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THE ROYAL DALLIANCE

  Volkswagen turned on the road of Neptune valley, near to Nrityadham Villiage, Bengaluru. It was a foggy morning. Zane borrowed Nilopher’s car to bring his lab material from the underground market. Nilopher had called him yesterday night about the new case. He was heading towards her home.

“Two packets?” He asked the shopkeeper.

“Sixty rupees sir” Shopkeeper handed over the coffee packets to Zane. Zane kept it in a bag.

He reached quickly to Nilopher’s place.

“What’s that?” Nilopher pointed at the bag.

“Best Material for Americano! Fresh coffee beans from Chikmagalur” Zane answered. “What we are up to?”

“A pre-wedding meeting turns out into murder,” Nilopher answered. “Groom and Bride were going to meet for the first time and someone poisoned the groom”

She was working on her laptop.

“So why we are not at the crime scene?” Zane asked.

“We are going there Zane, tickets are booked.” She answered.

“We are not taking a car?”

“No, the place is much far so we are taking flight. Tomorrow morning.”

“Where we are going?” Zane asked.

“Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Go to your place and pack your bags.” Nilopher replied.

“International case! Awesome!” Zane was excited.

“I’ll tell you rest on the flight, tomorrow morning come to my house and we’ll go to the airport,” She said and started packing her bags for the journey ahead. Zane also went back home to take his bags and equipment.

 The next day they both went to Bengaluru airport from Nilopher’s house. After boarding the flight and take off, breakfast was served. Over breakfast, Nilopher explained the details.

“So we are going to Delft Island, which is near Jaffna. Local cops told me the murderer used the poison. They found a syringe and inside it, they found residue of Cyanide.”

“Hmmm….Then he must have died in minutes” Zane.

 “Murdered person was the Prince Tavish from Dravidians Royal Family from the famous Five Dravidians descendant from India who settled in Sri Lanka later on. Few days before Prince Tavish returned from the University of Pennsylvania after pursuing a Post-graduation in Economics. His marriage was decided with princess Kiyoma from the Royal Sinhalese family. Princess was also studying in America at Stanford University. She had an accident before she came back here from Stanford, She got her face burned in that so she did plastic surgery before she came. Prince and Princess met before back in America. The marriage was decided by the Royal family a few weeks ago so they were meeting for the first time as a future Groom and Bride. The meeting venue was the tower house near to the Royal Palace of the Dravidian family. They were just two of them while meeting. Apart from them, Princess Kiyoma’s Mother, her brother was there for the wedding. In Prince Tavish’s family which includes his parents, uncle, his older brother, apart from the one family lawyer were all present for this wedding. Princess said she saw one person came, pushed her and forcefully injected poison in the neck of the prince, opened the window and ran. According to the police, report poison was injected in the Jugular vein so that it can affect strongly. One footwear print of murderer near to window before he jumped and one the ground where he jumped was found but they disappeared over the grass. “

 “Any suspects?” Zane asked.

 “No. No one saw the murderer or any person running from the tower house. No fingerprints that mean murderer wore gloves and no one has seen anyone entering in that house, that means murderer must be waiting for them.” Nilopher gave further information.

 “Chances of heist? Or robbery?” Zane asked further.

 “Nil. Nothing disappeared so this is only cold-blooded murder.”

 “Awful, let’s see, the first case in Sri Lanka” Zane murmured.

 The plane landed in Jaffna Airport.

“How are we suppose to go there?” Zane asked after disembarking the flight and arriving at the Airport terminal.

 “Prince Tavish’s mother sending the Car and then yacht for seaways,” Nilopher informed. They collected their baggage and went out of the arrival hall. There, they found one board with their names on it and a driver in a uniform. They showed him their ID's and he took their baggage to the car.

“Is that our ride?” Zane was surprised.

It was Rolls Royce Ghost. Black and shining in Sri Lankan Sun.

 “It’s Royal Family, what do you expect?” Nilopher smiled.

