Betrayal at Lisson Grove (Treason at Lisson Grove)

Narraway looked startled. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. He more or less admitted it.”

“Where is he?”

“Dead. We’ll say he took his own life.” Pitt found he was shivering. He tried to control it, and couldn’t.

“But he didn’t?”

“I shot him. He had Stoker by the neck. He was going to break it.” Pitt passed him on the stairs.

“I see,” Narraway said slowly. He broke into a companionable smile. “Croxdale underestimated you, didn’t he?”

Pitt found himself blushing. Embarrassed, he turned and went on up the stairs. At the top he crossed the landing and knocked on the door.

“Come!” a quiet voice commanded.

He turned the handle and went inside. Victoria was standing in the middle of the room, Charlotte to one side of her, Vespasia to the other. As Pitt looked at them, the emotion welled up inside him until he felt the tears of relief prickle in his eyes. His throat was so tight the words were difficult to say.

“Your Majesty.” He cleared his throat. “I am pleased to inform you that Osborne House is now back in the hands of those to whom it belongs. There will be no further trouble, but I would advise you to remain here until a little clearing up has been done.”

Vespasia’s face was radiant with relief, all the past weariness slipping from her.

Charlotte smiled at him, too happy, too proud even to speak.

“Thank you, Mr. Pitt,” Victoria said a trifle hoarsely. “We are most obliged to you. We shall not forget.”

ABOUT THEAUTHOR

ANNE PERRY is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, most recently Buckingham Palace Gardens and Long Spoon Lane, and the William Monk novels, most recently Dark Assassin and Execution Dock. She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as nine Christmas novels, most recently A Christmas Odyssey. Her standalone novel The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Byzantine Empire, was a New York Times bestseller. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

www.anneperry.net