Private Princess

Chapter 88

The armed man made no move as Morgan entered, a Heckler & Koch MP5 machine gun held downward across his chest. After a moment, Morgan recognized him as one of the men who had talked to Lewis at the gate of the royal residence in Wales, what felt like a lifetime ago. The man acknowledged Morgan with a jut of his chin.

“Up here.” De Villiers pointed over Morgan’s shoulder. Morgan brushed by the armed man as he made his way through the cramped corridor and up the narrow staircase. Behind him, De Villiers stooped so that his head avoided the ceiling.

When Morgan reached the top of the short flight he turned and found himself in what amounted to a studio apartment, the walls thick with books, the antique wooden desk piled high with papers.

There was a woman sitting at it.

“Your Highness,” Morgan greeted Princess Caroline, his outward appearance giving away nothing of his surprise. He had expected De Villiers to be taking him to some intelligence briefing — or to detain him, had he developed cold feet. Instead, Morgan now found himself in the top-secret hiding place of Princess Caroline. Hearing footsteps behind him as De Villiers walked back down the steps, it became apparent that this reception was to be for Jack Morgan alone.

Princess Caroline turned to face the American at the top of her tiny staircase. Her initial expression was one of grief, mourning the loss of her beloved Sophie, but then he saw something else in her face, too — shock. Perhaps fear.

“Jack.” She rose to her feet and removed her reading glasses. “Jack, you look like a different man.”

Morgan said nothing and stood as still as the Tower’s bayonet-carrying soldiers while Princess Caroline crossed the small room. She stopped in front of him and embraced him. It was the embrace of someone who had experienced the deepest pain of loss, and who could see that same emptiness of grief in him.

“I’m so sorry,” the royal told him, her words muffled by Morgan’s windbreaker. “I’m so very sorry.” In her words, he could feel the Princess expressing her sadness and regret for her own loss as much as his. They had both had the woman they loved taken from them. Perhaps, that night, there were no two souls more alike than the British royal and the American investigator.

Morgan hugged her back.

There was no awkwardness in the moment. They were two people. Two people trapped in grief. Consumed by it. United by it.

“I’m reviewing grant applications,” Caroline said suddenly, breaking the embrace and moving back to her desk. “I need some good to come from today, Jack. When I close my eyes tonight, I want to know there’s good in the world, and not just evil.

“Here.” She picked up a sheaf of papers. “This one’s for a well in Africa.” She picked up a second proposal. “This one for a girls’ school in Pakistan. Do you think it will make a difference? I hope so. The thought of improving the lives of children struggling in such impoverished conditions is the only thing that could possibly help me sleep tonight.”

Morgan said nothing. They both knew that a good night’s sleep was impossible for either one of them.

“I didn’t even know about him,” said Princess Caroline, taking a seat on the room’s small bed and gesturing that Morgan sit beside her. “Mayoor Patel. I’d never even heard that name before, and now it will be with me forever. What does he look like?”

Morgan told her.

“I picture this ogre in my head,” she said. “Is he the monster I picture him to be?”

Morgan shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But I don’t think he ever intended to kill Sophie. It was a crime of passion, a situation he lost control of. It wasn’t planned or calculated. Some people kill when they don’t mean to. Others do it because they’re sick.”

“You’ve met a lot of people like that,” Caroline guessed.

“Too many.”

“I suppose Sophie kept secrets from everyone. Even from me. I think she knew that, had I known she had a love for someone else, it would have broken my heart. I’m telling myself that she kept her relationship with him a secret so that I didn’t get hurt.”

“She loved you,” Morgan assured her, his eyes telling her that it was the truth. “Patel told me as much. He tried to make her blackmail you, but she wouldn’t do it. That’s when he realized it was love.”

“And that’s when he killed her.”

There was nothing Morgan could say to that.

“People will say that we were lucky to have loved, even if for a short time,” she tried, desperate to be stoic.

Morgan didn’t answer in words, but he couldn’t hide the answer on his face.

“Fucking bullshit, isn’t it?” Caroline uttered with a sad laugh. “Absolute bullshit. I would die on the spot to bring Sophie back.”

“But it wouldn’t,” Morgan replied.

“No. It wouldn’t.”

“I should go. It was good to see you, Your Highness.”

“Whatever help I can give. Whatever help my people can give. It’s yours, Jack.”

As Morgan reached the bottom of the narrow staircase, he found the proof of that vow: De Villiers was waiting for him.

“I found something,” said the Colonel.