Braxton Balfour had been desperate to return to the cottage since Sunday morning, and now it was Monday with no hope of being able to get away. Each time he thought he had a window of opportunity, Vincent Langley would swoop in to find something else for him to do. The aftermath of any large event at the palace always required days of sorting and packing away.

‘Did you organise for the marquee to be washed before Mr Budd and his men dismantled it?’ Vincent Langley curled his lip at Braxton.

Braxton sighed. ‘No, sir, I wasn’t aware that was my responsibility.’

‘Well, you arranged for them to put it up,’ Vincent blustered. ‘One would assume you would need to arrange for them to take it down.’

‘I’ll have them do it tomorrow,’ Braxton replied patiently.

Vincent’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’ll have them do it today. If the tent isn’t cleaned and dried properly, it will grow mould and I won’t be the one scrubbing it off before the next event.’

‘What about Bunyan?’ Braxton said. He could feel his temperature rising. ‘Where is he? He hasn’t been very helpful as far as I can tell.’

‘He’s clearing the breakfast room, and what he does is none of your business,’ Vincent replied archly. He would never admit it but he had wondered the same thing himself when he couldn’t locate the man on numerous occasions. Vincent had already decided that they would not be keeping him.

Braxton put his hand over his coat pocket. He could feel the photograph inside.

‘Off you go, Balfour. You’ll need to round up some of the men to put the marquee back up again,’ Vincent instructed.

Braxton did his best to keep calm. Right at that moment all he wanted to do was to tell Vincent he could put the jolly thing up himself but the man was still his boss and any recommendations he made to Her Majesty would be taken as gospel. Besides, Vincent and Thornton Thripp were as thick as thieves and Her Majesty’s chief advisor cut enormous sway with Queen Georgiana too.

Braxton stormed out of the kitchen wondering where on earth he’d find Mr Budd.

‘Come along, everyone, the costume cupboard is through here.’

Queen Georgiana led the way along the hall which dog-legged to the right before straightening up again. After the group had left the armoury, they’d stopped to admire some ghastly furniture made of seashells that had once adorned the palace sitting room and had been all the rage a century ago. This was followed by a room bursting with ancient toys and pedal cars that had belonged to Aunty Gee as a child. There were rooms full of fine china, others with architectural cast-offs in the form of doors and fireplace surrounds, and another with cupboards and cupboards of luxurious linens and fabrics.

‘You should have an attic sale and donate the money to one of your charities, Aunty Gee,’ Jacinta said. ‘That way, no one could be annoyed.’

‘You know, Jacinta, that’s a very good idea,’ Her Majesty replied. ‘Anyway, I think I’ve saved the best for last.’

Queen Georgiana pushed open the doors to a room that was at least four times the size of any of the others. Heavy timber wardrobes ran the length of one wall while, in the middle, chests of drawers sat back to back with enough space that you could walk right around them. Hatboxes by the dozen were piled up at the far end of the room and, just as Aunty Gee had promised, there were two suits of armour standing near the entrance.

The woman walked along opening the wardrobe doors while Mrs Marmalade pulled out several of the top drawers.

‘Whoa!’ Millie’s jaw dropped. ‘This is the best dress-up cupboard in the whole world!’ She took a long mint-coloured satin gown from the hanging rail.

‘Ah, that was a favourite of mine,’ Aunty Gee said. ‘I wore it to a State dinner once, while on tour in Africa. There were long gloves too, if I recall correctly. I think they should be attached to the coathanger.’

Millie lifted the dress and found the gloves.

‘Shall we dress up?’ Mrs Marmalade asked, admiring a floral frock in her size. She hadn’t felt this young in years.

‘Absolutely!’ Queen Georgiana said, surprised to see her lady-in-waiting so enthusiastic.

‘We’ll wait in the hall,’ Lucas said.

‘You don’t have to do that,’ Aunty Gee said. She walked over to the middle of the wall and pulled a heavy curtain right across the centre of the room. ‘You can wrestle yourselves into that armour while us girls find something pretty to wear.’

Her Majesty then ducked around the other side of the curtain to join in the fun.

‘Excuse me, Aunty Gee,’ Millie said as she’d just completed her outfit, which consisted of the mint-green satin dress, matching elbow-length gloves and a feathered headpiece.

‘Yes, dear?’ Her Majesty was helping Jacinta into a cream lace gown that looked as if it hailed from at least one hundred years ago.

‘Is there a toilet close by?’

Queen Georgiana nodded. ‘There’s an ensuite in one of the rooms just down the hall to the left. I think it’s the fourth door. I apologise in advance for the state of it. It might not have been attended to in a while.’

‘I’ll come too,’ Alice-Miranda offered. She had just finished pulling on a pair of enormous pantaloons beneath her white cotton pinafore.

‘Are you dressed yet, boys?’ Millie called before she opened the curtain.

‘We’ve done our best,’ Sep replied.

The girls could hear the clanking of metal and poked their heads around.

