Page 65 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

“No kidding. Well, I’m not surprised with her. She always had someone coming and going.”

“Yes, she was very popular.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Very popular with the men, if you know what I mean. She constantly had some male visitor popping in and out. To be honest, I’m surprised she saddled herself with a husband. She seemed to be a real party girl.”

“I know what you mean,” Elena said with a bob of her head. “Well, sadly, she’ll never have the opportunity to be anything different.”

The woman sucked in a breath and bobbed her head. “Yeah, you’re right. Shame, being cut down so young like that.”

“Yes, very,” Elena said with a nod, her stomach still in a tight knot.

“Well,” the woman said with a deep inhale, “I’m not sure you gals should be in there.”

“You know, I think you’re right. It’s probably not appropriate for us to be here. We’ll have to forego the pictures.Come along, ladies.” Elena waved for them to follow her as she ducked underneath the police tape again.

“Very sorry to have disturbed you, Ms., uh…”

“Riley. Mrs. Riley. Well, Ms. My husband’s long since dead.”

Elena offered her a warm smile. “Mrs. Riley, so sorry to have disturbed you. We’ll be on our way now.”

“Yeah, no problem. And, uh, sorry for your loss, ladies.”

“Thank you.” Elena offered another polite smile before she hurried to the elevator and pressed the button. The woman lingered, her eyes narrowed at them for another moment before she wandered down the hall, glancing over her shoulder every few steps.

Elena’s heart pounded as she tapped the elevator button. “Come on,” she murmured.

“Easy, Your Highness,” Caroline hissed, her lips barely moving, “you do not wish to appear nervous.”

The doors whooshed open, and they spilled into the car. Elena quickly pressed the button for the lobby. She puffed out a sigh of relief as the doors closed. “Thank heavens. That was too close of a call.”

“You got the camera, though, right?” Maddie asked.

Elena dug into her pocket and waved it in the air. “Yes. Now, how can we see anything from it?”

Maddie took it from her and studied it. “Uh…looks like we’ll need a cord or something.”

“Oh, blast. The cord is likely in her apartment. We cannot go back there.”

“No, we’ll have to try to find one or buy one,” Maddie said.

“We should do that before we go back,” Elena answered as the doors opened in front of them. They hurried into the lobby and raced past the guard into the fresh air outside.

Elena gulped in breaths of it. “Freedom.”

“Do you know of a store where we could buy one of these cords?” Caroline asked Maddie as they rushed around the corner to the car.

“Yeah.” Maddie tapped on the GPS screen after consulting her phone. The directions populated, and she fired the engine.

Within a few minutes, they’d arrived at the shopping district.

Maddie pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine. “It’s on the corner.”

They climbed from the car and made the short trip from the centrally located parking area to the corner shop.

Elena burst into the store and hurried to the cashier. “I need a cord.”

The young man ran a hand through his curly hair. “Okay? Like what kind of cord?”

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