Royalty in Death - an In Death series fanfic (J.D. Robb)

Chapter 19

After several thank you’s and have a great day, Eve was exhausted. Handling three parties in one day was too much, and even though Levinski was handling majority of the conversations, it was still a torture.

“You must be tired, Darling. Better retire to your suite now, for tomorrow’s another promising day.”, Levinski said as he nibbled Eve’s hand. It took her an ounce of courage not to yank her hand and punch his face.

When the place was cleared, Afef went near to her and whispered. “Your next appointment is ready now, your Highness.”

Eve only nodded and followed Afef’s lead towards the other room. When she entered, she saw McNab installing a holo-conference inside.

Afef bowed his head and left.

“Give me three minutes here, LT.”, McNab said as he toggled some codes in the monitor device.

“Okay, take your time.”, she replied as she yanked her head veil then threw it at the nearest chair. “This headdress suffocates me. Little wonders I survived wearing that the whole day.”

“Little wonders you didn’t slug Levinski’s flirting with you the whole day.”

“That too.”, she responded with a chuckle, then raked her long hair with her hands.

She took the main seat as the holo lightened up. All members of her team, including Roarke and Commander Whitney, were present. Even though they were located at the other side of the building, she couldn’t risk herself to go and discuss the matters personally. Not because she was given a very tight schedule, but because she didn’t want Levinski’s spies to have a slight hints about her. Besides, there’s still an issue about a mole inside the royal family.

“How’s your day, Lieutenant?”, Roarke teased.

“Don’t make me ram your face, Ace, to let you see the obvious.”, she snickered. “Since we have a limited amount of time to discuss these matters, I wanted the facts straight.”

Feeney took over. “After monitoring the banquet party – excluding the part wherein we suffered technical issues – the buffet with the international representatives, and the ball party you had miraculously handled, your Highness, we narrowed to five guests that matched our perp’s profile.”

“I hear sarcasm there, Feeney.”

“I believe I’m just reporting the facts straight, your Highness.”, Feeney replied, and then chuckled when Eve growled. “Our profile matched the height, the body structure, and the fluid movements of our suspect. And for these five guests, their only common variables were their rich status.”

“And I believe, our royal consort Princess Sora, is one of them.”

“Shit, Dallas. How’dya know?

Eve shrugged her raw shoulders. “Her presence gave me bad vibes, and she’s keen towards my movements. Not only that, her husband Prince Lamook shared some interesting tidbits that made me pick her.”

She told them everything about her discussions with Lamook.

“What made you think that Princess Sora was the perpetrator?”, Whitney said. “And what made you think that the killer will attend your party?”

“The killer will, not to finish what she left but to observe the damage. The Princess received several cuts with blade smothered with poison, so she wanted to see her personally, on her weakened state.”, Eve explained. “The method of killing our two vics based on the autopsies, and the statements from the survived victim and the witness strengthens the idea that our perpetrator used a Hussar. And according to the two statements, the killer used a Harminian style. If we use Mira’s profile that this is not a political attack, plus Lamook’s statement that rebels were disgraced to follow Harmin traditions, then that means the killer must be from the royalty. A female royalty.”