Eleanor's doors flung open and Liam, half supporting Jasper, half dragging him, with a bloodied towel pressed to his chest, entered the room, followed by her body guard James Hill.
"What the hell happened?" Eleanor demanded, running up to Jasper, lifting his head and looking into his eyes.
"I'm sorry Len, this was my fault. He tried to stop me doing something stupid."
"We need the doctor!" Eleanor screamed as Liam deposited Jasper on the sofa
"We can't call the doctor."
"Why?"
"Doc already patched him up today."
James, sensing the tension, excused himself and left the room.
"We did it Len." Jasper said, with a weak grin on his face.
"What's he talking about?"
"He went to where he was shot this morning. Found a camera no one else knew about."
"Bust a stitch taking it down."
"Hence the doctor this morning. So what happened this time?"
"Not only did the camera identify who shot him, it also showed who killed dad. I saw red. Jasper held me back before I did something stupid, ripping several stitches."
"You know who killed dad?" Eleanor asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It was Ted."
Liam blocked her movement before she could do the exact same thing he wanted to, at the same time James came back in the room.
"Looks like I arrived at a bad time." he quipped.
"Did you hear any of that?" Jasper asked him quietly
"Every word. and whatever you are all planning, I am in." James replied, putting the supplies he had found on the table.
Eleanor was still trying to get past Liam, but when she heard a hiss of pain from Jasper as James cleaned and closed Jasper's bullet wound, she stopped trying to fight Liam, and went and sat next to Jasper, taking his hand in hers.
"So what do we do?" Eleanor asked the room
"We need to make a plan, which will make him accountable for what he's done. Killing him is too easy." Jasper said.
"But he killed my dad!"
"Well he shot me"
"Jasper is right. having him killed is far too easy."
"May I recommend looping your mother in on this one?" James asked.
"She won't hear it if it comes from one of us." Eleanor said, slumping back into the sofa.
"What if I take her a copy of the video?" James asked.
"That could work"
"I need to get to the control room. I have a shift on the cameras. If I don't go, then he'll know something is wrong."
"You're late" Ted said, as Jasper struggled into the room.
"My apologies Ted, I was talking with Liam and he accidentally elbowed me. Tore a few stitches."
"Very well, it's all yours." Ted told him, eyeing him up. He had seen Liam half carry Jasper across the Palace, and he had seen that Jasper was covered in blood as he did so. He also saw James enter Eleanor's room with medical supplies, leaving ten minutes later with Jasper, who had at least changed his shirt.
Jasper nodded to Ted, who promptly left. He sat in the chair and swung to face the monitors. He quickly located the Queen, and, making sure that Ted was on the opposite side of the Palace, he text James.
"now. Library".
Jasper watched, as one of the secret doors close to the library opened, and James walked out of it. Jasper watched as James handed the queen something. He did not hear what was said, and James had his back to him, so couldn't try lipread, but he was sure that James was giving the Queen a breakdown of the days events.
When he saw Eleanor, Liam, James and the Queen enter the tunnels, he put a loop onto the recording, while he watched their meeting with fascination, wishing that he could be there himself.
"So what do we have?" the Queen asked.
"Other than trusting someone with your life and them quite literally taking it way?" Eleanor spat out.
"Not the time, Eleanor. Are we safe here? I mean, cameras?"
"Jasper is on shift in the control room tonight. He's looped the feeds to allow us to talk,"
"I want to kill him" Liam grumbled.
"Me too." Eleanor agreed.
"That makes three of us, but none of us has sovereign immunity, and once you take a life, there is no coming back from it." Helena told them.
"If I may, your Majesty," James interjected "Jasper is right. If this is not done right, then Ted could simply disappear."
"Well, what would you suggest?"
"If we take it to the authorities, then there may be people loyal to Ted who can make the footage disappear, so it may be prudent to release it yourselves, but not in a manner that anyone could trace it back to you."
"Kings Cup. There is the memorial video. Is there a way we can play the CCTV instead of that?" Liam asked
"You may be able to do it from the control room, but we would need access."
"We're the Royal family, I'm sure we can get access." Eleanor stated
"We'll also need Jasper. I don't know enough about technology to do this myself, and someone will need to get Ted onto the pitch." James told them.
"I will do that." Helena said.