AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We need you to fill in some blanks for us, Su Majestad,” her boss said.
“Blanks? There are holes you could sail an ocean liner through,” Luis said.
Quinn sank lower in her chair, but Mikel pressed on. “Motivation is the key to an investigation. You have a history with Mademoiselle Fontaine that we hope will illuminate our research.”
“That history is far in the past. I see no possible connection to Odette now,” Luis snapped. “Her fight would be with me, not with Gabriel anyway.”
“First, you are very well protected. It would be almost impossible to kidnap you,” Mikel said in a reasonable tone. “Second, the kidnappers were aiming for el príncipe. If one wishes to strike at the father, the best target is his child.”
Guilt flashed across the king’s face. “What do you want to know?”
“Has there been any friction about the lily sap contract with Mademoiselle Fontaine’s company, Archambeau, in the last three years?” Mikel was starting with the easy stuff.
Luis rubbed his palm over his face. “Odette always wants more sap, but I think it’s become habit rather than expectation now. Hélène hasn’t mentioned any new issues.”
“So you haven’t changed the amount of sap her company receives?”
“It’s dependent on our harvest, of course, but that’s been steady these last few years. No significant fluctuations.”
“How did the arrangement to sell the sap to Mademoiselle Fontaine come about?” Mikel dug a little deeper, and Quinn took mental notes on his technique.
The king gave Mikel a sharp glance. Evidently, he had also caught on to her boss’s strategy. “I’ll tell you the whole story, so you don’t have to handle me.” He leaned back in his chair.
“After my wife died, I made some bad decisions. One of them was starting a relationship with Odette. She was visiting Hélène when I was feeling…alone. Guilty. Overwhelmed.” He grimaced. “Odette has a strong personality. I leaned on her when I should have gone to my advisers for governmental advice and my brother for personal support. Odette and I had a torrid affair for about six months before I realized who she truly was and broke it off.”
Quinn wanted to ask who he thought Odette was but didn’t have the nerve.
Luckily, her boss had plenty of nerve. “What precisely made you end the relationship?”
“How do I explain?” Luis blew out a breath. “Small things added up over time, but what bothered me most was that when I wanted to spend time with Raul, Odette always had an excuse not to. He was just a baby, and he had lost his mother. I did not wish to leave him with only his nanny. As misguided as I was about some things, at least I knew that Raul needed me.”
The king’s voice was heavy with regret.
“You have always been an excellent father.” Mikel’s words held no flattery, only sincerity. “The fine man His Royal Highness has become is proof of that.”
“Gracias,” Luis said. “But I think Raul saved me, not the other way around.” He shifted in his seat. “When I told Odette our romantic relationship was over, she was quite angry.”
Quinn’s attention sharpened.
“Did she threaten you?” Mikel asked.
“Not with bodily harm,” Luis said. “However, she told me that I would never find a woman who would be a better queen than she.” The king smiled without humor. “Perhaps she was right since I have never found another queen at all.”
Quinn had wondered about that, but the king’s lack of a wife was definitely not part of her investigation.
“She wanted to be queen, and you thwarted that,” Mikel said in a thoughtful tone.
“But that was nearly thirty years ago,” Luis pointed out. “Since then, she’s made a great deal of money from Caleva. Why would she endanger that?”
“What do you know about Iowa?” Mikel asked. “What reason would Mademoiselle Fontaine have to go?”
“Iowa is in the midwestern United States. I believe they grow soybeans and corn and raise hogs, none of which would interest Odette. I’ve never been there.”
It was impressive that he knew what Iowa’s main crops were, but kings were probably interested in that sort of thing.
“Which is why her journey there eighteen months ago sticks out as an anomaly,” Mikel said. “Had she been to Caleva around that time?”
Luis turned to the sleek computer on a smaller desk beside him and scrolled through several screens. “The last time Odette visited was twenty months ago, which was before her visit to Iowa.”
