The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1)

by Diana Xarissa

  “What’s the point in having a nurse if you aren’t going to listen to her?” Theodore asked.

  “Teddy, go for a walk. Go visit a museum or climb the big tower. I need some time alone with Edward,” Bobby said.

  Theodore looked furious, but he simply nodded and then walked to the door. Janet wasn’t surprised when he slammed it on the way out.

  Bobby sighed and then sank into a large chair. “Everything you hear is strictly confidential,” he told the nurse.

  Janet translated it for her.

  The nurse shrugged. “I probably won’t understand it anyway.”

  “She doubts she’ll understand any of it anyway,” Janet told Bobby.

  Bobby looked at Edward. “Someone pushed me,” he said flatly.

  Edward nodded. “I expected as much.”

  “You’re supposed to be here to protect me,” Bobby said angrily. “If you aren’t going to do your job, why am I paying you?”

  “You aren’t actually paying me,” Edward said mildly. “Our services have been provided as a courtesy by the French government.”

  “So I should hire someone,” Bobby snapped. “Someone who will actually do the job.”

  “We had a conversation yesterday about your safety and security,” Edward reminded him. “We talked about various scenarios and the relative safety of each of them. I told you that walking around Paris, through crowds of people, was unsafe, and that there was no way we could guarantee your safety under those conditions.”

  “There were two of you,” Bobby said. “What were you doing?”

  “Mr. Harrison was right next to you, trying to watch the people around you. He didn’t see who came up behind you and pushed you into the road,” Edward replied. “I was several paces behind you, trying to keep watch over the other members of your party. Unfortunately, the streets were very crowded and it became impossible to watch everyone.”

  “No one from my party pushed me into the road,” Bobby said scornfully. “I know my people.”

  “Theodore has only worked for you for six months,” Janet pointed out.

  Edward seemed to be hiding a smile as Bobby turned to look at her.

  “I selected him very carefully out of a pool of applicants. I trust him,” he told her.

  “How long have Lucy and Tony been together?” Janet asked.

  Edward shook his head as Bobby stared at her. “They’ve been engaged for a few months, but they’ve known one another for probably a year or more,” he said eventually.

  Janet thought about questioning his relationship with Neil, but decided it would be better not to press her luck. No doubt Theodore could find another translator, one who would be less nosy, very quickly.

  “I told you yesterday that I could keep you safe if you followed my recommendations. You chose to ignore them,” Edward said.

  Bobby spun back to face him. “You told me that I’d have to stay in my room. If I wanted to go anywhere, I’d have to go by car and be escorted by security folks. This is my first time in Paris and you don’t want me to enjoy it.”

  “I want you to survive it,” Edward replied dryly.

  Bobby shook his head.

  “You said earlier that someone is trying to kill you. What else has happened?” Janet asked.

  Bobby looked at her for a moment and then sighed. “Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what’s going on, since my security team seems clueless,” he said. “About two months ago, the brakes on my truck failed. My mechanic said it was possible that they’d been tampered with, but he couldn’t be certain. It’s an old truck. I only use it get around my ranch and I don’t take particularly good care of it. At the time, I assumed it was just normal wear and tear. I got the truck fixed and moved on.”

  “Did you actually crash the truck? Was anyone hurt?” Janet forced herself to stop after two questions, even though she wanted to know every detail about what had happened.

  “I was on my own, driving down a dirt track. As I went down a fairly steep hill, the brakes failed. Luckily for me, the road went on for a considerable distance and I was able to simply coast to a stop. If I’d been on the other side of my property, I’d have ended up in the river,” he replied.

  “And you didn’t suspect anything?” she asked.

  “Not at the time,” he replied.

  “What did the police say?” Janet asked.

  “I didn’t call the police. I’m still not sure the brakes were tampered with, and I was even less sure at the time. A few weeks later someone took a shot at me, though,” he told her.

  “Took a shot at you?” Janet repeated.

  He shrugged. “I was at a rodeo with some friends, all of whom are here with me in Paris. We’d all gone our separate ways, going to see the things that interested each of us the most. I was walking through a restricted area when a bullet went past my head.”

  “I assume you rang the police after that,” Janet said.

  “There seemed no point,” he countered. “Whoever had fired the shot was long gone. There were upwards of ten thousand people at the rodeo, so the shooter simply had to disappear back into the crowd. I was alone and I couldn’t find any witnesses. The police wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

  Janet looked at Edward. He was watching the nurse, who seemed to be taking great interest in the conversation.

  “Has anything else happened?” Janet asked.

  Bobby frowned and then nodded. “A few weeks later, while I was cutting wood, my chainsaw malfunctioned.”

  “Is that dangerous? I don’t know anything about chainsaws,” Janet said.

  “It could have been really dangerous. If it hadn’t had a safety switch, I might have been electrocuted,” he replied. “When I showed it to a friend of mine, he thought that whoever had damaged the saw had also tried to disable the safety cutoff switch but hadn’t quite managed it.”

  “What did the police say?” Janet was pretty certain she knew what he was going to answer to that question.

