‘Right, where shall we go first?’ Mrs Marmalade asked as the children finished their breakfasts.

‘Why don’t we just wander along the corridor and see where we end up?’ Alice-Miranda suggested.

The rest of the children nodded.

Marian Marmalade pinched her nose. ‘That sounds a little … haphazard,’ she said.

‘Oh, Mrs Marmalade –’ Lucas walked up to the woman and offered her his arm – ‘half the fun is not knowing where you might end up.’

The old woman felt a tickly buzz in the corner of her lips. ‘Well, if you say so.’

Lucas turned and winked at his friends behind him.

Jacinta rolled her eyes and the girls giggled.

Marjorie Plunkett sat down opposite Thornton Thripp in Her Majesty’s private study. ‘We’ve received another letter,’ she said, holding up a plastic sleeve.

‘Are you any closer to finding out who’s responsible?’ Her Majesty asked as she pulled a pair of white gloves from the top of her desk drawer and put them on.

‘We may have a DNA sample from one of the envelopes,’ Marjorie replied.

‘What?’ Thornton raised his eyebrows.

Marjorie shook her head. ‘I’d rather not say more until we’ve had time to run some further tests.’

‘I don’t believe there’s any reason to withhold information from Her Majesty,’ Thornton bristled.

‘Quite honestly, I would prefer not to speculate,’ Marjorie replied with a sharp edge to her voice. ‘It’s not helpful.’

‘Agreed.’ Queen Georgiana pulled the letter from the sleeve, laying it on the table. She looked at the note. A deep furrow of lines crisscrossed her forehead. ‘What’s this nonsense?’

Silver will never be gold.

Time to hand over the reigns.

Her Majesty frowned. ‘Well, for one thing, they can’t spell, and thank heavens they’ve stopped that ridiculous rhyming nonsense.’

‘Yes,’ Marjorie said, pursing her lips. ‘At least there’s no reference to Alice-Miranda this time.’

‘What do you think, Thripp?’ The Queen looked at her chief advisor.

‘Perhaps it’s Freddy.’ The man’s eyes widened. ‘He’s keen to get rid of you, isn’t he? “Time to hand over the reigns” sounds like a play on words. Silver could be a reference to your silver jubilee.’

‘That’s preposterous,’ Marjorie retorted.

Queen Georgiana glared. ‘I know my son is a lot of things, Thripp, but I doubt he would go to these lengths to get me to relinquish the crown. He may be a buffoon but he’s a good-hearted one. And, despite my misgivings, I know he will make a suitable king one day.’

Thripp’s eye twitched. ‘Yes, of course, Ma’am.’

Marjorie Plunkett clasped her hands together. ‘I’m confident we’ll find the perpetrator very soon.’

‘Really?’ Thornton said. His eye seemed even twitchier.

‘Everyone makes mistakes, and I’m sure whoever is responsible for the letters will trip up sooner or later,’ Marjorie said.

Thornton nodded. ‘We can only hope.’

‘On a related topic, what are you doing today, Thripp?’ Queen Georgiana asked. ‘I thought you could help me entertain the children for a while.’

Thornton hesitated. ‘I really don’t have time …’ he began.

The Queen arched an eyebrow. ‘We’ve just had the jubilee, and as far as I know there’s nothing too pressing on your plate at the moment.’

Thornton’s shoulders slumped. He knew when he was defeated.

‘Wonderful! Let’s find Mrs Marmalade and the children.’ Her Majesty pushed her chair out and stood up. The others were quickly on their feet too. ‘Goodbye, Marjorie, and thank you for taking the lead on this – I wouldn’t want anyone other than the Chief of SPLOD in charge of the investigation. Come along, Thornton.’

The man followed Her Majesty out of the room.

Marjorie Plunkett returned the letter to its plastic sleeve and slipped it down the side of her oversized handbag. She noticed the face of her watch light up and pressed the button on the side to answer. ‘What do you have for me, Fi?’

‘Good morning, ma’am. I’ve run those tests you asked for,’ Fiona replied.

‘And?’ Marjorie hoped this was the breakthrough they were looking for. Fi had been confident that there were traces of saliva on the last envelope.

‘Nothing, ma’am,’ Fi replied.

‘Nothing! Are you sure?’ Marjorie’s earpiece exploded with the harsh crackling of static. The woman’s eyes crossed and she almost leapt out of her skin. ‘What on earth was that?’ Marjorie demanded.

The line went dead.

Marjorie frowned. Nothing like that had ever happened before, and she didn’t have a good feeling about it. She needed to get back to headquarters as quickly as she could.