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“I swear that when I wired her the payment, she didn’t know—and neither did I, the fool that I was—that the arson would result in so many deaths.”
“What did she think it was about, then? What didyouthink it was about?”
“We were told the plan was to evacuate everyone from the palace,” he says. “In the confusion, a thief would sneak in and steal an heirloom from Prince Theodor’s room that didn’t belong to him.”
“And neither of you questioned that story?”
“Greed has a way of suppressing disbelief.”
Jeannette had changed,Linda Driessen’s words echo in my mind.
Louis returns to my side and turns to Joseph. “Thank you so much for the intel, Monsieur Wick! We just wired the remaining one hundred grand.” He gives Joseph his business card. “If you remember anything else, please call me.”
Pocketing the card, Joseph gives us a small nod. “I better make tracks. Lots of packing to do tonight.”
We say goodbye to him and climb into the car. Rudy drives off. During the ride, Louis talks to me. I believe he’s thanking me for finding Joseph. I try to smile and nod. But my distress makes it impossible to speak. My entire world just collapsed. The certainty that Jeannette was innocent had given me purpose and a goal for the past six years of my life. With a few uttered words, it turned into a pipe dream.
Even if Jeannette’s handlers had told her the fire would be victimless, a mere diversion, why didn’t she question such a flimsy premise or consider the possibility that the fire might get out of control? I guess it’s like Joseph said. Greed suppressed her judgment. Believing Kurt’s lies was far more lucrative than working hard for a modest wage.
I’ll have to tell Louis. He’ll report the news to the royals and to MESS. He’ll have to. Von Dietz was right about Jeannette. It’s me who was wrong. My childhood hero had become a different person, grasping and venal. I didn’t see, didn’t want to see, her change. But Kurt Ozzi did. He corrupted her, used her, and then got rid of her.
Jeannette will never be vindicated. There’s nothing to vindicate. She let down her employers. Her actions nearly killed the crown prince and caused six deaths among the staff. What she did was unforgivable.
She was as guilty as everyone thought she was.
CHAPTER28
CAMILLE
When we get home, several people from Mount Evor call Louis, including our sovereign Prince Richard and the prime minister. Louis asks me if I’d like to report to them on my investigation that led to Joseph Wick. But I refuse, and let him do the reporting. I’m not ready to reveal the truth about Jeannette just yet. And I’m loath to lie by omission.
Our dinner grows cold.
Around ten, between two endless briefings, Louis urges me to eat and then go to bed. I don’t have much of an appetite, but I force myself to swallow a few mouthfuls before finding refuge in my room, still shaken.
An hour of pacing between four walls later, the numbness in my mind begins to ease, and the fog thins. I graduate from stupor to wrath, seething at Kurt Ozzi, at myself, and at Jeannette. I believe I’m now ready to relay Joseph’s bombshell about the role my sister played in Kurt’s plot. Like Joseph said, it doesn’t change the big picture. But it may help us retrace the exact sequence of events. And, who knows, we may even unmask the spy who’d recruited Jeannette.
Still dressed, I sit on the bed, wondering if I should wait for Louis to come to me or if I should go to him. My dilemma is solved by a rap on the door.
Bracing myself for a difficult but necessary confession, I say, “Come in.”
Louis steps in and shuts the door behind him. His expression is different from a mere hour earlier. All trace of sympathy is gone. His face is now impassive, but I know from the tightening of his jaw that he’s furious. What I don’t know is at who. And why.
He plants himself in front of me. “Were you going to tell me?”
“About Jeannette?” There’s little else he could be referring to.
“Yes.”
“I was.”
“How can I be certain?”
I give his question some thought. “You can’t.”
We stare at each other.
“Did Joseph change his mind after we left and call you?” I ask.
