Alien in the House

countries, the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, and the like. But there were always reasons. Right now, I see no reasons for why anyone’s been killed, other than Santiago, who we believe was an accident, or Jeff, who could have been attacked by one of your myriad enemies.”
    Tim jerked. “Distraction.”
    Everyone else stared at him. I, however, knew that my replacement had learned to think like me, at least somewhat. “Oh, Megalomaniac Lad, I’m so glad you’re here.”
    “I can pass on that nickname, Kitty.”
    “You mean you can hope I’ll forget it, but I won’t.”
    “Why distract anyone from anything?” Chuckie asked. “Vance put this together. He thinks we have a serial killer, right? So why make two murders stand out so much from the others?”
    “Right now, we have only one murder and one attempted murder,” Jeff pointed out. “There’s no proof that anyone else died unnaturally or because of malice aforethought.”
    Reader nodded. “The only thing that’s suspicious is the number of people doing the same specific job who are dead. Otherwise, nothing in the file says foul play.”
    “Unless you know that the C.I.A. has a Heart Attack Gun,” I pointed out.
    “Which we now do,” Tim agreed. “I’m with Megalomaniac Girl who is, in fact, actually agreeing with me. Showing her brilliance and insight.”
    “See? Wasn’t so hard to embrace your superhero role, was it?”
    “You have me as the sidekick, and I know it.”
    “Blah, blah, blah. Think of yourself as Nightwing to my Batman. Sort of thing.”
    “You two want to stop bantering and share?” Jeff asked.
    “Oh, if you insist. What Megalomaniac Lad meant was that Eugene killing Santiago—or Brewer, if he’d been successful in his mind—and someone trying to kill you is a great way to make anyone who might be linking these deaths together start thinking that maybe we don’t really have a serial killer or a massive murder plot going.”
    “How would those events alter thinking?” Gower asked.
    “Because they’re so obviously
not
part of a conspiracy. Murder someone in a really elaborate way that also ensures the killer will be caught red-handed. Shoot another one in broad daylight. Because, no worries, there are obvious, legitimate reasons for them to both be victims. Everyone focuses on other problems.”
    “Like a declaration of war,” Gower said.
    “We can’t declare any more,” Jeff reminded him. “Because I’ve taken this assignment.”
    “You’re not sworn in yet . . .” Stopped talking as Chuckie and I looked at each other. “Meaning he’s in that gray area you mentioned. But if Jeff was dead, then what would I do?”
    “What would you do if you thought he was dead because he was now a representative, might be the better question,” Reader said. “Because we need to know if Vance is right, or if Vance is playing us.”



CHAPTER 60
    “I THINK HE’S RIGHT,” Tim said. “What does Megalomaniac Girl think?”
    “I’m with you, Megalomaniac Lad. I don’t care how ‘natural’ those deaths look, we now have over twenty representatives dead in what seems like a very condensed time period and that cannot be considered normal. I also don’t think Vance would have brought this to my attention if he was trying to play me, and while he’s clearly smarter than he acts, I’m not feeling Mastermind potential.”
    “I’m still not sold on the murder mystery theory, girlfriend,” Reader said. “As Reynolds says, there’s no point to it.”
    The answer was there, at the edge of my mind. I could feel it tickling, but it wasn’t coming to me. In order to think well, running my mouth was my go-to move. So I went to it. “Okay, let’s take Jeff’s attack out of the equation for a minute, because it could be related to ‘us’ instead of the Mystery of Who is Killing the House of Representatives. So, let me ask this—is Eugene’s damage part of the plot, or is he part of something else?”
    “You mean, if Eugene was telling you the truth, right?” Reader asked. “As in, if Eugene being told Brewer was a robot, was that part of the overall kill-the-representatives plan?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Let’s assume he was,” Chuckie said. “Because he named the person who gave him the file and then was shot in the head. We all think that the shot was meant for Kitty, but the shooter wasn’t using a hollow-point so the bullet could have killed both of them.”
    “The Dingo said it was Raul.”
    “I