Nancy pressed herself up against the wall, hoping to hear any snippets of the conversation. After a moment of whispering, the men's voices grew louder and she could hear a bit.

"No no, we just want you to take pictures of River Heights. That whole 'sister city' thing is still going and I genuinely believe River Heights would make a great candidate."

Nancy's brow furrowed. What were they talking about?

"Would that be all, Mr. Amien?" Francis asked.

"Raoul, please call me Raoul. I will be your main contact, and my wife knows about it too, so she'll be able to help."

Francis held out his hand and smiled. "Raoul, yes, thank you. And your wife's name?"

Raoul shook his hand. "Her name is Christa. I look forward to seeing your prints."

"And I look forward to snapping those pictures. River Heights is a lovely place."

A mien smiled. "So I've seen. Now, if you'll excuse me, Tomas and I have another meeting to attend to. Good day, Francis."

"Of course. Good day, Mr. Renee. Good day, Mr. Amien, I mean, Raoul."

Raoul chuckled. "It will take some getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it."

"And you can call me Tomas," said Mr. Renee.

Francis shook hands with him. "Right, of course, Tomas." They said goodbye again before the two Centrovians left. Nancy stayed pressed against the wall until they turned the corner, then dashed into the room.

Francis glanced at her, startled. "Nancy! What are you doing here?"

Nancy shushed him. "Looking for you! What did those two men want?"

Francis shrugged. "Pictures of River Heights to submit into this sister city program with Centrovia."

"You must be careful. Helen and I overheard them talking about finding you and your grandmother, and killing you!"

Francis's face blanched. "Wh-what? How did you hear that?"

"Helen and I were picking up Helen's pen pal from Europe at the airport when they walked past the car, talking about it!"

Francis rubbed his hands together nervously. "I see. Well, they don't have to know anything else about me."

"To be on the safe side, try your best to get this project over and done with, and avoid Lilac Inn in your photographs!"

Francis nodded slowly. "I, I will try. I might have to get a picture or two, but I shall try to do it when grandmother isn't there."

Nancy nodded and heaved a sigh of relief. "Good idea. But remember, don't tell them any information about your family or your grandmother being here. They seem pretty serious."

Francis nodded. "I will remember. Thank you for telling me."

Nancy smiled at him. "You're welcome. I have to go now, but I will see you tomorrow. Be careful."

Francis shot her a nervous smile. "You be careful yourself. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Nancy had begun to take a step towards the doorway, but the way he said that made an alarm go off in her head. She turned and looked at him. Something was wrong, wasn't it? But what was wrong? She merely smiled. "Nor I you." Without giving him a chance to reply, she turned and left.

The conversation was all she could think about on the way to Lilac Inn. She did pay some attention to the conversation Helen was having with the Kovnas, listening for any hint as to which side they were on. It did seem like they weren't going to cover that in this conversation and Nancy didn't know how to move the conversation to politics, so let it go wherever they wanted it to. She answered a few questions, but ended up staying quiet for the most part on the way to the Inn. That, and the conversation with Francis continued to gnaw at her mind, refusing to leave her thoughts. After a few minutes of listening to the conversation in the car, Nancy stopped worrying about finding out which side the Kovnas were on and turned her focus to Francis' words. What had he really meant? And why couldn't she figure out what was setting alarms off in her head? After what seemed like an eternity of Nancy replaying the whole scene in her head, she came crashing back to reality from a loud exclamation.

"Wait, we get fresh eggs and milk from a farm?" Millie let out a squeal as she turned to her mother. "Can we go see it, please Mother?"

Helen smiled. "It might be a good idea, the Matthews family have a couple of kids around Millie's age. "

Millie grabbed her mother's arm. "Mother, can I, please? Then I can have my own pen pal when we go home to Centrovia!"

Mrs. Kovna held up a finger. "We shall see what Mr. and Mrs. Matthews say first, but we can at least meet them."

"Well, you should be able to meet Mr. Matthews, his brother, and the eldest son, Richard," said Helen. "They should be delivering when we arrive."

"Oh, and how old is Richard?"

"He's what, twenty?"

