Chapter 101

"What do you mean, the crown isn't there?"
Marc gritted his teeth as he spoke into his cell phone just before noon the following day. He looked across the room to where Aldara was brushing out her wet hair after her shower. She sat on his bed cross-legged in just a pair of boy-short panties and a matching blue cotton bra. The ensemble shouldn't have been sexy but on her it was downright seductive.
"Somebody trashed her room," the voice on the other end patiently repeated. Pauline LaRoche was one of the calmest, most unflappable gargoyles Marc had ever met, which was why she made such a good attorney. "Her passport and visa are torn but recoverable, her wallet is empty and there's no crown anywhere in her luggage. I went through her cabin myself to make sure she hadn't hidden it somewhere. Nothing."
"But you've gotten her things and you're flying them up now?"
"I'll be there in the helicopter about six thirty - just after sunset. Customs is meeting us at the RCMP post, so she can be officially checked into the country. The cruise line is sending her full salary plus a bonus in the hopes that she won't sue them for her fall. Now we just have to figure out who took the crown - and probably who tossed your friend into the ocean as well."
"Exactly," Marc grumbled. "I'm having Beau and my father come here for the meeting as well. Extra security and a second attorney never hurt anything. Whomever has the crown doesn't know she has amnesia, so Aldara could still be in danger. Thanks, Pauline. See you tonight."
He flipped his phone shut and turned to Aldara. "We need to figure out who could have known you had the crown." He quickly relayed his conversation with Pauline, watching while Aldara's skin grew pale.
She shook her head and bit her lower lip. "It wasn't mentioned in Geraint's will. He gave it to me a few days before he died, complete with papers proving my ownership. The only one I can think of is Yves and he can't have been on the ship. It boarded in daylight."
"But he could have hired someone," Marc pointed out. "Or he could have stowed away the night before the ship sailed or any number of things. Do you know how Yves felt about his father's decision to return the crown?"
Her grimace said it all. "He was opposed of course. There was magic in it and Yves was always a power-hungry bastard."
Her shudder roused something deep in Marc's gut. Yves might not have raped her but he'd done something to Aldara and Marc was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he was going to have to make sure it never happened again.
"Okay, what I want you to do is write down everything you can think of about the crown, from what Geraint told you about it up to where you packed it in your luggage. I know your memory of the actual trip is still lacking but maybe you'll come up with another fact or two that will help us find it."
"I remember packing," she said. "Geraint was starting to fail and he made me promise I'd leave the day after he was gone, so I was mostly packed before his death - afterward, I only had to add my clothes and other everyday things. I sent my trunks ahead to a friend's in Athens then I stayed with them for a couple of days until the ship was ready to sail, I remember that."
"Do you remember where you packed the crown?"
She started to shake her head again then paused and smiled slowly. "Yes. It's in one of my trunks, hidden inside a secret compartment. It's an old steamer trunk - Geraint used it to smuggle his things out of France during World War II. If we're lucky, your people just didn't find the compartment and the crown is still there."
"Brilliant!" He got out of his chair and crossed to the bed to take her in his arms. "I should have known you'd hidden it well." After kissing her, just because he could, he pulled himself away and went back to his desk by the window. He immediately called Pauline back and discovered that the trunks, which had been in the ship's cargo hold and not in Aldara's cabin, did indeed look untouched. Sending up a mental sigh of relief, he called Beau and his father. Someone had still broken into her room and he was more convinced than ever that someone had hit her and thrown her overboard. Backup was still a good idea. Besides, someone had to bring the amphibious plane to take him and Aldara back to the compound. It might as well be his dad. Flying was one of Etienne Armel's favorite pastimes.
"We'll be there in about four hours," Beau told him. "Then we can go with you to the mainland at dusk."
"Perfect," Marc replied. "And, Beau? I don't know how I know this but be prepared for trouble, okay?"
"Understood. See you soon."
"They'll be here about four." He hung up and turned back to Aldara, who sat watching him with a strange look on her face. The hairbrush lay idle by her side and her hands were clenched in his lap. "What's wrong, blackbird?"
"Your father will be here soon, right?"
Ah. She was worried about meeting his parents. Marc knew they'd adore her, so he hadn't considered that she must be nervous, especially since she'd never had a lover before. He crossed the room again and sat on the bed beside her. "He's going to love you, cherie. I know my parents being our leaders makes them seem a little imposing, but they are good, caring people. My father likes to fly planes and go fly-fishing, though he never catches anything. My mother has a whole room crammed with romance novels we're not supposed to know she reads." He picked up one of her hands and squeezed it in his own.
"I'm sure they're every bit as wonderful as you say they are," she began. "But..." She pulled her hand away from his and stood, beginning to pull on her jeans and a soft lavender sweater.
"But what?" He watched regretfully as she covered herself up.
Finally dressed, she backed up against the dresser and gripped it in her hands as she studied his face. "These last few days have been...indescribable. I can't begin to tell you what it meant to me to have a man like you for my first. But the whole point of moving to North America was for me to make a fresh start. I don't want to start my new life as your mistress, Marc. I don't want that to be my introduction to your people."