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“Ah, no. He is notFrench.”The butler? manservant? executive assistant? stared between the three of us again. That time, I saw a horrified disbelief in his eyes. “He isSwiss.”

“Is that different?” Nick asked, voice bored. He made a kind of swirling motion with his hand. “All roughly the same area, right?”

The servant’s jaw dropped more.

Did he really not know we were fucking with him?

Probably not. He didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.

The valet’s lip curled just the slightest bit, but he only bowed as we approached the door, and swung the heavy panel wider.

I strongly suspected I would hate this place, even before I saw the oversized, gaudy statue of a naked woman painted red and yellow, like Ronald McDonald, which someone had placed at the foot of the stairs.

More statues peeked out of nearby alcoves, accented with red and gold recessed lights. No discernible element unified them, not in style, or theme, or even color. Potted marijuana plants and banana trees stood under large windows overlooking the drive, as well as a steel humidor that sat on a table shaped like an elephant’s leg.

Or maybe it was an elephant’s leg. I didn’t get close enough to verify, either way, mostly because the thought of it made me want to barf.

A bright red couch in the shape of a women’s parted lips was visible in a wallpapered room to our right, just past a tiger-skin rug that didn’t look particularly fake, either. To the left I glimpsed a fireplace, more chrome and red, another animal rug, and black leather furniture. What looked like a real, adult giraffe had been stuffed and mounted on a red leather stand, which gave me some idea of the height of the room. To the right of the staircase in front of us, a roaring lion’s head hung on the wall, along with a zebra head, a bison, a moose, a wolf, and a leopard.

I stopped looking after that, although I saw more heads across from those.

Everything about the place felt dead to me, apart from the plants.

Maybe it was all the animal corpses.

“Would you like a tour?” the butler/valet asked, his nose higher in the air.

“No.” Black looked the man over and seemed to dismiss him in those few seconds. “They told you the score? His lawyer, and that C.E.O. from Prometharis? I was told I had full run of the place. Gorren said I could look at anything I wanted, access anypart of the house I needed to conduct my investigation. We’ve all signed N.D.A.s,” Black added.

I managed to keep my expression flat.

That woman at Prometharis hadn’t said anything of the kind.

She’d pretty much said the opposite.

Moreover, she’d very specifically stated that Black wasn’t to touch any computers or access any of the personal vaults Rucker had in the house while we was here.

We especially weren’t supposed to enter any rooms that housed portions of Rucker’s research projects, or anywhere that was obviously his “personal” space. She called out several areas in particular, as explicit no-go zones: Rucker’s private office on the second floor, some kind of “personal” space he had in the basement, which apparently Rucker used as a private entertainment area and study, and the master bedroom on the top floor.

Which made me wonder why Gorren thought we should bother to come here at all.

Obviously, I knew why Black wanted to come.

I’d assumed from the beginning that we’d have to push staff to get access, and essentially force our way in. I had zero doubt that Gorren already communicated her orders to Rucker’s employees, since they’d clearly been waiting for us when we arrived.

I was surprised, therefore, and maybe a little disappointed, when the man in the expensive suit only bowed. His distaste for us remained clear, but he clearly had no intention of trying to stop us. Maybe Nick managed to intimidate them. Or maybe they’d called for backup, and Morgan and his security people were on their way from Oyster Point already.

That, or, more likely, Gorren wasn’t as concerned about the house as she pretended.

Maybe she thought there was nothing here that mattered.

“Very good, sir,” the valet said dryly. “Then I shall get out of the way of you and your team. Please pick up any of the telephones you find around the house and dial ‘6-6-6’ if you require the assistance of someone on our staff.”

My eyes rolled of their own accord.

I heard Nick snort derisively, too.

“I doubt we will.” Black smirked at the human. “…But I’ll keep it in mind.”