 They traveled for almost one hour to reach Kurikadduwan Harbour. The yacht with the crest of Royal Family was waiting for them. They started their journey on the yacht and reached the castle in half-hour. Prince Tavish’s mother was waiting for them. Palace also had royal security. It was impressive. They went to the Royal Palace. The hall was large, antiques were placed neatly, stairs were made up of marble. Paintings of past Kings were on the wall which had ivory frames. Behind the stairs, there was a passage which lead to different rooms.  

  “We are very sorry for your loss madam. I’ll do my best to help you.” Nilopher said to Prince’s Mother.

 “I’m glad you are here detective. It’s been four days and cops have nothing” She said angrily. 

After some introductory talks, Nilopher went straight to the crime scene. Tower house was not far away from the royal palace. It was there on the right side of the palace. They went to the tower house. The crime scene was on the ground floor. The chief inspector was already there in his uniform. Nilopher started observing carefully. Zane started to note down some details. It was a small room of a tower house, windows had curtains which suited royal structure. Walls were made up of black stones. One baccarat vase was broken on the marble flooring and some were shattered over the flooring.

She looked at the chalk outline representing the dead body’s position.

 “Everything is as it is? Or anything contaminated?” She asked the Chief inspector.

 “Everything is as it is.” He replied.

 One White rose bouquet was lying Next to the Chalk outline. Flowers were dry and crumpled.

 “Why they are still here?” Nilopher asked.

 “We are clearly instructed to not contaminate the crime scene and to not remove anything even if it is less important.” Chief Inspector replied.

 “They might be from that broken vase,” Zane said.

 “No, the maid said they were not here in the first place. The prince must have brought those for the princess. We thought you might examine them as well” Chief Inspector said.

 “For what purpose?” She asked. “I’m not sure if they are useful, but you can keep it as crime scene material.” She said.

 “Forensic reports?” Zane asked.

 “As we told you before. Death by poison”

 “And what about this?” Nilopher pointed at the coffee table. A teapot with two cups was placed there.

 “Refreshment. Maid delivered this before prince and princess arrived for a meeting.” Chief Inspector said.

 “One cup had less tea than others,” Zane observed.

 “Someone might have taken some” Chief Inspector said.

 “Did you examine?” Nilopher asked.

 “No need. We found a syringe hole already on the dead body.” Chief inspector replied.

 Still, Zane put some drops from the teacup in a little glass container.

 “Can I have footwear print’s samples?” Nilopher asked.

 Chief Inspector handed over the photographs and impressions to Nilopher.

 “No doubt this is men’s footwear. Photographs and impressions of footwear print clear everything. Foot dimension shows statistically significant asymmetry which is found in males only. Since our murderer is a man, we can assume some potential suspects. And if we look at the average length of the left and right footwear print, our suspect that is murderer must be 6’ to 6’5” tall” Nilopher pointed details.

 She went to the place where the murderer jumped and observed the area along with Zane and Chief inspector. There was only a large area covered with trees and undergrowth.

 “Difficult to track further footprints,” Zane said.

 “We have enough,” Nilopher replied. “Let’s go back to the palace.”

  Prince Tavish’s mother was waiting for them. A young gorgeous lady was standing by her side.

                        “She must be the princess,” Zane said.

 “Hello, detectives” Princess greeted.

 “You must be princess Kiyoma. My sympathies for your loss.” Nilopher said.

 “Have you found anything?” Princess asked.

 “We are on it, don’t worry your highness, we’ll find murderer soon,” Zane said.

 “You didn’t remember the murderer’s face?” Nilopher asked.

 “He was masked,” Princess said.

 “Tell me everything, since you arrived in the tower house,” Nilopher said.

 “I went to the tower house as decided by us. Prince Tavish was waiting for me, having his tea. He gave me roses. We were talking about the wedding plans and then the murderer came from nowhere. He pushed me and forcefully injected something on Prince’s neck and ran away from the window. First I was in trauma, then I started shouting. Guards came but they didn’t find anyone” Princess answered.

