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"It’s nothing as sinister as you’re thinking," his lanced fro what exactly Nicole was thinking

"We wouldn’t kill hi We’d just perform a mind wipe and check him into a psychiatric hospital where he could spend the rest of his days"

"Where he could spend the rest of his dayson himself," Nicole said dryly "You think that is better than killing him?"

"If he’s the one behind these attacks, he deserves that and rimly

"Well, at least you added the if," Nicole said stiffly

Jake peered at her helplessly "I know you don’t want to believe that your ex-husband is trying to kill you, but--"

"It isn’t Rodolfo," Nicole said fir to kill meor maybe you," she added, and pointed out, "You were the one poisoned in the hot tub, and you were in the SUV with me"

"That’s true," his mother said and peered at hi California, son?"

Jake scowled "No Besides, no one knows I’uys, and, while the last two attacks have hit or includedthe car that nearly ran you down in the Canadian Tire parking lot"

Nicole waved that away "A bad driver"

Jake’s as issues?" Neil asked with interest

"The furnace was fiddled with, the doors blocked closed, the gas grill was pulled out of its housing and so with the fireplace," he listed quickly and then frowned at his brother "Didn’t Marguerite explain that to you?"

"Those were just" Nicole waved her hand impatiently, apparently not sure what to call the wasn’t deadly It just knocked the heat out and was an inconvenience" Frowning she added, "I told you he took cords and whatnot fros and removed two chairs And look at what he did with the pictures He--"

"The pictures?" Roberto interrupted curiously

"Her ex-husband crazy glued framed pictures of them to the walls all over the house," Jake explained "I had to call in souys to relued"

"Thank you for that," Nicole said quietly "Iand then you asked ot distracted"

Jake nodded stiffly "You’re welcohed "The furnace was just another bit of his trying to bug the hell out of me," she said quietly "The worst it could have done was let the house go cold and uy All it did was costelse he’s done"

"Are you sure he knew that?" Jake asked "Marguerite said his furnace in Italy was older, and could have blown up had he done it there," he pointed out and then added, "And he put the wood in the door’s tracks outside, blocking the That was obviously an effort to trap you inside when the furnace exploded"

"No, that was Rodolfo being the idiot he is," she responded dryly "He was always doing stupid things like that The htest lightbulb in the chandelier"

"Or rirab them had you woken up to find the house on fire"

"No I wouldn’t, but I also wouldn’t have run downstairs into the fire I would have gone out the balcony door off my bedroom, which wasn’t blocked," she pointed out impatiently, and then added, "And if I was sleep addled and stupid enough to run downstairs without keys, I would have just gone out through the garage"

Jake frowned at the logic in that "What about the gas grill?"

Nicole sighed "Like I said, he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier He was also lazy and didn’t like cleaning He put foil in the bottoine he did the saot through the foil to cook food," Jake pointed out

"No," she agreed dryly "I didat the tiht of that, and re had been knocked out of its housingprobably when he put the foil in But I was busy yapping with Pierina I’d also had a couple glasses of wine, so I didn’t notice and started it without thinking"

"And the fireplace?" Jake shot out at once "The gas guy took it apart and put it back together as if there was soreed "But he never said there was anything wrong with it He was too busy going on about how one partner always goes a little crazy in a divorce and whatnot"

"Well, he see to kill you He apparently hugged you on the way out, insisting you should get a good security syste there ed both of us, and I think he only huggedPierina and cop a feel," Nicole snapped "He was crunching on her I think that’s why he took the fireplace apart in the first place, so he had an excuse to hang around, ogle her, and chat her up He offered to take us out on the town and show us the city while Pierina was here," she added dryly "And I think his crunching on her is why he agreed with her worries that Rodolfo was trying to kill me"