Page 59 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

“Please be sure,” Maddie said with a worried expression on her features, “because it’s my mom who’s being accused of this and I know she didn’t do it.”

The man froze mid-chomp on his sandwich, staring at them. “So, you’re one of the Kingsley kids. Now, I get it. You’re here trying to pin this on someone else. Well, you’re not going to pin it on me.”

“No one is attempting to pin anything on you, Lou,” Elena retorted, “we are merely searching for the truth. Mrs. Kingsley did not commit this crime. There is a murderer on the loose.”

The man shook his head, frowning. “No, I’m not playing this game.”

“This is not a game!” Elena exclaimed. “This is a serious matter. If someone could have slipped into this building undetected, we must know.”

“Look, the cops didn’t care to ask, so why should I answer you?”

“Because honesty is important. Because you could save a woman’s life,” Elena pleaded.

He slouched in his seat, blowing out a sigh. “All right, look, you didn’t hear this from me. But sometimes the staff…they may leave that open. Is it possible that someone came in through there? Yeah. But most people don’t even know that’s there.”

“I see,” Elena said with a nod. “Still, the possibility exists. And that’s important. Thank you very much, Lou. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Like I said,” he shouted as they retreated into the hall, “you didn’t hear that from me.”

Elena offered him a solemn nod as a promise before they huddled together. “Now what? Should we go upstairs?”

“Do you think we can?” Maddie asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Elena motioned for them to follow her down the hall to a bank of elevators. She pressed the button and one slid open. Within seconds, the trio was being whisked up to the fifth floor.

“How will we know which apartment is hers?” Caroline asked as the doors swooshed open.

Elena flicked her gaze to Maddie. “Maddie, do you know?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I told you, I had to stay in the car.”

Elena stepped into the hallway, her eyebrows raising. “Oh, well, I suppose it’s rather obvious which is hers, isn’t it?”

Yellow and black crime scene tape stretched across one door.

“Looks like we can access it. The door hasn’t been fixed from when the police kicked it in,” Maddie added.

“Wait,” Caroline hissed, “we shouldn’t go in there. It’s a crime scene.”

Elena crouched slightly, her hand lifting the yellow tape emblazoned with CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER. With a cautious glance down the deserted hallway, she slipped under, her heart rate notching higher. “Oops.”

“Your Highness!” Caroline stamped a foot on the floor. “This is behavior unbefitting of a princess.”

“It is more unbefitting if I allow my mother-in-law to stand accused of a crime she didn’t commit.”

Maddie ducked into the apartment next, followed by a reluctant Caroline. “Fine, but if we are caught…”

“I shall take all of the blame,” Elena assured her. “Now, look around…see if there are any…clues.”

“Clues? What sort of clues?” Caroline asked.

“I don’t know. A diary of visitors Chloe expected. A scrap of fabric from someone’s jumper.” Elena wrinkled her nose as she stared down at the outline of a body on the floor.

“Scrap of fabric?” Caroline cried. “Your Highness, this is not Murder, She Wrote.”

“No, if it were, Jessica Fletcher would have already solved the crime, and wouldn’t be faffing about like we are.”

She scanned the room in search of anything that would help prove Victoria Kingsley was not the culprit of the crime.

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