The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1)

by Diana Xarissa

  Janet was still chuckling as Edward led her into one of the ground-floor conference rooms. Mr. Jones and Christopher Porter were sitting at the table.

  “This assignment isn’t meant to be fun,” Mr. Jones snapped at Janet.

  “Oh, dear, I’m afraid I must be doing it all wrong, then,” Janet replied. “I don’t think I can spend time in Paris and not enjoy myself.”

  Mr. Jones glared at her. “Your job is to protect Mr. Armstrong.”

  “I’m doing my best to protect him from getting served food he doesn’t care for and I’m going to do what I can to help him not get cheated in his business deals. Physical protection, though, is another job altogether.”

  “One that my agents don’t seem capable of managing,” Mr. Jones snarled.

  “Bobby was the one who insisted on going out into the crowded streets against Edward’s advice,” Janet said angrily. “If my life were at stake, I’d listen to the people who’d been hired to protect me.”

  “You were advised not to get involved in this case, and yet here you are,” Mr. Jones replied.

  “My life isn’t at stake,” Janet replied with a wave of her hand. “I’m the hired help. These people aren’t interested in me.”

  “You spent a significant amount of time with Mrs. Davidson tonight,” he countered.

  “She needed to complain about Lucy to someone. Lucy spent most of dinner complaining about everything. They were both simply taking advantage of the fact that I’m a new person who hasn’t heard their stories before. I doubt either of them will speak to me again after tonight.”

  “Tell us everything that was said tonight,” Mr. Jones said.

  Janet swallowed a sigh. She slid into a chair and took a deep breath. Half an hour later, she let out the sigh. “And then Edward met me in the lobby,” she concluded.

  Mr. Jones looked up at her. “You’ve clearly done this before.”

  Edward chuckled. “She’s been involved in a number of criminal investigations in the past few years.”

  “Yes, I read the file,” Mr. Jones replied.

  “I have a file?” Janet demanded.

  Mr. Jones looked up from his notes. “If you remember anything else that was said, even if it seems insignificant, tell Edward. We have other things to do.”

  He got to his feet and walked to the door. Christopher followed.

  “For the record, I still don’t want you involved in this,” Mr. Jones said as he reached for the doorknob. “But you did good work tonight.”

  The two men were gone before Janet could reply. She looked at Edward. “He’s terrifying.”

  Edward chuckled. “You don’t act as if you’re frightened of him.”

  “Then I’m a better actress than I’d realised.”

  “I’m a very lucky man,” he said as he pulled her close.

  “Don’t you forget it,” she replied before he kissed her.

  As they stood up to go, the door suddenly swung open.

  “He was going to take you both off the case tonight,” Christopher said as he shut the door behind himself. “The only reason he didn’t was because Janet was out. Now he’s convinced that she’s going to stumble across the key to solving the case.”

  Edward smiled. “I wouldn’t have married her if she hadn’t been so special.”

  Christopher grinned. “I hope I get that lucky one day.”

  “What sort of woman are you looking for?” Janet asked. “I may know someone.”

  The men both laughed.

  “I’m a bit too busy to find a woman right now,” Christopher told her. “I may wait until I’m retired to find someone. That seems to have worked out well for Edward.”

  “But is he truly retired?” she asked.

  Christopher looked at Edward and shrugged. “That’s between him and Mr. Jones. You can ask him. I’m not brave enough.”

  Janet laughed. “I may just do that, but not until we’ve worked out who is trying to kill Bobby.”

  “You’d better go and see him,” Edward said, glancing at his watch. “He’ll probably want an early night.”

  “Whatever he wants, I want an early night,” Janet said. “All this spy business is exhausting.”

  The men laughed again and then Christopher held the door open for her. He disappeared out of the building while Edward and Janet got into the lift.

  Chapter 13

  “Did you enjoy dinner with my family and friends?” Bobby asked when Janet and Edward joined him in his suite.

