“Because he understands people better than Mr. Jones does. He understood how upset I was when my honeymoon was interrupted. Nothing he did jeopardised my mission in any way.”
“Maybe you should tell me about your mission,” Janet suggested.
Edward nodded. “In a minute,” he said, pulling her into another kiss.
“I thought Bobby had a meeting,” Janet said when she caught her breath.
He sighed. “He does, and we need to be there. I’ll have to give you the short version, not that there is a long version, actually. It’s pretty straightforward.”
Janet sat back down. Edward sat next to her and took her hand.
“From what we can determine, someone is trying to kill Mr. Armstrong,” Edward told her.
“From what you can determine?” Janet asked.
“According to Mr. Armstrong, there have been several attempts on his life in the past two months. After the first few, he hired a security team to protect him and a private detective to investigate. Apparently, there’s quite a long list of suspects.”
“Oh dear.”
“Mr. Armstrong is a businessman with a reputation for being ruthless,” Edward told her. “He’s made some enemies over the years and he’s making a lot more at the moment. He has plans to build a large shopping mall and a huge residential development in an area that’s meant to be protected. Apparently, there are large bird populations that will suffer if he goes ahead with his plans.”
“Now I don’t like him,” Janet said.
“Like him or not, it’s my job to protect him.”
“So lots of people want him dead?”
“The private detective was concentrating his efforts on a handful of environmental groups. I should point out that the attempts on Mr. Armstrong’s life were all what I would consider amateur efforts. I can tell you more about them later, if you really want to hear the stories.”
“I do, of course,” Janet told him.
He chuckled. “Of course you do.”
“So someone in Texas wants to kill him. Where do you come into all of this? And why didn’t he bring his security team with him?”
“As I said, the detective was looking at the various environmental protection groups. He involved the local police, and the police appear to have been focussing on Mr. Armstrong’s former wife and her new husband. Everyone seemed to believe that it would be wise for Mr. Armstrong to be somewhere other than Texas for a short while.”
“Is that why he came to Paris?”
“That’s certainly part of it. He’s been doing business with a company here for a year or more, but he’s always insisted that the meetings be held in the US. When it was suggested that it would be wise for him to get away, Mr. Armstrong decided to meet with his French business associates in Paris for a change.”
“And here he is,” Janet muttered.
“He came on rather short notice,” Edward told her. “It was suggested that he hire a translator and bring some security with him, but he decided that he was going to travel only with people that he trusted completely.”
Janet frowned. “You say that as if his trust is misplaced.”
Edward sighed. “The group flew from Dallas to New York a few days ago. There was a further attempt on Mr. Armstrong’s life in New York. I was called in when that happened so that we could have security in place as soon as Mr. Armstrong’s party landed in France.”
“But they didn’t arrive until yesterday afternoon. You disappeared in the morning.”
“I needed a briefing. Mr. Armstrong’s arrival was also delayed several times, for various reasons. I was considering abandoning the job, actually, after all of the delays, but then I learned that one of the delays was because of yet another attempt on Mr. Armstrong’s life.”
“What happened?” Janet asked.
“They flew from New York to London and then on to Paris. At some point during the long flight from New York to London, someone attempted to stab Mr. Armstrong.”
Janet frowned. “How could he or she not get caught?”
“It was a private plane and each person was in an individual enclosed area. The lights were off, aside from some floor lighting to help people find their way to the loos. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, the passengers all took a walk through the plane at some point during the five hours when the lights were off, with the exception of Mr. Armstrong himself. When the lights came back on, Mr. Armstrong found a knife stuck in his chest.”
Janet gasped. “How did he survive that?”
“He was wearing a bulletproof vest. He’s been wearing one since the first attempt on his life. The knife went through several layers of clothing and then stuck in the vest.”
“That’s further proof, then, that someone from his entourage is behind the attempts,” Janet said thoughtfully.
“Except Mr. Armstrong doesn’t want to believe that. He trusts everyone with whom he is travelling.”
“And what do you think of them?”
Edward shook his head. “I want you to meet them all before I say a word. You’re a very good judge of character. We’ll talk again later and compare notes.”
“How many people are there in the group?” Janet asked.
“Counting Mr. Armstrong, six, and I’m not saying another word about any of them, so don’t ask.”
“If he’s in so much danger, why aren’t you with him now?”
Edward chuckled. “One of my counterparts is with him at the moment. I can’t be with him twenty-four hours a day, although I’m meant to be with him during waking hours. In this instance, it was felt that I needed to be a part of the team interviewing the woman that Mr. Armstrong had suddenly hired as a translator.”
Janet grinned. “And do I get the job?”
“If it were up to me, of course,” he told her. “But it isn’t up
