The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1) by Diana Xarissa (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

“You’re supposed to be here to protect me,” Bobby said angrily. “If you aren’t going to do your job, why am I paying you?”

“You aren’t actually paying me,” Edward said mildly. “Our services have been provided as a courtesy by the French government.”

“So I should hire someone,” Bobby snapped. “Someone who will actually do the job.”

“We had a conversation yesterday about your safety and security,” Edward reminded him. “We talked about various scenarios and the relative safety of each of them. I told you that walking around Paris, through crowds of people, was unsafe, and that there was no way we could guarantee your safety under those conditions.”

“There were two of you,” Bobby said. “What were you doing?”

“Mr. Harrison was right next to you, trying to watch the people around you. He didn’t see who came up behind you and pushed you into the road,” Edward replied. “I was several paces behind you, trying to keep watch over the other members of your party. Unfortunately, the streets were very crowded and it became impossible to watch everyone.”

“No one from my party pushed me into the road,” Bobby said scornfully. “I know my people.”

“Theodore has only worked for you for six months,” Janet pointed out.

Edward seemed to be hiding a smile as Bobby turned to look at her.

“I selected him very carefully out of a pool of applicants. I trust him,” he told her.

“How long have Lucy and Tony been together?” Janet asked.

Edward shook his head as Bobby stared at her. “They’ve been engaged for a few months, but they’ve known one another for probably a year or more,” he said eventually.

Janet thought about questioning his relationship with Neil, but decided it would be better not to press her luck. No doubt Theodore could find another translator, one who would be less nosy, very quickly.

“I told you yesterday that I could keep you safe if you followed my recommendations. You chose to ignore them,” Edward said.

Bobby spun back to face him. “You told me that I’d have to stay in my room. If I wanted to go anywhere, I’d have to go by car and be escorted by security folks. This is my first time in Paris and you don’t want me to enjoy it.”

“I want you to survive it,” Edward replied dryly.

Bobby shook his head.

“You said earlier that someone is trying to kill you. What else has happened?” Janet asked.

Bobby looked at her for a moment and then sighed. “Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what’s going on, since my security team seems clueless,” he said. “About two months ago, the brakes on my truck failed. My mechanic said it was possible that they’d been tampered with, but he couldn’t be certain. It’s an old truck. I only use it get around my ranch and I don’t take particularly good care of it. At the time, I assumed it was just normal wear and tear. I got the truck fixed and moved on.”

“Did you actually crash the truck? Was anyone hurt?” Janet forced herself to stop after two questions, even though she wanted to know every detail about what had happened.

“I was on my own, driving down a dirt track. As I went down a fairly steep hill, the brakes failed. Luckily for me, the road went on for a considerable distance and I was able to simply coast to a stop. If I’d been on the other side of my property, I’d have ended up in the river,” he replied.

“And you didn’t suspect anything?” she asked.

“Not at the time,” he replied.

“What did the police say?” Janet asked.

“I didn’t call the police. I’m still not sure the brakes were tampered with, and I was even less sure at the time. A few weeks later someone took a shot at me, though,” he told her.

“Took a shot at you?” Janet repeated.

He shrugged. “I was at a rodeo with some friends, all of whom are here with me in Paris. We’d all gone our separate ways, going to see the things that interested each of us the most. I was walking through a restricted area when a bullet went past my head.”

“I assume you rang the police after that,” Janet said.

“There seemed no point,” he countered. “Whoever had fired the shot was long gone. There were upwards of ten thousand people at the rodeo, so the shooter simply had to disappear back into the crowd. I was alone and I couldn’t find any witnesses. The police wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

Janet looked at Edward. He was watching the nurse, who seemed to be taking great interest in the conversation.

“Has anything else happened?” Janet asked.

Bobby frowned and then nodded. “A few weeks later, while I was cutting wood, my chainsaw malfunctioned.”

“Is that dangerous? I don’t know anything about chainsaws,” Janet said.

“It could have been really dangerous. If it hadn’t had a safety switch, I might have been electrocuted,” he replied. “When I showed it to a friend of mine, he thought that whoever had damaged the saw had also tried to disable the safety cutoff switch but hadn’t quite managed it.”

“What did the police say?” Janet was pretty certain she knew what he was going to answer to that question.

“I didn’t call the police,” Bobby said, exactly what Janet had been expecting. “I did hire myself some security, though, and a private detective.”

Janet felt as if she was working far too hard to get information out of the man.

“What did the detective say, then?” she asked.

“That anyone could have gotten into the workshop where I keep my tools,” he told her. “Everyone in Texas knows where I live. Prior to all of this, I’ve always kept my security