By Wednesday, Theo felt well again, and was due to go home on Friday. So was Daniel. They had both been extremely lucky, given the possibilities from the substance used to poison them, or if a worse one had been used instead. It seemed likely that it had been applied in order to give her a dread of the château so she would sell. It was not supposed to disable or kill her, or the château would have been tied up in her estate.

—

On Thursday morning, Mike landed at CDG, dropped his small bag off at Theo’s apartment with one of the bodyguards, and was at the hospital at nine a.m. Her face lit up the moment she saw him. He spent the day with her and on Friday, she had to wait until noon to be discharged, after her last blood tests were in, and then she could go home. Mike waited with her and dozed in the chair in her room. He was relieved to see her looking well. They had said that she might feel dizzy occasionally, or have headaches, for another week or two, but it would dissipate after that. It made Mike angry just thinking about it. This wasn’t his case, and he was there unofficially. All he had to contribute was his own expertise and his deep feelings for Theo, but both Guy and Robert were grateful for his input. Having a high-ranking, highly experienced CIA senior agent was an asset to any investigation, although he had far less knowledge of the Russians and their practices than either Guy or Robert and their respective agencies. Mike’s expertise was with the drug lords in South America.

He had his own problems with the cartels in Central and South America, whose men regularly tried to enter U.S. territory to do business. He was currently working on a big case, which he couldn’t discuss with Theo, but he had with Robert. They each had their own criminal element to deal with, and their own challenges.

He woke up after a half-hour nap on Theo’s bed while they waited for her test results, on Friday morning. He couldn’t wait to get home and be alone with her. He didn’t like the reason he had come, but he was happy to see her.

They talked about de Vaumont and the poisoning. She said she had decided to sell the château.