ma’am. Excuse me.’

He was having a coughing fit. Was it because she had said the word ‘abortion’? It was written in his own report to her, which he had talked her through. It was very tiresome, sometimes, how even sensible people expected one to think and speak like a medieval princess in an ivory tower. Although, goodness knows, they were probably familiar with abortions too.

‘That’s what I thought,’ she said.

‘She might have done it,’ Strong admitted. ‘But if so, what about the other letters? Like the ones to Mrs Baxter and Miss van Renen. Are you suggesting she sent them to cover her tracks?’

‘I don’t know. It’s just an idea. But I did wonder . . . If she was trying to attract attention to herself, why dilute it by creating other victims?’

‘Out of sheer spite?’ he suggested. ‘Because she was a fundamentally nasty woman?’

The Queen bridled at the words nasty woman. She had heard them recently in another context and they brought her up sharp. Peggy Thornicroft had been unhappy at home, according to Lady Caroline. The Queen wondered what might have caused Mrs Harris similar pain. ‘Was she? Perhaps that’s something you could check?’

Strong agreed that he would. ‘She couldn’t have sent the notes to your APS, though. Wrong place, wrong time, and she was dead by the time Rozie got the second one.’

‘Yes, it makes the question about who sent those rather interesting, don’t you think?’ she remarked, because it was on her mind. And instantly regretted it.

There was a note of real intrigue in Strong’s voice when he replied, ‘Yes it does, ma’am. It does.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘If it was someone else, they’d’ve had to’ve found out what the original notes looked like. Not super-difficult because, to be brutally honest, ma’am, your HR department leaks like a sieve. It’s certainly a thought.’

‘Anyway, I’ve no idea what you’ll find, but you’re very kind to look into it,’ she said hastily.

After she put the phone down she let out a deep sigh. Must be careful, she thought. Strong was a useful resource, but she didn’t want him getting any ideas. Among her aides, only Rozie knew how far she was prepared to go to solve a problem. The chief inspector was the professional. One tried to be helpful, that was all. God forbid she should ever be seen to do the police’s job for them. That would never do.