Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,59
now. You don’t have to be scared of him anymore.”
22
Grateful for Joss’s support, Minnie took in a deep breath. “Thank you. I knew it was wrong. He’d never been violent with me, but at times, I was afraid he would be. That was one of them and every day when I came back without reaching the kind of deal he wanted from the king and Joss were others. That’s why I accepted the deal I did the day I did. I wasn’t going home that afternoon.”
“We know what happened, but what was your plan?” the king asked. “If Joss hadn’t suggested marriage as a way to protect you from your father, what would you have done?”
Minnie shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to go home, but I don’t know that I could have disappeared on my own. I might have tried, though.”
The investigator opened a file folder and slid some papers in front of Minnie. “Do you recognize these?”
They were photocopies of originals. Minnie looked from one to the other, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. “I have no idea what this is.”
Numbers all over them made no sense to her.
“It’s a couple of pages from the ledger used to con some of the people your father is accused of helping swindle.”
Minnie looked more closely, but it didn’t matter. “All I see are numbers. I have no idea what any of them mean. Math isn’t my strong subject.”
The investigator shared a look with the official from NSBI.
“What?” Minnie didn’t like the look.
“These are from a ledger found in your apartment when we were called in the other day.”
She gasped and looked at Joss. “What? I don’t know anything about these.” Tears filled her eyes no matter how she tried to stop them. “I don’t know how to con someone, much less how to keep these kinds of records so they make sense and do what they’re supposed to do.”
The investigator nodded. “Understood. Can you explain how they were found in your apartment if they’re not yours?”
Minnie shook her head. “The place was ransacked. I haven’t been there in weeks, except for the other day when Joss and his security staff were there with me the whole time. Unless I’d happened to pick it up in my father’s office or something sometime without knowing what it was. Can you check it for fingerprints? I can’t imagine my fingerprints on it.”
“We did,” the investigator confirmed. “There were no prints on it at all.”
She tilted her head. “How is that possible?”
“Someone was very careful after they wiped their prints off,” he told her.
Pushing the papers away from her, Minnie felt a hot tear streak down one cheek. “Do I need a lawyer? I feel like I’m being accused of being a participant in this scheme, and if so, I think maybe a lawyer would be a good idea.”
Except she didn’t have any money to pay for one. Not unless she had access to Joss’s accounts, and she doubted the royal family would think it was acceptable for her to use their money for her defense as part of this con artist ring.
“You don’t need an attorney,” her father-in-law reassured her. “You’re not being accused of anything.”
“I have no idea where that came from or how it ended up in my apartment,” she told them again. “If my father tore the place apart looking for clues to where I was, he could have easily planted it. As I was leaving today, he said something about the evidence that could be found in my apartment. I guess this is what he meant.”
“Most likely.” The men gathered their things. “If you think of anything else, please let us know.”
A moment later, it was just the three of them.
Minnie turned to the king. “I don’t know anything. I swear. I’ve told you everything I can think of that’s even remotely related. Check my school records. I passed my math courses, but that’s about it. My teachers certainly wouldn’t have recommended me to tutor anyone else. I couldn’t have kept the books for a scam and had them make sense to anyone, even me.”
“I believe you. Off the record, I think they do, too, though they haven’t said anything to me either way. If they had, I couldn’t say that much. But the ledger was found in your apartment.”
“Where in my apartment?” Minnie sank bank in her seat. “There has to be a way to prove it’s not mine.”