Nancy shrugged. "He looks like he's about nineteen, twenty." Nancy paused for a brief moment before her brows furrowed in thought and she cast a glance out the window. "To be honest, I didn't think of asking."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon. Lilac Inn is dead ahead!" announced Helen. The Kovnas leaned forward, eager to see the Inn. They gasped when it came into view.

"Oh Mother, it's absolutely gorgeous! Uncle Henri picked the best place ever!" Katherine hugged her mother in her excitement.

Nancy blinked before twisting in her seat to look at the Kovnas. "Your uncle picked the Inn?"

Katherine bobbed her head. "Oh yes, he made all the reservations."

"And paid for everything!" Millie exclaimed.

"Wow, your uncle must be very rich!" Helen said as she slowed down the car to pull into the parking lot.

Mrs. Kovna chuckled. "Oh, he does make some good money, but he still had to save up for a few years before being able to pay for all of this." She glanced between her daughters and put an arm around each one. "But then, he also doesn't have two daughters to provide for, though he has helped us on many occasions."

Nancy turned back around in her seat. Maybe the Kovnas weren't involved in any way. This trip had been planned for quite some time. But then, maybe Uncle Henri was still a part of it, though it was unlikely that anyone knew the queen was in River Heights. It was only by unlucky chance that Raoul Amien's wife saw Mrs. Alexandra in the mall. A slight shiver went down Nancy's spine. What would have happened if Mrs. Amien had helped Mrs. Alexandra instead of Nancy? But it was no good thinking like that, Nancy had helped and she was going to help get the queen and her grandson back home.

Helen parked the car and the five quickly got out. Nancy and Helen grabbed a few of the bags, and between the five of them, got all the luggage out of the car and into the Inn. Jane was waiting for them at the front desk.

She beamed upon seeing them approach the desk. "Hello! You must be the Kovnas!"

Mrs. Kovna nodded and smiled. "Yes, most of us, anyway. I'm Helene, this is Katherine, and this is Millie."

Jane shook hands with each of them. "A pleasure to meet you all! And welcome to River Heights!"

"Thank you!" they chorused.

Jane grabbed two keys and stepped around the desk. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your rooms." Jane led them up the stairs and told them about the hours for the Inn, as well as directing the conversation to the sights of River Heights. Jane had just reached the top of the stairs when Richard Matthews burst from the kitchen, calling for her.

He paused as they looked at him with questioning looks. "Oh, um, hi. Uh, sorry, Mrs. Willoughby, I didn't know you had guests."

Jane leaned over the railing. "What is it, Richard? What's wrong?"

"Uh, Dad needs to talk to you." He shot them a sheepish grin.

"Does he need me now?"

"Uh, as soon as possible, after you get them situated."

Jane nodded. "Right, let him know I'll be there in a few minutes."

Richard gave a quick nod. "Will do." He glanced at the Kovnas and dipped his head slightly. "And, uh, welcome to the Lilac Inn!"

"Thank you!" the Kovnas chorused before continuing their climb up the stairs.

Nancy turned to follow, but paused to glance back at Richard. He shot her a sad look before disappearing back into the kitchen. Her own face fell. Mrs. Matthews must have told him no. She turned and hurried up the stairs, following Helen and the Kovna sisters into their room.

"Wow, this is so pretty!" Millie went around the room, looking at all the various knickknacks.

"So, um, that was Richard we saw?" asked KAtherine as she set down one of her suitcases.

Helen bobbed her head. "Yup, Richard Matthews. Since they're already here, maybe we can introduce you to him, his dad, and his uncle at least before they head back to the farm. We'll invite the whole family soon so you can meet them all."

"He looks like what I think a prince in hiding would look like," quipped Millie before falling on her bed. Nancy, Helen, and Katherine jumped slightly at the sentence.

Katherine turned to her sister. "What makes you say that?"

Millie shrugged. "I don't know, just something about him. He seemed … regal, an air about him, I suppose. I don't know. He obviously grew up on a farm, but there's something … different about him."

Helen sat down in one of the chairs in the room. "Well, now that you mention it, yeah, there does seem to be something different about him."

"You mean besides the fact that he is rather handsome?" said Katherine. She giggled, then paused. "Yes, very handsome." She turned to Nancy. "And I suppose you two are a … thing?"

