Jack and Grace were called back to the palace by Queen Mary herself the next day.

Jack and her were originally supposed to go to Westminster Lane upon Chief Ripley's request so they could find some potential clues that could help determine who blackmailed Enid to kill the prince.

Unfortunately, a guard from the royal palace entered and said the queen wished to speak with them. Seeing as it was Grace's call, she elected to go to the Palace first and here they are.

"Detective Grace, after your noble service uncovering our grandson's murder, we feel we can trust you with another royal mission!" Queen Mary explained.
"Of course, Your Majesty. My partner and I would be delighted to help." Grace says as polite as she possibly can—it was the queen after all.

"Count Rupert has gone missing. He's always been something of a scoundrel but after Prince Albert's killing, the Royal Family cannot afford another scandal."

"You do know we're a police agency, right? Not some kind of VIP babysitting service? Besides Rupert tried to have us arrested! Let him stay lost." Jack interrupted and Grace gave him a disapproving look.

She didn't like Count Rupert either, but it was a request from the queen of England and this could be a diplomatic incident.

"My guards spent all night looking from him. We are afraid he may have been kidnapped...or worse!" Queen Mary says gravely.

Grace gives Jack a warning look and he concedes.
"Fine, the last thing we need is another dead prince. Where was Rupert last seen?"
"In the castle's jewel house! That greedy rascal is forever trying on the crown jewels."
"Then we will search there first." Grace determines and the two are escorted to the Treasure Room.

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"This is a waste of our time and resources. Look at this place! It's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack." Jack complains once the guards have left the two alone.
"I know. I don't want to do this either. But the faster we finish, the faster we can go to Westminster Lane and find what we were really looking for." Grace points out as she begins to search, finding only a jewelry box.

"I'm going to search through this." She announces and Jack nods in acknowledgement, leaning up against a wall.

It takes a while to search through but at the bottom there's something of interest.
"I found this theater ticket with Count Rupert's name on it!" Grace announces with a smile, excited by the new lead. Jack grabs the ticket and looks at it in shock.
"So while all the guards were hunting for him, Count Rupert was at the theater?! Man, just when you think someone can't get more self absorbed." Grace nods in agreement, cracking a small smile.
"We should go down to the Globe and track him down."
"Alright. Let's go let Rupert know that all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men have been looking for him."

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They arrive at the globe by taxi and find him quite quickly.
"Where the hell have you been, Count Rupert?! What are you doing hiding in a theater?!" Jack demands once they're close enough.

Rupert looks very saddened to see them,
"Oh goodie, one's been discovered! One came here to escape that ghastly castle! Grandmama's been forcing one to practice royal waving."
"You're worried grandmother sent us. She thought you had been kidnapped." Grace explains.
"Oh poppycock! The only thing she worried about is her reputation!" Rupert snaps irritably.
"Now leave me alone. One is very busy with...jolly important things!" Grace raises an eyebrow in suspicion. He seemed...nervous, but why would he be?
"Something wrong, Rupert? You look nervous."
"NOTHING is wrong!" He snaps at her, "one er...just can't find my mobile phone. My bloody valet lost it." He says before reaching into his pocket to grab some money, "take this money and go see a show or something and leave me alone!"

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"Well that was a dead end." Grace says, very disappointed.
"Yeah. While we're here should we look on Westminster Lane for clues?" Jack suggests.
"Good idea, it would save us time."

Turns out, it was quite easy to search. A torn piece of manuscript was found on the ground.
"Nice work, but if you think this torn paper's relevant, you should put it back together before this London rain dissolves it!"
"Hm...you know, just once I'd like to find a piece of evidence that wasn't torn up!" Grace murmurs to herself before getting to work.

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Grace restores it easily and is surprised to find it's a faded blackmail note.
"This paper has Enid name on it!" She exclaims.
"That's great! This is exactly we were looking for! You think you can retrieve the writing?"
"It's worth a shot!" Grace says, getting out her duster and getting to work.
"It says: 'Enid Grimshaw, we will kill you and your entire family!'. Wow."
"Grace, you understand what this is right? It's the blackmail message that got Enid to kill Prince Albert!" She nods.
"What do we do with it?"
"We need to take it to Dupont and see if he can work out this paper." Jack says and they grab a taxi to return them to The Bureau's headquarters.

