A Royal Ransom

VII

"And therein lies the issue, friends don't try to trick you, get you on the phone and mind-twist you, and so I took an axe to a mended fence."

- This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Taylor Swift

♛

"Princess Diana, it is such an honour to finally meet you," Flynn smiled, gently grabbing my hand and planting a kiss on the back. He guided me into the house.

Ryder coughed again. My cheeks warmed slightly, causing me to drop my hand from Flynn's, scratch my head and turn away.

Flynn led us into what seemed to be his living room. There were three leather couches surrounding a glass coffee table. His house was fairly large by the looks of it and very modern. I took a seat on one of the couches, Ryder plopped down beside me and Flynn sat on the couch adjacent to us.

"So... you must be the famous Ryder Underwoods," Flynn announced turning to Ryder, not before flashing me a smile.

Ryder rolled his eyes. I could tell he was clearly unsatisfied with who Flynn had turned out to be. I couldn't deny, he didn't seem to be a very hopeful solution.

"So can you help us?" I asked.

"With what?" Flynn asked, absentmindedly as he stared intently at the watch he had fastened on his wrist.

Was he kidding?

"With proving Ryder's innocence?" I urged.

"Oh! Yes, of course. The Queen said you would give me some contract to sign?"

I pulled out the file my mother had given me and handed it to Flynn.

He flipped open to the first page, "Oh these must be the list of possible suspects."

"Possible?" Ryder asked, "I thought you would know who was behind the murder."

Flynn held up a hand in protest, "Calm down, I do know the real murderer, this is just a list of all the people who, like you, had been questioned. The only difference is that you were convicted in the end."

"Do you mind telling us who the hell did it then?" Ryder snapped.

"Relax. I would rather not say their name out loud," Flynn replied.

Ryder sent me a look. I shrugged, though I thought it was odd, I just wanted to get this sorted with and go home and catch up with a week's worth of sleep.

"Would you like to eat something while I find the contract?" Flynn asked, motioning to the platter of snack foods on the table as he flipped through the contents of the file.

I was about to decline when my stomach growled in response. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. Ryder and I reached for the chips and cookies and ate in silence.

My mind was running in circles. I kept wondering if this was some kind of joke.

Who was going to trust the signature of a mere teenager?

Was this really the best my mother could do?

Flynn abruptly stood up, a sheet of paper, the contract, in hand, glancing at the watch on his hand, "I'm just going to go and quickly grab a pen to sign this contract, and then we can discuss your next steps."

I nodded, watching as Flynn hurriedly fled the room.

Something was up.

I waited a couple of moments before he was out of sight and turned to Ryder.