Dirty Thief

Again, my brother and I exchange a glance. “I think I see his pattern,” I say quietly.

Freddie frowns, and Cal explains. “On both of those days, around those same times, he had just met with Rowan and me. He must have gone straight from us to the scene or shortly after.”

“So you can provoke an attack,” André says slowly. “That seems dangerous.”

“We can’t do anything like that unless we’re tracking him,” I say. “I would never endanger the life of one of our citizens unless we know we could stop him before he strikes.”

Cal drums his fingers on top of the table. “So how can we get a tracker on this guy without setting him off?”

“It’s the million-dollar question,” Freddie says.

“He wants to meet with Ava.” Cal raises his eyes to mine.

My reply is quick and decisive. “Absolutely not.”

“She might not set him off, and she has shown in the past that she can keep cool under pressure.”

“I will not ask her to face this guy. He’s hurt her enough.” Not to mention, she’s pregnant. If he hurt her now, he could potentially do more damage than she could stand. “Ava has dealt with enough.”

Placing both hands on the table, I stand. “That’s as much as we can do at this point. Freddie, monitor the police reports and let me know if anything changes. We can reconvene after lunch. In the meantime, I’ll be thinking about a plan. I suggest you do likewise.”

The two guards bow, and I head for the door. Cal is right beside me as we walk down the long hall to the main courtyard. Neither of us have had breakfast. We were in the war room before dawn, and now it’s nearly eleven.

“She’s stronger than you allow her to be,” my brother says. “When everything went down with Zelda, she took the news and even offered suggestions. From what I understand when the incident happened with Kass—”

Anger twists hard in my stomach. “The incident with Kass is something I never intend to repeat again.” My voice is hoarse, and I remember the agony of that entire situation, and my inability to intervene.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you,” he says quietly. “I know firsthand how gut-wrenching such situations can be.”

“Then you know why I won’t even consider it.”

He doesn’t answer, and we’re quiet the rest of the walk back to the east wing of the castle. When we arrive, the sisters have left word that they’re visiting the orphanage then heading to Occitan. Glancing at the clock, I s

ee we don’t have time to make the trip to the estate and back before we reconvene with the guards.

When we enter the dining area, a servant girl comes out and does a low bow. “Your majesty. We still have some breakfast if your majesties would like the egg soufflé, or lunch will be ready in twenty minutes.”

“Soufflé works for me,” Cal says, and I agree.

The young woman bows again and walks quickly from the room. We sit, and waiters place before us coffee and halves of grapefruit on china. I lift the small, triangular shaped spoon and cut out a wedge.

“Has mother returned from the spa?” Cal asks in that teasing voice.

“The servants are jumping around,” I agree, lifting my coffee cup. “I’m going to have to make a statement to the people about what’s happening.”

Cal nods, sliding his grapefruit half to the side. “It’s unheard of. Young women have always been safe to walk alone on our streets. I won’t have this bastard making our people afraid.”

“So many things are cause for fear these days,” I muse as the waiters appear with two plates of the tall soufflé, buttered toast, jam, and mixed fruits.

Another man refills our coffee cups, and after removing the grapefruit plates, they leave the room. We’re again alone.

“One was from France and the other Italian,” I say, thinking.

“If the one was a prostitute, that explains that,” Cal says, taking a bite of the buttery egg confection. “Tourists don’t always use precautions when they’re traveling.”

I still don’t like it. “I agree with your observation. We’ve worked hard to lure the right kind of visitors to our beaches, and this tarnishes our reputation as a safe travel destination.”

“So you’ll make a statement. Reassure everyone this is an isolated incident and you already have a suspect. That’s that.”