Lucy shrugged. “And in spite of all of that, he still won’t marry you.”
“That’s quite enough,” Theodore said. “This is not the time or the place for this conversation. If you two want to have a fight, do it in one of your hotel rooms where you won’t have an audience.”
Janet looked around and realised that at least a dozen people were standing around, presumably listening to the conversation.
“Hopefully, they all speak nothing but French,” Tony murmured.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re just fortunate that the press haven’t turned up,” Theodore said. “Imagine how Bobby would react if that argument were splashed all over the papers tomorrow.”
“Let’s go,” Lucy said, giving Dixie an angry look. “We’ll continue this later.”
Dixie shrugged. “If you insist,” she said.
Janet and Dixie watched as Neil, Theodore, Tony, and Lucy walked to the nearest taxi rank. As their car drove away, Dixie chuckled.
“And now, we can have a very interesting conversation,” she told Janet.
Chapter 12
“I imagine Lucy had quite a few horrible things to say about me when you got back to the restaurant,” Dixie began as she and Janet strolled slowly along the street.
“Actually, she was crying too much to say much of anything,” Janet replied.
Dixie sighed. “I don’t actually dislike her. I even enjoy her company sometimes, but she can be incredibly difficult, as well.”
“It seems as if she had a very chaotic childhood.”
“Chaotic? That’s a good way to put it, actually. Bobby had to fight quite hard to get Lucy away from her mother.”
“I can understand a mother not wanting to give up her child.”
Dixie waved a hand. “The woman was unstable and unsuitable in every way. She knew nothing about taking care of a child and she wasn’t particularly interested in Lucy. She simply didn’t want Bobby to have her.”
“Lucy said that her mother kept her hidden for six months.”
“She did. Bobby was beside himself. He didn’t eat and he barely slept until she was found.”
“That must have been difficult for everyone.”
“Everyone except Lucy’s mother. I’m sure she was over the moon, watching the upset she’d caused. Bobby had private detectives searching all over the country, talking to everyone who’d ever known her, but he couldn’t find Lucy.”
“She did say that her mother eventually returned her to Bobby.”
“Yes, because, as I said before, she didn’t really want Lucy, she just didn’t want Bobby to have her. The going into hiding episode was proof, really. If she truly had wanted to be with Lucy, she could simply have stayed in hiding with her. After six months, though, she got tired of being a mother and of having to be responsible for another person. The courts were happy to agree with Bobby at that point, as well. He was awarded sole custody, and Lucy was much better off for that.”
Janet wasn’t going to argue, but she did think she’d quite like to hear Lucy’s mother’s version of the story. “It’s a beautiful night,” she said after a moment.
“Paris is a beautiful city. I came here with two of my husbands and it was very romantic both times.”
“I’m hoping my husband will be able to get here soon,” Janet replied, feeling as if she hesitated only slightly over the word “husband.” Being married still didn’t feel quite real, even with the rings on her finger. She could only hope that that would change once she and Edward were properly together.
“I was rather hoping that Bobby might propose on this trip, but that seems less and less likely by the minute,” Dixie sighed.
“Oh?”
“Lucy has always been the biggest obstacle. She didn’t like me when she was a child, and time hasn’t improved our relationship. I’ve been working on persuading Bobby that he no longer has to worry about her opinion now that she’s over forty, but he isn’t quite convinced.”
“I suppose I can understand him wanting her approval,” Janet said.
“Yes, of course, but the girl is never going to approve, not when our marrying might mean that I’d be entitled to some of Bobby’s money. Let me be completely clear. I have plenty of my own money. I’m not after Bobby’s.”
“Surely you could put Lucy’s fears to rest with some sort of prenuptial agreement, then.”
Dixie shook her head. “I’m not going into a marriage already planning for a divorce. It’s just bad karma. Besides, if we do marry, well, I do feel as if I should be entitled to some share of the wealth that is generated during our years together, in the same way that Bobby would be entitled to a share of my money for those years. There would still be plenty left for Lucy.”
Janet thought about pointing out that the woman seemed to be contradicting herself, but decided it wasn’t worth starting an argument. “So you believe that Lucy is going to keep you and Bobby apart?”
“Oh, we aren’t apart,” Dixie laughed. “We’re as together as we can be, outside of being married, at least in my opinion. Lucy is keeping Bobby from taking me down the aisle, though, and I’m starting to get a bit fed up with the entire situation. Maybe it’s time to visit my old friend on his private island again.”
“Do you think he’d let you visit?”
“I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”
Janet didn’t doubt it. “Are you actually interested in seeing him again or are you simply hoping to make Bobby jealous?”
Dixie sighed. “Yes, which is no answer at all. Honestly, at this point, I’m too worried about Bobby to go anywhere anyway.”
“Because of his fall today?”
“Because someone is clearly trying to kill him. Lucy isn’t taking it seriously, but I am.”
“He said something about multiple attempts on his life. I can’t imagine why the police aren’t involved.”
“They are, in the US, but only in a limited way. Bobby prefers to deal with his problems himself.”
“You said he’d been stabbed?”