 “Who else lives here?” Nilopher asked the Prince’s mother.

 “Prince’s father, brother and his uncle. And Princess Kiyoma’s mother and brother are here for the wedding” Prince’s mother said.

 “Maids and servants?”

 “Six housemaids, two chefs, and four butlers”

“Can I see them?”

 “Yes, of course,” Prince’s mother said.

 In the next minute, eleven servants were present in front of them.

 “You said you had twelve servants,” Nilopher asked.

 “Yes mam, But Rayuga, the new butler left the island yesterday night. His mother is infirm due to pneumonia.” Chef said.

 “Interesting” Zane was curious.

 “You allowed him to leave?” Nilopher asked the chief inspector.

 “I had no idea about this, plus he wasn’t a suspect” Inspector replied.

“Pardon me Princess Kiyoma?”  one of the handmaiden said.

 “Yes?” She replied.

 “You have a courier from Stanford, courier boy delivered this few minutes ago,” she said.

“Thank you. That must be my friend. She told me she’ll send me a wedding gift.” She took the courier.

 “You want to ask more questions?” she asked Nilopher.

 “No, that would be enough for now.” Nilopher allowed her to leave.

 Just then, Prince’s rest of the family arrived.

 “Zane, go with the Chief Inspector and see the evidence if they examined syringe then bring the report copy. I’ll talk with family members” Nilopher said to Zane.

After talking with Prince’s family, she went to a safe house. Prince’s mother ordered a handmaiden to make arrangements for their to stay in a safe house which was on the left side of Royal Palace. It was a nice and homely wooden cottage. She was waiting for Zane to arrive with reports. He came back to the safe house and they highlighted the points of the case.

“Well like they said, syringe contained residue of cyanide,” Zane said. “What did you get?”

“Prince Tavish’s family members are kind. His father, the King himself, he was planning to give his 75% inheritance to the Prince Tavish which was opposed back a month ago by his elder son. His elder son that is another prince, was looking sad too, and his uncle, quite mysterious. I don’t think he has any condolences for the late prince. Access for the tower house during the meeting was given to the maid who delivered tea, the old butler who made arrangements and Prince’s new butler who left the island last night. Prince Tavish’s father, brother, and uncle, all have a height between 6’ to 6’5’’ and so as our murderer. The curious thing about that butler who left last night also has a height about 6’1’’. He is a former chemist. About Princess Kiyoma, I haven’t seen any cicatrix or sign of plastic surgery on her face, it can be hidden easily, just a proper makeup since she is the princess I’m sure she is taking care of that.” Nilopher told him everything.

 “What about a maid?”

“Old, extremely predisposed towards late Prince. She was in agony. Trustable person and the other butler, he is out of the equation, he is serving the Royal family since he was nineteen so he is a trustworthy person.”  Nilopher was very clear.

 “So the late prince’s father, brother, uncle and a butler who is not present are our primary suspects,” Zane concluded.

 “See, the late prince’s elder brother had a fight for his right, but the King didn’t listen, so he is the victim of usurpation. Prince Tavish was a hindrance to him and that’s why he had the perfect reason to commit this murder, But he also seemed very attached to his brother so it is a little confusing. On the other side, the late prince’s uncle, he didn’t seem so much affected by this tragedy. I spoke with his butler he did inform me that Prince’s uncle is debauch and pervert. He might not look for the inheritance but possibly he might have the notion of despise for his brother and his nephews. Now, I am concentrating particularly on these two men, height between 6’ to 6’5’’ and the reason for crime and again, ‘But’, they are smart enough not to do that themselves. So here the butler whose absence is bothering me comes into the picture. It might be a coincidence but he is 6’1’’. I’ve seen his identity documents. So I told the Chief Inspector to send his men for him. Let’s see.”

 “And the sample of tea we collected? What about it?” Zane asked.

