Alien Diplomacy

“When did this happen?”
    “This morning. No one told you?”
    He shook his head and gave Nathalie a betrayed look. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Because I didn’t want you to say something incriminating in front of anyone,” she replied calmly.
    “Eugene killed Jack?”
    Eugene looked like his world had just devolved into a nightmare of Danteesque proportions. “What the hell? I haven’t killed anybody! Ever!”
    “Oh, no,” Nathalie said soothingly. “I didn’t mean to accuse you, even inadvertently. But I’m sure Jack was killed by someone he knows, and since we’ve used his place more than once, I didn’t want you to give the police any reason to be suspicious.”
    “Wait, Jack Ryan knew you two were doing the deed? And he helped you?”
    Nathalie nodded. “He…enjoyed the whole idea of helping with subterfuge.”
    “He knew you were sleeping with Eugene?”
    “No. Like Marcia, he knew I was having an affair he was helping me to hide, that’s all.”
    “Who do you think killed him?”
    “Whoever told him about the assassination attempt at the President’s Ball.” She said it so calmly, I half expected them both to pull out guns and shoot me.
    “That’s real?” Eugene asked instead, sounding ready to head home and hide under the bed.
    “Oh, I doubt it,” Nathalie said dismissively. “But someone was always dropping little hints like that to Jack, one of the group. He loved it, but he would always ‘protect his source.’ ”
    “Jack told me he’d found the info by searching through his wife’s stuff.”
    Nathalie snorted. It was definitely on the Lockwood Ladylike Snort Scale. “Please. Pia is far too smart for that. I’m sure she was upset with Jack for panicking everyone, though.”
    I thought about this while Eugene and Nathalie got their clothes back in order. Pia might have been upset that Ryan had leaked real information. And maybe that’s why he was killed—because not only had his information been real, but the fact that he’d leaked it had gotten back to the C.I.A.
    “Shall we go back in?” Nathalie asked once they were fully dressed and Eugene’s hair was brushed.
    I pondered the options. It seemed unlikely they were actually involved in the big deal. But I did have a couple of other questions. “Did your husband ask you to plant a surveillance bug on me?”
    She shrugged. “No. That was Jack’s idea.”
    “What for?”
    “He said they were fakes but that it would be fun to do.”
    “So the others, they planted on me, too?”
    She nodded. “That’s why Abner called you over.” Her eyes narrowed. “They were fakes, weren’t they?”
    “No, they were real. Where did Jack get them from?”
    “He said his ‘source’ had asked for his assistance.” Her brow furrowed. “I can’t believe that Jack actually gave us real bugs to plant on you.”
    “He did. But clearly he was being manipulated. And you think his ‘source’ is someone else from class?”
    “I do, but I could be wrong.” Nathalie looked uncertain for a moment. “If the bugs were real…is what Jack told us real, too?”
    I had no idea what to say, so I went for the nonanswer. “What do you think?”
    They exchanged a glance. “Seems possible,” Eugene allowed. She nodded. “So, does that mean we’re all in danger?” He sounded ready to bolt.
    Nathalie looked back at me. “How did you know the bugs were real?”
    I wasn’t sure how to answer this. I was having a moral quandary, several of them, actually. I was saved by my phone ringing. “Hello?”
    “Where are you?” Jeff asked.
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
    “Uh-huh. You need me to find you?”
    “Not sure.” Eugene and Nathalie were having a quiet conversation. The gist seemed to be that, if the threat was real, they wanted to get their respective spouses and get out of here. While it was both interesting and a relief that they apparently didn’t want to dump their spouses and hope the bad guys solved a problem for them, I didn’t know what to do. I also had no idea how to explain to Jeff what was going on.
    “Can you talk?”
    “Not really.”
    “Okay, baby. Relax, and concentrate on what’s going on.” I did. “Oh. Interesting. And yeah, so you don’t have to ask, I read your mind. We don’t want them coming in and disrupting the ball. And you don’t feel right lying to them. I can see where you are. Interesting choice. Stay put, don’t tell them anything, and I’ll have this