Gauguin Connection, The (25 page)

My eyes locked on the uniformed man’s sleeve and a rush of adrenaline left me gasping for air. All I could do was reach for Mozart in my head and focus on it with every iota of strength I had. It was either that or black out completely.

“Genevieve!” Manny’s voice sounded very close to me. He was breaking the fifty-centimetre rule. I was a few bars into writing Mozart’s Gavotte in B-flat when I felt him move even closer. Too close. “Oh Christ, missy. If you don’t pull yourself out of this funk, I’m going to phone a bloody ambulance. That will mean lots of people touching you.”

It was a combination of the panic in Manny’s voice and his threat that brought me back into my skin. My throat felt dry and raw, and I was surprised to find my hands clutching my hair in tight fists. I swallowed with difficulty and forced my hands on my lap.

“You don’t have to phone an ambulance.”

“Are you sure?” Apprehension and worry warred on his face. “Are you okay now?”

I took a few shaky breaths. “Yes. Thank you.”

“You have to stop doing that to me. I don’t have heart problems, but spending time with you might change that.” Like the first day, he looked at me as if I was an alien being, ready to wreak havoc on his planet. “Can you talk about what set you off?”

I glanced at the monitors and was glad to see that I had only blanked out for three minutes. The video was still playing and I quickly stopped it and started working on the screening software. When I got the video to the right point on the timeline, I zoomed in and aimed the laser pointer at the still image. “That is what I saw.”

“What?” Manny looked confused. “You are pointing at the soldier talking to Crenshaw. I don’t know who the guy is, but from his rank, I can tell you that he is a major in the Polish army and is serving in Eurocorps.”

“What about this?” With the laser pointer I circled the insignia on the man’s sleeve.

“That is a specialised division in Eurocorps,” he answered after a brief hesitation.

“What division? What does this man do?”

“Why are you so interested?” He glanced back at the monitor and his eyes widened. “It’s the insignia. Is that the insignia you saw on the uniform of those men who attacked you?” The last word came out as an outraged roar.

“That is the exact one.”

“Bloody holy hell.” Manny looked from me to the monitor and back again until he finally glared at the monitor. “Holy mother of God.”

I gave him another minute to recover so that he could answer me with words that were not a prayer or a curse. A multitude of expressions played over his tired features, telling me what he was thinking. It was when his face relaxed a fraction that I asked again, “What division does this insignia belong to?”

“The intelligence division.”

“I suppose this is not intelligence as in academia.”

“Nope. This is intelligence as in the gathering of information about other countries. Intel not available on the internet. While I was working for Eurocorps, their purpose was mainly to be informed about what was happening.”

“Like all the other intelligence agencies claim.”

“Right.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I’ll have to speak to Leon about it. What the hell were two Eurocorps intelligence agents doing intimidating you in your apartment?”

“Don’t forget that they were working in a team with two Russian guys.”

“How can I forget that? What a mess.”

“At least now we know who those guys were.” I switched on the audio and zoomed in on the major’s face, hoping that I might hear what he was saying to Crenshaw. The noise of a social event filled the viewing room. I used the software programme to filter out the background noise and was left with voices and a few other indistinct sounds. I rewound the video to where the major approached Crenshaw. Manny and I both leaned forward, frowning at the monitor.

We watched the major tap Crenshaw lightly on the shoulder and give the two ladies a social smile. The companion assessed him with interest in her eyes, but he was completely focussed on Crenshaw. The latter turned his head at the first contact of a hand on his shoulder and did a double-take. A few micro-expressions told me that he was worried.

“Sir?” The major had a deep voice, barely audible above all the other conversations taking place.

Crenshaw excused himself from the two ladies and both men turned towards the camera. “What are you doing here?”

“We have a si…” Loud laughter close by drowned out the rest of that sentence. I would have to get someone who could lip-read to tell me what was said. Only snippets of this conversation were audible. “… they aren’t pleased with the situation. But Piros…”

“Fuck. That’s not good.” Fear cut deep lines next to Crenshaw’s eyes. “When does he
wa—”

A party of five people moved in between the camera and the two men. They toasted the success of the Foundation’s fundraising loudly and congratulated each other on a successful event. Only Crenshaw’s gray hair was visible and the major’s left shoulder. We couldn’t hear a word they were saying. After another fifteen seconds, the major moved off screen. Crenshaw had moved to the other side, once again visible and decidedly worried. He inhaled deeply and masked his worry when a well-dressed man approached him. They moved off camera while talking about an international conference coming up. I paused the video.

“They talked about Piros.”

“I heard that. Seems like you were right.”

“I’m predominantly right.” It was a fact backed up by years of evidence. I didn’t see the need to be coy, but Manny’s groan made me realise that I should not have admitted such.