Dixie nodded. “Fortunately, he was wearing several layers and was lying under a blanket, so the knife didn’t penetrate very far into his chest. From what he told me, he was barely scratched, even though the knife seemed to be sticking straight out of his chest when I found him.”
So Dixie didn’t know about the bulletproof vest, Janet thought. “That seems very serious. And there have been other attempts?”
“Bobby doesn’t tell me everything, but does talk to me more than he talks to most people. He did tell me when the brakes on his old truck failed. To be honest, at the time I just assumed that they’d worn out. It’s a really old truck that Bobby only keeps for nostalgic reasons. It’s not roadworthy any longer, but he uses it around the ranch. It wasn’t until later, after a few other attacks, that we started to wonder if the brakes had been cut.”
“What did the police say?”
“They weren’t involved. His mechanic couldn’t tell if the lines had been tampered with or not.”
“But there were other attempts?”
Dixie sighed and then nodded. “Someone mixed rat poison into his food at a party. The police were involved in that one, but they couldn’t find any trace of anything in the samples that they took.”
“Do the police have any suspects?”
“That’s part of the problem. The things that happened back in Texas could all have been done by just about anyone. There were other things, like a fire at a hotel where Bobby was staying just before we left for Paris, but again, anyone could have been behind that. The stabbing, though, was different. There’s a very small pool of people who could have done that.”
Janet frowned. “The stabbing happened on the flight from the US to London?”
“Yes, and it was a private plane with only six passengers.”
“That is a small pool of suspects. What about the pilot or the flight attendants?”
Dixie shrugged. “I suppose the flight attendants
could be suspects. I’m pretty sure the pilot didn’t leave the cockpit. The UK police must have interviewed all of them. I can’t imagine any motive any of them could have had for killing Bobby, though.”
Janet nodded. “So it seems as if one of your group is trying to kill Bobby.”
Dixie inhaled sharply. “It sounds much worse when you say it,” she complained.
“Sorry,” Janet muttered.
“No, I’m sorry. It’s all just so unbelievable and awful, but that isn’t your fault. I simply can’t quite believe that one of Bobby’s most trusted associates would try to kill him.”
“Theodore has only been working for him for six months,” Janet said.
“Yes, of course, but for Bobby, that’s a long time. Most of his assistants only last a month or so. He’s very demanding, and most people can’t take the pressure.”
“How long have Lucy and Tony been engaged?”
Dixie frowned. “I’ve lost track. She has men in and out of her life so frequently that I’ve stopped paying attention to them. He was at Thanksgiving dinner, so at least that long. Probably not much longer, though, because she doesn’t stay engaged for more than two or three months.”
“She’s never been married?”
“No, and I doubt she’ll ever get married. She’ll never find herself a man who isn’t primarily interested in her money.”
“Do you suspect anyone of being behind the murder attempts?”
“I wish I did. I truly can’t imagine why anyone would want to kill Bobby.”
“I believe the most common motives are money or love,” Janet told her.
“Well, he certainly has plenty of money, but all of it will be going to Lucy, and even though I don’t like her, I don’t believe she’d do anything to hurt her father. They are devoted to one another, really.”
“What about Tony, then?” Janet suggested.
“He’s never going to get his hands on a penny of Lucy’s money, not even if she suddenly inherited a fortune because something happened to Bobby. Lucy is determined to act as if she’s a child most of the time, but she’s fiercely protective of her fortune. She gets engaged every few months, but, as I said before, I don’t think she’ll ever get married. She may surprise me one day, but whatever happens in the future, I’m confident that she won’t be marrying Tony.”
“Why not?”
“They bicker constantly. He isn’t nearly devoted enough. Tonight was a perfect example. If Tony truly cared about her, he would have gone with her to the top of the tower and then held her hand when she freaked out about the height. I don’t know if he’s simply amusing himself with her or if he’s too stupid to realise that he’s going about things all wrong with her.”
“But she hasn’t ended things with him yet.”
“Because she hasn’t found his replacement yet. Once we get back to Texas, she’ll find someone else and then dump Tony.”
“She’ll find someone else first?”
“Oh, yes. She’s like a chain smoker, lighting the next cigarette from the previous one. She can’t stand the idea of being single. She was starting to look around just before we left, but I think she’s resigned herself to staying with Tony now until we get home again. I wouldn’t rule out her finding herself a handsome Frenchman, though, if she gets any more fed up with Tony.”
“So you can’t see him being behind the murder attempts?”
“I can’t see him actually trying to kill Bobby at the moment. If he and Lucy were married, I’d be giving you a very different answer, but if Bobby dies tomorrow, Tony won’t be entitled to anything, and a much wealthier Lucy would probably dump him within hours.”
“What about Theodore, then? What would he gain if Bobby were to die?”
“Not only would he not gain anything, he’d lose his job. While I’m sure Bobby sometimes makes him so angry that he’d happily punch him, I can’t see any reason why he’d want to kill the man.”
“Neil?” Janet asked.
Dixie laughed throatily. “Ah, poor Neil. He’s forever following Bobby around, hoping that a scrap or two will fall his way.”
“Really?”
