The Royal Heir - Dancing with my eyes closed

Giant leaps

As soon as I have the memory stick in my hand (and the celebratory snogging has reached its inevitable conclusion) I call Rick to tell him we've got it. He's beyond relieved, and offers to send the royal plane straight over to bring us home. I tell him there's no need, we can get a charter flight later this morning as it'll be quicker, and promise to keep him updated.

We then smooth things over with the bemused warehouse worker, who was assuming we'd take the dismantled piece of furniture away with us. I reassure him that it won't take him long to put back together and then he can sell it again! In fact, this is a unique upcycling opportunity! He doesn't seem entirely convinced, but, short for time, we hurry back to the car anyway.

Tommy grabs his laptop from the back seat, and plug the memory stick in, while I cross all my fingers and toes.

"Encrypted," Tommy sighs, and I feel suddenly deflated. "Did Godfrey give you a passcode?"

"Nope," I groan. "We need to speak to him. I'll let Rick know, maybe he can organise a call."

"This is going to go right to the wire, isn't it?" Tommy runs a hand through his chestnut locks in frustration. "When's the coronation ceremony?"

"Friday at midday," I say. "Huh, exactly four days away from now." It's about ten in the morning here now, and there's a two-hour time difference. "But don't worry! I'm sure Godfrey will know the password and we'll be in!"

"Yeah, but even if we get the password soon, going through all that data's gonna take forever..."

"Hey, hey, don't beat yourself up," I say, knowing where his thoughts are going. "Many hands, light work, right? We've got Hana and Drake, maybe even Rick and Olivia will pitch in once we've got the data. It's not all on us."

Tommy doesn't seem entirely convinced. "Yeah, but if I hadn't delayed this trip.."

I cut him off, leaning across to touch his arm. "Stop. We're a team." The dream team mark 2. "Who's to say we'd have got this far without you? I'd never have convinced Lorraine to talk to me, she'd just have called the police on me! And Godfrey will come through, I'm sure of it, and once we're in we'll power through that data faster than you can say cheese rolling."

He smirks, hands me the laptop, and starts the ignition. "We better get to the airport then."

As the car hums to life, I study his expression carefully. "When we crack this, we should celebrate with more cheese-rolling. Bring Bella back to join in."

"No suits of armour this time?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking I could chase the cheese in the suit of armour next time. I'd be much better protected against brahs and bushes that way!"

Tommy shakes his head, but there's a glint of amusement in his eyes. "You never quit, do you?"

"Nope," I wink, letting my fingers brush against his as he shifts into gear.

***

We arrive home on Monday evening, exhausted but relieved to be home. The corgis run excited circles around me and Duchess seems pleased to have her favourite human back too. This place still seems so empty without Bella though. I definitely miss her more when I'm here, because she should be here too, and she's not.

Rick manages to organise a call between me and Godfrey for first thing Tuesday morning, in which Godfrey delivers the grim news that all of his passwords were stored on his mobile phone, which was confiscated and wiped when he was admitted to prison. A quick enquiry to the prison officer who's overseeing the call confirms this to be standard practice. Aggghhhh.