Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [824]
“I can’t imagine,” said Mr. Cataliades, thoroughly shocked.
“Because he wants to open a new vampire hotel in New Orleans. Blood in the Quarter got flooded and closed, and Baruch thought he could rebuild and reopen.”
“But Baruch didn’t have anything to do with the other bombs?”
“I sure don’t think so, Mr. Cataliades. I think that was the Fellowship, just like I said yesterday.”
“Then who killed the vampires from Arkansas?” Barry asked. “I guess the Fellowship did that, too? No, wait . . . why would they? Not that they’d quibble at killing some vampires, but they’d know the vampires would probably get killed in the big explosion.”
“We have an overload of villains,” I said. “Mr. Cataliades, you got any ideas about who might have taken out the Arkansas vampires?” I gave Mr. Cataliades a straight-in-the-eyes stare.
“No,” Mr. Cataliades said. “If I did, I would never say those ideas out loud. I think you should be concentrating on your man’s injuries and getting back to your little town, not worrying about three deaths among so many.”
I wasn’t exactly worried about the deaths of the three Arkansas vampires, and it seemed like a really good idea to take Mr. Cataliades’s advice to heart. I’d had the odd moment to think about the murders, and I’d decided that the simplest answer was often the best.
Who’d thought she had a good chance of skipping a trial altogether, if Jennifer Cater was silenced?
Who’d prepared the way to be admitted to Jennifer’s room, by the simple means of a phone call?
Who’d had a good long moment of telepathic communication with her underlings before she began the artificial flurry of primping for the impromptu visit?
Whose bodyguard had been coming out of the stairway door just as we were exiting the suite?
I knew, just as Mr. Cataliades knew, that Sophie-Anne had ensured Sigebert would be admitted to Jennifer Cater’s room by calling down ahead and telling Jennifer she herself was on her way. Jennifer would look out the peephole, recognize Sigebert, and assume the queen was right behind him. Once inside, Sigebert would unsheath his sword and kill everyone in the place.
Then he would hurry back up the stairs to appear in time to escort the queen right back down to the seventh floor. He’d enter the room again so there’d be a reason for his scent to be on the air.
And at the time I’d suspected absolutely nothing.
What a shock it must have been to Sophie-Anne when Henrik Feith had popped up alive; but then the problem had been solved when he accepted her protection.
The problem reasserted itself when someone talked him into accusing her anyway.
And then, amazingly, problem solved again: the nervous little vampire had been assassinated in front of the court.
“I do wonder how Kyle Perkins was hired,” I said. “He must have known he was on a suicide mission.”
“Perhaps,” Mr. Cataliades said carefully, “he had decided to meet the sun anyway. Perhaps he was looking for a spectacular and interesting way to go, earning a monetary legacy for his human descendants.”
“It seems strange that I was sent looking for information about him by a member of our very own party,” I said, my voice neutral.
“Ah, not everyone needs to know everything,” Mr. Cataliades said, his voice just as neutral.
Barry could hear my thoughts, of course, but he wasn’t getting what Mr. Cataliades was saying, which was just as well. It was stupid that it made me feel better, Eric and Bill not knowing the queen’s deep game. Not that they weren’t capable of playing deep games themselves, but I didn’t think Eric would have sent me on the wild goose chase for the archery range where Kyle Perkins had trained if Eric