She set the cup down. Denon watched her motions. He knew something was up; she could see it in his face. He looked from her to Xander to Fletcher, then cleared his throat.

“You might as well tell me. I can see you have bad news.”

Sam nodded. “Then I’ll be blunt, Mr. Denon, and please forgive me. We know where Juliet Bouchard is. And who she is. Her real name is Amanda Souleyret. She’s a deep undercover agent run out of the FBI, and I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but she’s dead. She was murdered last night, quite near here. There was a man with her, a young researcher named Thomas Cattafi. He’s alive, but barely.”

The color drained from Denon’s face as she spoke. “We don’t know who killed her, but it stands to reason, considering she came in on your plane, it was the same people who tried to murder you this morning. So anything you can tell us about her would be a huge help in ending this mess.”

He was silent for a moment. Closed his eyes. Breathed out once through his nose, heavily. When he opened his eyes again, his emotions were mastered, but still raw and on the surface, like the tension of a bubble’s edge. A breath in the wrong place and he would burst.

His voice was shaky. “I know the name. Tommy Cattafi, I mean.”

That got her attention. “From where?”

He stood, walked to the edge of the room, called into the dining room. “Mo? Maureen? Hang up, right now.”

She did, stood, brushing her hair back from her face. Sam hadn’t really noticed her before now, but she was a pretty girl, with one bright blue eye and one brown, that took her from interesting to exotic. “Sir?”

“Remember that kid Tommy Cattafi? Juliet sent him your way. You brought him on as an intern to work on the offshore pipeline we were planning into Sierra Leone. He was working with the Doctors Without Borders organization there. You said he knew the area and could help us liaise with the locals.”

Heedles shook her head. “I don’t remember that name. But, sir, we have so many interns. And not all of us have your eidetic memory.”

“I’m sure that was it. I’m not losing it all quite yet.”

She bit her lip. “I’ll have to check the personnel files.”

“Do that.”

“I’m on it, but it will take me a minute.” She sat down and started typing furiously. Everson gave her a long glance, then followed suit. Bebbington, though, came over to his boss. He turned him away from the table, and they walked back into the living room to where Sam was standing, watching the exchanges with interest. So Amanda had sent Tommy into the fray. It made sense, he was her recruit. He would have been a great candidate for anyone to hire on.

Bebbington shot Xander a knowing glance. He had a quiet voice, befitting a mathematical genius.

“Sir, I’ve found an anomaly you need to know about.”

“Speak up, Louis, I can barely hear you.”

The man swallowed hard. His voice was shaking. Sam saw him swipe his palms against his too-tight pants leg, leaving a small dark smear on the fine worsted wool. “Someone has siphoned off an exceptionally large amount of money from the accounts.”

She didn’t think it was possible for Denon to get any whiter, but he did.

“What in the bloody hell are you talking about, Louis? Who?”

“I don’t know yet, sir.”

“How much?”

“In the range of forty to fifty million pounds. Out of the African pipeline project.”

“How is that possible? We closed that down last year. We don’t have an African pipeline project anymore.”

“Sir, I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but someone kept a line open on it. They’ve been funneling money out of the program budgets for all the Venezuela accounts. A little here, and a little there. Nothing that would cause us to notice. Until it was too late.”

Denon’s fists clenched. He looked like he was about to knock the younger man to the ground. “Louis, you’re my CFO. How is it, exactly, someone has managed to embezzle fifty million pounds out from under your nose?”

Bebbington swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his thin throat. “It’s an incredibly sophisticated siphon program. I wouldn’t have seen it if we weren’t looking at the back door. Everson found tracks in the system. Sir, we have been compromised. Badly. And, sir, I must tender my resignation. This happened on my watch—”

“Shut it, Louis. Now’s not the time. Where did the funds go?”

The man looked only slightly relieved. “Everson followed the trail to the Banque de France. The money moved through circuitous routes, from numbered accounts in the Caymans to a Swiss bank to the current resting place, a branch in the Côte d’Azur.”

“Can we access it?”

“We can try. There have been regular disbursements, also through coded accounts. It’s going to take a full forensic examination to unspool the thread, though. Weeks, if not months.”

Xander’s cell rang. He stepped away, put it to his ear, listened for a moment. Sam heard him say, “Roger that. Friendlies at the door. Cover us.”

The doorbell rang, and all the Brits started.

Sam smiled. “Relax, gentlemen. That will be Agent Daniels and Rosalind Lowe, who have been working on the SD card Amanda Souleyret brought into the country. They’ve seized a package that was being sent to her sister. We might get some answers from it.”

She started toward the door, but Xander put a hand on her arm. “You let me get it.”

Sam stopped, nodded. Xander already had his SIG out, was moving quickly down the hall into the foyer. Thor appeared in the hallway, followed his master. With a few guttural German commands from Xander, Thor went on alert. Chalk came in from the back door, guns drawn, loaded for bear. With a look toward Xander, who sent him some sort of telepathic shorthand, he melted into the hallway by the dining room where he could see out the front windows.

The doorbell rang again. Chalk called out, “All clear.”

Xander carefully inched open the door, leading with the nose of the gun.

Sam heard Daniels. “Whoa! FBI, man, I’m FBI.”

“Xander, let them in already,” she said.

He opened the door wider, and Daniels and Mouse trooped in, looking exceedingly excited. He slammed the door shut, and the dog relaxed. They were secure again. For now. Sam saw Chalk detach himself from the window and quickly move to the rear of the house, where he disappeared out the back door to secure their perimeter again. She had to admit, she felt safer with him and Xander on such high alert.

There were brief introductions, then Daniels held up a laptop. “We have something major to show you.”

Sam gestured to the mixed company. “Is it appropriate for all, or do we need to find someplace quiet?”

He flipped open the screen, hit Play. “Just watch.”

The video was black, then Amanda Souleyret’s face filled the screen. Her voice was strong, but quiet, as if she didn’t want to be overheard. The room behind her was dark; it was hard to see where she was. Sam thought it looked like a hotel room, but it could have been a private flat. Even subdued, she was so very alive. It was all Sam could do not to remind herself of this same body on the stainless-steel slab, cuts in her neck and back, the heart no longer beating, but still and inert. And Fletcher’s voice: “You’ve never told me why you do it.”

Quit it, Owens. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen someone from the grave.

But when Amanda began to speak, Sam felt goose bumps parade up and down her arms.

“Robin, I hope I’ve had a chance to talk to you in person before you receive this message. If not...well, I’m most likely dead. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to put you in any danger. You’ve had too much to deal with since the accident. No matter what, I want you to know that I love you, and everything that happens from here on out, well, if I didn’t stop them, I know you’ll find the means to do so.