  “I didn’t call the police,” Bobby said, exactly what Janet had been expecting. “I did hire myself some security, though, and a private detective.”

  Janet felt as if she was working far too hard to get information out of the man.

  “What did the detective say, then?” she asked.

  “That anyone could have gotten into the workshop where I keep my tools,” he told her. “Everyone in Texas knows where I live. Prior to all of this, I’ve always kept my security to a minimum. I’ve always been more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  “Did anything else happen after that?”

  He nodded. “I was poisoned.”

  “Poisoned?” Janet echoed.

  “I was at a party. Everyone was drinking and eating and having a good time. I started to feel unwell after a few hours. When I started vomiting, Dixie insisted that I go to the hospital. They pumped my stomach and ran some tests,” he told her.

  “And what did they find?” she asked when he fell silent.

  “Rat poison,” Bobby replied. “Somehow I’d ingested rat poison.”

  “I assume whatever you’d been eating and drinking was also tested,” Janet said.

  “The glass of wine and the plate of food that I’d been eating from when I first started to feel unwell were both tested. They were absolutely fine. It would have been far too expensive for the police to test every scrap of food that was left, so they chose a few items at random for testing. Nothing was found,” he told her.

  Janet frowned. “And no one else at the party fell ill?”

  “No one. I was clearly targeted, but it was done very cleverly,” he said.

  “Or someone was very lucky,” Janet suggested. “I hope that was the last incident.”

  “The night before we were supposed to leave for Paris, the hotel where I was staying in New York City had a fire,” Bobby told her. “It started right outside my door and, for a short while, I was trapped inside my room.”

  “My goodness,” Jan
et exclaimed. “That must have been scary.”

  “I had a large balcony, so I was able to go outside and get away from the smoke,” he replied. “I sat out there and simply waited for the fire department to get things under control.”

  “I assume the fire was started deliberately,” Janet said.

  “The investigation is still ongoing, but I’ve been told that it most likely was,” Bobby replied.

  “What does your investigator think?” Janet wondered.

  “That I might not have been the target,” Bobby said with a sigh. “I’ll be the first to admit that I have enemies. Right now, there’s a large environmental group that would be more than happy if I were to die suddenly. My company will continue with my plans, even if that were to happen, but they may not be aware of that. The investigator that I hired seems convinced that the previous attempts on my life were all coming from members of that group or others like them, people who want to protect a small piece of land from development, even if they have to kill people in order to do so.”

  Janet frowned. “But he didn’t think they were behind the hotel fire?”

  “He’d worked hard to infiltrate the group. He was with most of the membership in Texas at a protest on the other side of the country when the hotel fire started,” Bobby explained.

  “So maybe one or two members decided to do something on their own,” Janet speculated.

  “The owner of the hotel has his own set of enemies,” Bobby added. “It’s possible that someone was trying to hurt his business, rather than targeting me.”

  Janet sighed. “I’d no idea such things even happen.”

  Bobby shrugged. “They don’t happen every day. This is the first time in my life that someone has tried to kill me.”

  “Was the fire the last thing that happened before today?” Janet asked after a moment.

  “On our flight to London, someone tried to stab me,” he told her.

  Janet made her jaw drop, hoping she looked suitably surprised. “Someone tried to stab you,” she repeated.

  He shrugged. “I was wearing a bulletproof vest and several layers of clothing, and I was covered in a blanket. The knife didn’t penetrate very far and then it got stuck in the vest. Whoever was holding it ended up leaving it where it was when they left.”

  “On the plane? How does that even happen?” Janet wondered.

  “It was a private plane. Each passenger had his or her own small compartment with a large chair that folds flat for sleeping and curtains that go from floor to ceiling,” he explained. “There’s a central aisle in case anyone needs to go to the bathroom during the flight.”

  “How could you possibly have slept through someone coming into your compartment?” Janet asked.

  “I hate flying. I take sleeping pills before the plane takes off and then I recline my seat and I don’t wake up until we land. I was more than a little surprised to find a knife in my chest when we reached London,” he told her.

  “You didn’t have any security with you on the flight?” was Janet’s next question.

  “I didn’t think I needed any security on the flight,” he told her. “I was travelling with the men and women that I trust the most. Before that flight, it had never crossed my mind that one of them might be behind the attempts on my life.”

  “What about the men and women who were working on the plane?” Janet asked. “Surely someone noticed who went into and out of your compartment.”

  “The pilot and copilot never left the cockpit. There were two flight attendants, but from what I was told, they spent most of the flight sitting in the back of the plane or sleeping themselves,” he replied.

  “So neither of them saw anything suspicious,” Janet concluded.

  “Apparently everyone on the flight, aside from me, made the trip to the restroom at least once,” he told her. “Each compartment had its own small refrigerator with drinks and a cupboard full of snacks. There wasn’t much for the flight attendants to do, although I believe Lucy had one mix her drinks for her.”

  Janet nearly rolled her eyes. “And no else noticed anyone going into or out of your compartment?” she asked.