“Okay, so now we have Crenshaw and Dutoit avoiding each other. According to you that signifies a connection.”

“Especially since they did that in the other videos as well.”

“Why didn’t you point it out earlier?”

“I was familiarising myself with everyone. I also had to know who comes from where. Things like culture, age and gender all influence our non-verbal communication.” I stopped, angry with myself. “It’s my process and I won’t justify it to you.”

“Okay, okay. You’ve proven to me above and beyond that you know what you’re doing, so I won’t pick a fight with you now for not saying anything sooner.” He bit down hard on his jaw for a few moments. “So Crenshaw and Dutoit are avoiding each other. Crenshaw and the major from the
intel division are talking about Piros. What else have you seen so far that you haven’t told me about?”

I searched the footage for a specific focal point, zoomed in on it and said, “That.”

“What? The painting?”

“Yes, it is exactly the same painting as the one that we saw in Danielle’s room. It looks like a Gauguin. I don’t know if that is the original, but the one in her room looked just like the original as well. I just wish I had a better visual of it. Do you know someone who could clean up this image?”

“No.”

I tried to get as clear a shot as possible of the image and emailed it to myself. Maybe Colin would be able to identify the painting.

“Wait. Hold up.” Whenever Manny went into suspicious, interrogation mode, his voice had a sharp edge to it. Like now. “Exactly when were you in the murder victim’s room? And who was with you?”

I sucked in my lips and bit down hard to avoid speaking. I knew it. I knew that the time was going to come that I was going to say too much. That was why I hated deception. One constantly had to be aware of what one was saying to not let something slip. Telling the truth at all times was so much simpler.

“Doctor Face-reader, don’t fuck with me. Not now.”

I had to think fast. If I told him the details about my visit to Danielle’s roommate it would only lead to more questions. That would lead to more pressure for me to tell the truth and as tired as I was, I would very likely cave. I was also becoming increasingly more worried about Colin and his imbecile idea of breaking into Mark Smith’s home. All that spelled trouble for my deception abilities. Not that I had any.

“Manny, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Too late. You’re the one who brought this up. You better tell me everything. Now.”

If he hadn’t shouted the last word at me, I might have given in. Since I had never reacted well to aggressive orders, I pulled my shoulders back and glared at him. “No. I will not tell you anything when you speak to me like that. Phillip knows everything and he can tell you.”

“Are you telling me that Phillip has been withholding information from me?” I had managed to make him even angrier.

“I’m not going to say anything else. You should speak to Phillip first. Phillip should be here to deal with this.” He was my buffer and I really needed one now. I folded my arms across my chest. We glared at each other for what felt like an hour before Manny gave up.

“I’m too tired for this. Pack your stuff, we’re going home.”

It sounded like a good solution to me. We had after all promised Phillip that we would only work through that one video. It didn’t matter that we had only got halfway through. There were a lot of new discoveries and Manny and I had reached the end of our truce for the night. “Okay. Give me a few minutes to close everything down.”

Manny disappeared while I put a few time-markers on the footage so that I knew where to return to when I viewed it again. I saved everything, switched off all the equipment, picked up my handbag and left the viewing room. We didn’t speak as we made our way to his car. He didn’t ask me where I lived, but I wasn’t
surprised when we left the parking area and started going in the right direction. What kind of agent would he be if he hadn’t done a background check on me?

We were driving in blissful silence before he developed a need to speak. “We will revisit this issue, Doctor Face-reader.”

“I know.” I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew that he would have to know everything at some point. And that point was coming much closer. The new discoveries and how they were all connected were leading up to a conversation that was going to enrage Manny. Of that I was sure.

“The programme for Saturday’s event is on the backseat,” he said into the loaded silence hanging between us.

“Thank you.” I twisted around and saw the elegant glossy book, typical of art auction catalogues. I opened the first page when a cell phone started ringing.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Manny asked after the fourth ring and I realised the ringing was coming from my handbag. I reached into my bag with a frown. Had Colin changed the ring tone on my smartphone again?

This was immediately followed by another thought. This had to be the extra cell phone that Colin had given me in case of emergencies. My stomach turned as my hand closed around the vibrating device.

“Hello?”

“Jenny, it’s me.” The controlled strain in Colin’s voice set my entire system on high alert.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. No. Shit, I don’t know.”

“What happened?” I could barely breathe from the fear that he was in danger.

“I was in Mark Smith’s house. It was really easy to get in there and that made me suspicious. Jenny, we have a big problem.”

“What?” I heard the near-hysteria in my voice and turned away from Manny’s worried looks. Colin could not have phoned me at a worse time.

“He’s dead.”

“Who?”