Millie giggled and snapped a photo of them. ‘You look like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz,’ she said.

‘I feel like him too,’ Lucas said, trying to walk. ‘This stuff weighs a tonne. I don’t know how they ever fought anyone wearing this. I couldn’t pick up a fork right now, let alone swing a sword.’

‘Imagine trying to get up on a horse,’ Sep added. He attempted to lift his leg as if mounting a steed and failed dismally. ‘There must have been a lot of animals with sway-backs in the old days.’

‘You both look amazing,’ Alice-Miranda said.

‘You look like someone from one of those old black-and-white photographs where no one ever smiles,’ Sep said.

‘Like this?’ Alice-Miranda set her face in stone and stared at the boys as if she were sitting for a portrait.

Sep nodded his approval. ‘Yeah, that’s perfect.’

‘I’ll take some more pictures once we get back from the loo,’ Millie said, jigging about on the spot. She grabbed Alice-Miranda’s hand and the two of them raced out the door. They ran to the left along the corridor, as Aunty Gee had instructed.

‘I think Aunty Gee mentioned it was the fourth door,’ Alice-Miranda said, pushing it open.

Inside, there was a dressing table and a chair and several chests of drawers of varying sizes. Alice-Miranda spotted another door at the back of the room and wondered if the bathroom was through there. Millie rushed past her, thinking the exact same thing.

‘Found it!’ the girl called out a second later. ‘That feels better,’ Millie said loudly over the sound of the toilet flushing. ‘Do you need to go?’

But Alice-Miranda didn’t reply. She had found something too.

‘Are you there?’ Millie asked as she walked back into the room.

‘Sorry, Millie, what did you say?’ Alice-Miranda looked up from where she was sitting, in front of an old dressing table.

‘I asked if you need to go to the loo,’ the girl replied, rubbing her hands dry. ‘What’s all that?’

‘Some sort of make-up kit,’ Alice-Miranda said. There was a tray of powders and a row of make-up brushes among bottles of creams and lotions. Alice-Miranda inspected a small tube then set it back down again.

‘We could use it with our dress-ups,’ Millie said, dipping her finger into a pot of red powder and rubbing it on her cheeks. ‘What’s that?’ She pointed at a crumpled mess of flesh-toned latex.

Alice-Miranda picked it up.

‘It’s a mask,’ Millie said with a shudder. ‘Gross.’

‘I wonder who it belongs to,’ Alice-Miranda said.

‘The twins, probably. They’re always playing tricks on people,’ Millie said. ‘I can imagine this would be one of their hangouts. I’d play up here all the time if I could.’

Alice-Miranda put it back down again, with the face staring up towards her. For a split second it reminded her of someone. ‘That’s ridiculous,’ the child said, shaking the thought from her mind.

‘What’s ridiculous?’ Millie asked.

‘I was just thinking the face looks a lot like Mr Langley,’ Alice-Miranda said.

Millie stared at it. ‘You’re right. That’s so weird. Who’d want to look like old cranky-pants?’

‘I’m sure it’s just a coincidence,’ Alice-Miranda said, but she had a strange feeling about the whole thing.

The girls were about to leave when they heard the echoing of voices. Millie glanced around the room. On one wall there was a cupboard. It was too small to be a wardrobe as it sat about a metre from the ground and was only about a metre wide. ‘It sounds like they’re in there,’ she said, walking over to it.

Alice-Miranda followed her and slid the doors apart. Two ropes dangled from above, attached to a pulley system.

Millie frowned. ‘What’s that?’

‘A dumb waiter,’ Alice-Miranda replied. ‘We have a couple at our house. They’re sort of like mini elevators for food.’

‘I wonder if we could fit in there,’ Millie said.

The two girls poked their heads inside and looked down. They couldn’t even see all the way to the bottom.

‘How does it work?’ Millie asked.

‘You just turn this handle.’ Alice-Miranda pointed to a crank to the left of the open door.

Millie grabbed it and began to wind. As the box drew closer, the voices got louder as if the noise was travelling up beneath it.

‘We need to make it happen quickly,’ a man said. ‘Tomorrow or, even better, this afternoon. We don’t want to wait until the end of the week.’

‘Yes,’ a woman replied.

‘Is everything ready?’

‘It’s all in place,’ the woman said, ‘and Fiona is now completely on board.’

‘That is good news. I was worried things were about to go south.’

‘No, we’re almost there. I’m ready to take up my new posting immediately, and those two are going to be perfect. With her looks, the magazines will be clamouring and the royals will once again be the flavour of the month.’

‘Ah, it’s been very satisfying, really – like playing chess. Move a queen, gain a king, checkmate,’ the man said. ‘And that idiot Freddy won’t even see it coming.’

‘That sounds like Mr Thripp.’ Alice-Miranda could almost hear a smile in the man’s voice.

Millie nodded. ‘But why are they talking about playing chess?’

‘That wasn’t very nice calling Freddy an idiot,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘And I wonder who Fiona is, and why they are talking about the royals being back in favour again?’ Alice-Miranda didn’t like the sound of it at all.

