Read Naughty In Nice (A Royal Spyness Mystery) for Free Online Page A

particular occasion the audience was not composed entirely of the aristocracy. There were entertainers and captains of industry among them. The recipients of those New Year Honors.”
    I nodded. “Do you have your suspicions?”
    “It had to have been a real connoisseur who took the box. There were much flashier ones in the collection—more ornate but not nearly as valuable. The person who took this recognized the box for what it was and took it to complete his own collection, I am sure.”
    “So there’s no likelihood of the box being resold, then.”
    “Unless it was stolen on behalf of someone else who had offered a large sum of money for it—and even then it would never appear on the open market, so I’d have no hope of retrieving it.”
    “You think it has gone to the Riviera, ma’am?”
    She sighed. “It could be sitting on any mantelpiece in Birmingham, for all I know, but the only person on that guest list who truly fits the bill is Sir Toby Groper and he remarked to me that he was off back to his villa in Nice immediately after the reception.”
    “Sir Toby Groper—he owns Britannia Motors, doesn’t he?”
    She nodded. “One of the richest men in the country. He comes from money, of course. The Gropers acquired their wealth and status with their armament factories, and they earned themselves a peerage for their role in the Boer War. Toby was a young man, scarcely out of Oxford, when he invented a revolutionary motorcar engine. His Fearless Flyers have been wining races and rallies all over the world. So a baronet, and a rich one, but not really one of us.”
    “Do you think he is the one who took your snuffbox because he’s not one of us?”
    She smiled. “No, my dear. I think he took it because he has become a passionate, should one say obsessive, collector of antiques and objets d’art.”
    “Why do you think he wanted that particular snuffbox? Was it because it was small enough to take?”
    “Ah, you see, snuffboxes came up during a previous conversation a year or so ago, in his private box at the Brooklands Racetrack. He probably thinks I have forgotten, but I seldom forget anything. He told me then that he had been searching in vain for a snuffbox owned by Louis XVI. So much was looted from the palaces, you see, during the Revolution.”
    “And the box that was taken?”
    “Was given by Marie Antoinette as a present to her husband. It’s a delightful little thing—enameled gold, with pictures of shepherds and shepherdesses all over it. But inside the lid is a miniature of Marie Antoinette, in a frame of perfect diamonds.”
    “It sounds charming.”
    “It is. I was most fond of it.” A wistful look came over her face. “Of course I may be quite wrong. I may be maligning the poor man. But I pride myself on being an excellent judge of character and I formed the opinion that Sir Toby is the kind of man who will do what it takes to achieve any objective.”
    “So what exactly do you want me to do, ma’am?”
    The queen looked surprised. “Go to his villa and retrieve the snuffbox for me.”

 
    Chapter 5
     
    Buckingham Palace
Still January 17, 1933
     
    I think my jaw might have dropped open a little, which is not permissible for ladies of my standing. I don’t think I could be blamed for being somewhat surprised, however.
    “You want me to steal it?”
    “Retrieve it, Georgiana. Sir Toby is the one who has stolen it.”
    “And if I’m caught?”
    “You will tell Sir Toby that the queen wanted her property back without causing any kind of public scandal. I don’t think he’d want to make a fuss. And if he did—well, I have good documentation in my possession that the snuffbox was in the Buckingham Palace collection until recently. He’d look an awful fool, and I don’t think he’s the kind of man who would like to be ridiculed.”
    My heart was racing. “But I don’t know Sir Toby. How am I supposed to gain access to his villa?”
    You can tell how rattled I was. I had