“What was he like? What did he say?” What did he say about me? she meant. “It’s funny,” said Toni. “Mainly he talked with Jabr. Lots of questions about al-Remal, the customs. Islam—very interested in Islam. Jabr got very serious then and quoted some verses from the Koran about honoring one’s mother. But that may not have been the way to handle it.”

“Why?”

“Because Karim clammed up. Not exactly clammed up, but he got stuffy.” “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if you want to hear this.” “Of course, I do.”

“Okay. I took notes as soon as we were out of there.” She took out her note- book. “This may not be verbatim, but it’s pretty close: ‘My mother has lied to me all my life. She purposely hid my birthright from me. I never knew my father, and now I’ll never know him because she killed him. I have no desire to see her or speak with her. That’s final.’”

All through Karim’s childhood, his adolescence, his new young adult- hood, Jenna had used those very words in accusing herself, dreading the day that her son might use them. Now it had happened. “That’s all?” she said. “Nothing more?”

Toni shook her head. “He showed us the door. Politely, but there was no question we were being given the boot. I asked him to give it some thought, just take some time to think it over. He didn’t even answer. I’m sorry, Jenna. We blew it.”

“No, you didn’t. You did what I asked. You found him. You talked with him. You didn’t blow it. I did.”

“No. That’s not right. Jenna, I know you. I know your story. You did the right thing, the only thing you could do. Don’t blame yourself. It’s … just a bad break, that’s all. I know how you feel. I know exactly. But it’s not the end. You should know that. You’re the one who helped me learn it.”

O

With Toni’s report, Jenna’s hope turned to desperation, and what had been worry over Karim turned to torture. He was about to vanish from her life, maybe forever. She cast about wildly for a solution, any solution. What if she changed her story, denied that she was Amira Badir? There had been impostors, more than one over the years, claiming to be the lost princess. If the Remalis thought that she was just another pretender, would they still take Karim in? Or maybe she should tell Malik to forget what she had said and send red-haired Ryan on another abduction, this time of Karim.

That was nonsense, of course. It was too late, too late for anything. And then one evening, it really was too late: the little television in the women’s section brought the news that Karim Rashad, son of the victim and the alleged killer in the Ali Rashad case, had returned to his native land as an honored member of its royal family.