A man was waiting to meet him. The face was familiar but the clothes were not — Colonel Marcus De Villiers was wearing civilian clothing, a green Barbour jacket over corduroy trousers. Even out of uniform, the man stood out as a military officer.
The Englishman put out his hand to greet him. “Morgan, I’ve spoken to PC Lewis. She said that you saved her life.”
“She saved mine,” Morgan replied, accepting the handshake.
“Regardless, you have my thanks. Lewis is a good woman, and fiercely loyal. She’s one of my favorites on the protection teams,” the Colonel admitted, and for the first time, Morgan saw a second side to De Villiers. One which was, perhaps, just as fiercely loyal to his team as Lewis was to her superiors.
“I’ll be putting her forward for an award,” De Villiers told Morgan as they walked across the sports field and toward the school. “Because of the reasons why she was in that situation in the first place, it will never pass, but at least she’ll know that I recognize her bravery.”
The pair paced in silence for a few seconds before De Villiers addressed the reason behind Morgan’s arrival. “She’s going to be upset about Sophie.” There was no trace of sadness in his words.
Morgan pulled up, and the Guards officer stopped and turned to him. “What is it?” De Villiers asked.
“Did the Princess hire Private to find Sophie, or bury a secret?”
“I’m not sure which particular secret of Sophie’s you’re talking about. She had many—”
“I’m not talking about Sophie’s secrets. I’m talking about the Princess’s secret, Colonel. The secret that she and Sophie Edwards were lovers.”
Chapter 41
De Villiers said nothing.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know,” Morgan insisted.
“I did,” the Colonel admitted. “Her security personnel and staff give their loyalty to her first and foremost, and they kept it from me, but certain things you can’t hide. When they were together? Well, you’d have to be a bloody fool not to see it.”
For a moment, Morgan thought about the attraction between himself and Jane Cook. The Englishman was right — some things could not be hidden.
At least, not while those people were alive.
“Someone killed Sophie to hide this secret and prevent a scandal,” Morgan declared.
“Impossible!”
“Quite possible, Colonel. Not only is Sophie dead, but three of us only just escaped joining her that way in the forest. Someone didn’t want us to find her. To avoid secrets finding the light.”
“Are you suggesting the Princess had Sophie killed?” The Colonel shook his head. “If the Princess murdered Sophie to hide the secret of their relationship, then why would she hire you to find her?”
“I don’t believe for one second that the Princess would harm Sophie. I think that whoever wants this secret buried works for the royal family. They knew where we’d be, and they wanted us stopped.”
It took the Colonel a moment to form his reply, which came out in a forced tone that barely concealed his anger. “I will not stand for accusations like this being thrown at my people, Morgan. We keep very close control over our firearms and their use.
“Send your experts to our facilities, and I’ll give them full access to our armory and records so that you can run ballistic tests against them and the ones recovered from your hotel and Range Rover. You can have that and anything else you need to put this wild theory to bed.
“Well? Is that good enough for you? Morgan?”
But Jack Morgan wasn’t listening. He was watching as a group of people emerged from the school and made their way toward the helicopter. Princess Caroline was at their head, and Morgan could almost feel the frustration emanating from her as she saw him but resisted the urge to run toward him.
Once she had reached them, she wasted no time in asking the question: “You found her?”
“I did.”
A solitary tear made its way slowly to Princess Caroline’s cheekbone. There it was flicked away as if it were an errant eyelash, the movement hiding the flash of vulnerability from all but Morgan — looking into her eyes, he could see that a tidal wave of emotion was building inside her, threatening to break through.
“I’d like to talk to the Princess inside, and in private,” said Morgan.
“Of course,” replied De Villiers, quickly showing them back inside the building to rooms that had been cleared and guarded for the use of the royal visitor and her team. Crayoned pictures of families, sunshine and pets covered the walls of the classroom. Life begins so happily, Morgan thought to himself.
“Sophie’s dead, Your Highness,” he said simply. “I’m so very sorry.”
“I knew it as soon as you spoke outside,” she replied.
Morgan watched as Princess Caroline cast her eyes over the children’s pictures, no doubt thinking the same thoughts as Morgan.
“At what point does it go wrong?” she asked, almost to herself.
Morgan didn’t reply. If he allowed Caroline to talk, perhaps she would shed some detail on Sophie that was a thread Morgan could pull at to unravel the mystery surrounding her connection to Sir Tony Lightwood.
“Have you ever been in love?” she asked.
The question surprised Morgan. “I have,” he admitted after a moment, the image of Cook’s face floating in his mind. He could almost feel her, if he closed his eyes.
“I can see it.” Princess Caroline half smiled. “You’d do anything for her?”
“Of course.”
“You’d lay down your life for a stranger, or a case?” She thought it over. “I suppose there’s no end to what you’d do for someone you loved...”
Her words trailed away, and Morgan let them go, waiting for her to come to her point.
“I’m sure you’ve worked out that Sophie was more than a friend to me. I don’t know if what we had was a relationship, but I know that it was love. You see, Jack, I didn’t care about her past, but we knew that we couldn’t think about a future. It was impossible. Can you see that?”
Morgan nodded. “She was the one with secrets, but you’re the one who couldn’t carry them.”
“She was everything to me, and yet we couldn’t ever be anything. Times have changed and society has moved forwards, but the support of the royal family is a conservative base, Jack. A lesbian princess? I hope, soon, that this is something Britain can embrace.”
“But not when her partner has a history of prostitution and blackmail,” Morgan finished, as delicately as was possible for such a statement.
“Even when you say it kindly it sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I swear to you, Jack, those days were behind her, but we both knew... we both knew that you can never be free of the things you do and the mistakes you made, no matter how long ago.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
“How did she die?” Caroline asked eventually.
“I don’t think you want to—”
“Jack, please. Just tell me how.”
“We found her hanged. It was by a waterfall, in a forest.”
“Sounds like a beautiful place,” she managed, doubtless trying to push away the image of Sophie’s body.
“It was.”
Princess Caroline sat. Morgan knew the woman’s next question was the one that was eating at her soul. “Did she kill herself, Jack?”
Morgan shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think it was staged to make it look that way.”