  He was sitting in his pyjamas on one of the couches. A woman who appeared to be in her mid-fifties was sitting in a chair nearby, staring at Bobby. Janet assumed that she was another nurse. There was a man in a dark suit standing near the window. He and Edward nodded at one another, but neither spoke.

  “It was very nice,” Janet said. “The food was delicious and it’s an amazing location.”

  Bobby nodded. “I hope everyone pretended to get along.”

  Janet shrugged. “It was fine.”

  He laughed. “I’m going to guess that Lucy started something. She and Dixie fight like cats and dogs, although I have both cats and dogs, actually, and they all get along just fine.”

  “Lucy wanted to know how you were feeling. She’s very concerned about you,” Janet replied.

  “I’ll call her before I go to bed, let her know that I’m fine.”

  “And Dixie asked me to tell you that she loves you,” Janet added.

  Bobby nodded and glanced over at the woman in the chair. When he looked back at Janet, she spoke again.

  “Did she take over from the other nurse?” Janet asked.

  “She did. She doesn’t speak a word of English and she won’t stop staring at me. Please ask her to stop,” Bobby replied.

  Janet hid a smile as she switched to French and introduced herself to the nurse, and then suggested that the woman might look at a magazine or a book, rather than continuing to stare at Bobby.

  “I need to keep a close eye on the patient,” the nurse replied. “He has a head injury.”

  “He’s feeling a bit self-conscious with you looking at him all the time,” Janet explained.

  “I’ll look away occasionally, then,” the woman replied. She glanced briefly at the door and then looked back at Bobby.

  Janet tried not to laugh as the woman’s eyes seemed to continually switch back and forth between the door and the man opposite her.

  Bobby looked at Janet and sighed. “I think that might be worse. She looks like she’s watching a tennis match.”

  “Just try to ignore her,” Janet suggested.

  Bobby sighed. “I’m going to bed,” he announced. “I’ll see you all in the morning. Tell her to leave me alone and let me sleep,” he told Janet.

  “Bobby is going to bed,” Janet told the nurse. “Do you still need to wake him periodically?”

  The nurse nodded. “Not every hour, but I will want to wake him at least every three hours.”

  “She’s agreed to only wake you every three hours,” Janet told Bobby.

  He sighed. “We aren’t going to be able to have much of a conversation. Don’t be surprised if I call you at two in the morning to come and translate things.”

  Janet frowned. The man was paying her a great deal of money, but she didn’t welcome the idea of being woken up in the middle of the night.

  “Which reminds me,” Bobby added. “I don’t have your phone number.”

  For a moment, Janet thought about refusing to give him the number. It was just possible, though, that the poor man might need her help. Janet had taken the job. It was her responsibility to help Bobby. She recited her mobile number and watched as Bobby entered it into his phone.

  “And now, I’m going to bed,” Bobby said, getting to his feet. “I need you here at seven,” he told Janet. “My first meeting is at eight and we have a lot to go through before that meeting.”

  Janet frowned. “Seven?”

  “You need to understand some of the things that
are going to be discussed tomorrow. I’ll have breakfast delivered. We can eat while we talk. Take a look at the menu and write down what you want,” he replied.

  He waved a hand towards the desk in the corner. As Bobby left the room, Janet found the room service menu on the desk and read through the breakfast options.

  “Having trouble deciding?” Edward asked as he joined her.

  “It all sounds good,” she admitted. There was a small pad of paper and a pen next to the telephone. Janet carefully wrote down her choices and then looked at Edward. “I think we’re done here,” she said softly.

  “Let’s go back to your room for a chat,” he suggested.

  Janet felt herself blushing as she turned towards the door. Edward walked over to the man in the suit and had a short conversation with him.

  “Good luck tonight,” Janet told the nurse. “If you need anything, you can ring me.” She told the nurse her number. The woman wrote it on a slip of paper and put it in her pocket.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I must check on my patient.”