 “We are going to examine it by tomorrow, Chief Inspector is allowing us to examine it in the forensic laboratory,” Nilopher said.

 They went to the laboratory the next morning with the Chief Inspector.

 “I still don’t understand why you are running a test on tea? We already found a syringe hole on the neck of the dead body ” Chief Inspector was curious.

 “Believe me, it’s worthy enough,” Nilopher said and started the test.

  “Botulinum toxin!” Nilopher exclaimed after running a test for 20 minutes.

 “You mean a different poison was there in the tea?” The chief inspector asked.

 “Yes, in very capable amount” Nilopher.

 “So, we can conclude that the plotting of murder was not only for Prince Tavish but also for Princess Kiyoma” Zane was surprised.

 “Yes, but the princess didn’t have tea so she survived. “ Nilopher said.

 “How did you know that the tea was poisoned?” The chief inspector was impressed.

 “Teapot, it had stain pink lines on edges which indicate clostridium, an element found in Botulinum toxin” Nilopher explained.

“I believe you detective but we’ll have to cross-check your finding with our experts as per the laws and I’ll put some guards for princess’s protection,” Chief inspector said.

 “We have to take that maid in custody. She was the one who delivered that tea in a tower house.” Zane suggested.

 “As I said, she is trustworthy. The murderer might have poisoned tea after she delivered it. As per our assumption, the murderer was already in the room.” Nilopher said. “Let’s cross-examine our suspects.”

 They went to the Royal Palace and started cross-examination one by one with Chief Inspector in the last room behind the stairs of the hall of Royal palace.

“Where were you when this happened?” Nilopher asked.

 “I was in my room,” Prince’s Tavish uncle said.

 “Doing what?”

 “Reading”

 “Your room is near to the tower house as compared to others.”

 “What? Stop this false allegation. I’ve nothing to do with it” He was angry.

 “I didn’t put allegations, sir, I said your room is near to the tower house so you might have seen some movements or bustle? “

 “No, I haven’t” He answered.

“Okay, you can go and send the Prince’s brother for questioning,” Nilopher said.

 She moved further towards Prince’s brother.

 “I heard you and your father had some difficulties in inheritance,” Nilopher said.

 “That’s not a concern in my brother’s death.” He said.

 “Where were you when this happened?”

  “Jaffna, to find a lawyer who will help me in this inheritance problem.”

 “Did you find one?”

 “No, as soon as I heard the news I came back”

 “That would be enough,” Nilopher said.

She was going to discuss the facts of the crime with Zane and Chief Inspector in the room.

“Detective, The King insists you join in lunch along with Chief Inspector ” Maid arrived from the passage of the palace and conveyed the message. 

“Royal Order” Zane smiled.

 After lunch, Nilopher and Zane were leaving towards a safe house, The Chief inspector was leaving back to a police station and suddenly a voice came from behind them.

 “Detective?” A young man was coming towards them.

 “This is Princess Kiyoma’s brother.” Chief Inspector provided the information. 

“May I speak with you?” He asked.

 “Yes please.”

 “Is my sister’s life in danger?”

 “Not now, she is safe,” Chief inspector said.

 “She refuses to have bodyguards. She never refused them before. She is behaving particularly odd, must be frightened after what happened. But she loved to play the violin. She didn’t even touch that since she came. She loved to spent time with our horses, she hasn’t visited stable since she arrived. She is being very quite.”

                            “I’ve noticed that too she is very quiet. Can I ask you questions?” Nilopher asked.

 “Yes, sure”

 “She did plastic surgery, did she told you before she had it?”

 “No, in fact, she told us after she had the surgery. Sometimes it’s odd to accept that’s my sister. We should be getting used to her new face but it’s difficult.”

 “Can you get us her plastic surgery reports?”

 “I’ll try,” He said.” See you later  detective and officer.” And left.

“Sent me a copy of that.” Chief inspector said.

 “Why did you asked for her plastic surgery reports?” Zane asked.

