16. Many Difficult Pieces

Sunlight striking her face and the tinkling of a breakfast tray pulled Lucia drowsily from the arms of Morpheus. She awoke to see the back of the departing maid as she was closing the door behind her. Reaching over, she quickly grabbed the folded newspaper from under the edge of the plate. Friday! She had slept all through an entire day and now she would have to hurry if she was going to get the answers she needed before the weekend. One of the answers was in her hand however. The front page contained an interview about the assassination with Minister of the Interior VerHoffen, conducted at the Governor's Mansion in Vrijland, where he was helping direct the return of order from the recent riots. So Father was in the Eastern Provinces and he was all right, at least for the time being. She hadn't seen him since Monday, and was starting to get worried that something had happened to him. Not knowing the reason behind Dewalt's offing was making her very jumpy. If the goal was to destabilize Padokia, you couldn't go far wrong by removing both Dewalt and VerHoffen.

She gobbled her Danish and coffee and threw on a robe. There were some mysteries right here in this house that needed answering. Overtaking the maid on the stairs, she began to grill her about that odd set up in the solarium. Yes, Minister VerHoffen had selected the champagne, no, he hadn't seen the flowers, but had requested a large display, and he had also directed that caviar be put out on ice, and, although he hadn't specified an exact number, that several glasses be put on an adjacent table, and he had specified the solarium as the location. The note had been delivered Tuesday afternoon by courier with the directive that it be placed on the table in front of the display. Lucia already knew the writing was in her father's hand. So the mystery remained.

Father's notes were always long treatises on whatever important Padokian issue was at hand. If it had been a four-page description of Vrijland's riots it wouldn't have puzzled her. And that line about being proud and happy. Over what…her stabbing him in the political back? She knew he had resigned himself to accepting her own choices, but happy? It had the air of insincerity. Not that her father, an accomplished politician, wasn't capable of that, but why…to make her feel good? Did he think she was such a weakling?

The phone rang in her room and she went back upstairs to answer it. Katrina Petersen was calling her, would she care to receive the call? Perfect timing. Let's see what her best friend and personal secretary knew.

Not much. Father hadn't talked to her. Dewalt hadn't tried to make an appointment before his demise. Oh, and the police were wondering when it would be convenient to drop by. They had a few more questions. Great! She most likely had their murderer currently in her employ. And the press all wanted interviews.

Then Katrina added, "Oh, and that past Wednesday appointment you had with the Examiner for the pictorial, Sundays at Home, well they apologized for the no-show. Their lead photographer was in a car accident. I bet the editor burst a blood vessel when he learned his paper could have interviewed you the day after the story of the year!" She laughed, and then stopped abruptly as if she suddenly remembered the nature of the situation. "Lucy, are you OK? I can't imagine what it must have been like having a dead man in your arms!"

Not nearly as unsettling as holding the killer, Lucia thought. "Oh I'm fine Trina. Just a little tired." And confused as hell. Wait, what had Trina said? "An appointment with the Examiner? I don't remember that. Did they make it with you?"

"No. I thought they made it with you, and you had been too busy to let me know. When they called I pulled up your schedule and there it was, big as life."

"Does it say when it was made?"

"Nope. Want me to reschedule?"

"No, but could you ask if they remember when they made that appointment, and who it was made with? Then just lump them in with the rest of the press for now. Tell them all I'm only interested in a conference. I'd like to keep some control and get it all over with at once."

"Will do. You're sure you're OK? Want me to come over? I can close the office."

The police and the press must be driving Trina crazy. "No. Thanks for holding down the fort. I owe you."

At that Katrina laughed again, "Yeah, you do! Take care. Bye."

Her questions were gaining her questions. Answers appeared to be in short supply. She had one more call she wanted to make before continuing her investigation inside the house, The Ministry of the Interior Office. Marta, the receptionist, seemed genuinely upset for her, but then she'd known everyone in this bureau for as long as she'd been alive. Things changed very slowly, if at all. That was the beauty of Padokian politics. She asked for the number where her Father was staying and called it immediately. Karl answered.

Karl was Katrina's brother and her father's right-hand man. He was a man for whom the word "ambition" was spelled in All Caps. He had pursued her relentlessly for years, even though Lucia had made it clear that he was nothing more to her than a safe, convenient escort to political events and parties. He had gotten worse after she broke off with Michael, but his calculated ardor had recently seemed to cool, now that she was working with Opposition candidates. Sometimes she wondered if that wasn't part of why she did it.

"Lucy, Lucy, we were all so worried about you!" Trina could call her Lucy. She liked Karl to call her Miss VerHoffen. "The Minister was frantic." Now that was just Karl's hyperbole. Her father was never frantic, sometimes annoyed, on rare occasions furious, but never frantic.

Maybe she could get something. "Karl, what's going on there? Did the situation change? Because Father told me on Monday he'd be with me Tuesday night," she said in her best "little girl" whine.

"Well, the Governor sent him that letter…(like her father didn't receive dozens of those every week) O Lucy, here is the Minister now (as if he hadn't been trying to contact him since she called)." She idly wondered if he had got him there, or if it was a patch through to his cell.

"Lucia?" slightly scratchy, probably cell. "You are all right."

It was such a relief to hear his voice; tears began to form in her eyes. She was a weakling. But if a whole country could lean on one man, could she be faulted for wanting support from him too? And it was just so like him to state how she was, rather than to ask her.

"I got your note… with the flowers." Say something to explain, please Father.

"I called your Great Aunt Mildred. She said she'd come down with some friends to be with you Tuesday in my stead. I sent Voorhees to take care of things after I heard about Dewalt. I don't know when I'll be back, but I spoke to General Barhydt about extra security. You will be fine until I return. I have to go now, Lucia."

"Good bye, Fa-", but the connection had already been ended, "-ther"

The gears of her mind were starting to make clicking noises but she didn't have time for any deep thinking now. She had to gather as many pieces of the puzzle as possible before she tried to put them together. And she had plenty of other places to look through for them before she met up again with her favorite piece.