Alien in the House

be, but he got on the radar too fast. He was useful, but if the boss had wanted him out of lockup, he’d have been out a long time ago. He’d played his part, and his usefulness was done.”
    “By boss, you don’t mean Ronaldo al Dejahl, do you?”
    “No idea what happened to him. Don’t care. He didn’t cover my back when I needed it.”
    “Who did?”
    Clarence grinned. “You get to die without knowing. I know the saying—curiosity killed the cat. You’ll hate dying even more because you won’t know who’s in charge, and who’s going to be raising your daughter.”
    “Always with you people it’s the stealing of babies and little children. Pathetic.”
    “Raul will be coming soon,” Doreen said. “He had to take care of some other business. Someone was looking for Clarence at Georgetown. I think his new partner will be with him, too.”
    Belayed worry about Reader and that team. Hopefully they were still all alive and unharmed. “So, you’re waiting for Raul?”
    “Yes,” Clarence said. “He wants the confirmation of who actually killed his wife before we kill all of you.”
    So he didn’t know for sure. Or he suspected and wanted proof. Or else that’s what Raul told Clarence and there was something else going on. I voted for whatever was behind Door Number Three. “How does his new chick feel about his slavish devotion to a dead woman? And have you been the one killing all the various politicians?”
    He shrugged. “She doesn’t mind. And, no, that wasn’t me. I have a different part to play.” He was in love with this phrase. I’d never heard it from him before, so my bet was one of his new besties liked it and Clarence had picked it up.
    “Yeah, trying to blow up the Embassy, and killing Cantu. Seems like they’re not utilizing you a lot or giving you the lead parts.”
    “Oh, I cleaned up the mess with Brewer.”
    “I thought that was someone else’s plan.”
    Clarence looked angry. “Someone else who screwed up. Took care of her, too.”
    “So, you killed Pia Ryan and then you set up the car bomb in Cliff Goodman’s car and dumped her body off to blow up along with him?”
    “Yeah. Too damn bad he had that remote starter thing. Would have been nice to get rid of you, the big king, and the know-it-all jerk at the same time.”
    “Doesn’t that count as you screwing up?”
    He shrugged. “It won’t matter. They’ll end up deciding Pia was the one who set the bomb and that cleans her part up nicely.”
    Presumably because the authorities would be thinking the wrong person had tried to kill Cliff and then could assume she’d killed anyone else that was convenient. “Have you seen your wife and children?”
    “No. She chose her family over me, turned my children against me.”
    She had? Good for Sylvia. “So, who’s been killing all the representatives? Pia did some, right? But not all. And Cantu’s gone, too, at least according to you. So I’m not buying it—you and Raul must have killed the rest of the representatives.”
    “Pia did her share.” Clarence shrugged again. “It’s a game. Raul thinks it’s funny. None of them are as important to the boss as he is. And as I am,” he added with smug pride. “Pia’s gone, yeah, but there are plenty who want to work with the boss. Raul’s even given them a few pointers. From a distance. Some people understand how to utilize talents and some don’t.”
    “So why did you guys allow Eugene Montgomery to try to kill Edmund Brewer at my party? I get why killing someone there would be bad for American Centaurion, but really, it just seemed stupid. Every other death looked natural or accidental.”
    Clarence’s eyes narrowed and the smile left his face. “Some people insist on using the easy resource that’s at hand. Though her plan worked. The boss might even be impressed, but then again, the others screwed up so badly, she might be ahead by not being as far behind.”
    She. And the she he was talking about sounded very much alive, so it was doubtful he meant Pia. “Who else besides Pia and Cantu screwed up?”
    “Wouldn’t you like to know? I’m not telling you anything.”
    Refrained from mentioning that he’d already told me a lot. “How did you hit Malcolm Buchanan with that drug?”
    “It was easy.”
    Doubted that. In order to get Buchanan, Clarence would have had to slow down. And there wasn’t a mark on Buchanan. There hadn’t been a mark on Juvonic, either. “You used a