Free The Blood Promise: A Hugo Marston Novel by Mark Pryor Page B

to even suggest they might be involved.” He turned to Hugo. “I trust, Monsieur Marston, that you’re not going to suggest lie detector tests or interrogations for my sister or myself?”
    “No, not at all. I think all the capitaine is saying is that if he can compare the prints he found in the room against those who are normally allowed in there, others might stand out. Give him something to investigate. And you’d discard their prints immediately after that, right Raul?”
    “Certainly. We never keep the fingerprints of witnesses on file, only those people actually convicted of a crime.”
    Tourville was unmoved. “You both talk as if there is something to investigate. A stranger didn’t come into the house that night, and no one here went into that man’s room.” He stiffened. “As I’ve already said, you may talk to whichever staff members were here, and that’s it. Type up your nonsense report and make the senator happy.” He softened his tone a fraction. “I apologize if this has been a waste of your time, Capitaine, and I suspect it has. But I never wanted to bring you down here in the first place.”
    Garcia shrugged. “It’s your house, monsieur. I’ll do those interviews and be on my way.”
    “Thank you. But for wasting your time today I insist you stay for dinner, do that for me, please. And I can have a room made up for you, no trouble at all.”
    Garcia glanced at Hugo. “Well, I’ve heard your chef is most gifted.”
    “ Bien !” Tourville nodded and said, “My wine is as fine as my chef, so I’ll have a bedroom prepared. Can’t have the police drinking and driving, can we?”
    “No, I suppose we can’t,” Garcia said. His wife would be unhappy at his delayed return, work intruding on their marriage yet again. That, however, was a problem for tomorrow.

    The next morning, Hugo stood with Garcia by the policeman’s car.
    “So,” Hugo smiled, “a couple of pointless interviews and a stack of useless fingerprints.”
    “On the plus side, I won’t have to painstakingly analyze each card to eliminate members of the household.”
    “You’d have done that yourself?”
    “If we’re trying to be discreet here, I think so. Plus, I like detailed work sometimes, it has a calming effect on me.”
    “So is that it? Investigation done?” Hugo looked around in frustration. “I suppose it is, but I hope Lake will be happy with it. He needs to get on with the Guadeloupe Islands talks.”
    “One charade after another, eh?” Garcia’s eyes twinkled.
    “Maybe. Anyway, thanks for coming down, and please tell Madam Garcia that I am to blame, not you.”
    They’d talked last night, not for long but long enough for Hugo to get the gist. Raul’s mother-in-law had moved in with them six months ago, a woman neither he nor his wife particularly liked. Garcia had an advantage over his wife, however, in that he had a job that provided an escape from the endless inane chatter and demands for attention. It wasn’t just that he’d started working longer hours, though he had, rather it was that his wife resented his not being there to help, to be a buffer between two strong women who were related but so very different.
    For Garcia’s part, he wasn’t proud of abandoning his wife in this way, but then again, his suggestions to relocate the mother-in-law to her own apartment or rest home were summarily dismissed as disloyal and unloving. Exhaustion and frustration had settled over the house like a fog, and no one inside could see their way to safe harbor.
    Garcia shook Hugo’s hand and sighed. “Life does test us at times, but we will prevail. What other choice do we have?”
    “None, you’re right. You’ll let me know when there’s a report or something I can share with the senator?”
    “ Bien sur . I will probably run the prints through FAED, just to be thorough. It’ll pad the report as well as make your senator feel better; I can’t imagine it will kick anything back.”
    “Good