Alien in the House (14 page)

“I
WOULD LIKE TO
offer Romania's good offices to help resolve and repair this matter,” Andrei, Olga's husband, said before anyone else could speak. He ensured his voice carried.

How anyone had heard the prior exchange was beyond me, but I put it down to my luck being consistent. On the plus side, Olga was here, and I was sure that was why Andrei had reacted so quickly.

“Good offices?” I was sure I'd seen this term somewhere. Couldn't remember where, but was pretty sure it didn't indicate the penthouse suite of an office building.

“Means Romania's offering to help settle this dispute between countries,” Chuckie said. “Thank God, and please stop speaking, Kitty,” he added under his breath.

Really wasn't sure how to react to this. Didn't seem to matter. Andrei came to our part of the room and he, Reader, Cliff, and Chuckie started having a very fast, very high-level discussion. They managed to move in such a way that I'd have to shove in in order to hear or speak. Fine. I'd blown it, but I wasn't the bad guy here.

Speaking of whom, Kevin moved Eugene next to Mom. Mona and the rest of the Middle East Contingent had followed Andrei over to this part of the room, but they were with Mom. So I went over there—I was more used to being bawled out by my mother than Chuckie anyway.

“It's okay, kitten,” Mom said softly. “As the ambassador, you have every right to declare this an act of war.”

“If this had happened in our Embassy, we would have declared the same,” Mona agreed.

Oren nodded his agreement. “Same for Israel. Any of us, really.”

Jakob cleared his throat. “What, as good friends to American Centaurion, can we do for you right now, Ambassador?”

Had to say this for Chuckie telling me to shut up—I thought about the ramifications to whatever I was going to say to this question before I replied.

We were standing next to three powerful political couples. Now wasn't the time to share insider information. “Honestly, if you all wouldn't mind staying around, even after the police release you, I'd appreciate it so much. I feel very lost and alone right now, and could use some advice from all of you.”

Mom shot me a look that said I was indeed actually as smart as she'd always suspected. Mona nodded. “Of course, Ambassador. Just tell us where you want us to go and we'll ensure that we remain to assist in any way.”

“I'd say the fifth floor, once you're all cleared. Have one of the Barones come and escort you.” Jeremy and Jennifer Barone were an A-C brother-sister team of Field agents who'd been permanently assigned to our Embassy after Operation Destruction. We'd had them remain upstairs with Hacker International tonight, to ensure no one wandered up there and to have A-Cs right there to advise and alert in case the hackers found anything of significance going on. Clearly the impending murder of a representative hadn't hit their airwaves. Had no idea what this might or might not mean.

“Absolutely, Ambassador,” Khalid said. “Is there anyone else you would like to join us?”

Everyone seemed so much more on top of things than me right now. Thank God. “Yes, please ask the Romanian ambassadress and her assistant if they'd be so good as to join you. It looks like the Romanian ambassador is going to be here for some time, so it would be nice for them to be able to wait comfortably for him.”

“I'll make sure the police clear all of these guests first,” Kevin said, as he handed Eugene off to Mom and headed toward the officers I'd nicknamed Larry and Curly during Operation Assassination. They had real names, but for whatever reason, unlike Melville, they weren't attached to my using them. Ergo, I still called them Officers Larry and Curly. Either they didn't understand my Three Stooges references or they were flattered by them. Decided not to worry about it right now.

Jeff chose this moment to arrive, which was nice. But he was instantly pulled into the impromptu Kitty's Screwed Up Again meeting, which wasn't. Always the way.

Because of where we all were, Eugene was standing near to Brewer, who shook his head. “I can't believe you'd do something like this, Gene. We'll get it sorted out.”

“Thanks,” Eugene muttered. He looked at Brewer—his expression didn't say, “So glad I have a friend.” It said, “I hate your guts.” He wiped the look off his face quickly, but I'd seen enough to recognize it—it was reminiscent of the looks Jeff used to give Chuckie, gave Buchanan these days, and was currently shooting at Raj, presumably just to keep in practice.

Pushed aside worry about Buchanan's whereabouts for the moment—there were bigger fish to hook, gut, and toss to Pierre to have fried.

My brain nudged. Eugene was in the Cabal of Evil only because of two reasons—his wife had managed to get into the Cool Kids Crowd and had no intention of leaving any time soon, and he was sleeping with one of the other members. With Brewer's wife, to be exact.

Maybe Eugene hadn't changed as much as I'd thought. Or, rather, maybe he'd changed in a different way.

