Not a whole lot I could say to that. “Okay, but what I have implicates Granduncle George’s children and grandchildren.”
He huffed, then said, “I’m shocked. Next, you’re going to tell me Santa Claus isn’t real and I can’t trust demons. Who the hell else would have a motive for taking out both you and Lady Findlay-James?” Osiris leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. “I can imagine there are dozens of people who think they have a motive to kill you, simply out of irritation if nothing else, but Akiyama Benjiro is the only outsider I can think of with a motive to kill your grandmother. And even in his wildest delusions, I doubt he considers you a threat. So, people inside the Family are the next logical suspects.”
I told him about finding my address on Gecid’s desk and the subsequent tests the forensics lab had run. Then I told him about the note Courtney wrote and how the tests coincided. Finally, I told him about the video evidence from the betrothal ball.
When I finished, he stood up, went to his sideboard, and poured two glasses of whiskey. Handing me one, he resumed his seat behind his desk.
“Nice work,” Osiris said, holding his glass up to me, and took a sip. Dutifully, I took a sip myself.
“I can clear up which daughter likely wrote the note,” he continued. “Beatrice is left-handed.”
I opened my mouth and then shut it.
“Otherwise, everything you put together makes sense.” He held up a finger. “First, Beatrice is David Moncrieff’s favorite daughter. He can’t stand Karolyn, who is a far worse bitch than her mother.” Another finger went up. “Second, Karl Rudolf is the father of Karolyn’s son.” Another finger. “Third, Karl would love nothing better than being quit of his wife but fears the repercussions of pissing off Findlay. So, Rudolf’s wife Veronica might have been the primary target, and the actual victims could have been a distraction.”
“The only thing I don’t get,” I said, “is Courtney conspiring with both Rudolf and her husband. The three of them working together seems a little too cozy.”
“I don’t think the men know Courtney is involved,” Osiris said. “After all, she’s only a woman.” He grinned. “I think the men are getting their orders from elsewhere.”
I started to say something, but he held up his hand. “I’m not saying Courtney isn’t involved, and she’s definitely the smartest and most cunning of them all.”
He shifted in his seat. “But you’re missing one major piece of the puzzle that fills in the blanks. Courtney is not only sleeping with her husband and Karl Rudolf, she’s also sleeping with Akiyama Benjiro, among others. Not often, mind you, but when they can arrange being in the same place at the same time. Your Aunt Courtney is not what one would call a nice girl. She’s been using seduction as a tool since she was fourteen, and she seduced Benjiro when the two of them weren’t much older than that.”
Osiris winked at me and took another sip of his whiskey. “But I didn’t know Hiroku is in the country. That is highly unusual.”
Kirsten and I stayed out at Findlay House for dinner, and afterward I found myself back in Osiris’s conference room with my grandmother, Tom Whittaker, Mychal, and Frank and Henri Novak. It was the first time I met Frank Novak, other than seeing him a couple times at formal functions. He was a larger version of Henri, taller and heavier. His reputation as an aeromancer was legendary. It was said that he could actually fly.
Osiris presented an overall security briefing, only part of it being the information I had brought him that afternoon. He also skipped Courtney’s and Karolyn’s suspected roles, concentrating instead on what we suspected of the Moncrieffs and Karl Rudolf.
“What worries me about all this,” Whittaker said when Osiris finished, “is Ashvial’s role. Benjiro may think he’s using Ashvial, but while Benjiro has an abundance of ambition, my agents aren’t impressed by his intelligence and strategic thinking. Ashvial, on the other hand, fought his way through the Rift War and not only survived, but came out of it sitting pretty in our world.”
“Yes,” Grandmother Olivia spoke up, “he’s a sly one. If anyone is playing both sides in this one, it’s him.”
“Assuming there are only two sides,” Henri Novak said. “I’m counting at least four sides. Ours, Akiyama’s, smaller unaligned members of the Hundred and their allies, and the demon lords. Ashvial is the big player here in the Mid-Atlantic, but at last count, there were more than a dozen demon lords on this side of the Rift, with holdings all over the world.”
I waited for a break in the conversation, then said, “The demon society is hierarchical, and having a dozen different lords flies in the face of that. Does anyone know what is over the demon lords? You would think one of them would win out and dominate the others, but we haven’t seen any evidence of that type of conflict in my lifetime. So, who is the big cheese that none of us knows about?”
Osiris curled his lip at me. “That is a question none of us like to think about, although we should.”
Olivia nodded. “My son asked that same question. We always felt there was someone above Ashvial. He just doesn’t bear himself the way a ruler
