Page 28 of The Saint

“Are your powers that be assuming the same person who went after the Dumonts went after the handler?”

“That’s so far above my pay grade that I haven’t asked.”

Camden sipped his coffee and thought over the situation. “Their handler’s dead. Jonathan’s dead. Hailey is missing. They took her because…?”

Beth shrugged as if his wildest guesses could be valid.

Camden continued, “They’ll interrogate her until she breaks. And if she doesn’t, it’ll be the same fate as if she had.”

Beth nodded. “Survival is unlikely.”

“And you have no idea what they want to know?”

“Not a clue. No one read me into the information they were passing along.”

How did this all circle back to Amelia? Why had investigators asked if she was aware of her sister’s location? “What’s going to happen with Amelia?”

“The public-facing investigation will turn up as many salacious possibilities as possible. Names will be muddied, and motives will be tossed around like confetti.”

“Anything to murk up the investigation,” he concluded. “Bet their families will love that.”

“That’s the ugly truth of things.” Beth swept her hair off her face. “Collateral damage will be small and manageable. It’s really just Amelia.”

“No parents or other siblings?”

“Hailey and Amelia have a distant aunt who begrudgingly fostered them when they were teenagers. From all reports, it wasn’t a happy home, and there hasn’t been contact in years.”

Amelia didn’t have any family other than Hailey.

He shook his head. “What about his family?”

“His parents have lived in France for years.”

Beth wasn’t telling him something.

Camden scrutinized her. “And?”

“I assume they’re devastated about their son. I haven’t spoken with them.”

Camden waited for whatever Beth was dragging out.

Beth relented. “They’re familiar with the possibilities that might unfold during this process.”

He gave Beth a sidelong glance. “They’re spooks too?”

Her facial expression confirmed his assumption. “You know I couldn’t tell you that even if I knew.”

“Which, of course, you don’t,” he muttered.

“Of course.”

The waitress arrived and served their main course. If decadence was a dish, it was oatmeal soufflé with fresh fruit compote. He wouldn’t have guessed oatmeal could look as regal as the room in which they were dining, but it did. Camden tried the piping hot, light-as-air soufflé and had to give Beth credit forall but demanding he order the dish. This thing was treat enough for him to ignore the bacon and potato side dishes he’d ordered.

They finished their soufflés before talking shop again, as though the rough-and-ugly world they lived in shouldn’t touch their meal. Finally, Camden picked at his bacon and potatoes while Beth sipped her espresso. “I think Amelia needs to be read in as much as she can be.”

Beth laughed. “What purpose would that serve?”

“She knows a lot more than—”

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