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“I think all four of them were in on it together,” said Monroe. “Gaius Ronin was the mastermind, and the rest of them just did his bidding.”
“But everyone sai
d that Gaius Ronin loved Steffane,” said Remi. “I don’t think it could have been him. And anyway, if they don’t call us, their case can be the first one we take as a private agency. We’ll get our revenge on them by solving the murder whether they like it or not. The first step will be to hunt down that dratted cowboy and make him talk.”
Leo munched another donut in silence. Storm did his best to stay seated at his desk and not to resort to prowling around like Diana was.
The phone rang suddenly and every single one of them froze, stunned that it really was happening. Storm reached for it, but Diana snatched it up first. She answered and put it against her ear. “Yes?” she said.
She listened to what the speaker on the other end was saying, and then she said, “We’ll see you there.”
When she hung up, Remi demanded, “Well?”
Diana turned to face them all looking a bit confused. “That was unexpected,” she said.
Chapter 28
DIANA
Storm and I arrived at the Ronin house and found that the door had been left open, just like the caller had said it would be. Leaving Storm, I made my own way down towards the rose garden cavern where I had agreed to meet the caller, who had insisted on speaking only with me and alone. Nobody else was to accompany me. Storm had not been pleased about staying waiting outside the house, but I had insisted. He had agreed only after a heated argument. I was still worried he would come after me.
As I walked through the house, the whole place was eerily quiet. I saw not a single servant. It was 2:00 pm, sleeping time for vampires, but where were all the human servants?
The caller was waiting for me at the same table where Finch and I had sat last time we were here. A pot of tea had been laid out, and biscuits and cakes. Audriett Ronin poured the tea for me as I took a seat.
“No sword, this time?” she asked.
I gave her a cool smile. “I don’t go anywhere without my sword.”
“I heard it had appeared out of nowhere,” she said. “Quite the trick.”
I accepted the cup of tea that she had passed to me in its pretty little saucer. “I’m surprised it was you,” I said. “I had been sure that it would be Marielle who called me.”
Audriette laughed. “Marielle is just a silly child playing games at being an elder vampire. She has much to learn.”
I wanted to ask Audriett whether she had really killed Leonie the way that I had thought she had. But that would have been giving my uncertainty away, and I needed to hold all my cards close to my chest. This was far from being over yet. I need her confession at the very least before Storm could arrest her.
“Why did you do it?” I asked.
“Because she wanted too much,” said Audriett coolly.
“That’s what her mother said. That she had become too greedy and grasping.”
Audrey yet scoffed. “Her mother.”
“Constance,” I said.
Audriett looked at me with surprise. “So you know. She admitted that much, then?”
“I still don’t understand why. You are the matriarch of this household, Gaius Ronin’s sister-wife. You gave him two sons, one his beloved damphir. Were you jealous that your precious son Steffane had fallen in love with an ordinary and sickly human girl?”
“Steffane would have tired of her in time, I thought.”
“But he didn’t tire of her? Was that it?”
“She could have had Steffane. I cared nothing for that. But the greedy grasping little bitch decided that wasn’t enough for her. She wanted to take what was mine.”
“Why did that matter? Surely Gaius would only have thought of her as Steffane’s unwanted cast-off?” Leone had been just a kid. I couldn’t imagine her succeeding in seducing an elder vampire like Gaius Ronin. And by all accounts, Gaius had had no interest in her.
