Parisian Affair (42 page)

'Oh, I know who he is, darling,' Marcus
said.

'Well, Ms. Sheridan,' the princess said, 'I
wish I could answer your question, but I think it was merely a
mistake. Nothing more or less.' She rose to her feet. 'Now, if you
don't mind, I have a busy evening ahead of me.' She looked from
Allegra to Todd.

They quickly put their champagne flutes down
and got up, knowing the dismissal for what it was. Nothing more
would be learned from Princess Karima.

'Thank you so much,' Todd said. 'I really
appreciate your hospitality after our barging in like this.'

The princess merely shrugged.

'It was so wonderful to meet you,' Allegra
added. 'You're such a generous person.'

Princess Karima looked at her as if she
didn't know whether she was being sarcastic.

'I wish you both luck,' the princess said.
'It will be interesting to find out whom you've bought my ring for.
I hope the woman who wears it will be worthy of it.'

'I'm certain she will be,' Allegra said. 'And
thanks again.'

Mimi appeared as if she'd been summoned out
of thin air. She indicated the doorway into the dining room with a
hand.

'Good-bye,' Todd said.

'Good-bye,' Princess Karima and Marcus said
in unison.

Allegra and Todd followed Mimi to the front
door, then made a bee- line for the little car, where they buckled
up before Todd drove them down the gravel lane to the ornate iron
gates. The gates opened as they approached, and he sped past them
and out onto the highway.

'Jesus!' Allegra exclaimed. 'Am I glad that's
over.'

'How'd you do in the house?' Todd asked.

'I'm not sure,' she said, then told him what
she'd come across on the desk.

'It could be nothing,' Todd said, 'but on the
other hand it could be a huge story.'

'I know,' she said. Then, taking the slip of
paper out of her coat pocket, she read the names off to him.

'Same case,' Todd said. 'Could be nothing,
but might be something really big.'

'I'm not sure what to do with any of this
information.' She took a deep breath and let it out. 'I'm just glad
to be out of there.'

'You did wonderfully,' Todd said, placing a
hand on her knee and squeezing it. 'I loved you playing an adoring
fan of hers, then getting a little tough about the problem at
Dufour.'

'And you were great as a landscape designer,'
she said. 'I was about to believe you myself.'

Todd laughed.

They drove on toward Paris, discussing the
information they had, wondering what to do with it. 'Not even
Hilton Whitehead is going to be of much use when it comes to Swiss
bank account numbers,' Todd said, 'or those in the Arab bank.'

'No,' Allegra agreed. 'Getting information
out of them would be next to impossible, even for a government,
much less an individual. I just think that it's really odd that she
transfers first to Switzerland, then to the Arab bank. It makes no
sense to me. Unless, of course, she wants the money immediately
available for distribution in Arab countries.' She looked over at
Todd. 'Do you get the impression from what you know of her that she
would be doing charity work in the Middle East?'

Todd shook his head. 'The opposite from what
I've read. She's tried to erase her connection to the Middle East
since she was young, making herself as European or international as
possible.'

'Maybe she's had a change of heart,' Allegra
said. 'Maybe she's going back to her roots.'

'Maybe,' Todd said, 'but you'd never know it
from the way she lives. I mean, look at what the newspapers and
publicity releases call the mill- house. It's really a huge estate
worth millions of dollars, and it must cost a fortune to maintain.
It's not like she's taken a vow of poverty or anything.'

'No, but as luxuriously as she lives,'
Allegra said, 'she really has cut back.' She paused thoughtfully.
'I'm more confused than ever, but one thing I'm fairly certain of:
she knew about the ring switch at Dufour. She defended them just a
little bit too much as far as I'm concerned.'

'I'm not sure,' Todd said. 'She seemed
surprised about it to me.'

'No, I don't think she was surprised for one
single minute. I think she knew about it.'

'Maybe you're right,' Todd said. 'Female
intuition and all that, but she would've fooled me.'

'It's going to be interesting to call these
telephone numbers and see what happens,' Allegra said, looking at
the slip of paper.

'That's something Hilton Whitehead may be
able to help us with,' Todd said. 'Tracing the numbers.'

