Cui Bono

VIII

Jocelyn smiled as Bianca approached the table. "Thanks for coming."

A server android took their orders, and disappeared.

"Rumour has it you have a good number of suitors."

"Well...it's not as great as it sounds. And not just because I have to reject all but one."

"Have you decided which one that is?"

"Not really, but I like my new tutor, Joshua George. I don't know if he's on Daddy's list, but, if he wasn't one of my tutors, once Kat starts dating, I'd go on a date with him."

"So you're not interested in Alistair Hebblethwaite?"

"He's nice, but...I just don't feel that way about him. Cammy's trying to fix him up with Marisol, but she told me she likes Josiah."

The server android brought their food, and they ate.

"Oh, your mom wrote a letter to Kat, saying all sorts of bad things about Andreas and telling Kat to stay away from him."

"Bad things? Like what?"

Bianca put her fork down. "She said Andreas always has bad plans for everything he does, and he uses tricks to get women to sleep with him. The letter never said what tricks, but it did say he does it all the time."

"I see."

As soon as she was finished her meal, Bianca looked at her watch. "I'm sorry, Jocelyn, bur I have to go. Marisol and I have to meet the George twins in an hour, for tutoring."

Jocelyn nodded, and watched as Bianca left. Then, as she sipped her lemonade iced tea, she text-commed Andreas.

As he promised, Andreas met Jocelyn for dinner. "So, what's this about?"

"We have some things to discuss."

"Yes, you mentioned that in your text-comm. What things do we have to discuss?"

"I met with Bianca for lunch earlier today. She and Marisol apparently have crushes on their new tutors, the George twins, and Cammy is trying to set Marisol up with Alistair, which means I have to change my plan of attack."

"Which is..."

"To encourage Bianca and Marisol towards the George twins, of course."

"Given what you just told me, Alistair might not end up with either girl. Especially Marisol, simply because the Ortegas are new money, and the late Mr. Ortega is originally from El Salvador. Raymond Hebblethwaite may cut Alistair off if he gets involved with Marisol." Andreas looked at Jocelyn. "Even I acknowledge the Hebblethwaites...stick to their own."

Jocelyn frowned. "It still worries me. The majority of Canadian high society is new money nowadays. And even if Raymond leaves Alistair with nothing, that asshole can still live on Ortega money. Which will keep flowing. Towards them. I'll definitely have to tell Cammy setting Marisol up with Alistair is a bad idea. So if it's true the girls have designs on the twins, I'll have to encourage those connections as much as possible." She smiled. "I can just imagine how humiliated Alistair will be when he tries to claim Bianca and some lowly Injun tutor's had her. And the best part is, it wasn't even my idea."

"I've witnessed Katherine and Daniel try to tell Cammy not to set Marisol up with Alistair, and she still plans to do it."

"Well, I am me. Maybe I'll succeed where Katherine and Danny Boy have failed."

"I think you've forgotten how stubborn Cammy can be when she gets an idea in her head."

"Don't underestimate my powers of persuasion on people who don't happen to be Katherine, Daniel, or you."

"In that case, Jocelyn, I wish you the very best of luck. In other news, I heard from Eddie and Bianca—at the same time—that your mother was the one who badmouthed me to Katherine."

Jocelyn sighed. "I don't know why she bothered. She obviously didn't need to. But this bit of information does up the stakes a little."

"And increases my determination to get Katherine into bed, if only to utterly shatter your meddlesome mother." He looked at Jocelyn. "Are you sure it's Katherine who's the harpy, and not her?"

Jocelyn shrugged. "Sometimes I have trouble deciding. I mentioned before I wouldn't mind seeing Katherine knocked down a few pegs. More than my mother, but, if Mommy ends up as collateral damage, well, some things can't be helped."

Andreas checked his watch. "This has been fun, Jocelyn, but I have to go."

"It was nice seeing you again."

Andreas grinned at her, and left.

Thad squinted into the microscope, then lifted his head and pushed a button. Within seconds, a papyrus printout of what he had just seen in the microscope wafted out of the slot closest to him; he picked it up and studied it.

"Did you find out what happened to Grandma Georgina?"

"I just got this printout." Thad passed the printout to Daniel. "From what I can see, a lot of complex compounds."

Daniel furrowed his brow as he studied the printout. "A lot of them look man-made. And familiar." He scanned the printout into his tablet, then followed Thad out of the room.

"I thought I've seen a lot of those compounds before," Thad said. "I just don't remember where."

Jesse met them on the ward. "Did you find anything?"

"Just a lot of familiar—and confusing-looking—compounds." Thad put on a pair of gloves.

"It's a place to start."

"Georgina's on the plus side now, but it could go either way," Thad said. "The sooner we figure this out, the better I'll feel."

"I hear you, buddy, but let's not jump to conclusions. In cases like this, I prefer to leave that to Katherine."

"And I think we all know which conclusion she jumped to in this case," Jesse remarked.

The doctors laughed, then returned to work.