As I look at my father again, I choke down the lump in my throat, while I blink back the tears fighting to escape. Even though I want to sit and hold his hand, I need to do my job first. Being a good daughter unfortunately needs to come second. Right now, my job is top priority.
I have to talk to the Queen and find out exactly what was happening the day of the attack.
I turn my teary eyes back to my mother and motion towards the couch along the side of the room. “Let’s sit. I need to talk to you. But first, how are you holding up?”
My mother’s shaggy hair and worn face tell me everything, regardless of what she says.
A small smile appears on her face as she sighs. She walks to the couch and sits down, while patting the spot next to her. “I’m getting through it. However, I wish your father would wake up. Each minute that passes by with no sign of him waking up is like slow torture. I wish that there is a button that I can push, and he would magically wake up.”
I know what she means. Even though I can’t physically be here in the room that much, I watch the cameras when I can and whisper words of encouragement. I know that he can’t hear me from my office, but it helps me to feel connected with him.
I smile and sit down next to my mother. The leather couch squeaks as I shift and turn towards her.
I take a deep breath. “Mother, did father tell you what he did the day of the attack? We have information that leads us to a conclusion that I don’t want to accept, but I must. If father told you anything before the attack, I need to know everything.”
My mother tilts her head slightly before she hums, “Yes. We talked about everything. You know that we have an agreement not to keep any secrets. The family’s past issues that have arisen have all been because someone was keeping secrets from the rest of the family. What do you need to know?”
I nod. “Good. Can you tell me if father told anyone about the changes to his schedule that morning? I already know what the staff was told from our communications with them. However, I need to know who else knew about the changes.”
My mother raises an eyebrow. “Your information is telling you that it is someone close to us that has leaked the information outside the castle.”
I can’t quite tell from her tone if that is a question or a statement. My mother is smart, and she often picks things up easily.
I nod my head. “Yes. Now, can you please tell me everything that happened that morning and with whom you or father have talked about the change in his schedule? Don’t miss any detail.”
A slight frown forms on my mother’s face as she nods her head. “Well, your father and I both knew something serious has happened. Your father didn’t ask what you had found out for you to change his route and schedule, but we have been the King and Queen long enough to know what it meant. So, we were very careful to only tell his executive assistant, Edward. We didn’t even tell your brothers.
How did it the information get past Edward?
He has been one of the most loyal people that we have around us. I don’t think that Edward would say or do anything.”
I agree. I also have seen the multiple times where Edward has shielded my father from an attack. Even on this latest attack, Edward is the first one to push my father back into the bullet proof car, before jumping in himself.
I have watched the videos. I’m sure that if Edward could, he would have been a few seconds faster and would have stepped in front of the bullets protecting the King.
No. Edward isn’t the leak, but clearly it is someone close.
I shake my head. “I don’t think it is Edward either. However, this does confirm that it is someone close to the family. Where did you have those conversations at? Did you talk about these changes in the castle or over the phone?”
My mother’s tired eyes glance towards my father, as she sighs. With her eyes still focused on my father, she softly mumbles, “We were in his home office within the castle. You know what that means?”
Before my mother’s words are completely out of her mouth, I hiss, “Bugs. Someone has planted bugs in father’s office. I will ask Max to take a crew and sweep the castle for devices. If we have any luck, we will be able to trace them back to whoever is behind this whole thing.”
A tear slides down my mother’s cheek. She nods and mumbles, “They have to be very close. The office is searched every week. Nothing has come up before. Does this mean that the person is able to remove the bugs before your staff does the search and then replaces them once the security staff is gone?”
That is a good question. I wish I would have the answer to it, but it does give us a starting point.
I put my hand on my mother’s arm. “I don’t know, but I can guarantee that I will find out. I have a starting point now. I’m going to get to the bottom of this whole mess.”
I pause for a second. Is my mother ready to handle my hunch about Katherine? This new information does resolve my suspensions about Katherine. If anything, this helps to solidify my hunch.
However, I can’t jump to conclusions without solid evidence and right now, I don’t have any concrete evidence that Katherine is the master mind. I need more time, but I’ll prove it.
“Mother, I need to also let you know that Uncle Charles and I have agreed to not exclude anyone, including my sisters-in-law. The only ones that are officially excluding are you, father, and my two brothers. Everyone else is a possible suspect.”
With my mother’s eyes still on father, she sighs again. “I understand. You can’t leave any stone unturned. Do you have any hunch of who it might be? If you are including Katherine and Irene, I can also assume that you have a hunch about one of them or both of them.”
I nod my head. “Yes. My gut is telling me that it is Katherine, but I don’t have any evidence. Give me time though and I’ll find the evidence that I need.”
My mother turns her attention back towards me and lightly pats my leg. “Sweetie, you know that you can’t use your own hatred for someone to pass judgement on them. You need to keep a clear mind. When you find the evidence, let me know. Until then, I want you to keep your opinion to yourself. I’m sure that Charles will agree with me, even if you already have given him your opinion. He knows how dangerous it is to let your own feelings for people sway your logical decision.”
Well, I can’t argue with her. However, soon, I’ll have the information that I need, and I’ll be able to tell my mother that I’m right. Katherine is behind this whole thing. But I still can’t figure out her motive. Brandon is the next in line to throne which means that Katherine will be the next queen. So, it seems a little off to push it along sooner than what will naturally happen.
I slowly nod. “I understand. I will try to keep my personal feelings out of this.”
As my mind replays my thoughts about Katherine, my mother lightly pats my leg. “Sweetie, I also want you think about trying to find someone. After all this is resolved and we have the culprit behind bars, I want you to try and take some time to find someone that makes you happy. I don’t want you to end up like Charles. He has spent his whole life as the hidden prince and serving his family from the sidelines that when it is his turn to relax and enjoy life, he is alone. I don’t want you to be alone at the end too. Plus, I want to be able to spoil your kids while I can.”
