The Curse of Windsor Castle

Chapter Seventeen

The next day, Amy was woken up by a loud knock on the door.

"Coming," Amy murmured. She yawned and tripped over the bed. "Oof."

The knocking came again, this time louder. "Miss McAllister, are you in there?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," Amy called from where she was on the floor. She got up and walked to the door. Amy opened it and saw Miss Martín-Fernández and two police officers at the doorway. "Um, what, Miss Mama Mia?"

"Miss Hawthorne, is it?" Miss Martín-Fernández ignored Amy's comment.

"Yes." Amy nodded.

"Is your guardian with you?

"Tara's sleeping. As always," Amy added with a thought.

"Please wake her up." Miss Martín-Fernández took out her notepad. "I need to speak with her."

"Of course." Amy yawned. "Tara, Mount Frailon is here."

"Coming, wait, who?" Tamara rubbed her eyes and walked to the door. "Yes?"

Miss Martín-Fernández kept muttering to herself as she flipped to her notepad. "Well, our policía found your belongings. Our search has never been this fast. We also found the thieves tied up next to your belongings," She read.

Tamara frowned. "Thank you, but when will we get our luggage back. We have to leave Spain soon."

"You can pick up in the Policía Municipal de Madrid." Miss Martín-Fernández wrote the address and phone number down on her notepad, ripped it out and handed it to Tamara. "Please call us before you arrive."

Amy nodded. "Will do, Miss Martini."

"It's Martín-Fernández!"

After calling the police station, Tamara and the girls hailed a cab. "How do you think the search happened so quickly?" Rose asked.

Tamara rolled her eyes. "My answer is the same to every question you ask: Nuntius Mortis."

"I thought he planned the theft," Amy frowned. "Will he just make up his mind. I don't know whether he wants to help us or kill us."

"You know, Amy." Tamara spoke slowly as if she was talking to a two year old. "Sometimes, evil people do this. It's to confuse dumb ignorant people like us."

"Shut up," Amy muttered. "But if he does kill us, I don't know if it'll be from injury or annoyance."

"You're the annoyance, Amy," Tamara snickered.

"Hey!"

"That's the spirit, Ames." Rose was still having trouble waking up, even with the double espresso that her sister had put in her milk.

"That doesn't even make sense, Rose," Amy complained.

They arrived at the police station to be greeted by Miss Martín-Fernández. "Girls, your belongings are in the next room. Might I ask what you possessed that interested the criminals?"

Tamara frowned. "Nothing that I know of. You said all our belongings are intact?"

"Yes," Miss Martín-Fernández said. "However, when examining your suitcases, my team found expensive looking items. A bracelet, necklace, and headband, all made of gold alloy. Did the manager know that you owned such belongings?"

"I knew we should have worn them when we went to the palace," Amy whispered to Rose.

"Now's not the time, Amy."

Tamara shook her head. "I don't think he knew about them."

"Why did you have these items?" Miss Martín-Fernández asked.

"The bracelet and the necklace and our favorite accessories," the older girl said without missing a beat. "And the headband is Amy's good luck charm."

"Yes," Amy added. "That's the headband I wore on my final exam. Got an O level."

Miss Martín-Fernández raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

"Good thinking Tara," Rose complimented her sister. "You saved us."

"I think Miss Martín-Fernández was just getting tired of us," Tamara laughed.

"I'm glad this is over. Now we can put Miss Merlot behind us," Amy sighed.

"How many times do you have to be told, Amy. It's Martín-Fernández," Rose giggled.

The girls went back to Hilton and checked out. "Alcalá de Henares, here we come," Tamara smiled.

The forty minute drive to Alcalá de Henares still proved more than the trio could bear. Amy and Rose were arguing in the backseat, and Tamara had her eyes tightly shut, her hands over her ears.

"Seriously," Tamara said when the girls arrived. "You two cannot be in the same car, much less the same row, without exploding in each others' faces."

"Blame Amy," Rose grumbled. No matter how short a car ride was, she would still be in a bad mood.

"Sorry?" Amy asked. "I almost thought I heard you blaming me for a very two-sided argument."

"Yeah, yeah."

"So what now?" Tamara interrupted before another argument could break out. "Does anyone know where the chair is?"

"Obviously not." Amy rolled her eyes. "What are we supposed to do, make diagrams and charts to narrow the locations down."

"That's actually what I tried doing," Rose said in a small voice.

Tamara's eyes widened. "You what?"

"It didn't work." Rose said quickly, before Amy could make fun of her. "I gave up after the second page worth of charts and diagrams.

Amy's mouth wouldn't close. "Rose, are you crazy? Why would you put in all that effort."

"It doesn't matter, okay?" Rose finally yelled. "I don't know where to find the chairs. I'm just as clueless as the two of you!"

"Alright, alight," Tamara raised her hands. "I guess we stick to our amazing strategy of wandering around until we happen to stumble across the chair."

"You know us well, Tara." Amy nodded and smirked.

"Too well," Tamara shook her head.