Page 78 of Mountain Security

“Lambert was being blackmailed by someone professing to have a video of him … in a compromising situation in a Paris hotel.”

“A compromising situation?” Yvette asked, arching her eyebrow. “That makes no sense. Everybody in town knows Théo is gay. Pierre married him and his life partner in a beautiful ceremony last year.”

The colonel coughed into his mouth.

“The contents of the video are neither here nor there, Yvette. What’s clear is that someone knew Théo would do almost anything to avoid it coming out.”

Alex felt anger rise to his throat. “And he was willing to hurt Yvette to keep that from happening?

Romain shook his head.

“That will be up to the court to decide, but if you’re asking me for my opinion, I don’t think he was fully aware of the impact of what he was doing.”

“The issue we have now is that he has no idea who he was talking to,” the colonel added. “They only communicated by email, and the email address has proved untraceable. We’ve isolated his computer equipment, Alex, so you can take a look at it yourself.”

Alex nodded. If there was anything to find, he’d find it.

“There’s something else we need to consider,” Romain began. From the way he was staring directly at Yvette, Alex already knew what the investigator was going to say.

“We need to consider that whatever’s happening is personal against you, Yvette.”

Yvette’s dark eyebrows shut up. “Me? Why me? I’ve been through this with Alex already. I … I don’t have any enemies.”

“There might be somebody out there who considers you their enemy, without you knowing about it, Yvette,” Alex said. “Think of the things that have happened, starting with the motorcycle that almost ran you over.”

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that one.

“That was an accident,” Yvette said, her mouth falling open.

“We don’t know that for sure, so we need to act as if it wasn’t, Yvette. You’ve been at the center of everything, each and every time.”

The colonel and Pierre exchanged another look.

“I want you to take some time off, Yvette.”

Yvette’s lips went bloodless.

“Yes, of course,” she said eventually. “The last thing I want is to put you and the team at risk.”

Pierre shook his head, his voice gruff. “It’s not about us, dammit. It’s about you. We want to make sure you’re safe.”

Yvette nodded, looking dazed. “I’ll do whatever you think is best.”

“Alex will remain with you until the threat has been resolved,” the colonel said.

Alex kept his face impassive, but was secretly glad since a pack of wolves couldn’t have kept him away from Yvette.

The colonel locked his hands in front of him again. Alex held his breath.

“We have to let Lambert go this afternoon. You’ll both need to decide things about his employment situation, of course.”

“Of course. We are grateful for your help,” Pierre said warmly, shaking everyone’s hands.

Yvette stood by the door, an uncertain expression on her face.

“I wish to speak with Théo before you release him.”

* * *

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