Night Games Pt. 11

Julie groaned and rested her head in her hands.

"This was going to be hard enough already, Helena." She bemoaned. Like the others, Julie had known Helen long enough to have earned the right to call her Helen. But she knew which one Helena preferred and also that Propappou had given her the name and Julie still hated Helen's parents for the things her father did to her when he was drunk, and her mother tolerated because she was too drunk to stop him. It didn't surprise Julie at all that Helena detested alcohol, and because of Propappou, hot cocoa was her preferred drink.

"Well, we know they're planning something else in town." Helen told the others. "Or else, why go to the trouble of stealing the GPR when the Star job's done?"

"What's a GPR?" Rita asked.

"That thing on the video." Susan explained. "It's for finding stuff underground. Stuff like the tunnel from Helen's Study to the Denti house." She didn't know if Rita knew about that tunnel or not, but figured she was cleared to by now. She looked at Helen, who signaled her approval.

"That's right." Helen affirmed. "We've put together that much. They're looking for a way into the castle, so it stands to reason that they're here to rob me. They're going to get a fortune for the Eye, so I'm thinking they're after something worth more than money: Street Cred. Mander said something yesterday about how the only thing they could do in San Finzione to top the other score would be stealing from me. And based on what we've learned this morning, I think he's right."

"How do they even know about the tunnel?" Julie asked. "The first time we used it, Maria told us it was a secret of the Royal Family. I think she and Stavro are the only people not in this room that know about it, and they're not likely to tell anyone. Troy's barely left the castle, I haven't told anyone, I'm reasonably sure Rita hasn't either, and the twins can't talk yet. So, where'd they learn about it?"

"They've got a scientist on their team." Helen answered. "Someone who made those smoke bombs for the Eye job, figured out the secret entrance to the La Contessa suite, knows how to operate the GPR machine, and knew off the top of her head that acetone was a better choice than alcohol for removing her disguise in a hurry. Someone like that could probably figure it out with math." Helen knew that there was someone in the room whose wife often called him Math Boy and turned to face Troy. "Could she do that? Just use math to figure it out?"

Troy thought on it for a moment.

"Not without an idea of where to look. La Collina is a huge place to try scanning on the off chance that there's a tunnel. You don't have time for me to calculate the odds of them choosing the right spot on the first try without that information. Which means they either knew about the entrance in the Denti house, or they knew about the one in the Study. And the only way they could have learned about either would have been to see one of us coming or going through it."

Hearing that caused Mander to think of something and he spoke up.

"Well, of the two, one end is protected by spooky urban legends, and the other is one that Your Countessness gives regular tours of."

"True." Helen agreed. "The Study's not on the tour, though. The closest it comes is the Grand Ballroom. Someone would have to slip away to go check it out, and that's the best spot on the tour to do it!"

Helen took out her phone and called the castle's security office.

"Fredo." She said when someone answered. Susan listened, always impressed that Helen knew the names of all the people who worked at the castle. "This is La Contessa. I'm in the Library. We need footage of the tour groups going through the Grand Ballroom yesterday morning and afternoon."

* * *

Half an hour later, the twins had been put down for a nap, Nunzio had returned with the things Julie needed, and Fredo from the security office had brought the footage that La Contessa requested. Everyone was now gathered around the two laptop computers that were in use at the moment: Troy's and Rita's. Helen and Julie were watching over Troy's shoulders and Susan and Mander were watching over Rita's. Now that the babies were out of the room, Helen was smoking again.

"You seemed pretty sure on that timeframe you gave Fredo." Troy observed.

"They pulled the New York job four days ago." She replied. "The Star job two days after that. And, for security reasons, we don't have any tours the day of an official ceremony. So, they didn't have time to take the castle tour before then. If two days is all the prep time this Tracy gives them, we can presume first off that whatever they're planning is going down late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Since today was spent looking for the tunnel, which we still don't even know if they found the other entrance to, and Hauber stole the Minister's signature as they were closing yesterday, they could only have found it during the morning or afternoon tour."

Troy agreed and they watched the video. They saw Maria guiding President Faraji and his entourage through the room. About fifteen minutes later, the tour group entered.

"There!" Rita pointed out. She paused the video and everyone at Troy's laptop walked over to see. "That man slipping away. I've been looking at the old man on the video and the pictures of Morris Sinclair all morning. The similarities between the two makeup jobs are subtle, but that is him."

Helen patted Rita on the shoulder. She'd brought her onto the team in case she noticed something like this.

"Hit play." Helen said. "Let's see what happens next."

They watched Sinclair slip away from the tour as they were leaving the room. Someone in the group turned and noticed. A woman walked up to the man and stared talking to him.

"Ha!" Helen ha-ed. "That guy's about to say something about him leaving the group when she swoops in with the distraction. The woman we think is the scientist was described as Asian. The cops couldn't discern which Asian race because it's been really hot today and her disguise was melting in the sun. So, THAT must be Tracy!"

"Si." Rita agreed. "And I can now tell that she is wearing latex on her face as well."

Helen stepped away from the others and called Fredo back.

"Send the footage of the entire morning tour to Supervisor Allaine at the Interpol office. If there's a better shot of the woman we're looking for, he'll find it."

The video continued. After a few minutes, they saw Helen and Mander leave the library and cross the room in the same direction Sinclair was headed.

"We were right behind him." Mander commented. "How didn't we see him?"

"Good question." Helen remarked. "Let's take this to the Study."

The group followed her to the room. The doors creaked open, and Jeanne Carpentier stopped dusting and turned to face everyone.

"Jeanne." Helen addressed her. "You were in here when Mander and I came back yesterday." Helen made the next part a command. "Do you recall anything unusual?"

Jeanne remembered something and told her. Using The Thing to make people remember things was a trick that Stavro Poldouris had made Helen realize that she could do during a previous crisis.

"Oui. Something got caught in the aspirateur from behind that sofa. I threw it in the wastebasket. La Contessa has not used it since the liner was last changed, so I have not yet emptied it. The thing is still there."

Helen looked into the basket and peeled it off the side.

"It's an eyebrow." She told the rest of the group. "So, Sinclair was in this room when Mander and I used the tunnel." She smiled and looked at them. "That's how they know. And now, we know they know, but they don't know that. That means we've got time to prepare for them!"