  Janet wondered if she should stay, just in case either the nurse or Bobby needed her, but Edward took her arm.

  “Let’s go before Bobby decides to have you sleep on the couch, just in case he needs you,” he whispered in her ear.

  He rushed her out of the room and into the lift.

  “Has Mr. Harrison gone home for the evening?” Janet asked as they rode down to the fourth floor.

  “Mr. Harrison has gone for some additional training. No one is blaming him for what happened to Bobby today, but after the accident he couldn’t tell me where any of the suspects had been just before Bobby fell. He should have been tracking all of them, and even in that crowd he should have been able to see at least one or two of them.”

  Janet nodded. “I wish I’d been paying more attention.”

  “You aren’t being paid to pay attention to such things.”

  When they got inside Janet’s room, Edward pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly. “I miss you,” he whispered.

  “I’m right here.”

  “Yes, right where you belong.”

  When he lifted his head some time later, Janet sighed.

  “What’s wrong? I mean, aside from our honeymoon being interrupted.”

  “I’m worried about Bobby. I don’t really care for him, but I don’t want him to get murdered, either.”

  “You’ve had a chance to get to know everyone a bit better. Who is behind the murder attempts?”

  “I wish I knew. In spite of everything, I rather like Dixie. I think she’s rather desperately in love with Bobby. I’m not certain how he feels about her, though.”

  Edward nodded. “He said tonight that he’s known her forever and that she’s a wonderful woman, but that he isn’t interested in getting married again, probably not ever. He seems to think that Dixie will get tired of waiting for him eventually and will find someone else.”

  Janet thought back through her conversation with Dixie. “He may be right. I do think they could be good for each other, though.”

  “I think Bobby might consider marrying her if she and Lucy got along better.”

  “I can’t see that happening. I think there are a lot of issues there that have built up over a long period of time.”

  “So who is trying to kill Bobby?”

  “I don’t think it’s Dixie. She’s at the very bottom of my list of suspects.”

  “Okay, who comes next on your list?” Edward asked.

  Janet frowned. “Everyone else is rather muddled together, but I suppose Lucy is next. Bobby is her father. In spite of her difficult childhood, she seems to care about him. I can’t see her trying to kill him. She’s also incredibly spoiled. I think if she were going to try to kill him, that she’d pay someone to do the job.”

  “Next on the list, working from the bottom?”

  “Probably Neil, because I get the impression that he needs Bobby around.”

  “Even though he’d double his personal wealth if anything happened to Bobby?”

  “Dixie seemed to think that he’d run himself out of business pretty quickly, though. She said he was smart enough to know that he needs Bobby.”

  “So, assuming Dixie can be believed, you’d put Neil next?”

  “Yes, although I will admit that I probably shouldn’t be believing Dixie,” Janet told him.

  “That leaves two suspects at the top of your list. Which do you think is more likely, Tony or Theodore?”

  “You said that you could see Tony this morning. My goodness, was it only this morning that Bobby fell into the road? It feels as if it happened a lifetime ago.”

  “It does feel a long time ago,” Edward agreed. “But yes, I could see Tony just before Bobby fell. There’s no way he pushed Bobby into the street.”

  “And no one could see Bobby,” Janet sighed. “I don’t really understand how he managed to fall and hit the back of his head.”

  “Mr. Jones recreated the fall at the scene. It’s only just possible, if Bobby was pushed sideways as he stood on the edge of the kerb, that he could have fallen at the angle necessary to hit his head in the way that he did.”

  “Only ‘just possible.’ Does that mean that you think Bobby fell on purpose?”

  “No, actually, it doesn’t. I think if he’d fallen on purpose, he’d have fallen head first into the street and probably broken the fall with his hands. That he fell at such an odd angle actually seems to me to prove that he was pushed.”

  “And Tony couldn’t have done it.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Janet frowned. “He’s still on the top of my list of suspects. I think he’s after Bobby’s money, or maybe just Lucy’s money. Maybe Bobby doesn’t approve of him marrying Lucy.”

