Valentine's Dinner?

52. Back Aboard

As soon as the rotor had stopped turning, Lorne assisted Valerie out of the helicopter and led her forward to see Chloe still in the cockpit concentrating on what Lisa was showing her. He chuckled. "Look how focused she is."

"Yeah, she's always been that way. Intense."

They both turned when Patrick spoke as he approached. "Your bags are all aboard, Sir."

"Thank you, Patrick." Lorne pointed into the helicopter. "There's a case of wine to take aboard. Put a bubbly and a Chardonnay in the fridge."

"Yes, Sir." He nodded toward the cockpit. "Did I see correctly? Did Chloe do the landing?"

Valerie blew out a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, she did. How did it look?"

"It appeared as if she had. Slow and a bit wobbly, but better than most first goes. She settled very gently onto the skids."

"Hmmm. I would ..." She paused as Chloe jumped from the chopper and rushed toward them.

"You have to buy me one, Daddy. That was so, so much fun."

Lorne swept Chloe off her feet, hugging her close as he spun in a circle. "I knew you'd like it." He kissed her cheek then set her down and turned to Lisa. "Thank you for having done this."

"My pleasure. I wish all my students were as easy."

Valerie tilted her head. "You're an instructor?"

"Primarily, but between students, I fly tours and charters for Donovan to help keep soup in the pot."

"Okay." Valerie squeezed Lorne's hand and nodded. "This makes more sense now. I wish you had told me."

"I thought I had."

"Hmmm." She looked up into his eyes and felt her nethers warm. Need to focus on other than sex. "I must have been distracted." Still am.

After thanking Lisa again, and bidding her farewell, Lorne, Valerie and Chloe headed aboard, followed by Patrick and Clyde. Once they had settled in, Garth arrived to explain the schedule. "Slotted for departure at 1955." He glanced at his watch. "Another hour and a half. Weather looks fine en route and for our arrival. I've called Customs, and they said they'll have an agent aboard shortly."

After Garth finished his briefing and had gone forward, Valerie said, "Now it makes sense. Waiting aboard is more comfortable than doing it in a first-class lounge. We can leave as soon as Customs clears us."

"No, Mummy, we can't." Chloe grinned, then continued, "We need to consider our arrival time. We're not allowed to land in London until after six thirty. It's an eleven and a half hour flight, and there is an hour time zone change."

"Hmmm. How do you know this?"

"From piecing together the timing of our flight here with what Garth had said yesterday about the earliest landing time."

"Yeah, of course." No, not of course. Brilliant mind. "Appears you're sharper on details than I."

Patrick waited for Valerie to finish speaking, then he stepped up to the couch and asked Lorne, "Do you wish dinner now, Sir? I had planned to serve it after we settled into our cruising altitude, but we've sufficient time before take-off."

Lorne chuckled, then patted his belly. "We've just finished a long lunch. Let's hold off until an hour or more into the flight."

"Very well. Something to drink now?"

Lorne glanced at the others, then shrugged. "Tea for me. Rooibos would be nice – and some soda water."

Valerie and Clyde both nodded, then Patrick turned to Chloe. "And what would you like?"

"I'd like to talk with you about flying helicopters." She grinned. "And some juice."

After drinks had been served, and Chloe had gone forward to sit with Patrick and Jack, Valerie said, "Seems she has a new interest to occupy her mind."

Lorne nodded, but remained silent.

"You seem deep in thought, Lorne."

"Yeah." He lifted his teacup and stared into it. "Yeah. Thinking about Benoît Violier."

"In Crissier? God! Seems so long ago we were there."

"It does, doesn't it?. But it's been only five days." He blew out a heavy breath. "Police still don't know the cause of death, and it's been almost three weeks."

"That's what you and Claude were talking about?"

"It was. They were long-time friends, and Benoît had added Claude's Coeur du Chêne and Bulles de Chêne to his wine list. That's where I had first tasted them."

"So, the police?"

"Confusing scene. Dead from his own gun. Could have been murder, an accident or a suicide. They are leaning toward suicide."

"Why suicide? He was at the top, and he had just recently been named the best restaurant in the world. Again."

"Seems he had been caught up in a huge wine fraud. A pyramid scheme which scammed some ten million Euros from an eclectic selection of top restaurants. Claude said the Swiss magazine, Bilan, had reported Violier's losses might have been as much as two million."

Valerie shook her head. "Life's worth far more than that. There must have been something else going on."

"Two weeks before Violier's death, the alleged fraudster was released on bail pending an appeal. He was well known in the restaurant, and personally by Benoît, having often racked up dinner bills there in the tens of thousands of Euros."

"So, the reason for murder, then? To keep Benoît quiet?"

Lorne bobbed his head. "Makes more sense to me than suicide. He was only forty-four, and he was at the top of his profession. Suicide seems inconceivable. Claude told me Benoît was at home preparing to fly to Paris for a presentation by Michelin."

Valerie shrugged. "Maybe the police are offering the suicide opinion as a ruse while they investigate."

"That's what Claude had thought."

"We need something brighter to talk about."

"Hmmm." Lorne chuckled. "Your hum is addicting. So, tomorrow? Your meeting tomorrow afternoon?"

"At the Shangri La. I'll take the Underground, and Lester will bring ..." She paused when Patrick arrived with two uniformed officials.