“He’s a reasonably successful businessman, actually, or he was when he first started out. He and Bobby started working together when Neil was in his early twenties. Unfortunately for Neil, he quickly became rather dependent on Bobby. Now his only business concerns are partnerships with Bobby. Bobby, on the other hand, has many other companies, which means he doesn’t always give Neil as much time and attention as Neil would like.”
“What would happen to Neil if Bobby died unexpectedly?”
“I believe he would become the sole owner of all of the businesses where he partners with Bobby. Of course, that would double Neil’s wealth, but at considerable cost. I can imagine every one of the businesses going under inside of a year, or maybe eighteen months at the most. Neil simply isn’t up to the challenge of running them by himself.”
“Does he know that?”
Dixie chuckled. “He should. I believe he does. Years ago, he sometimes would get himself involved in ventures without Bobby, but most of them failed quite quickly. The last time he refused to take Bobby’s advice was about his marriage. Bobby told him that the woman in question was only interested in Neil’s money and some cheap publicity. Neil refused to believe him.”
“Didn’t he marry Kaytlyn Kortlyn?”
“He did. I’m sure you know that it didn’t end well.”
“From what I read, it ended disastrously.”
“For Neil, it was disastrous. Kaytlyn got a ton of publicity and a large amount of Neil’s money. For her, it was a huge success.”
“Poor Neil.”
Dixie nodded. “I’ve known him for years and as far as I knew, he wasn’t particularly interested in romantic relationships. We were all shocked when he started seeing Kaytlyn and even more surprised when he proposed.”
“And Bobby warned him about her.”
“He did. Bobby could see that she was simply after his money. I mean, let’s be honest here, the entire world could see that she was only after his money. Bobby was the only person who was brave enough to point that out to Neil, though. Neil was furious. He told Bobby that he was going to end their business relationship as soon as he got back from his honeymoon. Bobby didn’t even go to the wedding.”
“Was the marriage in trouble by the end of the honeymoon, then?” Janet asked.
“Apparently Kaytlyn spent most of the honeymoon in bed with morning sickness. Once Neil realised what was wrong with her, he realised that she’d been lying to him. He’d insisted on waiting to consummate their relationship on their wedding night, you see, and by that time Kaytlyn was already several months along.”
“Poor Neil.”
“He came back to Dallas and talked the whole thing over with Bobby. He had some crazy idea about trying to make it work anyway, in spite of the baby and everything else. When Bobby had a meeting with Kaytlyn to hear her side of everything, she propositioned him.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Luckily, Bobby had a video camera set up. When he showed the footage to Neil, that was the end of that.”
“It sounds as if Bobby saved him from even more misery.”
“Neil was grateful, but also devastated. Bobby had to work his butt off to keep their businesses afloat while Neil wallowed in his heartbreak. He gave Kaytlyn a generous settlement, one she didn’t deserve, because he was still crazy in love with her.”
“So you don’t think that Neil is behind the attempts on Bobby’s life?”
“I would hope that he’s smarter than that,” Dixie replied. “He needs Bobby far more than anyone else does.”
“You’ve now eliminated all of the possibilities,” Janet pointed out.
Dixie laughed. “There’s always me,” she said. “And there have been plenty of times when I’ve thought about killing that man. Bobby Armstrong can be the most annoying man on the entire planet, and I should know becau
se I’ve been married to plenty of annoying men.”
The pair had meandered through the streets, but they were now only a few paces away from their hotel. Dixie stopped and looked at Janet.
“I hope you know that I’m not serious. I love Bobby more than I’ve ever loved anyone else and I would never do anything to hurt him. I suppose that’s why I haven’t pushed any harder for a wedding ring. I’m not a very good wife, really. Maybe we’re better off staying as we are, whatever that is.”
“I hope the police can work out who’s behind everything that’s happened to Bobby,” Janet said.
Dixie nodded. “He said he was pushed today. I believe him. I just wish I’d been watching everyone else. He had two bodyguards with him. Someone must have seen something.”
“There were just too many people around,” Janet replied. “Maybe he was pushed by someone who was simply trying to get past.”
“Are you going to see him tonight?”
“I am, just in case he needs anything translated to his nurse.”
“Please tell him that I love him,” Dixie said, as tears filled her eyes. “He won’t see me. He said he isn’t seeing anyone aside from his bodyguards. Of course, I’ll see him at the meetings tomorrow, but that isn’t the same.”
“I’ll pass the message along.”
“Thank you. I should be grateful that he’s keeping everyone out. That should keep him safe. I, well, I just want to hug him and spend some time with him. I should go to the Bahamas, or maybe I should look up one of my ex-husbands. That would be diverting.”
Dixie sighed and then turned and walked into the hotel. Janet took a moment to take a few deep breaths before she followed. Edward was standing in the lobby.
“Hi,” he said softly.
“I was just breathing in Paris,” she explained.
“And now we have to go and talk to Mr. Jones,” he told her.
“I have to go and see if Bobby needs anything.”
“After we’ve spoken to Mr. Jones. He gets priority.”
“Why?”
“Because he has a gun and Bobby had to leave his in Texas,” Edward replied, winking at her.
The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1) Page 13
