“My father and Uncle Gilbert, over the years, have begun to act like my grandfather did. I could see a change in them right after his death. Maybe it was there all along, and they were just better at hiding it than my grandfather. I left for school. I couldn’t breathe there. I don’t live at home and haven’t for years. When I heard Pere planned to try to persuade Evangeline to let him help with her bakery, I wanted to be here to see what he was proposing. He got into some trouble a while back, and I didn’t want that to touch her.”
Timur wasn’t going to waste time. “I know about the drugs, and it looks as if he’s back in that business. What I don’t understand is why you drew a map of your sister’s house, so that any enemy she had, including your father, would know the entire layout.”
Ambroise looked horrified. “Wait. No. I drew it for Christophe. He isn’t an enemy. He couldn’t be there and her house is so cool that I wanted him to see it. No one else …” He trailed off and closed his eyes. “Uncle Gilbert went to the apartment we share in New Orleans. Like I said, we don’t live in the swamp anymore. When Christophe came back from Borneo, he needed a place to stay, so I had him stay with me. The drawings were at our place. Uncle Gilbert came over one morning for something, and I was in the shower. Christophe was already gone.”
“Would there be an advantage to your father if Evangeline died?”
Ambroise frowned. Shook his head. “No. What would there be? She’s married. Everything she has would go to her husband.”
“Was there ever insurance or papers signed giving her father whatever she had?”
Ambroise was silent for a few moments. “He has insurance on all of us. I signed a legal document giving him everything if I died before I went to college. I think Christophe did as well, before he left the country. I don’t know about Evangeline. It wasn’t like any of us had anything.”
Timur would bet his last dollar Evangeline had as well. Beau Tregre had sold out his daughter and her husband because he already knew he couldn’t control her. He’d made his pitch, but it had been more to appease his conscience than because he thought she’d give him an “in” to her bakery. He wanted it to expand his opium business.
“Thanks, Ambroise,” Timur said. “I need to talk to Christophe. Fyodor and Evangeline are in the sitting room. You can meet them there.”
Ambroise went to the door, hesitated and then turned back to him. “My brother and I both have had suspicions that our father killed our mother. Once, when Christophe asked, he said she committed suicide. Uncle Gilbert said our grandfather killed her. When I asked Pere , he said she ran off. He told most outsiders she died in childbirth, but she didn’t.” He didn’t wait for an answer and left the room.
Christophe was waiting in the poolroom. He put the cue he’d been using in the rack and went straight to the large stone fireplace at the opposite end of the room from the table. “Is Evangeline all right?”
Timur nodded, studying the man’s face. He was fit as only a shifter could be. In his prime, every muscle honed to its greatest strength. He looked like a man, unlike Ambroise. The two brothers couldn’t be any different. There was a delicacy to Evangeline that was also in Ambroise. Timur didn’t see that anywhere in Christophe, but his eyes were like his sister’s. Same shape. Same thick crescent of lashes. He could see the resemblance when he looked for it.
It was a good tactic, asking questions first. Timur wasn’t going to let him get away with it. If one of the brothers was guilty of helping his father, Christophe seemed much more likely to be that person. Except … Timur thought he was the stronger of the two boys. He wouldn’t bend under pressure. Still, that meant it would be his choice to join with his father.
Timur remained silent. Christophe stared at him and his eyes changed color, going gold. Timur found himself staring at the man’s leopard. It was close to the surface. Very close. Either Christophe had called it close because he intended to fight his way out of the room, or he wanted the cat close just to be safe.
“My leopard would tear yours to pieces,” Timur cautioned. “You’ve had some fighting experience, but nothing like mine. That’s the only warning you’re going to get, so keep him under control.”
Christophe blinked and the cat had subsided. Timur didn’t believe for a moment that it had retreated far. Evangeline’s brother glanced toward the door and then back at Timur, clearly sizing him up. He sighed. “What do you want?”