Page 49 of Heartless

“Give me an example. Help me to understand why you would betray your country, your government, and the people you supposedly represented.”

“These questions are getting tedious, Olivia.”

She was right. They were. They were going in circles and getting nothing accomplished. Time to change tactics. “Did you kill my father?”

“Why this sudden interest in Glen? You never seemed overly fond of him before. You didn’t even come to his funeral.”

No, she hadn’t. And no, she had not been fond of Glen Gates, but she did want to know more about him.

“Answer the question. Did you kill Glen?”

Sighing, Iris shifted in her seat. “No, I didn’t kill him. It was, however, time for him to go.”

“Why?”

She shrugged slightly. “He was becoming useless.”

Unable to help herself, Olivia asked, “Did you ever love him?”

“Love?” Iris rolled her eyes. “Did I teach you nothing, Olivia? Love is for fools. It’s a silly, shallow emotion that has no place in an intelligent person’s life.”

“Then what does, Iris? What’s more important? Greed? Avarice? Power? Control?”

“Still so innocent? Where on earth did I go wrong?”

The pitying look would have been more convincing if Olivia hadn’t seen the stiffening of Iris’s shoulders. They were getting into an area she didn’t want to go, and Olivia was encouraged to press harder.

“Answer the question, Iris. Who do you work for, and what do they want?”

“I’ve given you my answers, Olivia. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they’re not true.”

She’d forgotten how very infuriating her mother could be. “And Glen? Did he work with you?”

“Glen and I agreed on so many points over the years. We were once of one mind, but he later came to look at things differently.”

When her father had died, Iris had told her he had recently learned he had an inoperable brain tumor, and instead of enduring months of suffering, he had walked willingly into the line of fire.

“He didn’t have a brain tumor, did he?”

Iris smiled. “Of course he didn’t.”

“You killed him.”

“No, my dear. I didn’t. I simply told my superiors of his changing philosophy, and they took care of the problem. I thought it quite magnanimous of them to let him go out looking like a hero.”

“Why did you marry him?”

“We were young agents. Our superiors thought it would be a good cover for us. And it was. Decades of devoted service followed. It could have continued for many more years if he hadn’t suddenly turned against everything we fought for.”

“You mean he finally grew a conscience.”

“Such idealism. I knew sending you to work with the Americans was risky, but I told myself you could do it. I fought for you to go. You were naïve, but so very malleable. You should have given us intel we could never get on our own. But you became a traitor to your country, to your family.

“And what have you done since then? You married a man beneath you. No pedigree, no money. Zero influence. You then proceeded to roam around the world, doing God knows what. When I heard you had divorced him, I thought you had, at last, come to your senses. I even considered contacting you, but then you went to work with that rescue organization, and I knew you were a lost cause.”

“How do you know about them?”

“Oh, my dear, there’s nothing I don’t know about you. I even know about the child you lost. Which, by the way, was a blessing, if you ask me.”

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