Chapter 37 Sinclair
“How is that possible?” I stared at what Jayne had done on the murder board. Serja Vintorf’s name was written below Janvier Frost’s name, both in blue. Then, in red, Jayne had drawn lines between the matching letters of the names.
All the letters matched.
Janvier Frost could be scrambled to make Serja Vintorf. And vice versa. It was an anagram.
I looked at Jayne. “Are they the same person?”
Jayne shook her head. “I have no idea, but if they aren’t …”
“It’s weird. And there’s no way it’s a coincidence. Do we have a photo of Serja?”
“No.” She smirked and put her hands on her hips. “Sorry for doing this in the middle of the night, but I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay. This is kind of important.” I couldn’t stop staring. “I can’t believe this is real.”
“We need to keep this to ourselves. I don’t think we should even tell Larsen. Not until we have proof. If the wrong person finds out and word gets back to her, she’ll disappear.” Jayne picked Spider up from where he was winding around her legs. “She’s done it before.”
“Good point, but we might need some help.”
“My dad and Ezreal. That’s it. No one else.”
I nodded. “I agree. So how do we prove this?”
“Let’s get a meeting with my dad and Ezreal tomorrow first thing. See what they think.”
“You know …” What I was about to say sounded crazy even to my own ears. “Your dad could just make a surprise visit out there. He’d know his own sister.”
“He would, but then what? She bolts? Or she attacks him the same way she did Delton?” Worry filled Jayne’s eyes. “I cannot lose my dad.”
“You think Serja killed Delton? Or Janvier, I mean?” If I was staying up, I was going to need coffee.
“I don’t know, but the kind of magic it took to give his heart frostbite—that’s strong stuff. Intense winter elf magic. The kind a Frost can do. I don’t think we can risk him going out there. His security team would probably never allow it if they knew who he was going to see.”
“Okay, new thought. We get Larsen to bring her into the station for questioning, then while she’s in one of the interview rooms, your dad can look at her from the observation side and see if it’s her.
We need to know for sure. Otherwise, this is going to be a lot of wasted effort.
Not to mention, it’ll stir up all kinds of stuff that should probably not be stirred up right before what is already going to be a tense Naming Day. ”
“That could work.” She sighed, burying her face in Spider’s neck. “It’ll have to. I don’t see any other safe way to do it.”
We both went silent for a moment, staring at the two names like it hadn’t really sunk in. All I could hear was Spider purring.
Jayne sighed. “Why would she have killed Delton? Her name was already redacted except from the lists in the royal vault’s cold storage. No one would have known.”
“Except it must not have been redacted from the lists in the archives, otherwise why tear the pages out?”
“So what, though? What’s the worst thing that could have happened if someone saw her name? We would have found out who she was. Then what? Nothing. It wasn’t like discovering I had an aunt who’d been frozen out changed anything.” Jayne shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense.”
I had to agree. “No, it doesn’t. Unless she thought you finding out about her would somehow lead to her being discovered, that she’d be outed as living in the North Pole, even though she isn’t supposed to be.”
“That could be. It would wreck the life she’s made for herself. But to kill someone over that?” She made a face. “That’s pretty petty. It’s all very strange.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
She yawned. “Thanks.”
“Good job, by the way, on figuring this out.” I hobbled closer and put my arm around her. Spider stuck his back foot out to touch my shoulder. “We should try to get a little sleep. It’s hours before dawn.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Some sleep might even help us understand this better.”
Her brows lifted. “Cake might help, too.”
I chuckled. “Okay, you go have cake, but I need sleep.”
She kissed my cheek. “Spider will keep me company. Won’t you, baby?”
“Spider loves Mama.”
With a soft grin, I kissed her right back. “See you in the morning.”
“Night.”
I made my way back to bed. Sugar had taken over Jayne’s side of the bed, so I wasn’t completely without company. I drifted off not long after my head touched the pillow.
