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Princess Elizabeth's Spy(97)

By:Susan Elia MacNeal


Hugh doubled over, moaning. “Sweet Jesus!”

“Hugh!” Maggie fought against the ropes binding her. “Are you all right?” she cried.

“I’ll live,” Hugh managed to gasp, trying to keep pressure on the wound. Nonetheless, crimson was staining his pant leg.

“Don’t want you following us,” Gregory said. “Sorry, mate. And I also need someone to tell the muckety-mucks that their precious Princess is still alive. And on her way to Germany.”

“Us?” Maggie said. She and Hugh locked eyes. It’s going to be fine, she tried to tell him mentally. I’ll take care of Lilibet. And I’ll be all right, too. I promise.

Gregory nodded. “You’re coming with us. Take care of him,” he said to Boothby, indicating the body. “I’ll bring the ladies.”

As Boothby lifted David’s inert body while still keeping a gun on the girls, Gregory untied the Princess from the chair, leaving her hands bound and gag in place. “I suppose you’ve figured out what I’ve done,” he said, grabbing Maggie and the Princess by an arm and hustling them to the door. Maggie gave Hugh one last look and then they were outside, in the cold and dark. He sounded just the slightest bit guilty.

“A lot of it,” Maggie said, trying not to trip on the stones. “But I still don’t understand Lily’s part.”

“Lily and I grew up together, remember?” he said, his voice rising against the wind. “We spent every summer together. We were soul mates.”

“So you and Lily had planned this operation?” Maggie tried to appeal to his vanity. “That’s quite the coup. How did you manage to pull it off?”

Gregory smiled, a grim smile. “Lily and I grew up with any number of other privileged young people. Another was Victoria Keeley.”

Realization dawned. “The woman from Bletchley who was murdered at Claridge’s,” Maggie said. “So, how does Benjamin Batey fit in?”

“Benjamin Batey was walking out with Victoria, and she exploited it. She stole the decrypt from him.”

“But why?”

Gregory snorted. “Why do you need to know?” The little party was trying to keep their balance on the slippery rocks strewn with seaweed, nearing the boat.

Maggie thought desperately. “Well, it’s been quite the victory for you, after all. I was sent by MI-Five to figure everything out and I didn’t—not in time, at least. So you might do me the professional courtesy of telling me how you did it.”

Lilibet’s eyes widened as she heard Maggie reveal that she wasn’t really a maths tutor but an agent.

And then she realized—the decrypt hidden in Lily’s copy of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra was meant for Gregory. It was right in front of you the whole time! Still, there was no time for self-flagellation. “Tell me your part—and I’ll tell you what happened to the decrypt.”

“The decrypt?” Gregory staggered a little and looked stunned. “How the hell do you know about that?”

“Tell me what I want to know—and I’ll tell you what happened to it.”

Gregory looked shocked, then smiled. “Victoria stole the decrypt because Lily asked her to. But Victoria, unfortunately, had fallen obsessively in love with Lily. And when Lily made it clear she wouldn’t be with her exclusively, Victoria threatened to expose Lily as a traitor.”

“So Lily killed her,” Maggie said, understanding. “And then Lily herself was killed, not long after, by Mr. Tooke.”

“Actually,” Gregory said, “Boothby killed Victoria. He was concerned Victoria might make good on her threats and jeopardize our little operation. He took the decrypt from Victoria’s hotel room at Claridge’s and gave it to Lily. She said she’d hidden it—where did she hide it? And how did you find it?” They were approaching the boat.

“Tell me the rest first,” Maggie said with a tight smile, picking her way over rocks that gave way to coarse wet sand. She stumbled, then righted herself.

Gregory was breathing hard. “Clever girl.”

“If you knew about Enigma,” Maggie continued, “then why did you even need the decrypt? Surely your connections in Germany would have believed you?”

They’d reached the boat, and Boothby overheard this. He began to chuckle, and Gregory joined in. “Oh, Maggie. You may know many things, but you don’t know Germans—their pride, their arrogance. They believe they’ve written the ultimate, the unbreakable code. Quite simply, they would not believe anyone could possibly break it without proof. Absolute proof.” Boothby dumped David’s body into the boat.