  “I asked Bobby about that, actually. He doesn’t really care for Tony, but he also doesn’t expect them to ever get married. Apparently, Lucy gets engaged all the time and has never even gone as far as setting a date. Bobby is pretty certain that Tony will be gone as soon as they get back to the US.”

  “All the more reason for Tony to be in a rush, then.”

  “Maybe, but what can he truly be hoping to accomplish?”

  Janet shrugged. “If it isn’t Tony, it’s Theodore, and I can’t imagine any motive for him.”

  “Ah, Theodore. He’s at the top of my list.”

  “But why would he want to kill Bobby?”

  “Maybe he’s simply tired of Bobby calling him Teddy,” Edward suggested.

  Janet laughed. “That isn’t a motive for murder.”

  “People have been killed over things that you or I might consider even less significant,” Edward replied. “I do believe that Theodore’s motive is more complicated than that, though. I simply don’t know what it is.”

  “You’ve investigated his past?”

  “My agency has done some looking into his past. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same access to information in America that we have back home. Mr. Jones has filed polite requests for information. Now we wait.”

  “So you could discover, eventually, that Theodore is Bobby’s illegitimate son or at least a distant cousin.”

  “Possibly. Either of those things might give Theodore a motive.”

  Janet nodded. “I wonder what’s in Bobby’s will.”

  “We talked about that tonight, as well. It’s fairly straightforward. Neil gets all of the businesses where he’s partnered with Bobby. There’s a similar provision for another man with whom Bobby owns a chain of parking garages. Everything else goes to Lucy.”

  “That seems fairly simple. No one else is even mentioned?”

  “Bobby did say something about a handful of bequests to people who were significant to him. I suspect Dixie falls into that category.”

  “She seems to have plenty of her own money.”

  “She does. She’s done extremely well out of each of her divorces and she appears to be a very clever businesswoman. She recently bough
t Bobby’s shares in most of the businesses they’d formerly owned together. I believe she’s planning to invest in whatever it is that Bobby is doing in Paris, though.”

  “Where is she on your list?”

  “I’d put her level with Lucy, at the bottom. Then Neil, then Tony, then Theodore.”

  “So Tony is second, even though you’re certain he didn’t have anything to do with Bobby’s fall today.”

  “If I weren’t certain that he didn’t push Bobby today, he’d be at the top of my list,” Edward told her. “As it is, he’s where he is because it’s possible, although unlikely, that Bobby was pushed by a random stranger or by one of the others, but that Tony was responsible for all of the other attempts on Bobby’s life.”

  “I still think it’s possible that more than one person has been trying to kill Bobby, considering how many different attempts have been made” Janet replied. “I did think that maybe some of the attempts in Texas had been made by someone other than the five suspects who are here, though. It would be odd if two of the five people in Paris were both trying to kill Bobby.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with that,” Edward replied.

  “Unless Lucy and Tony are working together,” Janet said, as the thought suddenly occurred to her. “Maybe that’s why some of the attempts have been more serious than others. Maybe Lucy isn’t really trying but Tony is.”

  “Why would Lucy pretend to try, then?” Edward asked, seemingly amused by Janet’s theory.

  “Maybe she has a lot of resentment towards him after her difficult childhood,” Janet speculated. “Maybe she truly wants him dead but she can’t bring herself to do it herself. Perhaps she and Tony are taking turns at trying but she keeps coming up with things that don’t actually work.”

  “Which attempts are you suggesting that Lucy was behind, then?”

  Janet found the notes she’d taken previously, with her list of the attempts on Bobby’s life.

  “She could have done something to the brakes on Bobby’s truck,” Janet said. “She may even have known where he was going to be driving that day and known that he’d be able to stop safely.”

  “I don’t know that she’d know how to tamper with brakes.”

  “Maybe she looked it up online. I understand you can find everything on the Internet these days.”