Chapter 10
Whipped Thief
Vinia’s butler invited Jenna and Crimp into Vinia’s expansive mansion. He brought them into a conservatory with wild plants growing like they were part of the wallpaper. Rain pattered on the glass walls. Birds fluttered outside their cages and water sprang from fountains. The light that reflected around them was like the black and white checks on a chess board.
Vinia herself sat in the midst of the beauty as the crowning achievement of the room. Jenna had seen pictures of her, but she wasn’t quite prepared to see the glory of the real woman. Vinia had straight black hair, pink lips, pink cheeks, and pink eyeshadow. Her eyes were black with wide-fanned eyelashes. She wore a white dress that draped over her shape like she was a Grecian goddess.
Crimp bowed and Jenna did a greeting with a hand signal she’d been taught by Excelyn that excused her from extending any further honor because Vinia was of a lower rank than Jenna.
“Shall we begin by signing a non-disclosure agreement?” Jenna asked with a smile.
Vinia grinned as if Jenna had just offered her a thousand dollars. “Please.”
Ixy provided the agreements and the four of them (Jenna, Vinia, Crimp, and Vinia’s butler), placed their thumbprints on the hologram indicating their consent to a private conversation.
Once it was finished, Jenna sat in the chair closest to Vinia and began. “I suppose you know that I took over the Dahlia palace after Arvantis?”
“I did hear that,” she said with a cloaked smile.
“Well, when the AAMC guys trashed my bedroom, we made a startling discovery.”
“What was that?” Vinia asked, eyes wide like she had no idea what Jenna was about to reveal.
“I think you know. So far it’s twenty million Liri,” Jenna replied evenly.
Crimp choked, having not heard about it before.
“Is that so?” Vinia said with a sparkle in her eye.
“Where did that money come from?” Jenna asked. “And is someone going to want it back?”
Vinia groaned low in her throat. “I suppose Sardius told you that it was me that hid it.”
“He hinted at it.”
“Can I speak to him? Can you wire him through my house speakers and let me speak to him?” she asked, sounding more excited than anyone had been before and most people were a little awed by him.
“I can’t,” Jenna had to admit. “He’s not with us anymore.”
“Oh. What a shame. I suppose nothing stays the same forever,” Vinia said reflectively. “I enjoyed him so much. He fiddled with the house security footage over and over again to hide what I was up to, but if you’ve found the money, then there’s nothing much to hide anymore.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Extortion.”
“I thought Arvantis was a good diplomat, except in regards to how he treated you.”
“I don’t know if he was good or not. Maybe he was,” Vinia said with a downward shrug. “Otherwise, he was… um… horrible. The money he took had nothing to do with his role as a diplomat. He took money from his family because he was blackmailing them. He wanted to deplete his family fortune to nothing. He wanted to take everything from his parents and siblings. He wanted to make sure that the grandkids got nothing for an inheritance. It was his way of killing his family traditions. He thought he was doing everyone a big favor.”
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“Was he?”
“I don’t know. He was a terrible person, but I suspect a little of that terribleness came from them. What I do know is that it was his family that killed him. I was at the crime scene minutes before and minutes after. It had been doctored to look like Octavians had done it. His uncle was the killer. He believed that if all the evidence at the crime scene pointed to an Octavian then it wouldn’t matter what other evidence there was. It wouldn’t matter that he was at the palace or that I had seen him or anything.”
“What about the security footage?” Jenna asked.
“I don’t know how he did it, but there was no video footage and the first thing he did was pull Sardius from Arvantis’ ear and drop the piece in the ocean. When I went into the room afterward, I did everything I could to make it look like a human had killed him instead of an Octavian—wiping down suction cup shaped blood smears and such. I called the Adamis police force and they saw what I’d done. They knew I hadn’t killed him myself and they knew that I wasn’t covering for who did. They just didn’t have enough evidence to prove that it was Arvantis’ uncle and accusing someone that prominent without evidence is a huge mistake. We couldn’t even get footage of the man entering the palace.” She shook her head mournfully at the end of her tale. “Not even Sardius could salvage a single photo to point to the real killer.”
“I see,” Jenna said.
Vinia went on. “I felt that the fiasco was a success. I was happy he was dead and no innocent Octavian went to jail for his murder. With regards to the money… I hated Arvantis. I stole from him constantly, but he didn’t know where I was stashing the money. He didn’t think like me and didn’t look in the places I hid it. He would never look in a vase full of water. He was always checking for leakage directly from his bank account. Long story short, I couldn’t take that money with me when I left. For one thing, the authorities didn’t let me go back to the palace after I was interviewed at the police station. All my personal possessions were packed up and sent to me here. This is Arvantis’ retirement home. I understand you have a similar one on Octavia Five?”
Jenna nodded. Though she did not admit that Vinia’s was a thousand times nicer.
“You need two houses when you’re a diplomat,” Vinia said thoughtfully.
“Do you think Arvantis’ family will come after the money you stole?” Jenna wondered.
Vinia giggled. “No. I think they want to distance themselves from Arvantis. His uncle is doing some big business now, and no one wants it to come out that he killed his nephew. Especially not that he did it personally. People that rich hire professionals. They don’t dirty their hands themselves. I got all the money Arvantis took from them when he died. Between us girls and a non-disclosure agreement, it’s a lot more than twenty million. They’ve never come asking for it. Their wealth has grown so much since Arvantis’ death that what he took from them is pennies to them now.”
“I guess the big question is whether or not you want the money you stashed? Legally, it’s all yours if Arvantis left you everything.”
Vinia stretched a strand of her hair between her fingers. “No thanks. I don’t want it. I have already had my fun with it. Arvantis took so much from me, it was a pleasure to take something from him whenever the opportunity presented itself. Buy some pretty shoes for yourself with it. It’s on me.”
Jenna looked down at her shoes regretfully. They were very plain, but they were the best shoes she owned in a universe where footwear was meant for people with feet shaped differently than hers.
“And if you ever speak to Sardius again, please tell him how much I appreciated his friendship. I feel like he carried me through that extremely difficult time in my life.”
“I will certainly do that. However, I wanted to ask you if you know of anyone from when you were in the Dahlia palace who would make a good diplomat.”
Vina huffed. “I wasn’t introduced to anyone while I was there. Sardius really didn’t tell you how I was treated, did he? What a sweetheart! I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. I know that those talks are very important and I know you’re in a rush to fill those seats, but I wasn’t involved in any of that. I was practically a prisoner, whipped and thrashed for a deranged man’s amusement.”
Jenna had a crown in the pocket of her cargo pants. She had been thinking of crowning Vinia if the right moment came. Surely, Vinia knew a lot about the talks since she had been Arvantis’ third wife for seven years before his death. But seeing her like this, Jenna knew she was going to have to leave empty-handed. Vinia needed space and time to heal.
Jenna stood up. “Thank you so much for meeting with us, for your gift, and for your candid talk. You are a true lady.” Jenna gave her a quarter bow that was more than Excelyn said she should ever give anyone.
As they left Vinia’s estate, Jenna said to Ixy through her earpiece, “Get Temptic on the line. Tell him we’ve decided to leave this evening. Have him send our pod to the roof of our hotel. I need to get off this moon now.”