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It takes a couple hours, but once Dupont is ready, Jack and Grace enter his research library. She hasn't known him for very long, but Grace hasn't seen the research this mad before.
"Sacre bleu, Grace! I see you have a new crime to investigate! A crime against art! A crime against history! Against—!"
"Get to the point, Dupont!" Jack interrupts impatiently. The man turns redder by the second.
"That page you found on the London street was torn from a thousand-year old manuscript! And they defiled it further by writing on it!"
"So...what is it?" Grace asks, allowing the man to calm down for just a moment.
"The manuscript in question is from an ancient text regarding a long lost cult. You see that symbol? That is their mark." Grace's eyes widen in alarm as she sees the red seal underneath.
"Jack, do you see the seal? Brother Klaus wears a necklace with the same symbol!"
"You're right! He's in a cult, why doesn't that surprise me?!"
"I don't know, but I think we have a new lead."
"Do you think that Klaus wrote this message? We should go down to the Globe and ask him." Grace nods and they rush off again, coming full circle.

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"So Brother Klaus, you blackmailed Enid Grimshaw into killing the prince! And don't play coy, we know that the manuscript's seal is the same symbol of your necklace!" The monk looks appalled by Jack's accusation.
"You come here to accuse me again of murder! And this time because of the symbol on my necklace?! How dare you! This is the symbol of my ancient order!"
"That so? Are you saying you've never seen this note before?" Grace asks, holding it out for him to see.
"That...that paper. This cannot be...that paper is from The Manuscript! And it hasn't been seen in centuries!" Brother Klaus exclaims with mystified wonder and seems to attempt to grab it from Grace's hands.
"Give it to me! It is a holy relic! Even with the message scrawled on it!!"
"Not so fast! Someone in your "ancient order" wrote this note and we're going to keep in custody until you tell us who it is!" Jack explains, grabbing some handcuffs he had brought along and putting them on the monk.

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Once Klaus Weissman was put into custody, Jack and Grace went into the main lobby to discuss the facts they knew so far.
"You really think keeping him there will help?" Grace asks, a little skeptical.
"I think so. If Brother Klaus' organization was behind the murder then, it might make him more talkative. As for Prince Charmless, he seemed pretty nervous about losing his mobile phone. Do you want think he's hiding something?"
"Definitely. We should go back to the Globe and see if we can find it."

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"So you found Count Rupert's phone? Nice work!"
"Yeah well," Grace shrugs, "wasn't that hard to find. Surprised he couldn't himself."

Jack gets a mischievous look on his face.
"It's too bad it's locked...do you think it would be treason if we unlocked it?" Grace smirked, understanding that regardless of it was or wasn't, they were getting that phone unlocked.
"Maybe...but no one has to know right?"
"I won't tell if you won't." Jack winks, "come on, let's unlock this phone."

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Once Grace unlocked it, the two returned to headquarters to hand it off to Gretta and Elliot. It took a couple of hours but once it was done, they came down.

At the moment it was only Elliot downstairs as they saw Gretta upstairs, grabbing a snack from the vending machine.

Of course, it would be a lot shorter conversation if Elliot wasn't so smug about it.

"Well, well, so Archer's hacking into a royal phone! I wonder if that's high treason or just the regular kind." Both detectives roll their eyes and Jack says,
"Be a sport, Elliot! We'll never have another chance to see what Count Rupert is up to!"
"Hmm...it's gonna cost you. I'll tell you what's on the phone if you clean my office every week for a month! Deal?" Grace glances over at Jack who looks very ready to tell Elliot off and is clearly getting frustrated.
"...fine. You've got deal!" Elliot smirks.
"You were right. Count Rupert is up to something. His online banking account shows he got a wire transfer two days ago for over £1 million!"

Grace's eyes widen at the number.
"That's got suspicious written all over it! Where did the money come from?"
"Well, that's the thing. It was sent from the European Central Bank. Why would a bank be giving money to royalty?" A lightbulb moment occurs with Grace as soon as she hears that.
"Archibald Gilchirst is the CEO of the European Bank! Maybe he was sending the money?"

"Wait, is that the asshole who tried to push you out of the way the other day?" Gretta asks as she returns from upstairs and sits down next to Elliot. Grace nods as the gears begin to turn in her head.
"It doesn't make much sense though...when we talked with him, he claimed the bank didn't have much money." She murmurs to herself.
"Wait...what did he do?" Gretta asks.
"He sent Count Rupert a check of £1 million pounds." Elliot explains holding up the phone for her.
"Woah!"
"We should have a chat with him." Grace finalizes, ignoring the two teens banter and starting to head for the exit.
"Good luck!" Gretta calls as her mother goes out the door.

