Page 306 of Affair
Von didn’t like killing nobility. It put him on the media’s and the military’s radar.
“Your life is in your hands. I won’t kill you, or your Marine if you help me and give me what I want. Your brother stole something from me. I want all of his things.”
Poe put his cup down.
“I have them upstairs in my spare room. If you’d like, we can go gather them.”
That worked for him.
Von stood.
“Let’s handle this then, and Doctor, I’m not playing games. If you help me, I’ll let you live. If anything, I say what I mean, and mean what I say.”
Poe didn’t want to live.
Not if Gamble died in his place.
He’d never survive that.
As they went upstairs, Poe grabbed a box in his spare bedroom. It was the same one that he used to bring his brother’s things home.
As he packed everything up that he’d brought from England, Von stood in the doorway.
“Did your brother call you or say anything to you?” he asked.
Poe was going to make this as difficult as possible for the man.
He paused.
“He did, actually.”
Von waited.
“Before he died, I spoke to him. He said that he was good, and that he wanted me to get his footlocker back to England. He told me that it had all of his personal effects in it.”
That had the man’s attention.
“When did he say that?”
Poe paused to waste time and pretend he was thinking about it.
“I think it was about a week before he passed away. When he died, I didn’t think anything of it. I just believed he had been on a dangerous mission.”
Von leaned in.
“His footlocker?”
Poe knew that the conversation never happened, but he was going to make this man suffer for what he did to his family.
And to his Gamble.
“Yeah.”
Von got excited.
“And did you get it?” he asked.
Poe shook his head.
