The Prince's Bride Part 2 - J.J. McAvoy Page 0,116
for everyone. None of this would have happened if he was still here. No one would care what Gale and Odette did. He would have protected all of us.”
“Get some rest, ma’am,” was his reply before turning back to leave. However, he stopped and looked at me. “You said everyone who knew, outside of Wolfgang and myself, were either family or passed in the accident, correct?”
“Yes, why?” What did that have to do with her being poisoned?
“Nothing, ma’am. Please rest,” he said, leaving quickly.
He could not possibly think it was a member of the family. I shook my head clear, not wishing to think about it, but instead, thought about Odette losing a child. I knew what that felt like. I knew how heavy it was. Finally, we shared something similar. But I could never speak to her about it because I didn’t even want to speak to myself about it.
Why was Arthur in such a rush that day to return to the palace?
Why didn’t they do all the checks on the plane?
It was because of me.
Arthur was dead because of me.
Because I had called, crying because I had lost our child. He was trying to come back to me, and he died.
I had lost everything in one day.
“Stop crying,” I whispered to my reflection, but I couldn’t. I had tried. Every time I tried, I remembered it was my fault, and then I felt too weak to get out of bed. So I blamed Gale. I blamed Odette, the whole world. It was easier. It helped me get up in the morning.
So, I was going to keep telling myself that.
I did not want to believe what I was thinking.
But the more I thought about it, the more I had a feeling I was right.
However, I did not want to be right.
Pacing back and forth, I waited until they brought her into the security room. I thought over every last file I had looked through earlier, about everything Sophia had said to me. The layout of the palace and how things worked. It all pointed to one person.
“Sir, we brought her.”
I nodded, standing straight.
“Iskandar?” Gelula looked at me, confused as they brought her inside. She turned to look at the door that slammed behind her. “What is happening? Is it about Miss Odette?”
I stared at her, not wanting to know the answer to the questions I had yet to speak yet.
“Go through the last twenty-four hours for me, Ms. Mikkelsen. Everything. Leave nothing out.”
“Umm. I... “
“Be calm. Just tell me like you told the police.”
“I woke up. I stepped into the kitchen to say hello and get my breakfast with everyone, as always. From there, I made my way upstairs to Miss Odette’s room.”
“You went earlier this morning, why?”
“Because she had slept so long yesterday, and I was worried she’d be panicked about missing family dinner.”
“Was she?”
“She was,” she said slowly. “After I explained and she calmed down, I told her about the news—the one of her and Prince Galahad having eloped—while she was in the bathroom. Then she...”
“She vomited.”
“Yes, sir. I realized I did not know anything about her schedule, and I thought it would be best to have a tracker for her. Seeing her vomit made me wonder, so I asked. She panicked again and told me to get a test.”
“And you got it?”
“Yes.”
“How? From where?”
“I was discreet,” she said quickly. “I went to a store outside the palace. I bought other things besides the test, and I came back and held it on my person the whole time—”
“How did you pay?”
“My card,” she answered.
“Your card or the palace accounts card.”
“My card.” She froze. Her eyes widened, and she immediately took the phone out of her pocket to check. “I-I didn’t have cash, so I used the electronic card on my work cell phone by accident.”
“And that one has the palace accounts card.”
She nodded. “Is this because of me? How? I don’t understand.”
“Rikl!” I called out, and the doors opened as he stepped back inside the room. “I am finished with Ms. Mikkelsen. Thank you.”
“Wait—”
I nodded for him to take her.
Before going back to my desk and picking up the files there, I looked through it one more time.
I didn’t want to face him, but it had been hours. And he told me to come to him if I had a suspicion, and now I did.
He wasn’t going to like it.
No one was.
But they needed to know, and the police would go further if I were wrong.