"He said there was blood all over him," she argued in a firm voice, and Jo sat back with exasperation.
"You people and your seeing- is-believing!"
"Jo," Nicholas said in warning tones as she leaned forward to pick up her coffee.
"I"m just going to drink it," she muttered, and proceeded to do so. As Jo lowered the cup, she glanced to his sister and asked, "But if I had thrown this on you, Jeanne Louise, and you were covered with coffee, would it mean you drank it? Or even that you spilled it?"
When Jeanne Louise just stared at her, eyes widening slightly, Jo said firmly, "Nicholas didn" t kill that woman. He has no memory between when he first spotted the woman in the parking lot and when he opened his eyes in his bas.e.m.e.nt to find her lying dead in his arms.
Someone set him up. And if it wasn" t Decker, then they got super lucky that he showed up when he did, or I bet they somehow arranged for him to show up."
"But how could they have managed it?" Jeanne Louise asked quietly. "How did they get Nicholas there with the dead woman in his arms?"
"Drugs would be my guess," Jo said, and when Jeanne Louise merely bit her lip and looked uncertain, she shifted impatiently. "Look, it doesn"t matter if you believe in his innocence, I do. So just tell us if you know what Annie might have wanted to tell him."
Jeanne Louise sighed, but shook her head. "I don" t know."
Jo sagged with defeat, sure the girl wasn"t even trying because she didn"t believe.
"Jeanne Louise," Marguerite said softly, suggesting she thought the same thing.
"I don"t," Jeanne Louise insisted. "We talked about loads of things. Her work, my work, family, shopping, movies, men..." She shrugged helplessly. "Everything."
"Wasn"t there anything she talked about more than others?" Jo asked pleadingly. "I"m sorry, no. Not that I recall," Jeanne Louise said unhappily.
Jo sighed and glanced around the room. "Well then maybe she mentioned something to one of you?"
When her gaze settled hopefully on Marguerite, the woman"s gaze turned apologetic and she shook her head. "I"m sorry, dear. I really want to help, but we only met three times. The first time was when she and Nicholas first got together, and she was quiet and shy then. The second time was at the wedding, and we didn" t get a chance to talk much at all, and then the last time was a couple weeks before she died. She and Jeanne Louise came for a visit while Nicholas was away, and as I recall..." She paused and frowned. "I think she mostly asked me about Armand."
"Armand?" Jo asked.
"My father," Nicholas told her.
"She was naturally curious about him," Marguerite murmured.
"Why naturally?" Jo asked with a frown.
"Because she hadn" t met him."
Jo glanced to Nicholas and back to Marguerite with confusion. "Surely he attended the wedding?"
"No," Marguerite said quietly. "He couldn"t bring himself to attend."
"He hasn"t left his farm since his last wife died," Thomas said quietly. "He"s become a total recluse."
"His last wife?" Jo asked sharply. "How many has he had?"
"Three. Each has died within a handful of years after their marriage," Thomas said and then added, "My mother lasted four years or so. She was the longest."
"He"s had three life mates?" Jo asked with amazement.
"No," Marguerite said at once. "Only one was a life mate. Nicholas"s mother. Armand turned her. The second wife, Thomas"s mother, was an immortal. She was a bit wild, became his lover and got pregnant. Obviously, she wanted to or she wouldn"t have been drinking enough blood to even start the pregnancy, let alone keep it long enough to know she was pregnant,"
she added dryly, and then shrugged. "She told Armand, and he, of course, married her. It was the eighteenth century," she added. "And at that time, an unmarried girl simply didn"t have a child on her own. No one in the immortal community would have been too distressed, but we were all trying to fit in as mortals. They married for propriety"s sake, but agreed it would only be until one or the other met their life mate." Marguerite grimaced. "Instead, she died."
"The last wife, Jeanne Louise"s mother, was also immortal," Nicholas announced. "Father was lonely, and I think she felt sorry for him. She also wanted a child of her own and so they made an agreement-a temporary marriage for companionship until one or the other met their life mate."
"But she died too," Jo murmured.
"Yes," Marguerite said with a sigh. "Armand has had absolutely no luck with wives."
Jo raised her eyebrows. "You"re kidding, right?"
Marguerite raised her own eyebrows. "You think losing three wives is good luck?"
"I think an immortal losing three immortal wives one after the other is completely unlikely,"
she responded grimly. "Let me guess, they all died in weird accidents?"
"Well, yes," she admitted with surprise. "Nicholas"s mother died in a fire, and-"
"You didn"t tell me fire can kill you?" Jo said, turning on Nicholas accusingly.
"It usually can"t," he said quietly. "We can take a lot of damage and still keep moving and get out of the fire and then repair. But my mother was trapped and..." He grimaced and shrugged.
Jo shook her head and glanced at those surrounding her. "You guys are immortals, hard to kill. What are the chances of one of you losing three wives in a row? Don" t you think that"s odd?"