  “Dixie admitted to having walked into my compartment early in the flight,” he told her. “She went to the bathroom and then got confused on her way back to her seat. She said she didn’t do much more than walk into the compartment, realise it was occupied, and then turn around and leave. It was fairly dark, but she thought she would have noticed if the knife had already been in place, but it wasn’t, or so she thought.”

  “So that’s why you have security here,” Janet concluded.

  “The Dallas police or maybe the cops in New York City called someone in Paris and asked them to arrange for me to have some protection,” Bobby said. “I’m not sure I feel any safer with them around, though, after what happened today.”

  Janet glanced at Edward. He didn’t look at all bothered by what Bobby had said.

  “The attempt on the plane has definitely narrowed down the list of suspects,” Janet said after a moment.

  Bobby frowned. “I can’t believe one of the people that I know and trust is trying to kill me,” he argued.

  He looked at the clock and sighed. “It’s not much past two o’clock in the afternoon and I’m exhausted. Jet lag is catching up with me. I need a nap.”

  “It’s best not to sleep with a head injury,” the nurse said, leaving Janet to wonder just how much of the conversation she’d been able to follow.

  “You can wake me every hour, or whatever you want,” Bobby told her. “But I’m going to take a nap now.”

  He stood up and walked towards the door in the corner of the room. As he reached for the handle, he stopped and looked back at them.

  “Edward, why don’t you and Janet go somewhere and talk? Maybe, between yourselves, you’ll be able to work out which of my beloved friends or family members is trying to get rid of me.”

  Edward smiled. “That’s an excellent idea,” he said. “I think the safest place for us to have a conversation will be in Janet’s room. That’s where I’ll be if you need me. Mr. Harrison will stay here to keep an eye on things.”

  He got out his mobile phone and sent a quick text before standing up and offering a hand to Janet. She let him help her to her feet and then pulled her hand away before he could hold it for too long. He winked at her as she turned towards Bobby.

  “Are you certain you won’t need me for an hour or so?” she asked.

  “I won’t need you for at least two hours,” he replied. “Talk to Edward or go for a walk and enjoy Paris. Be back here at five so we can go out for dinner.”

  Janet nodded and then she and Edward headed for the door. When Edward opened it, Mr. Harrison was standing right outside. They exited and then Mr. Harrison went into the room and shut the door.

  “Fourth floor?” Edward asked as he pushed the button for the lift.

  Janet nodded, trying not to look too happy at the prospect of spending an hour or two alone with her husband.

  Chapter 9

  As Janet pushed her door shut behind them, Edward pulled her into an embrace. When he finally lifted his head, she sighed.

  “Is that our two hours all used up?” she asked.

  Edward chuckled. “Not quite. We’ve just enough time to talk about a few things.” He pulled her into another kiss.

  This time, after a few minutes, Janet pulled away. She crossed to one of the couches and patted the seat next to her.

  “We really do need to talk,” she reminded him. “The sooner you catch the person behind the murder attempts, the sooner we can get back to our honeymoon.”

  “You’re right, of course, but I can’t help but want to kiss you,” he replied as he joined her on the couch. “For tuppence, I’d tell Mr. Jones I’m leaving and whisk you away.”

  “You can’t do that to Bobby.”

  “No, I can’t. Mr. Jones could send in more bodyguards, but I’m supposed to be here to get to the bottom of wha
t’s happening.”

  “So what’s happening?”

  Edward sighed. “I wish I knew. I learned more from Bobby this afternoon when you were talking with him than I did during all of our conversations. When I question him, he gets evasive or simply refuses to reply. I’m not certain why he was so happy to talk with you, but I’m grateful that he was.”

  “Maybe his head injury has made him more talkative.”

  “Perhaps. At least I now know a little about each of the attempts on his life. That’s more than I knew a few hours ago.”

  “You don’t have police reports on the various attempts?” Janet couldn’t hide her surprise.

  He shook his head. “You heard what he said. He didn’t even involve the police after most of the incidents. Besides that, the American police have been less than forthcoming. Mr. Jones has requested copies of the police reports from the police in Dallas and New York, but apparently the various attempts in Texas took place in different parts of the state and are subject to different jurisdictions, and obviously, New York City is in a completely different state. As we aren’t able to officially investigate the incidents, they aren’t inclined to provide us with any information.”

  “But that’s just dumb.”

  Edward laughed. “I suspect, under similar circumstances, that our police at home would be just as reluctant to share information with a random American agency. Regardless, while Mr. Jones keeps trying to get more information from the American authorities, I’ve been doing the same with Bobby. As I said, he hasn’t shared a lot with me.”

  “But you now know that one of the people he’s travelling with at the moment has tried to kill him multiple times. Surely the killer will get lucky one of these days if he or she isn’t stopped.”

  “I didn’t want to take notes while Bobby was talking, but I want to take them now,” Edward said, pulling out his notebook. “Let’s go back over each attempt.”

  “The first thing was the brakes failing on his truck,” Janet recalled.

  “Bobby did tell me a little bit about that. As he said earlier, it was an old truck, one that he uses only on the private roads around his ranch. Apparently, he hasn’t maintained the registration or inspection because it’s never used on public roads.”