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Petra laughed. “Unfortunately, no. He’s a farmer at heart and will be the first to tell you he likes plants a lot more than students.”

We laughed and sank into lovely, overstuffed chairs just as Henry returned.

“The dinner was delicious,” Slash said as Henry sat in a chair near his wife. “Thank you for inviting us. I hope you’ll share our appreciation with the chef.”

“I certainly will,” Henry responded. “But I can’t help but feel it’s a small gesture in comparison for saving my wife’s life.”

“A life in politics is not for the fainthearted,” Slash commented. “I commend you for your service, Prime Minister. How long do you serve before you are up for reelection?”

“Thankfully, I don’t have to run for election,” she responded. “I’m appointed. I don’t know how much you know about our government here, but our constitution is quite different from yours. Our constitution reflects our historical connection as a territory of New Zealand, which was itself a colony of England. When we negotiated our independence from New Zealand in 1965, we retained many close ties to them that are embedded in our constitution. Technically, we’re a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand. We’re fully responsible for our internal affairs, while New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense—in consultation with us, of course.”

“Fascinating,” Slash said, steepling his fingers together. “And quite unique.”

“Yes,” Petra said. “Uniqueis a good word for it. You might be surprised to know our constitution declares our head of state is the king of New Zealand who, by New Zealand law, is the reigning king or queen of England.”

She must have seen the surprised look on my face, because she nodded. “Yes. Technically, our head of state lives ten thousand miles away.”

“How easy is it to get things done with that situation?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, the king appoints the king’s representative for the Cook Islands to oversee our government on behalf of the king. Technically, the king’s representative is the de facto head of state, though he or she does no actual governing. They just appoint people, like me, the prime minister, to run the executive branch for a five-year term or until the Parliament loses confidence in the government.”

“That is an unusual arrangement,” Slash said. “How are you accountable to the people?”

“There are two ways. First, I can be removed by the king’s representative if he or she decides I’m not looking out for the people’s best interests. Second, the prime minister must be an elected member of Parliament to be eligible to be selected prime minister. So, if I’m not reelected to Parliament, or I resign from Parliament, I’m out.”

Slash and I sat digesting that information for a bit before I spoke.

“It’s hard to get my head around all the restrictions and ramifications of your government,” I said. “Given all that, why someone would want to assassinate you?”

Henry leaned forward and spoke quietly. “You must understand that my wife has ruffled a few important feathers. In recent years, a small group of wealthy men have basically traded the key government positions in the Cook Islands of king’s representative, prime minister, and deputy prime minister amongst themselves. They would work with their contacts in far-off England to have one of them appointed as the king’s representative, who would then appoint the others. When the king’s representative’s term was up, they’d get one of the others appointed in his place. However, things recently changed, when the new king appointed a woman as the king’s representative, and she appointed my wife. That has upset some very entrenched interests, as you may imagine, especially when she selected a new slate of ministers, who have been questioning some prior government commitments.”

“Chinese influence,” Slash immediately said.

“Yes, that’s certainly an important one,” Petra responded. “But I also want to know where all the money we’re making from the offshore banking is going.”

“Don’t you have a government finance minister or something like that?” I asked.

“Yes, but it’s taking time,” Petra responded. “Previous administrations have been quite lax about ensuring our share of the transactions is actually remitted to the government. Trust me, this is a system ripe for corruption, and I’m not going to stand for it.”

“Somebody is clearly unhappy with your efforts,” Slash commented. “So, what’s next?”

“I’m not sure, but let’s turn the discussion to more pleasant matters.”

We spoke for a few more minutes about inconsequential matters until Henry left, saying he had a few personal matters to which he needed to attend. The prime minister closed the door after him and proceeded to pour us all snifters of brandy.

After she’d given us ours, she took her glass and sat in a chair opposite us. She took a sip and then set her glass down on a coaster. “May I be honest with you? Both of you?” she asked rather abruptly.

I glanced at Slash and saw his left eyebrow raise slightly. “Of course,” he said.

“I asked you to come to the library because this room and my office are the only two spots in the islands that I’m certain are bug-free. And I’d like to speak frankly with you.”

The fact that she openly suspected her home was being bugged surprised me. But it wasn’t my place to ask about it, so I didn’t. Instead, I asked, “What would you want to discuss with us?”

She sighed. “I hope you forgive me, but I admit to having a friend, a former intelligence officer in New Zealand, run a check on both of you before dinner tonight, and I can’t say I’m surprised at what I found.”

SEVENTEEN

Slash