"That"s what Annie said," Jeanne Louise murmured almost thoughtfully.
"Did she?" Jo turned on her quickly.
Jeanne Louise nodded. "I"d forgotten about that. She was curious as to why Father hadn"t attended the wedding, and when I told her about his misfortunes with wives, she thought it was weird too and started asking all these questions..."
"She was very interested in how they died and so on that day you both came for tea,"
Marguerite murmured.
"She asked me about Uncle Armand and his wives too," Lissianna said. "I didn" t think anything of it at the time."
"She did talk about it a lot," Jeanne Louise said, turning wide eyes to Jo. "You don"t think that has something to do with what she was going to tell Nicholas?"
"It could," she said thoughtfully. "I certainly would have thought it odd and been curious about it. And if she started looking into it and learned anything that suggested even one of the deaths wasn"t accidental..."
"Then it would be a very good reason for someone to want her dead before she could tell Nicholas what she"d learned," Thomas said grimly. "Yes," Jo murmured, not noticing the sudden silence in the room, until Bricker broke it by standing up.
"I need, to feed," he announced, heading for the door. "Does anyone else want something?"
There were murmurs from several people, but Jo was distracted with considering what it was Annie might have learned... and how she"d learned what she had. The deaths had happened so long ago, it was hard to imagine she"d learned anything.
"I think I heard Lucy chattering as I crossed the hall."
Jo glanced up at Bricker"s comment to see that he"d returned and was pa.s.sing out bagged blood.
"I guess I"d better get her. She" ll need feeding," Lissianna said, and stood to slip from the room.
"Oh, she forgot her bag," Leigh said, standing to follow her.
Jo watched them go and then glanced back to the group and said, "It seems to me we need to talk to Armand. He might be able to help clear things up. We should at least get some idea of where to look or what step to take next."
"I"m not sure," Marguerite murmured. "If Armand knew anything I think he would have said so at the time."
"It can"t hurt to check. He might know something without realizing it," Nicholas murmured and then glanced to Thomas. "Is he still on the farm?"
Thomas shook his head. "He has a new one now. Well, he"s bought several since you left and rotates them; ten years at one, then ten at another while foremen run the others."
"He never leaves though," Jeanne Louise said quietly. "And he doesn"t allow visitors at all anymore. Not that he ever allowed me out there," she added bitterly.
Thomas rubbed her back sympathetically as he pulled out his phone. "Bastien will know where he is now and the number. Father still gets blood delivery."
"You know, it occurs to me that we might learn something useful from Armand after all,"
Marguerite said suddenly, and when everyone turned to her, said, "I"ve always a.s.sumed he locked himself away and cut himself off from family and friends because he was bitter at the loss of his wives, but if Annie"s death is connected that puts a different complexion on things."
"I get it," Jo said slowly. "Perhaps he suspected the deaths of his wives weren"t all accidents either. Perhaps he was trying to keep everyone out of the line of fire."
"Do you think so?" Jeanne asked, her eyes widening with hope. When Marguerite nodded, Nicholas grinned and slid his arm around Jo. "She"s very clever, isn"t she?"
"Very," Marguerite agreed solemnly. "The nanos were right on the money as usual. She"s exactly what we needed." She glanced to Thomas. "Call Bastien. The sooner we talk to Armand, the sooner we may be able to clear all this up."
Nodding, he started to punch b.u.t.tons on his cell, but paused and glanced toward the doorway along with everyone else when they heard the outer door open and the sound of someone entering the house.
Mortimer stood up with a frown and started across the room, but froze when a tall blond man filled the doorway. There was a good-looking, dark-haired man on his heels, peering over his shoulder into the room. Jo had no idea who the dark man was, but recognized Lucian from the night of the party. It was pure instinct that had her standing and shifting to block Nicholas from his view. She knew it had been the right decision when Marguerite, Thomas, and Jeanne Louise suddenly stood and positioned themselves around her, helping to hide Nicholas.
"How lovely to see you, Lucian. What are you doing here?" Marguerite asked, sounding completely calm and even welcoming.
The woman was a master at hiding her emotions, Jo decided. The way she"d moved quickly to step beside her and help hide Nicholas proved she wasn" t exactly happy to see him.
"When Greg and I got to the house to pick up our wives, we were told you had all come over here so we followed," the blond man said, his eyes narrowing.
"Pick them up?" Marguerite asked with surprise and glanced at her wrist.w.a.tch, clucking her tongue as she said, "I hadn"t realized it had grown so late."
"The men are supposed to call if anyone arrives," Mortimer said, drawing Lucian"s concentrated gaze off Marguerite.
"Yes, so I read from Xavier when he stopped the car," Lucian said dryly.
"You read one of your own men?" Thomas asked with amazement.
