Margaret Kent’s private mansion,
Kensington, London
M argaret Kent was staring at her son’s picture, counting the days until she’d have him back from the Queen of Hearts. The vicious Queen who stopped at nothing to get her hands on the Six Impossible Keys.
Margaret gasped. It had been a long and painful road to find her son. And it seemed like it was only getting longer. She prayed that her plan would work out in the end, and she decided to start by answering her private phone that had been ringing all morning.
“Yes?” She picked up, doing her best to sound collected and as brutal as she’d like everyone to think of her.
“It’s me,” the voice said. “Carolus.”
“What do you want? Didn’t I say I’m taking the day off?”
“It’s important. I have someone who wants to meet you, Duchess,” Carolus said. “He says his name is Inspector Dormouse. He is head of the…”
“…Department of Insanity,” Margaret said. “What does he want?”
“He says he has critical information that you need to know.”
“What kind of information?”
“Carter Pillar.”
“What about him?”
“The Inspector says he’s discovered something about him.”
“Something that I don’t know?”
“He says he knows who the Pillar really is.”
“Nonsense.” Margaret gently rubbed her son’s picture. “I know all I need to know about the Pillar; all the way back since the days in Wonderland.”
Carolus took his time in saying, “Do you know why he killed the twelve men, though?”
Margaret put her son’s picture aside. “He did it so he could plead insanity and be admitted to the Radcliffe Asylum to mentor Alice.”
“Don’t you think he could’ve found easier ways to sneak into the asylum?”
“Of course. He could’ve worn a tutu, stood in Parliament Square, and cursed the Queen of England,” she said. “But being the Pillar, he had to act larger than life and do crazy things, so he killed twelve people, claiming the Alice Underground book drove him crazy.”
“That’s not what Inspector Dormouse said.”
“Whatever he said, I wouldn’t trust a man who is asleep half of the time.”
“Maybe that’s why he sees things clearer.”
“Meaning?”
“We’re always awake. Always alert. Always thinking. Too much information could be the reason why we overlook a few details.”
“Don’t lecture me, Carolus. Don’t act like you’re a real person. You’re merely a man’s shadow. What did Dormouse say?”
“He wants to meet first, but he says he knows the twelve people the Pillar killed weren’t chosen haphazardly. They all actually have one thing in common.”
“Which is?”
“He wouldn’t tell. That’s why he wants to…”
“All right.” Margaret sighed. “Make him pay me a visit at the office today. I’d love to see the Queen chop off his head for wasting my time.”
“That’d put him into an eternal sleep.” Carolus chortled. “And, ah, I forgot. There’s one other thing.”
“What now?”
“A madman by the name of the Chessmaster is holding the world’s leaders hostage and is threatening to kill them all at that world charity event.”
“Hostages? How is that possible? Why would someone do that?”
“Not only hostages, but he also killed the Pope’s representative in a weird game of chess.”
Margaret went silent. She felt a lump in her throat. She should have been the first to know, but she was too occupied with planning to save her son.
The event had been endorsed by the top five countries in the world. A global chess game to raise money. The Queen of Hearts had sent her new prime minister puppet, Mr. Paperwhite, to attend it.
“Duchess?” Carolus’ voice crackled in the speaker.
“Forget about Dormouse,” she said. “Call my staff for an emergency meeting. Until then, I want to know everything about this Chessmaster.”