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“Angie,” I say, “You haven’t been yourself lately. Whatever it is, get your act together. Take a few days off, see a doctor. You can’t carry on like this.”
Her face lengthens and all color drains from it. Slowly, as if dazed, she turns to face the road. The silence that fills the car is dense enough to swim in, albeit it would be a sticky swim.
Camille shifts in her seat. “Can we please talk about important stuff?”
“Which is…?” I arch an eyebrow at her.
“The palace fire.”
Ah. Of course.
She shifts toward me. “We’ve known for two weeks now that the fire was arson to cover up the murder of a MESS agent, Pierre Housard.”
“Have we?” Rudy asks, frowning.
She gives him a vigorous nod. “Everything we learned from Von Dietz, from Carlo Bodden-Bock’s handwritten notes, and from Prince Richard, points to that.”
“OK,” Rudy says.
I go with a “hmm.”
Camille carries on, “Jeannette didn’t do it! The pyromaniac theory was wrong.” She glances at Angie’s ponytail. “Nor was my sister stealing from the palace.”
Angie doesn’t say anything or move.
“What we can reasonably assume,” I say, “is that Jeannette didn’t start the fire for the fun of it or to cover up a theft. But she may have been paid to do it.”
Camille scowls, “By who? Kurt Ozzi? Then why was she hiding in the woods instead of chilling in the Bahamas? She’s innocent, I’m telling you! For all we know, she died that night in the fire before the real culprit transferred her body to the woods.”
“Let’s assume that’s what happened.” I train my gaze on her. “What’s your theory on why Pierre Housard was killed?”
She fiddles with her sleeve. “What if he’d made an explosive discovery?”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Like something that would’ve exposed Kurt’s spies.”
“If I may,” Rudy jumps in. “Unless Housard was such aspecialagent that he was exempt from reporting to the mother ship, Carlo would’ve known if Housard had uncovered something. That’s how things were done at MESS back in my day, at any rate.”
Camille rubs her chin. “Maybe he didn’t have the time to report to Carlo. Whatever he’d unearthed, the killer might’ve realized it at once, and killed him on the spot.”
“It’s not impossible,” I say.
Rudy nods.
Angie doesn’t react in any way. She maintains her stiff posture until we arrive at our destination and she’s able to leave the car.
CHAPTER23
LOUIS
There are two layers to MINDFUCH: a wrapper and a core.
The wrapper is a bustling but rather useless outer shell that’s more into PR than actual work. That part of the agency is no different than any other public administration or big company.
Most employees are hired at the bottom of the organizational pyramid and stay there until they leave or retire. Some get promotions. A happy few rise to managerial positions without ever realizing that their entire career was a sham.
Inside that simulation, there’s a small core which consists of Mount Evor officials, MESS agents, and a handful of non-Evorians who know what MINDFUCH is really about. Not everyone in that lot has the same level of clearance. Director Edward Idrissi and I enjoy the highest one, while Camille’s is among the lowest.