'Do you really think so?'

'Maybe,' Todd replied. 'He's got connections
all over the world in the communications industry.'

'Then we should give him a call,' Allegra
said.

She rummaged through her shoulder bag until
she had her cell phone in hand. 'Besides, I want to tell him about
Sylvie and Paul.'

'If he doesn't already know,' Todd said.

The yacht was a floating palace, but unlike
so many of the newly built temples to luxury that plied the warmer
waters of the planet, it still had the air about it of being a
ship. There was little plastic or fiberglass to be seen, nor were
there waterfall chandeliers or fountains, tons of marble, or glitzy
fabrics and furnishings. In their place were lots of teak and
mahogany, high-maintenance brass and nickel, and natural fabrics on
the furnishings. If the choice of materials used in its
construction and decoration were old-fashioned, it still had every
technological wonder available, including a Global Positioning
System; two-way satellite communication; a digital navigation
system with tracking software and 3-D charts; sonar; radar; and
high-speed Internet connectivity capable of downloading large
files, streaming video, and voice and video teleconferencing. Aside
from the numerous large-screen plasma TVs and CD players and an
onboard library for entertaining oneself, the vessel was equipped
with a helicopter, speedboats, Jet Skis and Seascooters, and
Windsurfers.

It was not yet enjoyable yachting weather in
the northeast, and normally the pleasure palace would have been in
the Caribbean until summer. Hilton Whitehead had decided, however,
that the occasion merited bringing the yacht from Saint Bart's to
New York for a party cruise around Manhattan. He had quickly had
the invitations hand delivered to titans of industry and society
all over the world for the party, and he looked forward to using
the occasion to announce his engagement to Kitty. At the same time,
he would surprise her with the emerald ring that had belonged to
Princess Karima.

The yacht had arrived yesterday, docking in
New Jersey because there wasn't a slip in Manhattan that would
accommodate its vast length. Today, while the crew and caterers
were busy preparing the huge vessel for the party the day after
tomorrow at twilight, he had brought Kitty to New Jersey while he
oversaw the details of the party.

'You astound me sometimes, Hilton,' Kitty
said, looking at him over the top of the latest issue of Italian
Vogue
, which she was devouring as if it were the Bible.

He looked down at her, spread out on a
blue-and-white-striped couch in the main salon. 'Why's that?' he
said, smiling.

'You have all these experts working for you,
but you have to come out here to make certain they do everything
right,' she said. 'I don't get it. What are you paying them
for?'

He pointed a finger at her. 'God is in the
details, Kitty, and don't forget it,' he said amiably. 'I want this
party to be perfect, and the only way to do that is be here and
make sure nothing's overlooked.'

She sighed with exasperation. 'I don't see
what's so special about this party,' she replied. 'Just a bunch of
businesspeople and a few high-society snobs. Why are you trying to
impress them? You're more important than any of them.'

'Well,' he said, 'it's sort of a special
party.'

She licked a finger and flipped another page
of the magazine. 'I don't see anything special about it,' she said,
looking down at the page, studying it with concentration.

'You will,' he said. 'You will.'

'Oh, really, Hilton,' she replied. 'You make
it sound so mysterious. What are you going to do? Announce a new
acquisition? A new merger?'

'Maybe,' he said.

'Personally,' she said, 'I think the best
parties are those people have for no reason. Just to have a good
time. So many of your parties are like boring business meetings for
the men to have pissing contests and the women to make ridiculous
small talk. A few of them try to outdress each other, but most of
them look like cleaning women in borrowed clothes. Really, they're
the most boring people on earth.'

Hilton felt his jaw clench. Kitty was being a
pain in the ass. If she only knew that all of this fuss was on her
account, she might feel different, but he wasn't even certain about
that. He knew that she couldn't stand most of his business
associates or their wives, couldn't even abide most of the
high-society folks he was friendly with. Kitty was more drawn to
dissipated, self-indulgent hedonists who lived for parties and
little else.

'Look,' he said patiently, 'this party is
important, and I hope you'll enjoy it. I know some of the people
aren't very colorful, but most of them have really done something
with their lives.'

