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The reether fro the rest of the abduction and including Albin’s obviously human accomplices It ended with a shot of the rear end of the black van as it drove away, leaving bodies scattered on the ground around the gate

"Who found the bodies?" she asked, subdued

"My security forces, when they rose for the night Alexandra’s room was empty, unused, as were those of Albin and Matias Alexandra’sformer security chief irounds His ate with the unfortunate news"

"Unfortunate," Cynthia repeated She drew breath to go off on hiuards’ deaths, remembered the loss in his voice when he spoke of Matias, and said instead, "The human deaths You didn’t call the police What happened to the her, and with that uncanny intuition of his seenment she’d just worked outand the question she was really asking "It has been so bodies for sustenance These," he gestured at the monitor, "were cared for and sent to their families, if they had them If not, they were cremated and scattered to the winds even as our own bodies are Their families were compensated, to the extent money can compensate for life, and their funeral expenses, if any, were paid I treat my people well, Cynthia All ofelse She looked down at the floor, thinking over what she’d seen and heard, then raised her head "Albin spoke to the human abductors, not much, but a feords It was Russian, wasn’t it?"

Raphael gave her another one of those long, assessing stares "It was," he confirate, then ordered the Alexandra The huuish"

"May I ask" She had learned from her earlier mistake "Why would Albin speak Russian?"

"Liketo this one Imperial Russia was one where he dwelt for some time"

She wanted to ask if that hy Raphael also spoke Russian, but didn’t want to press her luck

"Okay," she said, thinking "I’d like to see the room they were in, the one with the piano, and I’ll want to follow the route they took out of the house And also" She drew a breath, knowing Duncan, at least, would not want to give her what she was about to ask for "I’d like a copy of all the footage froestured at the now blank screen "--was edited together fro any audio, froate, the hallways here, the rooht have been before he showed up in that room"

As predicted, Duncan’s face flashed iave his ain held up his hand to forestall him "Why do you need it and why can you not si, I’m not familiar with your equipment, and I don’t know if you even have what I need I have specialized prograo over the video frahtto you, but which can tell ht be able to enhance some of the audio for you The equipment is in my home office, which is more private and more secure than the office you visited, so you needn’t be concerned about confidentiality No one will see or hear it except e can benefit from enhance anyone else ith it As for the other, I don’t mean to offend you, my lord, but this place creeps hed It was a genuine sound, not the harsh bark fro "Make a copy for Ms Leighton"

"Sire, please" Duncan was in obvious distress

"Make the copy, Duncan," Raphael said softly "Ms Leighton has guaranteed its confidentiality and I’ that guarantee" He fixed her with a gaze which promised a very short future for anyone who crossed him "Don’t you, Cyn?"

"Yes," Cyn whispered "Yes, of course," she said louder "Thank you"

"I’ll show Ms Leighton the rest of the house while you make the copy, Duncan Meet us out front when you finish"

"My lord," Duncan agreed, bowing his head He sounded so depressed Cynthia almost felt sorry for him

"Come, Cyn," Raphael said "Let e"

Cynthia followed Raphael up the broad staircase, around the balcony and through an open set of French doors It was the rooer than it had seerand was at the far end of the roo the front of the house and the checkerboard courtyard What were probably genuine Louis XVI antiques were scattered throughout the roos and carved reliefs of leaves and flowers Cynthia located the security ca She followed the line of sight of the camera across the room to the piano and beyond, to where Raphael stood at thegazing down at the gaudy marble below

Cynthia watched him silently for a fewher fingers lightly over the keyboard as she went by