OUTSIDE THIS TINY movie theater, it was utter chaos. The guests watching Hitler had been oblivious to what had happened. The only gunshots, after all, had come from Drake's suppressor, and the soundproofing was obviously good in the Lamarcke.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdgfgEgtnk
But once DCRI had shown up, everything turned topsy-turvy. The cops were engaged in full-scale crowd control, corralling the guests and paparazzi on hand. These reporters were accustomed to covering celebrity divorces and judging red-carpet fashion shows; they hardly knew what to say to Mischa as she navigated through them, with Colonel LaForge lightly holding her arm at the bicep.
They walked into fresh air where more photographers were snapping their photos and the Champs-Elysees was swarming with onlookers. Someone opened the rear door of a long black sedan and LaForge helped her into the car.
LaForge sat across from her in the spacious rear compartment and heaved a heavy sigh.
"You know the truth," Mischa said to him.
He nodded.
She cocked her head. "How?"
LaForge came forward, elbows on his knees. "I wish I could take credit for solving this----puzzle. But the truth, Miss Mischa, is otherwise. It was the papers you filed with the court prior to your escape."
At her direction, her lawyer, Abeau, had issued requests to subpoena a number of documents, including the cellphone records of their boyfriends on the days surrounding the president's murder. They requested the passenger manifests for all Egor's jets, hoping to find evidence of travel to or from Monte Carlo. They also requested all documents connected with the financing of Benito McLaughlin's new movie, Hitler. They had asked for the surveillance videos from the Hotel Metropole for every day from the time that Egor had made their reservation until the president's murder.
And finally, they had requested the phone records of her favorite warden, Théophile Delannoy, for the entire time she was housed at JRF.
And they explained their theory that the boyfriends had been complicit in the murders and a frame-up. Egor had the key card, which he used to gather DNA evidence. They bribed Benito to go along with their story by financing an otherwise unfinanceable movie. And in further covering up those crimes, they bribed Delannoy to pressure Mischa to confess, as the others had done.
"You gave me reason for suspicion," LaForge said. "So I----pursued the matter more----vigorously."
He produced from his pocket a small voice recorder. "Godfredo, Egor, and your boyfriend," he said to her before hitting PLAY.
The sound wasn't perfect, and had some accompanying static. She leaned forward and listened with a combination of dread and morbid curiosity.
"You've got to relax, Sebastian," Egor's voice. "This court filing will be embarrassing, yes, but ultimately she can't prove anything."
"You don't know Mischa like I do."
Sebastian's voice. Mischa felt a catch in her throat.
"No, but I do know the evidence," said Egor. "Or lack of it. The manifests were taken care of long ago, you'll remember. There's absolutely no evidence of any of us traveling to Monte Carlo. None. Zero. And the phone records?"
"Ay, amigo, that just proves we talked to each other," Godfredo joining in. "And I don't think we used them much at all once we were together."
"We didn't," said Egor. "For this very reason. Drake was adamant, remember, Sebastian? He said cell calls could be triangu---triangulated, I think was the word. So we didn't use them. You're panicking, Sebastian. You're just not remembering."
"Okay, fine," Sebastian answered, sounding very much panicked, as Egor had pointed out. "And your phone calls to Delannoy, Egor? Could those be traced back to you."
"They could," Egor replied, "if I were a total idiot. But lucky for us, Sebastian, I'm not. The calls I've made to Delannoy will not trace back to me. And neither will the cash----if they ever discover the cash, which they won't. Delannoy had strict instructions to keep the money out of a bank account. I promised him I'd make up for the lost interest earnings with an extra million on the back end, once his job was completed."
Mischa did a slow burn. "Once his job was completed" meant her confession or her death.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Vb3eF1qIX
"And the Hotel Metropole?" Egor went on. "She's reaching. She can't prove I got hold of a key card. And it seems our good friend Drake, wherever he may be, lived up to his billing when he snuck into the suite. If there was any evidence of him being there, they'd have found it by now."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HxH2fCvW2
"We still have the actor," Sebastian said. "How do we control for that?"339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1U7L0cWaGP
"Sebastian, Sebastian." Egor sounded as if he was laughing. "If the actor comes forward now, he admits to perjury on the witness stand. And you'll remember, if you can make your brain work a little harder, that we've got the camcorder with his fingerprints on it."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRW6ZOW1JMI
"Right. Okay. But there's still the money for the movie."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvT8GfEOZcy
"Yes, that's right, Sebastian. It's possible that McLaughlin will be forced to disclose that information. But even if he does, what does it prove? We set up the financing so that Godfredo and I had equity in the deal. For this very reason, Sebastian. So if it ever came to light, we would just look like people making an investment."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0PtogVyCg
"And I don't know if you've noticed, amigo, but this movie is setting records," Godfredo added. "We're in for tens of millions of dollars of return."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SW2eT055X
"Right, 'Fredo. So Sebastian, in the end, what does that money prove? It proves that Godfredo and I are shrewd investors. And I'll tell you, Sebastian, that I will have no trouble admitting to that under oath."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6SDqJCJE6
The men's laughter cut off in mid-burst. LaForge killed the recorder and sat back in his seat. "When I saw your papers, I spoke with your colleague at the embassy, Mr. Nickerson. We---collaborated on a plan."339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOM9mdHHS8
Mischa was still shell-shocked by all this, but she nodded.
"He invited the Americans---your boyfriend and Egor, to the embassy. He showed them your court papers to----elicit?----elicit a reaction. And while they met, we planted recording devices in their cell phones, which they left with the marine guards at the station outside."
The car began to move into traffic on a boulevard that was filling up with police cards, ambulances and media trucks and people who were just plain curious. She put her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes.
"You know what's pathetic?" said Mischa. "All that time during the investigation and trial, while I was trying to figure out who framed us, I considered everyone in the world a suspect----even you, Colonel. But I never once considered our boyfriends."
The colonel clucked his tongue again. "This is not----pathetic. It is because you are a good person. You would not suspect those closest to you."
She sighed. She never thought she'd see the day that Colonel LaForge called her a good person.
"Miss Mischa," said LaForge. "I am so very sorry.
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