'Ha!' she said. 'Make money. That's all most
of them have ever done, and they don't even know how to spend
it.'

'Kitty, that's ridiculous,' he said angrily.
'They just don't spend it the way
you
would. They give away
millions of their money every year to very good causes. Some of
them have started foundations for charity, built hospitals,
orphanages, schools, museums—all kinds of things that may not be
particularly sexy but make this world a better place.'

Kitty knew that she'd gone too far again, and
decided she'd better backtrack quickly. 'I didn't mean to upset
you,' she said. 'I'm very sorry, Hilton.' She sat up on the couch
and then rose to her feet and padded over to him. 'Please forgive
me.' She kissed him. 'I just get a little bored with some of these
people, you know. I know they're very nice and do good things. I
didn't mean to put them down.'

Hilton looked down into her eyes. No one had
ever satisfied him sexually as Kitty did, but he'd come to decide
lately that she was a con artist. He was beginning to ask himself
if he could live with that. But now, seeing the plea written on her
exquisitely exotic face and feeling her magnificent body next to
his, he found it difficult not to tolerate her episodes of
selfishness and vanity.

She pressed her breasts against him and put
her arms around him, stroking his long back and ass. 'Please,' she
purred, looking up into his eyes. 'Hilton, I know I'm a naughty
girl, but I'll try to be better for you. I promise.' She kissed him
again and held him tightly.

He felt the chemical attraction that he had
no way of controlling. He returned her kiss, and his body
immediately responded to her seductive power. Kitty moaned as his
tongue sought out hers, and let one of her hands trail around to
his thighs.

Hilton's cell phone rang, and they both
jerked slightly. 'Damn,' he said, drawing back from her. 'I have to
get this.'

'Not now,' she pleaded. 'Do you?'

'Have to.' He released her and took the cell
phone off its belt clip. 'Hilton Whitehead,' he said as Kitty
retreated to the couch and spread out in a come-hither pose.

'Hey,' he said, suddenly smiling. 'Give me
just a second. I want to talk to you, but I've got to go to my
stateroom. This place is a madhouse.'

'You're on a boat?' Allegra asked.

'Yeah,' he said. 'Docked in Jersey. I'm
getting ready to throw a bash the day after tomorrow and was hoping
you and Todd could get here in time for it.'

'That sounds like fun,' Allegra said. 'Is
this the—?'

'It is,' Whitehead said. 'Just a second.' He
had reached his stateroom and went in and locked the door behind
him. 'Now,' he said, 'we can talk in privacy. Tell me what's going
on.'

'Well, there have been some little
developments,' Allegra said. 'First, I wanted to tell you about
last night. I'm sorry to say that Sylvie was killed in a car
accident.'

'Killed?' he gasped.

'Yes,' Allegra said, 'and her friend Paul,
too.' She told him the entire story. How Sylvie was trying to run
down her and Todd, and the fiery conclusion to her efforts.

When she finished, Hilton Whitehead exhaled a
heavy sigh. 'It was so pointless,' he finally said. 'She was a good
kid, deep down inside, I think. She was a great employee, and I'm
really mystified by this.'

'I feel the same way,' Allegra said.

'I'm glad you let me know,' Whitehead said.
'I've been more or less out of touch getting ready for this
party.'

'There's something else,' Allegra said.

'What's that?'

'Today, Todd and I paid a call on Princess
Karima.'

'You
what?
I don't believe it.'

'Yes. I wanted to see her response to the
supposed mix-up at Dufour,' Allegra said. She gave him the details
of their adventure.

'You two are something else,' he said with a
chuckle. 'I ought to hire you to work for me.'

Allegra laughed. 'I don't think we could take
much more of this.'

'I probably won't be able to get hold of
anybody at Dufour today,' Whitehead said, 'but Monday I'll start
calling in some favors. I know a couple of people on their board,
and we might be able to get to the bottom of this.'

'There's one more thing I thought you might
be able to help us with.'

She told him about the wire transfers and the
telephone numbers. 'When I looked at the wire transfers,' Allegra
said, 'I also saw her address book. These names and numbers fell
out of it.'