Stepped away from the group just a bit and examined our table. Not too much had been moved, Mom's doing no doubt. Reviewed what had happened from the point Raj and I had reached this part of the room. Then I looked at Brewer's place setting and the light dawned.

Rejoined Mom as Kevin came to take the Middle Eastern Contingent off to give their statements. Waited until Mom and I were alone. “I have a strong theory. Should I share it now, or do you want me to wait?”

“Wait one moment. Charles!” The way Mom said his name, there was no way Chuckie wasn't going to come right over. She'd definitely put the “you will obey me without question, young man” tone into one syllable.

He indeed disengaged immediately. “Yes, Angela?”

“Kitty has a theory. I'd like you to hear it.”

Jeff had great hearing, yet another A-C trait enhanced by Surcenthumain. He joined us, too. “It's okay, baby, we'll get everything taken care of.” He took my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed back.

“Good. And, thanks, Mom. I actually think Eugene's telling the truth. In a way.”

“Really?” Chuckie didn't sound impressed or pleased that he'd been called over here.

“Really. I do think he's the one who put arsenic in the water glass, only Santiago Reyes wasn't his target.”

“Shut up, Kitty,” Eugene said desperately.

“No way in hell, you jerk. And, just in case you weren't sure, I'm never forgiving you for both murdering Santiago in such a horrible way
and
doing it on American Centaurion soil, regardless of whatever diplomatic thing is being facilitated by Andrei.” Maybe I could insist that Eugene be executed in the public square, so to speak, as appeasement for American Centaurion's outrage. Unlikely, but still something to daydream about.

“Kitty, can you get to the point?” Chuckie asked in a pained tone.

“Sure, since we're on a schedule and all. Eugene wasn't trying to kill Santiago—he was trying to kill Edmund Brewer.”

M
Y ANNOUNCEMENT
engendered lots of gasps of shock from everyone other than Eugene, Mom, and Chuckie. Even Jeff gasped. Enjoyed my Big Reveal moment. Knew everyone's being impressed with me wouldn't last long.

“Why do you feel that Representative Brewer was the actual target?” Chuckie asked, speaking quite slowly and distinctly. Reader, Cliff, Andrei, and the others from their table gathered 'round.

“Because Edmund Brewer didn't drink his water. He gave it to Santiago instead.”

Everyone gave me polite looks that said I was either crazy or making no sense.

“See?” Eugene said, sounding slightly hysterical. “He's the one who did it! His fingerprints will probably be on the glass.”

“Of course his fingerprints will be on the glass—it was his originally. But you're the one with the evidence on you, Eugene . . . and the motive.” Was glad Jeff had a firm hold on my hand, because I really wanted to tackle Eugene and throttle him.

“Give us the full explanation, girlfriend, because we need the clarity,” Reader said. Nice to see I was back on his friend, versus formal, speaking mode.

Shot a glance in Nathalie's direction. She caught my eye and nodded. Hoped that meant she was okay with my spilling the beans.

“Okay, Eugene is jealous of Edmund.”

“Why so?” Cliff asked.

“Because Eugene has been having an affair with Edmund's wife, Nathalie.”

“It's in the past,” she said quickly. Really? As always, I was the last to know.

Brewer nodded. “Nathalie told me about the affair months ago, and broke it off. We made some . . . adjustments in our work and private lives.” He took and squeezed her hand. “All's forgiven between us, and I chose not to confront Gene because it would have hurt Lydia.”

Lydia, who was standing next to Cliff, definitely looked hurt and more than a little surprised. But she rallied. “I still don't see how Eugene could have done this.”

“Good Stand By Your Man attempt there, Lydia. And, while all might be okay on your side, Edmund, Eugene's not on your side.” I'd seen how he'd looked at both Nathalie and his wife. “You have one of the women he wants and I'd bet Lydia's spent a lot of time with you, learning the ropes.”

“Yes, of course. That's what you do for your friends and associates.” Brewer shot Lydia a warm smile. I'd never realized he was as good a politician as Armstrong, but I was impressed with his ability to give off a completely caring vibe.

Lydia smiled back gratefully. Eugene's eyes narrowed. Wondered if Eugene was really as stupid as he seemed to me right now. Tabled the decision for later.

“So you're also monopolizing a lot of his wife's time.”

“We were out as couples quite a lot,” Nathalie said quickly.

“Fine. Meaning Eugene gets to see his former mistress happily back with her husband
and
gets to watch his wife look up to his romantic rival at the same time. After a while, he can't take it any more and he plots his revenge, and it's dependent on getting close to you in a situation where anyone could be the murderer.”

“This is the first truly big event we've gone to in months,” Nathalie confirmed.