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Jack and Grace arrive at the bank and are escorted by the man's secretary up to his office.
"Ah, Detective Grace, Detective Jack. A pleasure to see you both. Care for some afternoon tea."
"Ugh! Only a few days in England and I'm already sick of tea." Jack grumbles.
"Well, why not a burger instead? My bank's private chef just made some and I know you Americans love them." Grace ignored the jab (to be fair, Jack started it first) and instead countered with a question,
"Private chef? I thought you told us the bank was running out of money?"
"Yet you paid Count Rupert around £1 million pounds too!" Jack added and the man look shocked.
"Bugger! You found that out too? It was meant to be a secret! You see, with Prince Albert dead, the bank needs new royal support, otherwise we're done for! So we paid Count Rupert to say...nice things about us in public. That's all...honest!" Grace crosses her arms and glares at the man, not believing him entirely.
"How many "nice things" can £1 million get?! Come on, Grace, let's get out of here! And I'm taking that burger!" Jack announces before the two storm out.

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Afterwards, the two discussed that it seemed odd to pay that amount for money just to say "nice things" so Grace suggested they go to Rupert for some answers.
"We thought you might want your phone back, Count Rupert." Grace says, handing it back to him.
"Oh, you found it! How glorious! Maybe one was wrong about—" Rupert's thankfulness wares off quickly once he realizes what they did.
"You unlocked it! One ought to have you horsewhipped!"

No way in hell is that happening! Grace thinks to herself.
"I wouldn't do that if I were. Unless you want your "Grandmama" to find out about the bribe you accepted from Archibald Gilchirst." Grace threatens. Rupert looks less willing to enact his plan now.
"No! Don't do that, please! I'll tell you everything: Gilchirst...Gilchirst gave me the money and all one had to do is use one's royal reputation to support a "yes vote" in some referendum!" The two detectives look at each other in confusion. They had never heard of this before.
"What referendum?!" Jack demands.
"No idea! One does not care for politics! But one cares deeply for cold, hard cash!"

Of course we would. Grace thinks as Count Rupert explains that that's all he knows and Jack makes him promise to stop threatening to put people into dungeons and accepting bribes in exchange, the two detectives won't tell the queen.

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After a lot of back and forth, the two return to the headquarters for the final time where Chief Ripley has some unfortunate news.

"Ah, Jack, Grace, there you two are!  I've been looking for both of you all over the place. I have bad news—we had to let go of Brother Klaus."
"What?!" Grace shouts in surprise, unable to stop himself.
"But his "ancient order" is responsible for Prince Albert's murder!" Jack points out.
"I'm sorry, but our evidence against him isn't strong enough. Besides, someone paid for a very expensive lawyer to represent him."
"Where does a mad monk get the money for a big lawyer? Something stinks about this guy and it's not just his filthy robes." Grace nods in agreement, but the chief isn't having it.

"We've got bigger things to worry about. We're no nearer to working out who is behind the recent chaos and the recent referendum in only a few weeks—"
"I've been meaning to ask about that. What's this referendum vote for? Count Rupert talked about it as well." Grace interrupts.
"With all the violence and bloodshed in Europe, the European Parliament arranged for a referendum on uniting Europe under one government. No more Britain, Germany or France, just 'The United States of Europe'!"
"That's a big deal! Why would Archibald Gilchirst support it?"

"I have a bad feeling about him too. We'll have to keep an eye on him while you're away, Grace."
"Away?" Jack asks in alarm, "where is Grace going?"
"Oh yes! I knew I forgot to tell you something, Grace. The Bureau is sending you to France! Dupont just heard through his 'historic grapevine' that the manuscript has been found at an auction in Paris!"
"Oh! Really? I'm honored, Chief." Grace says, taken aback by the sudden change and Chief Ripley gives her a small smile in return.
"You're going to Paris?" Jack asks incredulously, "beautiful boulevards, amazing food and stunning women? And I'm stuck in rainy old London!" Chief Ripley chuckles out a low chuckle and gives Jack a wink.

"Cheer up, Archer! Have a cup of tea."

Author's Notes

I wanted to write a bulk of chapters because these are fun to write but they unfortunately take a few hours to complete so this might be the only chapter I publish today :/

Visual reference for Gretta by the way because I don't think I described her well enough:

(Just pretend her eyes are blue. I found the look with blue eyes to be boring in the 3rd game—)

Although if I was being canon to my true self (since Grace is based off me/has my name), this would be my eye color as my eyes are hazel/brown :)

I looked it up because I was curious and £1 million pounds is equivalent to $1, 387,055 so um...yeah. Archibald is clearly very serious about wanting Count Rupert's support for the vote!

BatgirlGeek❤️