 “It’s suspicious if the poison was there in the tea then it was meant for both Prince and Princess. She didn’t have that tea. And if a murderer wanted them both dead then how did he simply pushed the princess and attacked only the prince?” Nilopher wondered.

 “You are saying the murderer only wanted to kill the prince?” The chief inspector asked.

 “I’m saying this case is getting more and more confusing. If the Prince’s uncle and brother are saying the truth, then they were not at the murder spot. Had one of them hired that butler for killing prince? Particularly that butler because the Royal security is very impressive, for an outside assassin it’s impossible to reach that close and escape after the murder, and the important one, whether the princess is involved in all this? Or is Princess real?” Nilopher said.

 “More mysteries to solve,” Zane said. They took leave of the Chief Inspector and left towards the safe house. In the evening they went to the head of Royal security to inquire about the name of the people who came and went on the day of the murder. They couldn’t get any lead from that. So they came back.

The next morning, Nilopher received a call from Princess’s brother.

 “What did he said?” Zane asked.

 “She didn’t bring her surgery reports here, left-back at Stanford,” Nilopher said.

 “So we have to run a DNA test?” Zane said.

 “Possibly,” Nilopher said and her phone beeped. She received a Text from Chief inspector stating the absconding butler has returned to Royal palace. ‘’ Let’s go, Zane. I’ll tell the inspector to bring his forensic team for a DNA test.”

 They went to the Royal Palace. The chief inspector was already there with the butler. He said to Nilopher, the butler was telling truth, his mother was admitted to hospital because of pneumonia.

 “Where were you when this happened?” Nilopher asked the butler.

 “In the garden, King found me handier with plants. As Prince Tavish was outside of the country most of the time so I was also given the gardening duties by the King. I was a chemist so I have a better knowledge of pesticides ” He answered.

 “Like you have knowledge of poisons?” Zane asked.

 “No sir, that’s out of my capabilities.” He said.

 “One way or another we will make you talk.” The chief inspector warned the butler.

 “I have nothing to do with Prince Tavish’s murder sir, please believe me,” the Butler said.

“You can not go out of the island unless this case is solved.” Chief inspector said to him.

“Okay, you can go,” Nilopher said.

 “Why did you asked for the forensic team?” Inspector asked Nilopher.

 “We have to take blood samples of the princess” She replied.

Then they came out in the hall. The chief inspector asked the princess to come in the hall for further process. Princess arrived with her mother.

“I said only princess” Chief Inspector said.

“My daughter is frightened after what happened. I’m not going to leave her alone anymore. She needs support” Her mother said.

“We need to take a blood sample of Princess Kiyoma for investigation.” Chief inspector said.

  “No, this is an insult!” Princess Kiyoma’s mother shouted.

 “This is standard procedure madam, we have to follow it, and right now your daughter is the only one who was present at the murder spot.’’ The chief inspector tried to explain to her.

 “I’m not allowing this” Her mother was furious.

 “It’s okay mother, I’ll do whatever they said, if it helps to find a murderer then I will do it” She took her right sleeve up and co-operated very well.

 After collecting the blood sample, they went back to the safe house.

“You know Zane, that blood sample is only our hope. It will reveal so many answers because I did contact Stanford, they agreed to the fact that the accident happened and the princess's face suffered burns.” Nilopher said.

“You take this sample to the laboratory for the DNA test,” Zane said to the Chief inspector.

“I’ll inform you the result, “ Chief inspector said and he left.

The next morning Nilopher and Zane were talking about more possibilities of murder.

“What if Princess did this all by herself?” Nilopher said.

 “That’s impossible. Prince was strong, he had the strength to protect himself as compared to the princess” Zane said.

Nilopher's phone rang. She spoke for a minute.

“What happened?” Zane asked.

“Chief inspector said DNA reports are very clear. She is Princess Kiyoma.” Nillopher said.

“What to do now?”

“We have to go to the palace, apologize to the princess and let's see the crime scene one more time, maybe we’ll find something.” She said.