“Lucky us. So, we had servers passing around drinks, and lots of them, meaning that someone could have spotted Eugene dropping arsenic in your drink. Dinner would have to do, and it wouldn't have been a problem only we had a seating arrangement that put him close, but not close enough, to you. So he had to do something to get closer.”

“That's why he was so obsessed with helping you to sit,” Jeff said.

“Yes. And he did a terrible job with it, too. Knocking into Edmund, slamming me into the table, and sloshing water all over. It was really well done, because no one caught him emptying the contents of that packet of arsenic into Edmund's glass. Because there were only the ten of us and everyone was more focused on me and what Eugene was doing to me than what he was doing on or over the table.”

“Let's say all that's right,” Reader said. “But you need to explain how Santiago ended up drinking that water.”

“I gave it to him,” Brewer said, and he sounded horrified and saddened. Wasn't sure if it was genuine, but I had a feeling it was. “After he'd almost choked to death and Kitty saved him. He'd drunk all his water and I hadn't touched mine.”

“Right. And no one could have predicted that Santiago would choke on a crouton, or that you'd give him your water. But Eugene was a double failure, because he put the arsenic in the one thing you wouldn't touch.”

“I was told to!” Eugene said, then slammed his mouth shut.

“Don't try for the insanity defense,” Chuckie said. “Your motive seems crystal clear.”

Everyone else nodded, but I didn't. My impression wasn't that Eugene was going for the crazy plea. Maybe because of what Hamlin had told me earlier, I wondered if what Eugene meant was that he'd been hired or coerced to perform this assassination.

Raj was standing behind Lydia and he was a tall guy. I could see his face easily. He caught my eye and raised his eyebrow. So he had the same thoughts I did.

“Good work, Kitty,” Cliff said. “Depending on whether or not Centaurion Division will allow the police to take Mister Montgomery or not, you've given them, or your own authorities, all they'll need to make this an open and shut case.”

“Well, Prince had a paw in this, too.”

Upon hearing his name, Prince trotted over from wherever he'd been. While Cliff, Chuckie, Reader, and Mom started to discuss where they were going to take Eugene and who would or wouldn't be allowed to see him, I gave Prince his well-deserved pets. I also used the time to think.

A lot had gone on today, and that usually indicated the Big Plan was in action somewhere and somehow. I needed to figure out what was going on, but to do that, I needed to run my mouth, and it would be nice to run it with someone who'd listen and add in.

Per Hamlin, Chuckie, Mom, and Cliff were out, and that meant Kevin was out, too. Buchanan was God knew where. If I went with Hamlin's warnings, frankly, Buchanan could be the Mastermind. Anyone could. At least, anyone who wanted to destroy and control the A-Cs. And if they were good enough, they could be fooling anyone, including me.

That meant there were three people I knew for sure I could and should talk to. Happily, they were the three people I wanted to talk to anyway.

I took Prince's lead, backed up, and shoved Jeff back gently, then tugged on his hand, while nodding to Raj. “Raj and I need to talk to you,” I said quietly.

“You and the new boyfriend want to share your affair in public, too?”

“Jeff, oh my God, the jealousy crap is so not funny, particularly right now.” I needed to talk to someone who I knew I could trust with everything I'd done and seen and learned today, and who would hopefully listen and not freak out at me. But if Jeff was going into Major Jealousy Mode right now, he wasn't going to be that someone.

He squeezed my hand. “Sorry, baby, I was teasing you. Bad timing for it, I should have realized.”

“Yes, you
should
have.” Blocks or no, I was getting worried. Jeff didn't seem to be picking up anything emotionally, from me or anyone else, and that boded badly.

Raj joined us. “Ambassadors, I think we need to talk, somewhere very secure.” His voice was low but his expression remained very amiable. He was good.

“I agree. I'd like you to get Richard White, and have him join us, please, Raj. And do it as unobtrusively as possible.”

“Unobtrusive is my middle name. Where should we meet?”

Considered our options. They were limited. I heaved a sigh. “Let's all go to the bathrooms on the second floor.”

“A good choice.” Raj shot us the Troubadour Smile and moved off to where White and some of the other Embassy personnel had congregated.

“Is it?” Jeff asked.

“Well, is Christopher still down there?”

“Yeah, I told him to stay and keep that floor under his guard.”

“Then, yes, the bathrooms are a good choice.”

Jeff sighed. “Only my girl. We're taking the dog, too?”

“Absolutely. Prince is a hero. Plus Officer Melville is downstairs.”

Jeff took Prince's lead from me. “Then let's go walk the dog, baby.”