"He seemed exceedingly nervous when he realized I was in the car with Greg," Lucian said grimly, and Jo supposed that was his idea of explaining himself. "I convinced him calling ahead was totally unnecessary and would merely p.i.s.s me off."
Mortimer grimaced and the room fell silent as Lucian glanced from one person to another. Jo frowned as she recognized the concentration on his face. She"d seen it before. It was the p.e.n.i.s-eye look. d.a.m.n. He was reading people, she realized with dismay and had her suspicions proven when Jeanne Louise whispered in a panic, "He"s reading me."
"Think of a nursery rhyme and block him," Thomas hissed.
"I"m trying, but he"s-" "Is no one going to introduce me?" Jo said quickly in the hope of getting Lucian"s attention off the panicked Jeanne Louise. It worked... too well, Lucian"s sharp eyes slid off Jeanne Louise and onto her instead. Feeling an immediate ruffling in her mind she a.s.sumed must be his trying to read her thoughts, she began to babble a little hysterically, "I mean, we have sort of met before, the night of the party, but no one introduced us properly, Sam?"
Responding to her panicked cry, Sam hurried to her side, adding her own body to the human wall blocking Lucian"s view of Nicholas. She took her hand and said, "Yes, of course. Jo, honey, this is Lucian Argeneau. He"s... well, he"s Mortimer"s boss."
."And our uncle," Thomas announced. Jo suspected he was trying to draw Lucian"s attention from her. She suspected that was also what Marguerite was doing when she added, "And my brother- in- law... Although, legally, perhaps he isn"t my brother- in- law anymore now that Jean Claude is dead and I have remarried."
Marguerite"s efforts were more successful. Lucian immediately tore his attention from Jo. His flashing eyes shot to Nicholas"s aunt and he growled, "I shall always be your brother-in- law, Marguerite. We have been family for seven hundred years and will remain family no matter who you are married to."
Jo was just releasing a sigh of relief that she was free of the man"s efforts to read her thoughts when his eyes suddenly shot back to her and the ruffling started up all over again.
"Think of a nursery rhyme," Thomas whispered beside her. "Recite it out loud if you have to, but concentrate on the words as if they were the most important thing in the world."
Jo nodded and began to recite, "There once was a girl from Nantucket-"
"Oh, for G.o.d"s sake," Nicholas snapped, and was suddenly pushing past her to stand at the front of the group who had been trying to hide him.
"Nicholas," Jo cried with a combination of alarm and fury. She quickly shifted around to stand in front of him, placing herself between him and his uncle.
"Jo, honey, the very fact that you all were trying not to let him read you simply would have made him more determined to find out what you were hiding, " he pointed out grimly, and then shook his head and added, "And "There once was a girl from Nantucket"? That"s the only rhyme you could think of?"
"I work in a bar," she pointed out dryly. "Trust me, you wouldn"t want to hear the version of Little Bo Peep I learned there."
"Yes, well, we shall have to... er..." Nicholas frowned. "Have you considered a career change? Perhaps a bar isn" t the best-"
"Watch it, nephew," Lucian growled.
"Aunt Leigh owns and runs a bar," Thomas explained under his breath, moving a little closer. Jo couldn"t help but notice that he wasn" t the only one. Marguerite, Sam, and Jeanne Louise had all squeezed protectively closer, and the others in the room were slowly gravitating toward them. While she hadn"t actually seen any of them move, they were closer than they had been. Encouraged by this show of solidarity, she raised her eyebrows at Nicholas in question. "So, what do we do now?"
"There"s very little we can do now," Nicholas said quietly.
Jo gawked at him with amazement. "Excuse me? Please tell me you are not thinking you will just hand yourself over to this a.s.shole dictator to be sliced and diced or shaked and baked or whatever it is you guys call it."
"a.s.shole dictator?" Thomas echoed, amazed amus.e.m.e.nt on his face.
"Well he is," she muttered, casting a resentful glance to the man who stood across the room, stone-faced as he listened. "And you can" t let him shake and bake Nicholas."
Thomas rolled his eyes. "It"s staked and baked, Jo. We aren"t pork chops."
"Whatever," she said with complete disinterest and then turned to Nicholas. "The point is, you should have stayed right where you were and let us handle this. Now we"re going to have to tie up your uncle and put him in one of the cells or something until we sort out everything and can prove your innocence."
The dead silence that followed her words was an exclamation point to the shocked horror suddenly on the faces surrounding her. Even Nicholas was peering at her as if she were quite mad.
Scowling, Jo glanced from face to face and asked, "What? Surely you agree with me? I know none of you are now so sure Nicholas killed that girl. I think most of you even agree with me that he probably didn" t. But even if you just have some doubts that Nicholas is guilty, you can" t just let Bossy Boy over there execute him."
"Bossy Boy?" Thomas echoed with disbelief.