‘Come on, we should head back,’ Millie said. She gave the handle one last turn and the box drew level with the opening.

‘What’s that?’ Alice-Miranda peered into the cabinet. An official-looking document sat inside a plastic sleeve. She picked it up and read it. ‘That’s odd. I wonder what it’s doing in there.’

Millie scanned it too. ‘Seems a pretty strange place to store important papers, don’t you think?’

‘We’d better put it back.’ Alice-Miranda returned the sleeve and closed the dumb waiter. Then she and Millie scurried back down the hallway to the dress-up room.

Aunty Gee greeted them at the door in a flowing rainbow kaftan and a turban which she explained she’d once worn to a barbecue in India. Mrs Marmalade was in a beautiful burnt-orange brocade gown, which looked as if it belonged in the early 1800s. Jacinta, meanwhile, had opted for a 1920s flapper outfit with a gorgeous sparkling headband. Sloane had selected a 1950s powder-blue organza dress with a tiny waist and wide skirt, while Caprice looked like she’d just stepped from the pages of a Jane Austen novel in an empire-line dress, boots and a bonnet. The boys clanked about in their armour. Together, they resembled a fashion spread through the centuries.

Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘You all look amazing.’

‘Did you find the loo all right?’ Aunty Gee asked.

‘Yes, thank you,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

‘We found a dumb waiter too,’ Millie added. ‘And we could hear Mr Thripp talking to someone.’

Aunty Gee looked at Mrs Marmalade, and the two women frowned.

‘What’s the matter Aunty Gee?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

‘For a start, Thripp is supposed to be up here with us. Secondly, I was just trying to remember which dumb waiter you were speaking of and the rooms that are underneath it. What in the blazes is the man doing down there?’

‘Perhaps he has a surprise planned,’ Millie said. ‘He was talking to a woman and they said that they had to have something done by tomorrow or, even better, this afternoon. And then he mentioned chess and a woman called Fiona.’

‘Do you know anything about this, Marian?’ Her Majesty asked, turning to Mrs Marmalade.

The woman shook her head. ‘No, but Thripp mentioned something about renovations a while ago and there are always tradespeople coming and going. I met a designer called Fiona once but I wouldn’t know what he was up to. ‘That man never really tells me anything – except for when I can’t take holidays.’

‘Maybe he’s done something special to commemorate the jubilee,’ Alice-Miranda suggested.

‘Oh.’ Queen Georgiana grinned. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t be so cross with him. I hadn’t thought of that at all.’

‘Well, he certainly hasn’t shared anything with me about it,’ Mrs Marmalade griped. ‘I’d have helped if I’d known.’

‘Don’t get yourself in a lather, Marian. Thripp prides himself on being a little mysterious. Besides, you could have organised your own surprise.’ Her Majesty adjusted her turban.

‘Can I take some more photographs, Aunty Gee?’ Millie asked, retrieving her camera from where she’d left it sitting on a chair.

‘What a wonderful idea,’ the woman said. ‘And why don’t we stay in costume for the rest of the day?’

The children giggled.

‘Really?’ Jacinta smiled.

‘I think we might have to abandon the armour,’ Lucas said. ‘We’d never make it downstairs.’

‘That’s for sure,’ Sep sighed.

‘After we take the photographs, you boys can find something else to wear.’ Her Majesty suggested. ‘There are plenty of old suits.’

‘We found a huge make-up kit in the other room too,’ Millie babbled, fiddling with her camera settings.

‘Oh, really?’ Aunty Gee said, turning to look at the child. ‘It must have been up here for years.’

‘There were a whole lot of powders and lotions and a latex mask,’ Alice-Miranda added, ‘like the ones they use in Hollywood movies.’

‘Cool,’ Lucas said. ‘Dad wore a fake nose in the last movie he did. It was so realistic, even though it was pretty gross.’

‘Come along, children, shall we take these pictures? Her Majesty needs a cup of tea and something to eat soon,’ Marian Marmalade said.

Millie held up her camera while Caprice took charge and bossed everyone into position. The children had a marvellous time snapping photographs in all manner of poses. Of course, there was one of Lucas on bended knee holding Jacinta’s hand.

‘Stop pretending to be embarrassed, Jacinta,’ Sloane teased. ‘We all know you love it.’

Jacinta blushed and smiled. Lucas was smiling too but his face was hidden under his metal helmet.

Meanwhile, back at SPLOD HQ, Marjorie Plunkett stared at the pictures on the screen in front of her. She giggled as Queen Georgiana struck a dramatic pose, looking as if she were about to faint, the two knights poised to catch her. Marjorie breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan to keep Alice-Miranda out of harm’s way was working perfectly, although she was disappointed that the saliva sample had led nowhere.

When she’d returned to HQ, Fiona seemed fine. She’d have to do some checking but the interference seemed to have dissipated. Anyway, whoever was behind the plot would slip up soon. In Marjorie’s experience, they always did.