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I knew it!
“Prince Benjamin had been ill for years,” Louis says. “Literally, an army of doctors had examined him.”
I remember how Princess Felicia told me about all the tests and scans that her late husband had undergone during the years of his illness.
Joseph smirks. “You have no idea what sorts of things Kurt has access to through a biotech mogul friend of his. Stuff that’s too new, too advanced for the regular doctors and labs to detect, even for the top ones.”
“Why would Kurt poison prince Benjamin, a second son?” Louis asks. “Why not the Reigning Prince Richard?”
“My impression is Kurt had several reasons for that, both personal and strategic, but I don’t know for sure.”
Louis’s face is harder than I’ve ever seen it when he asks, “Can you give us the identities of Kurt’s spies in Mount Evor? How many are we talking about? Does Kurt have a mole in the palace?”
Joseph shakes his head. “I can’t tell you that.”
“That intel is worth millions to us,” Louis says. “It’s simple. You name the price. We’ll pay up at once, and we’ll settle you and your family anywhere you wish, complete with new identities and security detail.”
Joseph’s eyes are full of longing when he replies, “I wish I could give you those names! I truly do. But my clearance wasn’t high enough for that kind of information.”
Disappointment flashes over Louis’s face. “That’s all right. What you just gave us is extremely valuable. I must inform Prince Theodor right away. Excuse me.”
He pulls out his phone and heads for the exit.
“Psst!” Joseph sidles closer to me. “There’s something else I know, but I didn’t want to reveal it in front of your husband. He clearly admires you and I can relate to that. That’s how I feel about my own wife… I’d hate to ruin your marriage.”
My stomach clenches with apprehension. “What is this about?”
“Your sister Jeannette.” He gives me a sympathetic look. “I know you’re convinced she was innocent, and you’ve been looking into this whole thing to clear her name, but…”
I want to order him to shut up because I can’t bear to hear what he’s trying to tell me, but the words dry up in my mouth.
“She was the one who lit the curtains and started the fire,” he says. “Do what you want with that. Ultimately, it doesn’t change the big picture. She was just a little cog in Kurt’s infernal machine.”
After he’s said his piece, I stare at him for a while, still unable to form any words. The knot in my stomach is giving me nausea, not to mention the tightness in my chest that makes it hard to breathe. If it’s true… If he didn’t make it up… The implications chill my blood.
“How do I know it’s true?” I finally manage.
“I was tasked with opening an offshore account for her and transferring the money prior to the arson.” He thrusts a folded-up note into my hand. “It’s the bank and account details. Call them. You’re her next of kin. The money is legally yours now.”
Like I’d ever touch it!
“Who killed her?” I ask, my voice shaky.
“I don’t have their names. Kurt keeps things like that very compartmentalized.”
My mouth twists. “Of course, he does.”
“It was the last straw for me if you must know. I’d been in touch with Jeannette following her recruitment. I’d negotiated the terms of her deal, transferred the funds, made arrangements for her to move to Switzerland… It was all real.” He sweeps a hand over his mouth. “And then I heard she was dead.”
“Kurt Ozzi never planned for her to survive,” I say, feeling numb.
“She was a loose end, which made me realize that one day I’d be a loose end, too.”
“One more thing,” I say to Joseph. “Was Jeannette the one who disabled the fire alarms?”
“No. She was told that they would go off as soon as they detected the smoke and that no one would die.”
I search his face. “Are you saying this to spare me?”
