To Kill a Queen Read Online Free PDF

possession lost in the death struggle which might be used to link him with his victim. And in the same manner, he reasoned, the murderer also carried away on his person by accident some substance identifiable with either the victim or the scene of the crime.
    This theory had rarely let him down in his twenty years with the Edinburgh City Police. He held it in such high regard that he saw no good reason to abandon it when considering dogs instead of humans.
    'I should like to see the exact spot, if you please.'
    Brown shrugged. 'They are buried in the pets' cemetery, among all the wee birds, dogs and horses that have served the Queen loyally. She is sentimental about such things—'
    'You mistake my meaning, Mr Brown,' Faro interrupted. 'I wish to see where the dogs were found.'
    Brown regarded him a little contemptuously. 'As you wish, Inspector. But take my word for it, there's nothing there. Ye'll be wasting your time.'
    'Nevertheless,' said Faro firmly.
    'Verra well, verra well. If you insist. And it's a fair walk—Inspector,' he added in the pitying tone reserved for the born countryman's idea of the town-bred traveller.
    'And I'm a fair walker, Mr Brown. You have to be in my job, you know, tracking down criminals.'
    Brown seemed surprised at this information. He responded by nodding vigorously and withdrawing a handsome gold timepiece from his waistcoat pocket, 'It'll need to be the morning then. I'm on duty at the Castle within the hour.'
    'Tomorrow it is, then.' Faro walked with Brown to the gate. 'I am about to visit my aunt in the hospital at Beagmill.'
    'Beagmill.' Brown smiled. 'Lachlan has the trap at the road end, so if you'd care to accompany us, we'll set you down there.'
    Glancing down at his boots, hastily retied, Faro bowed. 'My feet are obliged to you, sir.'
    Brown gave him a sympathetic nod and Faro added, 'Is there room for Dr Laurie?'
    'I dinna see why not.'
    Faro signalled to Vince who was staring out of the window. And as they walked ahead of him on to the roadway, Brown was unable to suppress his curiosity. 'Yon's a fair dainty young man.'
    'My stepson, sir.'
    Brown seemed surprised. 'A real physician, is he?' His tone implied awe.
    'He is indeed. He takes up the post of locum tenens at your hospital tomorrow.'
    'Well, well.' John Brown didn't greet this information with any enthusiasm. 'He looks awfa' young. No more than a bairn.'
    'I warn you not to be misled by appearances, sir. He's a good man to have around in a fight, I assure you. And what is more, he is my most trusted assistant. His help has been invaluable in solving many of my most difficult cases.'
    'Do you say so? Well, I never.' Brown's response implied disbelief and Faro glancing back realised from the scarlet colour that flooded Vince's ears that he had overheard Brown's hoarse whisper.
    He looked at his stepfather and mouthed indignantly, 'Of all the nerve.'
    As they walked down the steep hill to where Lachlan and the dog-cart waited, with a desperate need to change the subject, Faro asked, 'Is Lachlan your son?'
    'Nay, Inspector. I'm not wed. He's a fostered bairn wi' one o' my cousins. Been away at the college, studying.' He made it sound a formidable task.
    As they boarded the cart, he continued, 'Brown's a common name hereabouts. From the days when the clans were proscribed and the laird's kin took something a little less dangerous than their Gaelic surnames...'
    Clattering wheels and the bumpy texture of the steep track made further conversation impossible. The scenery however was enchanting and Faro was quite content to gaze at the panorama of mountain and stream and breathe in the wine-clear air, already sharpened like his appetite by the hint of autumn waiting in the wings.
    Far above their heads another flash of gold.
    'Yon's golden eagle. Inspector. Has his eyrie on Craig Gowan.'
    The eagle soared, the sunlight on widespread wings turning him into that bird of fiction, a phoenix rising. Along the line of the mountains rose