What? Me settle down.
I haven’t even dated anyone. How can I settle down with someone?
Let’s hope that she forgets about this after we have the answers to the attack. However, I have a feeling that my mother won’t let this topic slide by.
I stare at my phone for the umpteenth time, while the same question swirls around in my mind. How can I contact Chris to let him know that he could be in danger? Chris should already know how much danger he is in, but I still feel the need to warn him.A dull headache begins to throb in the back of my head.I grab the remote control off the cough next to me and turn the TV on. However, I can’t focus on anything that is coming out of it. My mind is still off thinking about Chris.My mind suddenly snaps back to the TV when the word ‘King’ rings through my ears. I sit up and stare at the TV anxiously waiting to hear more.I have been a reporter long enough to know that when there isn’t any news coming out of the palace about the King or Queen, then there is something wrong. Even when there is no news, the palace always provides the upcoming events that the King and Queen will
Even though I’m dragging my feet into the office, I have a sparkle in my eyes. I found out where my father took my assistant Page.When my mother and I were talking about the royal family security, I couldn’t hold back from asking about what my father has done to Page. I’m still in shock with my mother’s response. The King has sent my assistant to his formal royal training. He finally has concluded that Page is worth keeping around and know everything.I still don’t know exactly what the King has up his sleeve, but I’m glad to finally get my best assistant and my other half back. I still have to wait a few days, but Page is coming back soon. I hope my mother can get Page to me quicker though. I can really use her right now.In addition, when Page returns, she will be fully briefed on my true identity. I won’t have to keep anything from her going forward.&n
I look around the small grey room. How did I end up here?Oh, yeah. My idiot friend Chris is the one that got me here. If only I didn’t listen to him that day, I wouldn’t have been pulled from my apartment and shoved into a black van, while all my neighbors watch. The worse part of it all is that the van has big gold letters on the side of it saying royal police. No one can miss it.I can only imagine what everyone thinks of me now. I’m sure that I’ll find out when I go back home tonight.Wait. I will be able to go back home tonight. Right? The royal guards wouldn’t hold me over night in jail. Or would they?As my eyes dart around the room, my focus first stops on the clock hanging on the back wall. It is 9am. I have been in here for over an hour so far, but no one has come in.How much longer do I have to wait?
I glance down at the folder in my hand, as I walk into the little room next to the interrogation room. I don’t look up as I continue to read through the information that the team has managed to pull together on my next reporter.For most of my life, my family and I have had a love hate relationship with reporters. My family hates how the reporters never leave them alone for a minute. However, we also love it when the reporters happen to break the news about something big for us, like breaking the news that our enemy has had a security breach.Unfortunately, right now, I’m leaning towards the hate side of that relationship. With so many reporters covering the King’s activities that day, there is no way that I could stop or hide all of that from getting printed. In addition, the King’s activities at that one particular stop were being broadcasted live on both television and the internet. With all the
I walk into the conference room with Kyle following right behind me. Unfortunately, Kyle and I haven’t been able to get much information out of any of the reporters besides what the reporters have put into their articles.Hopefully, the others have been more successful than us.As I walk over to the table, I glance around the room at the others. My eyes stop on Max. Before I can even open my mouth to say anything, he asks, “So, were you able to confirm that Shane is hiding something? Are you lucky enough to be able to figure out what that something is?”I sigh as Uncle Charles, who is sitting at the end of the table, adds, “I want to know too. Let’s start with your interrogation of Shane first. Then we can cover the other reporters and what information we have discovered.”I walk over to the table next to Uncle Charles while Kyle heads towards the other end of the table.&n
I glance up the front of my apartment building as the taxi pulls up and stops.Ugh… The royal guards could have at least brought me back to my apartment. They didn’t even give me a chance to drive myself to the station.I pay for the ride, but I hesitate for a moment and quickly scan the area to see if any of my neighbors happen to be outside. The last thing that I need right now is to answer a bunch of questions.I breathe a sigh of relief.I don’t see anyone.Well, it is the middle of the afternoon and most of my neighbors should be at work. There are only a few in the building that don’t work during the day.As I grab the car door, I look back over my shoulder at the driver and mumble, “Thanks.” I don’t wait for a reply before I dart out of the car and into the building.With my focus on the elevator, which is straight
I sigh as I look through the stack of applications. Our next batch of recruits needs to be selected so we can setup the interviews and have time to select the proper candidates before the training begins. However, with everything going on with the King and the attack, I really don’t have the energy or the desire to look through the applications and even pick any of them.I slide my hand across the stack and slowly slide the applications across my desk.How do I get the motivation to do this?I glance back to my computer monitor and the latest report regarding the King’s attack. I know that we could use the additional hands and help tracking the people who did this. However, initially it will take people away from our search to train the new recruits before I’m comfortable letting these new recruits help us with our efforts.My eyes slowly slide down the monitor to the words concluding that
I blankly stare out the restaurant window beside me. I don’t notice the people hustling by. Instead, my mind is still on the conversation that my boss and I had this morning.A part of me is glad that Blane didn’t fire me. On the upside, he did come out and say that he understands, since all reporters who wrote an article about the King’s attack have been taken in for questioning. However, he did keep reminding me about the newspaper’s reputation and that the Glassbrook Times is the oldest newspaper in Glassbrook.I’m still not exactly sure what he was trying to imply, but I’ve already come to the conclusion that I need to stay away from any more trouble, which is mainly Chris.I have worked too hard to get this job, and I’m not going to risk it, not for anyone.I hope that Chris understands. If he is smart, he will be hiding somewhere far away from here.