I woke to soft snoring. Jayne. And Spider, who was curled around her head, partially buried in her hair.
Amused, I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could. I got my boot on, tucked my phone into the pocket of my pajama pants, then hoisted myself onto my crutches. I checked on JJ and found him awake but not fussing. Yet. “Hey, little man. You want a bottle so Mama can sleep in?”
He gurgled at me. I took that for a yes.
“You stay right there. I’ll be back with a bottle before you know it.” I turned on the mobile over his crib, hoping it would distract him until I returned and keep him from going into a meltdown. While the yetis and snowmen danced overhead, I went to the kitchen.
Sugar was already there, sitting by her food bowl. “Breakfast?”
“Coming up.” I grabbed a bottle from the fridge and stuck it in the warmer, then started a cup of coffee before grabbing a can of cat food. I went with Chicken Party. It was a perennial favorite, and now was not the time to see if a different flavor would meet expectations.
While Sugar ate and I waited on the bottle and the coffee, I listened for sounds that Jayne might be waking up. I had no idea when she’d come to bed, but with her having to get up every few hours to feed JJ, I liked letting her sleep.
Today was not going to be a fun day, either. I couldn’t imagine how her dad would take the news about his supposedly exiled sister still living in the North Pole. If that proved true, I doubted it would go over well.
The bottle was done right after the coffee. Despite how hot the coffee was, I took a sip anyway. Blazing hot but caffeine was caffeine. I looped two fingers around the neck of the bottle so I could keep my palm on the cross support of the crutch and headed in to feed my son.
He was on the cusp of melting down, so I’d arrived in time. I picked him up, pivoted on my good foot toward the rocker, and lowered myself down.
He was happy, and so was I. Jayne could catch a few more Z’s. A couple of minutes in and Sugar showed up. She sat on the polar bear footstool and cleaned herself.
While JJ drank, I managed to get my phone out. It was early, but I knew Ezreal would be up. I sent him a text. Jayne and I would like to meet with you and Jack as soon as she wakes up. Late night but urgent news.
I thought about adding a few more details but decided against it. We really didn’t know who we could trust, and cell phones were a relatively new tech in the NP. I had no way of knowing how secure things were up here.
Ezreal answered before JJ had finished the bottle. We’re at your disposal. Come to his highness’s office when you’re ready.
I took a breath as I lifted JJ to my shoulder. This was going to be one interesting meeting, but I wasn’t waking Jayne up.
JJ burped. I checked if he needed to be changed, which he did, so I handled that, then put him back in his crib. Being reliant on crutches really sucked. I would have taken him into the kitchen with me otherwise. We could have had a nice conversation over coffee.
And because of the crutches, I couldn’t even bring my coffee back to the nursery. Stupid ankle.
I limped my way into the kitchen and stood by the counter to drink my coffee. Even lukewarm, it was still good.
“Morning,” was mumbled at my back.
I turned to see Jayne in her robe, hair completely disheveled, most likely from Spider sleeping in it. “Morning, beautiful. I was hoping you’d sleep in.”
“I did. Kind of. I’m all right.” She yawned.
“Dr Pepper?”
“Please.”
Using one crutch, I hopped to the fridge and got a bottle out. “Meeting with your dad and Ezreal is all set. Whenever you’re ready.” I hopped closer to hand her the soda.
She took it and twisted off the top. “I need to feed JJ.”
Spider wandered in, sniffed what Sugar had left in the food bowl, and decided to eat the rest of it.
“Already done. Gave him a bottle and changed his diaper.”
“Really? Thank you.” She blinked at me before taking a long drink. “In that case, I’m going to stand under some hot water until I feel like an elf again.”
I smiled at her. “Good plan. I’ll have cake waiting for you when you get back.”
She clutched her Dr Pepper to her chest and plodded back toward the bedroom. “I love you so much.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Not a bad start for a day that could turn out to be one for the books.