Page 32 of Trained Royal
Patrick smiled and nodded. “A conductor slash teacher. But for kids who don’t have the opportunity to learn instruments at home or school. I want to provide instruments and lessons for them, then we can put on a show at the end of the year. The money can be given to a charity of the children’s choice or somewhere else. There are many children without these opportunities.”
Freddie leaned forward. “I like it.” He faced Timothy. “Do you know what qualifications he needs to do this?”
“Not exactly, but it won’t be hard to find out. I’ll start looking into it.”
“Thanks,” Patrick said. The idea that he could do something he loved and help children at the same time was perfect for him.
“We can get together to discuss charities and how to get this rolled out to the kids. Mav, would you help?”
Mav nodded, tapping away on his tablet. “Already on it.”
Freddie chuckled. “Now, onto the other part of the meeting.” He sighed. “In all honesty, we don’t have much to go on. The next date on the list is 18 December, which is Uncle William’s Annual Christmas Dinner. We have less than two months to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“But do we?” Patrick said, gripping his thumbs in his fingers alternately.
“What do you mean?” Christian asked, scooting forward in his seat while Oscar slid an arm around his shoulders. “That’s what’s on the list.”
Patrick inhaled. “You’ve probably already thought of this, but what if that list is no longer viable?”
Freddie nodded slowly. “We have thought about it, but what other option do we have? We have no one who can corroborate anything. Albert gave us what he could, but he’s staying away from it all now. He’s scared his mother will retaliate, and he’s not willing to risk Evanna.”
“Understandable,” Douglas said. “We’re going through every event we have booked, both the public knowledge ones and the private ones, to see if anything jumps out at us. So far, nothing does. But they’re good. We probably wouldn’t know anything until it was too late.”
Silence descended when the reminder of how wrong it had gone before hit them. The bomb was nothing short of shocking, but wasn’t that the reaction they wanted? It wouldn’t be difficult to do it again, even though they were more aware of things now. Security measures were crazy for even small trips, and large events were a nightmare.
“Do we know anything?” Patrick asked.
Freddie sighed, and Damon rested a hand on his back. “No. We really don’t.” He dropped his head.
Damon continued, “We’re checking all the locations continually in the run-up to events. We’re checking cars, buildings, people, and we’ve reduced the number of tourists to Windsor, too.”
Patrick shook his head. “Someone has to knowsomething.”
“Someone does, but they’re just not sharing.”
“Can we do this meeting again and include security, too?” Patrick asked. “Maybe with more security-orientated minds, we might be able to come up with something.”
“I can ask,” Christian said. He was the man most closely involved in the case. “Have you heard anything from Kieren?”
“No. I called him earlier, but he said he was still going through it.”
“Did he explain his hunch?”
“No.”
Christian chuckled. “These men who won’t spill their secrets.”
Patrick smiled, but his mind was on his bodyguard, who had told him more than he probably wanted him to know. After a lengthy discussion on Friday, they would experience a scene together, and Patrick couldn’t wait. He hoped Kieren would enjoy their play, regardless of what it turned out to be because there was much he could show him. And maybe, just maybe, he might let Patrick in to steal his heart without him knowing about it.
****
Chapter 10
George
At the reminder of what happened to his mother, George fell silent. Timothy slipped his hand into his and squeezed. George would never get over what happened, but through his boyfriends and his family, he found the strength to carry on.
The idea that that could happen again was a sour taste in his mouth, and his heart pounded. How would they ever find out the truth before it was too late? Who could know what the final plan was? They had an idea but no solid proof that Aunt Charlotte wanted to take the throne for herself. For all they knew, she could pass it straight onto her son, which would be as bad as having it herself.
