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

“Nonsense,” Bobby snapped. “You go, all of you. Take Janet, as well. She deserves a nice dinner. She talked my nurse into giving me more powerful painkillers.”

“Are you sure you won’t need her?” Theodore asked.

“It’s only dinner, and I need to keep her happy.” Bobby turned to Janet. “I’ll need you to come back here after dinner, though, just in case I need something before bed.”

Janet nodded. “Are you quite certain that you don’t simply want me to stay?”

“I’m quite certain,” he said. “I’m going to sit and stare at the television until my head feels better and then I’ll order room service. You go and have fun with my nearest and dearest.”

Janet looked at Edward. He shrugged. “Enjoy,” he said.

“What time do we leave?” she asked Theodore.

“We’re meeting in twenty minutes in the lobby,” he told her. “Don’t be late.”

The implied threat was enough to send her rushing out of the room. She waved to Edward and Bobby and then nearly ran to the lifts. Back in her room, she changed into the first nice dress she found. Dumping the contents of her everyday bag into a much smaller evening bag, she found herself struggling to get the bag to shut. A glance at the clock had her deciding that she didn’t care. She made certain her room key and the little heart Edward had given her were in the bag and headed for the door.

When she reached the lobby, Theodore was standing near the building’s entrance, staring at his watch and frowning.

“I hope I’m not late,” Janet said.

“You’re first,” he snarled. “Next time I’ll tell the rest of them to be here half an hour before our taxi is due.”

Janet blew out a breath. “I was afraid I was going to be late,” she told him.

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have left you behind. Bobby would have been furious if I had.”

Gee, thanks, Janet thought.

“Where’s Bobby?” Neil asked as he walked into the lobby.

“He’s not coming,” Theodore told him. “He wants us to go anyway.”

Neil sighed. “I wanted to go over a few things with him before tomorrow.”

“You can go over them with me and I’ll discuss them with Bobby in the morning,” Theodore told him.

“I suppose that will have to do,” Neil said grudgingly.

“We’re here,” Lucy announced loudly, walking into the lobby, pulling Tony by the hand.

“Only five minutes late. That’s almost a record for you,” Theodore replied.

“How is my father?” Lucy asked, looking from Theodore to Janet and back again. “Have either of you seen him?”

“I saw him a little while ago,” Janet said, after Theodore remained silent for a minute. “His head hurts, but he has a nurse with him and she’s been giving him pain medication whenever possible.”

“Did he say anything about the accident?” she asked. “Did he feel dizzy or anything before he fell over? I didn’t want to ask him anything over lunch, but I’m quite worried about him.”

“He claims he was pushed,” Theodore said.

Lucy gasped. “Why would someone push a random stranger into the road?” she asked.

“According to your father, one of us pushed him,” Theodore told her. “And, apparently, there have been several other attempts on his life in the last two months.”

Lucy shook her head. “That’s just crazy.”

“Someone tried to stab him on the flight to London,” Dixie said as she joined them. “You can’t deny that.”

“Surely that was just a weird accident,” Lucy replied. “Daddy probably had the knife in his pocket and then rolled over on it or something. You aren’t suggesting that someone actually tried to stab him, are you?”

Dixie nodded. “I saw the knife in his chest. It very much looked as if someone had tried to stab him. I’m not sure why he or she didn’t succeed, actually.”

“Why did you think your father has security guards here?” Janet asked.

“Daddy hires and fires security people every other day,” Lucy told her. “A few years ago, he was convinced that someone was planning to kidnap me. I had to have a bodyguard with me everywhere I went for like six months. Then Daddy decided it was all okay again and he fired the entire team.”

“How many of them were you sleeping with?” Tony asked.

Lucy shrugged. “Most of them were young and single and very sexy. Why shouldn’t I have slept with them?”

“There’s the taxi,” Theodore interrupted. “Let’s go.”

“Daddy isn’t coming, then?” Lucy asked Janet.

She shook her head. “He’s going to order something from room service later.”

Lucy sighed. “I was looking forward to standing at the top of the Eye-fell Tower with him.”

“We’re in France for twelve more days,” Theodore said. “You should get another chance.”

They walked out of the building and climbed into the waiting taxi. Theodore had ordered a minivan, so there was room for everyone. It didn’t take the driver long to get them to the Eiffel Tower.

“We’ll call you when we’re finished,” Theodore told the driver as they exited the vehicle.

The driver said something in French. Janet stopped and then walked around to the driver’s door to speak to him.

“He wants to ring you when we’re finished,” she explained to the driver.

“He can ring the office, but there may not be a large vehicle available without notice. We may have to send two cars,” the driver explained.

“Perhaps we should simply get two cars from the taxi rank,” Janet suggested.

The man shrugged. “I’ve plenty of other jobs for tonight. I don’t care what you do.”

Janet laughed. “If it were up to me, we would simply walk back to the hotel, but it won’t be up to me.”

He nodded. “If you do ring, ask for me.” He handed her a card with his name and the number of