Chapter 26
Constable Larsen had decided to search Delton’s home office earlier than she’d first said. Thankfully, my dad was more than willing to keep an eye on JJ for the short time I’d be gone. I’m not sure what I would have done without my parents being here.
I could tell Larsen wasn’t thrilled I was tagging along, but she couldn’t keep me from coming and she couldn’t really complain. I was the king’s son-in-law, after all.
Still, I understood her frustration. She was the law in this town and undoubtedly wanted to do things her way.
I adjusted my position in the front seat of her crawler, but it was smaller than the crawlers I was used to, and there wasn’t as much room for my boot. The sooner I could be done with that clumsy thing, the happier I would be.
Not as happy as when we figured out who was behind Delton’s death, however.
Another crawler followed us with two deputies in it. One of them would be taking Elmira’s statement. The other one … I didn’t really know what the other one would be doing.
“I won’t be in your way,” I assured Larsen.
She just grunted.
I didn’t know what that meant. Wasn’t about to ask either.
Elmira was waiting for us just inside the door when we parked. The two deputies followed us in as she smiled at me. “Prince Consort Sinclair, how nice to see you again.”
“You, too, Elmira.”
“Percy’s in his room,” she said quietly, her gaze shifting toward the upper floor of the house. “You don’t think you’ll need him, do you?”
“That’s up to Constable Larsen,” I said. “This is her investigation, so I’ll defer to her on that.” Given what Elmira had told us about Percy and True North, talking to him was probably not a bad idea, but I’d let Larsen make that decision. I had mentioned it to her.
Larsen glanced at me but again was unreadable. I was trying to be a team player here, but she was acting like we weren’t even on the same field. “You’re Elmira Tinselwick?”
“Yes,” Elmira said.
“I’m Constable Larsen. We shouldn’t be long. Deputy Givens will take your statement while I and the Prince Consort have a look in your husband’s office.”
Elmira’s gaze came back to me.
“It’ll be all right,” I reassured her. “We’re not going to make a mess or break anything. We’re just looking for anything that might help us find who hurt him.”
“Thank you,” she said softly, fingers knit together in front of her.
Larsen gestured to the other deputy. “Verne, with me.”
Elmira pointed at the hall on the other side of the stairs. “Delton’s office is just through there.”
Larsen led the way. Delton’s office was a decent size, but with three people in it, one of them on crutches, it was suddenly a lot smaller.
There was a narrow desk with a battered upholstered chair. The walls were lined with shelves filled with books and file boxes, much like the archives themselves. Everything was in perfect order, straight as could be, not a thing out of place.
“He lived as he worked,” I said, mostly to myself.
“What was that?” Larsen asked.
“Just that the archives are the same way. Neat. Everything lined up with the thing next to it.”
She had no reaction to that and started opening the drawers of his desk.
I focused on the shelves, looking at the titles on the books, hoping something might jump out at me.
After a few minutes, we switched places without trying.
Just working our way around. Verne didn’t seem to be doing much besides following Larsen, but that wasn’t his fault.
I was in front of the desk. I eased down into the chair, resting my crutches against the edge.
The surface was as neat as everything else.
There was a small, green-shaded lamp that could have been a twin to the one in the archives, a pad of faintly lined note paper, one pen, one sharpened pencil, a small, tented calendar, and a picture of Delton, Elmira, and the two kids from when they’d been little and neither Delton nor Elmira had been gray.
They looked so happy.
I opened a few drawers. More pens, pencils, and paper. A planner. I took that out and looked through it, focusing on the week before his death. The day before there was a single entry. SV. Nothing else, just those two initials on the top of the page.
I couldn’t think of anyone with those initials, not even on the list of names we’d gotten from the logbook, although I didn’t have them memorized. Worth looking into.
I turned on the light. That’s when a slight shadowing on the notepad caught my eye. An imprint from the note that had been written on the previous sheet of paper. I picked up the pencil, laid it slantwise on the paper, and shaded the page with graphite.
A number appeared. I took my phone out and snapped a photo of the page. It meant nothing to me, but calling it was an easy way to find out who it belonged to.
I read the number off to Larsen. “That mean anything to you?”
She shook her head. “What is it?”
I held up the notepad. “Found it on this. Must have been written on the sheet before it.”
She came over to look. “It was colored over like that?”
“No, I did that in order to see the number.”
“I guess that was all right.” She pulled out her phone and dialed the number. She held it to her ear for a few long seconds, then shook her head and pocketed the phone. “No answer.”
“No voicemail?”
“If there was, it didn’t pick up.”
I made a mental note to try the number myself later.
“Find anything else?”
“No.” Maybe I should have told her about the initials in the planner, but my gut said not to. She picked it up off the desk where I’d set it and added it to an evidence bag. She’d figure it out soon enough, I guessed. I grabbed my crutches and stood. “You?”
“No.”
I leaned away from her to give her some space. “Don’t you think you should talk to the son?”
“I don’t believe Percival Tinselwick killed his father. Do you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him in detail, but he was angry enough to confront me last time I was here. And he’s affiliated with a group that believes only pure-blooded winter elves should hold the throne.”
“Being a royalist isn’t a crime.” She sighed. “We looked into True North not long ago. They haven’t done anything even slightly criminal. None of the founding members even have a parking ticket.”
She looked at Verne. “I’m about to go back to the station. Tell Givens I want that statement on my desk as soon as possible.”
“Will do.” Verne nodded at us.
We left the office and went into the living room. Givens was sitting on the couch, writing on his pad. Elmira wasn’t around. I took a few strides into the kitchen and found her sitting at the kitchen table, quietly weeping. My heart broke for her. She looked so lost.
Larsen followed me in. I spoke to Elmira. “Ma’am, we’re all done.”
Elmira sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. She swallowed but said nothing. Finally, she lifted her head. “You probably should talk to my boy.”
Larsen took the seat nearest Elmira and put her hand over the old woman’s. “I’m very sorry about your loss, Mrs. Tinselwick. Has your son done something you want to tell us about?”
Elmira shook her head. “No, but he hangs out with those people. And I know they’d be against the new princeling inheriting the throne.”
“Do you think your son is capable of violence?”
Elmira stared at Larsen, the horrible realization of what Larsen was asking clear in her eyes. “He’d never hurt his father. Not physically. But maybe some of those people …” She sobbed again.
I stepped forward, but there wasn’t really anything I could do in the moment. Larsen was in charge. Making a scene and forcing Percy to come down and talk to us probably wouldn’t yield much information. There was one thing I could try. “Constable Larsen, could I speak to you?”
When she looked at me, I tipped my head toward the living room.
She followed me out. “What is it?”
I kept my voice soft. “Would it be possible to have Percy tailed for a few days? He goes to meet with the True North group pretty regularly, from what Elmira told us. And if it’s not them behind this, maybe he’ll lead us to whoever it really is. Or it might give you a valid reason to bring him in.”
Larsen glanced back toward the kitchen. “Yeah, we can do that. I really don’t want to put her through anything more.”
“Thank you.”
“Come on. Let’s get out of here. We’ll try that number again on the way back. And see if that list of names has turned up anything.”