They went to the Royal Palace.

“We need to see the crime scene one more time,” Nilopher said to the king.

“This is the last time Ms. Nichols. This time if you don’t find anything, you can go back to India. You insulted our daughter in law.“ King said angrily and went away.

They were heading towards the crime scene with Zane. Nilopher saw a maid was preparing the cloths for the laundry.

“You seem busy” Nilopher smiled at her.

“Yes detective, it’s Princess’s costume. She was very sad to see this costume, that’s what she wore on the day Prince Tavish got murdered.

“Can we see his room?” Nilopher asked.

“Sure, I’ll take you there. It’s in the palace” the maid said and led them to Prince’s room.

“Was prince dear to you?” Zane asked.

“Prince Tavish was a good man. He was always dear to me. He loved my food instead of the Royal Chef’s food. I knew him to form the days when he was a child. Here, this is his room, all things are as it is.”

It was a big room. His study books were arranged properly. The bed was clean. His rifle, which he used for hunting was tied on the wall and near to one big painting.

“Was this Prince Tavish?” Nilopher asked.

“Yes, madam. This was our prince.” Maid said.

“How did I missed this?” Nilopher left the room and ran towards the safe house.

“Hello? we were supposed to look at the crime scene.” Zane ran behind her.

 “No need Zane, I got a theory. And yes, you are going to America.” Nilopher was excited.

 Four days later Nilopher went to the royal palace with the chief inspector and local cops. Everybody was summoned by the Chief inspector.

 “Ms. Nichols, did you get any clue?” Prince’s mother asked.

 “We are here to arrest the murderer,” Chief Inspector said.

 “You are under arrest for committing the murder of Prince Tavish and kidnapping” Chief inspector cuffed Princess Kiyoma.

 “Are you out of your mind officer? She is a Princess. She didn’t kill the Prince. And kidnapping? Whose?” King asked.

 “She kidnapped Princess Kiyoma sir. The Real princess Kiyoma.” Chief inspector said. “Detective Nilopher will explain to you everything. It was brilliant planning.”

 “Detective?” King was confused.

 “I’ll tell you everything, your highness. She murdered Prince Tavish in the tower house.”

 “But according to your deduction, the murderer was a man. You found footwear prints.” Princess Kiyoma’s brother said.

 “Yes, sir. I analyzed footwear prints. According to analysis footwear prints belongs to man, whose height is nearly 6’ to 6’5’’. According to that, we found four suspects, Prince Tavish’s father, brother, uncle and the butler Rayuga. They all have height in between 6’ to 6’5’’. We found the king is in agony. He wouldn’t kill his son, then who else? His brother had reason to kill him for the inheritance. But I found the attachment between two brothers. We checked CCTV footage of Jaffna streets and confirmed that he was not in this place when this incident happened. So who left? His uncle. His room is near to the tower house as compared to others. But the man of his age can’t do this crime that fast. And the butler Rayuga, he was telling truth about his mother so he got negated. Now the question is who else can commit the murder? After seeing the painting of Prince Tavish in his room, I realize that his face is similar to his father. What else can be similar between his father, brother, and uncle? The height. If Prince’s father’s, brother’s and uncle’s height are in the range between 6’ to 6’5’’, Prince Tavish’s height must lie between that range. It is a Simple hereditary logic. The footwear prints we found belonged to none other than Prince Tavish. Our fake princess imprinted those footwear prints with the help of Prince Tavish’s shoes and cleaned those shoes so that the Chief inspector will not found any marks of dust and soil on the shoes and after that, she shouted for help. Perfect diversion. Well, if we consider strengths, there is no chance one on one fight would have happened. The Prince somehow couldn’t resist her attack. But how? What else was there? Then I found the answer…..THE ROSES. The fake princess told us the exact opposite of what transpired. It was not the prince who reached the tower house first, she went before him. She poisoned the tea, but she was not sure that whether he’ll drink it or not that’s why she brought roses. It’s very fortunate that we took that roses as the crime scene material. I examined those, and I found another poison, Aconite, commonly known as Wolf’s bane. She didn’t revealed herself until Prince smelled those roses, Wolf’s bane went to his lungs, he found himself numbing, she took the advantage of that and injected Cyanide. Death in minutes.”

