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

want to take notes while Bobby was talking, but I want to take them now,” Edward said, pulling out his notebook. “Let’s go back over each attempt.”

“The first thing was the brakes failing on his truck,” Janet recalled.

“Bobby did tell me a little bit about that. As he said earlier, it was an old truck, one that he uses only on the private roads around his ranch. Apparently, he hasn’t maintained the registration or inspection because it’s never used on public roads.”

“So only a limited number of people would have had access,” Janet mused.

“I suggested that, but he told me that he sometimes leaves it parked in a large car park just inside the entrance to the ranch. They have livestock sales there and, less than a week before the brake failure, a group of environmentalists staged a protest in that car park. Bobby couldn’t remember if his truck had been parked there that day or not.”

Janet frowned. “Is it possible that the brakes were cut by one person and the other attempts were done by someone else?”

“Anything is possible, and I’m keeping an open mind. Having said that, I’m inclined to believe that all of the attempts have been made by the same person.”

“Bobby did say that the brakes may have simply malfunctioned.”

“Which would be an odd coincidence in light of what’s happened since.”

Janet sighed. “What happened next?”

“He was shot at, and I’d really like to know more about that incident.”

“He didn’t tell me much.”

“He told you more than he told me. When we talked, he barely mentioned the incident and then suggested that someone had been working on target practice and simply misfired.”

“And he didn’t file a police report.”

“He did not. According to Mr. Jones, there’s no record of any such incident in the past six months anywhere in Texas.”

Janet sighed. “I would have rung the police immediately.”

“I may try to speak to some of the others about the trip to the rodeo. Maybe I can pretend to be interested in such things.”

“And they can all simply deny knowing anything about anyone shooting at Bobby.”

“True. Frustrating, but true. After that was the problem with the chainsaw. Again, Bobby told me next to nothing about the incident.”

“And again, he didn’t ring the police,” Janet sighed. “His private detective said anyone could have found a way into his workshop, though. None of the incidents thus far can be definitely tied to the people here in Paris with Bobby.”

Edward nodded. “I’m keeping an open mind. The next incident, the poisoning, could have any number of suspects as well. I’d love to find out if anyone brought him a drink or even prepared a plate of food for him.”

“I should have asked.”

“From experience, I believe he would have ducked the question,” Edward sighed. “When I asked him, he told me that he couldn’t remember much about the evening, especially not after having spent several hours in hospital having his stomach pumped. Apparently it was a very unpleasant experience.”

Janet made a face. “It sounds unpleasant, but it almost seems as if Bobby doesn’t want whoever is behind this to be caught.”

Edward nodded. “That’s the feeling I’m getting as well. I think he’s hoping that we’ll be able to stop future attempts, but I also think that he’d prefer to deal with it all by himself.”

“Do you think he suspects someone he wants to protect?”

“It’s difficult for me to believe that he’d want to protect someone who is trying to kill him, but I did wonder that, actually. To my mind, that makes Lucy the top suspect.”

“Or maybe Dixie,” Janet suggested. “He seems very fond of Dixie.”

“Let’s finish talking about the attempts, then. The next incident was the hotel fire. Bobby wouldn’t tell me anything about that attempt and the police in New York aren’t interested in cooperating with us.”

“It seems an odd way to try to kill someone,” Janet said thoughtfully. “I mean, Bobby was never in any real danger, was he?”

“Not the way he tells the story, anyway.”

“Maybe someone is simply trying to scare him or manipulate him in some way,” Janet suggested.

“I will admit that some of the attempts have been rather amateurish, but others have been more serious. Someone did shoot at him and he was stabbed.”

“How much do you know about the stabbing?”

“Not much. Bobby claims that he slept through the entire thing. He removed the knife himself and gave it to the police at Heathrow. His were the only fingerprints on the handle.”

“At least he rang the police that time,” Janet said.

“Actually, it was the pilot who rang the police. Dixie went into Bobby’s compartment to wake him after the plane landed. When she opened the curtains and saw the knife, she started screaming. The pilot heard the shouting and rang for security before he went back to investigate. When Bobby woke up, he didn’t want to speak to the police, but they insisted on interviewing him and taking the knife away for tests.”

Janet frowned. “Could Dixie have stabbed him just before she started shouting?”

“According to the report that was sent to me by the security team at Heathrow, Dixie was chatting with Lucy as she walked down the aisle. Once she reached Bobby’s compartment, she pulled the curtains open and then gasped and screamed. Lucy insisted that there was no way Dixie could have reached Bobby from where she was standing.”

“Whoever is behind all of this has to know that he or she has now dramatically shrunk the pool of suspects,” Janet said.

Edward nodded. “It seems as if our would-be killer is getting increasingly desperate.”

“And then there was today’s attack,” Janet said. “I wish I’d been paying more attention to where everyone was, but I was looking at the scenery and enjoying Paris.”

“I was