Nancy blinked. "What? Oh, absolutely not!"

It was Katherine's turn to blink in confusion. "Then, what was with that look he gave you?"

"Oh, Helen told you I like to solve mysteries, right?"

Katherine slowly nodded her head. "Yes."

"Well, Richard has one he wants me to solve, but he needs permission from his mother. It looks like he didn't get it. I need to go talk to him. I'll be right back." Nancy dashed out the door and down the stairs. She burst into the kitchen where Jane and the two Matthews brothers were chatting with the Turner sisters. Nancy vaguely overheard something about spilt milk, but didn't pay any more attention to it as she turned her focus to finding Richard. She saw a glimpse of his fair head as he walked past the window. She dashed out the back door and caught up with him. He had paused near a lilac tree, fiddling with a blooming branch between his fingers.

"She said no?" asked Nancy.

Richard nodded and sighed. "She, she said that now wasn't a good time." He held up his finger. "But, maybe another time. I'm sorry to disappoint you …"

Nancy smiled and shook her head. "Don't be. In fact, you've made things better! Now I know I'll have a mystery to look forward to once I've solved this one!"

Richard laughed. "Good to know." He paused and blinked. "Wait, what mystery? You're already on another mystery?"

Nancy laughed. "Yes, I am. I'm helping an elderly lady look for her missing family."

Richard's mouth began to drop, but he quickly corrected himself. "Oh, wow, that's, wow … maybe it is a good thing Mom said not right now. Sounds like you're pretty busy."

Nancy chuckled nervously. "Well, it's been, ah, interesting, to say the least." She glanced down and saw the lilac branch still being twirled between his fingers. "Who's the lilac for?"

"Huh?" Richard glanced down. "Oh, um, for Mom, I suppose." He looked at the budding purple blooms before glancing back at Nancy. "Listen, I know Mom said not to say anything, but I have to tell you this." He held the lilac up to Nancy. "Whenever I smell these, it's like memories are unlocked. In a way. I still can't get to them. Something about my past and lilacs, they're very strongly connected." He brought the branch down and lowered his head. "It's just, this scent, it triggers a memory, but it's a memory I can't seem to get to. And yet I somehow know it's very important that I should remember, yet I can't." He sighed and glanced around. "So, I just keep coming here, hoping that one day, the scent will finally trigger the rest of the memories."

"Is that your mystery?" asked Nancy.

"It's the biggest clue I have." Richard shrugged. "Sorry, can't say more than that. I just had to say that because this scent drives me nuts by reminding me of my past, but it's almost as if it's keeping it at bay too."

Nancy patted his arm. "Well, when your mom says it's alright, we'll get to the bottom of it."

Richard smiled, a hint of sorrow and hope coming through his eyes. "Thank you, Nancy."

"Yo, Richard, let's go!"

"Coming Uncle Fred!" Richard waved to Nancy. "See you later!"

Nancy waved back as Richard dashed towards the farm truck. "Bye!" She normally would have looked away, but this time she watched Richard closely. She really didn't have to, just being around him gave her that feeling. The feeling that she was talking to a prince. She shook her head. That was impossible. Why would she think that? Oh, right, why else. She was supposed to be reuniting a queen and her grandson, and Millie's comment about Richard hadn't helped either. But one thing was for sure, she was aching to find out about Richard's mystery and to get to the bottom of it.

(Author's Note: Hello my rosy readers! Thank you all again for being so patient. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and will have a happy new year! Just a quick update, I have become a supervisor at the college bookstore and the thrift store has transferred me to their production facility. So now I have Saturdays free again and have the time to write! Yay! I am currently working on a few other projects which will be posted mostly on Wattpad and have a few articles to write for LogoSophia Magazine, and a medieval piece to write for an anthology for Fellowship and Fairydust. More info coming in the Hardy boys update in a few days! Thanks again for being so patient, for reading, for reviewing - Elizabeth Joan-hbndgirl and Drumboy101, and just for all the support you have given me over the past year! I am so grateful to you all! Happy reading, God bless, and I hope you have a wonderful, blessed new year!)