Chapter 39 Sinclair
I pulled myself up on my crutches, since everyone else was standing.
“What does this mean? Are those her children?” I directed that question to everyone, but I knew no one could answer it any better than I could.
“We have no way of knowing,” Jayne said.
Her dad’s brows were bent in anger. “Until we talk to her.” He stabbed his finger into the desk. “Larsen better be getting Serja into that station.”
Jayne nodded. “She told me she was.”
I’d never seen Jack Sr. like this. I didn’t know if it was because his family had been threatened or because his sister might potentially be the one doing the threatening, but he was hot. Or cold, as the case may be.
The room cooled off even further as we stood there.
“Ezreal, you should have employment records for Crispin and Flora, right?”
“Their forms will be filed in my office,” he answered.
The intercom buzzed. Jack Sr. picked up the phone. “What is it?” His frown deepened. “Yes. Two minutes.”
He hung up and sighed. “I have a meeting with Ingvar, the head of Information and Communications. I’ve already rescheduled once, so I need to take this.”
“It’s okay,” Jayne said. “We’ll go to Ezreal’s office and look at those forms. We’ll let you know what we find. And as soon as Larsen has Serja, we’ll all head to the station.”
Her dad nodded, still looking unhappy. “Thanks.”
We filed out. Ingvar was in one of the chairs, waiting. We collected JJ and went to Ezreal’s office with him. His assistant, Lara, was at her desk but got up when we came in. She curtseyed then bowed. I could see a few fading spots from the snowpox she’d had. “Your highnesses.”
“Lara, please pull the files for Crispin Vale and Flora Merriweather and bring them in.”
“Right away, Mr. Zur’dar.”
Ezreal opened his office door and gestured for us to go ahead of him. Jayne situated the stroller near her chair, sat, and immediately dug into the diaper bag for a package of licorice.
I sat next to her, and Ezreal went to his desk.
I looked at Jayne. “We should see if my parents can watch JJ when we go to the station.”
“That would be good.”
“I’ll text them.” I got busy doing that, and by the time I’d hit Send, Lara had brought the files in.
“Hold my calls until I tell you otherwise, unless it’s King Jack,” Ezreal said.
“Will do, sir.” She closed the door.
My mom answered that they were fine to watch JJ. I put my phone away. “My parents are up for babysitting.”
“That’s great,” Jayne said. “I feel like we owe them for all the help they’ve been giving us.”
“Trust me,” I said. “They’re loving it. They’re here to spend time with him.”
Ezreal had opened the first file and started flipping though it. He sighed and looked up. “Crispin has no emergency contact listed, and his address is here in town, so no connection there either.”
“Maybe Flora will have something,” Jayne said through a mouthful of licorice.
“Let’s see.” Ezreal went to that file next.
He read silently for longer than he had with Crispin’s.
“She’s married, one child. Lists her husband, Darren Merriweather, as her emergency contact.
” He flipped back to Crispin’s, looked at something, then returned to Flora’s.
“She’s older than Crispin by two years.”
“So she had the most to gain by disrupting Naming Day.” I shot Jayne a look. “Unless they were working together, thinking they could somehow get their mother returned to the throne. Quite a pair of cousins you have there.”
She frowned. “If Serja is their mother and if she really is Janvier. Which I think she is, but until my dad identifies her, we can’t say for certain.”
“I think she is, too.” I stretched my arms along the arms of the chair. “It seems telling to me that Crispin changed his last name. Ezreal, is there any mention of Flora’s maiden name, since Merriweather is her married name?”
“Nothing here. It’s not a question on the employment form. I can dig into it, but I’m not sure what I’ll find. There was nothing on Serja. I only knew how to find her because I have a connection to Little Reykjavik and a good friend who works for North Pole Bell.”
Jayne grunted. “Maybe the North Pole should keep better track of its citizens. If Serja is Janvier, she was able to move here undetected and settle into life without a single blip on the radar about who she really was.”
Ezreal nodded. “I agree, your highness. It’s definitely something that should be considered.”
I gave Jayne my attention again. I could see how upset she was. I gave her arm a squeeze. “You met Flora. What was she like?”
“Slightly allergic to Spider but refused to admit it. I got the sense that she didn’t want to upset me. She was nice. Maybe a bit flustered by my presence. I never got the sense that she had it out for me or anything like that.”
I shrugged. “Just means she’s a great actor.”
Jayne’s phone buzzed. She chomped down on another piece of licorice, then took her phone out and checked the screen. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Larsen has Serja at the station.”
She texted her dad, we said goodbye to Ezreal, then we ran JJ back to the apartment and made sure my parents were good to go. After that, we went down to the south entrance and met Jack Sr.
With him along, I’d expected a different crawler, maybe something with the royal insignia on it or something, but the crawler waiting for us looked the same as the rest of them.
Jack Sr. saw me noticing. “I thought it best to keep things quiet for as long as possible.”
“Smart move.” I wished I could tell him that things would stay quiet, but if Janvier had truly returned, the North Pole was about to explode.
We climbed in. Different driver this time. No one I recognized. Probably someone who drove Jack on a regular basis, since he didn’t seem the least bit affected by having the king in his vehicle.
We arrived at the back of the police station and pulled into a lot filled with police crawlers and other vehicles. It was empty of people. Someone opened the station’s back door as we parked near the entrance. Like they’d been waiting.
It was Larsen. She hurried down the steps as we were getting out. Jack went ahead of us, since Jayne was helping me with my crutches.
“Your highness.” She bowed. “It’s an honor to have you here, sir.”
“I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“Yes,” Larsen agreed.
We joined Jack.
She greeted us, then started toward the steps. “If you’ll just follow me.”
A sense of dread came over me. I hated this for Jayne, but I hated it even more for her dad. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. Part of me really hoped it wasn’t Janvier inside, but another part of me had the sinking feeling it was.
And the fallout from that was going to be epic.
Larsen led us into a small room with a few chairs that faced a pair of short curtains. She closed the door and turned the lights off, then went over and opened the curtains, exposing the large panel of one-way glass.
The room beyond the window held a metal table with two chairs on either side. In one chair, facing us through the window, sat Serja Vintorf.
Jack stared for a moment, then took a few steps closer. In the dim light, it was impossible to read his face. The last time he’d seen Janvier, she’d been young and, I imagined, looked very different.
Jayne was at my side, her gaze fixated on her father. She looked like she was holding her breath.
Her father shifted slightly, finally slanting his eyes at Larsen. “Could you have her say something?”
“Of course, your highness.” Larsen moved to an intercom box near the window and pressed a button, leaning in to speak. “Please state your name and occupation for the record.”
Jayne held on to my arm.
Serja looked up, frowning. “Serja Vintorf. Artist.” She hesitated. “When is someone going to tell me why I’m here?”
Jack scrubbed a hand over his mouth, eyes shining with emotion. He opened his mouth to speak, cleared his throat, and nodded. “That’s Janvier. That’s my sister.”