Everyone was shocked to hear this revelation.

 Nilopher continued, “ We didn’t found any fingerprints on the syringe, this mystery was solved when I saw the maid was taking Princess’s costume to the laundry. Her costume which she wore on that day, included gloves, So there was no need to use other gloves as protection. When I saw the crime scene I was hoping that I’ll find gloves somewhere. But I couldn’t.”

Nilopher took a deep breath.

 “Her idea for DNA test was remarkable! She used a ‘Penrose Drain’ for fooling DNA test. ‘Penrose Drain’ is nothing but a soft flexible rubber tube used as a surgical drain, she implanted that to not get caught in the DNA test. She implanted it exactly in the lower side of her elbow, She used the makeup aptly to hide the marks of implantation. and she did give her the right hand for a blood tests. But for that, she required the blood of the real Princess. Where she got that? You must remember my first interaction with you all, a courier arrived as a wedding present for the fake princess. The wedding present was nothing but a blood sample of a real princess. She knew the day will come and someone will surely ask for a DNA test. She was prepared. I asked her handmaiden about the courier company and the Chief inspector checked the courier services records, the courier which our fake princess received was under allowances of medical material. I don’t think wedding gift requires medical allowances so surely, it was a blood sample. A perfect plot.”

Nilopher took step towards the fake princess.

“The fake princess is Rebecca Symondson from Pennsylvania. Postgraduate in epidemiology, topper in her class and skilled in botany. She was in the same collage of late Prince Tavish. She plotted an accident that is responsible for the face damage of the real princess. After that, she kidnaped her and kept her in her own apartment. When I dug into this, I found the accident actually happened. But, there are no records of any kind of plastic surgery in the name of Princess Kiyoma. My colleague Mr. fox released her with the help of local cops in Pennsylvania and captured Rebecca’s companion. Rebecca’s companion had been paid for feeding princess and making sure that she will not make any voice.”

Nilopher took one more step towards her.

“You used three poisons to kill the Prince. You must have a very significant amount of rage and anger inside. And that kind of rage and anger come only if you love that person.”

“Oh, I loved him” the fake princess Rebecca answered. “I loved him more than my life. He betrayed me, after betraying me he fooled my sister, he promised her to marry her. She was pregnant because of him. Your Prince might be a noble man here but out of your sight he was a debauch, impertinent and scoundrel. My sister committed suicide just because of him, his lies and treachery” Tears of anger were coming out of her eyes.

“Why did you stay? Why didn’t you left this country after you killed him?” Nilopher asked.

“I wanted his family to suffer as my family did. I wanted justice. I was going to kill everyone”

 “Chief inspector you might want to search her room, you’ll find more poisons and the blood of Real princess,” Nilopher suggested.

Inspector did find the blood of the real princess and the poisons in the fake princess’s room. They took Rebecca in custody,

“You helped us tremendously. I saved from this psychopath. I heard about your talent before. And now I don’t have doubts about it. Here is your payment. Thank you for your service. I insist you stay here for some time and let us offer you our hospitality.” King thanked her and gave her a check.

“Thank you for your kindness your highness, but I must go as Zane will return from America the day after tomorrow in India.

Nilopher thanked the Chief inspector as well.

“It was a pleasure working with you detective.” Chief inspector said.

Then she left back for Bengaluru. On the other day, she went to the airport to receive Zane.              

Airplane landed. Nilophe was waiting for Zane at the airport. Zane came out.

“Strange isn’t it? A love story turned into a crime.” Zane sat on the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Like one wise man said” Nilopher shut the door of the car. “Love and Crime both are equal”