“Mark Smith. He’s dead, Jenny. Dead. Someone shot him. I had been watching the house the whole day and knew that no one was there. At least that’s what I thought.” In contrast to his usual composure, he was babbling when he wasn’t taking shaken breaths. “I got in and went to disable the alarm system, but it was already disabled. That made me suspicious. Why would the alarm system be disabled when he wasn’t home? But I knew there was no one there, so I immediately went to his study. He had a very clever hiding place for his safe, but I found it and opened it in less than thirty seconds. I looked through all the stuff in there and saw a few interesting things, but left it all there. Then I decided to go into the next room. And that’s when I found him.”

I made an encouraging sound, not wanting to respond verbally. Colin was clearly shaken from finding a dead man. It made me feel better about trusting, working with and worrying about this criminal. He took another shaky breath. “He was lying on the floor of the living room and it looked like there had been a struggle. There was so much blood. It looked like someone had emptied out a gun into his chest. Oh, God.”

I waited for him to take a few heaving breaths. “What did you do?”

“I went back into his study and stole some stuff.”

“You did what?” I shouted into the phone. Manny’s head swivelled to me and I turned my torso even more towards the door. I wished I could ask Colin all the questions going through my head, beginning with why he hadn’t phoned the police.

“I had and still have a bad feeling about this, Jenny. Something is not right about this murder. That was why I decided to make sure we have some stuff to find out exactly who this Mark Smith was. No sooner had I taken the stuff and made my way to his back yard when the police showed up. How did they know to come, Jenny? I had been watching the house the whole day and never saw anyone going in or out. I also never heard any gunshots. It took me a good hour to get safely out of the area. I only started looking through the stuff a few minutes ago and already have found a few very interesting things. Get this. The dead guy’s name is not Mark Smith.”

“What is it?” I didn’t know why I was whispering, but it felt like the right thing to do. It only caused Manny to lean closer to me. I could feel him entering my personal space at my back.

“His name is, or should I say was, Brigadier-General Nick Crenshaw. He worked for those bastards, Eurocorps.” He must have heard me gasp. “What? Do you know who this guy is, Jenny?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me more.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? Aren’t you at home?”

“No, but I’m on my way.”

“And you’re not with Vinnie? Who’s driving you home?” He was angry. “Are you driving alone?”

“Agent Manfred Millard is driving me home.” I stole a glance over my shoulder at Manny and saw that he was shamelessly listening to my side of the conversation. Worry had turned into suspicion and his body had gone still with concentration.

Colin swore. “You need to get away from him. Something isn’t right, Jenny.”

“So you keep saying. Why do you think that?”

“Apart from the obvious murdered Eurocorps man? I’m beginning to think that someone knew that we were going to find him. I don’t know anything about violent crimes, but I know how to set up a scene.”

“And that is what it looked like to you?”

“Yes.” He paused. “Shit, wait. Vinnie is also phoning me. Hold the line.”

I held the phone tightly against my ear. This was not good. Vinnie was at home waiting for me to phone him for a ride. I had forgotten to send him a text message that Manny was going to drop me off.

“What the hell?” Manny’s irritated question interrupted my musing. I turned in my seat and found him scowling at the rear view mirror. Still holding the phone to my ear, I looked behind us. My heart rate accelerated to an alarming speed. Flashing lights of at least four police vehicles were coming up behind us and the sound of the sirens was becoming overwhelming.

“Jenny, are you still there?” Colin’s voice sounded loud against my ear.

“Yes.” My voice sounded foreign from the tension raising its pitch.

“Vinnie said that the police just showed up at your place.” He was quiet for a heartbeat. “Are those sirens?”

“Yes. I think we are being followed by the police.”

“We are being pulled over by the police, Doctor Face-reader.” Manny slowed the car down and rolled slowly to the side of the road. He turned to me with dismay all over his face. “What have you done?”

“Jenny, listen to me. Jenny!” Colin was shouting in my ear.

“What?” I spoke into this phone, but looked straight into Manny’s eyes.

“Jenny, I think this is a setup. Don’t ask any questions. Just do exactly what I say. When I hang up, give Millard this phone and tell him to keep it. I will contact him. Also tell him that you were speaking to me, and that I’m helping you.” With that last order, Colin ended the call and I was left with a dead phone in my hand and a staggering number of questions.

“I am so close to leaving you to fend for yourself, missy. What is going on here?” Manny still held my gaze. His dismay was quickly turning into anger.

It wasn’t difficult for me to make a decision. I handed him the phone, which he glared at for a long second before he took it. Outside the car, mayhem continued to ensue. Four police cars surrounded Manny’s silver Ford and armed law enforcement officers were piling out of their vehicles with their weapons trained on us.

In need of an extra second to build more courage, I carefully put the programme in my handbag. I swallowed twice and looked at Manny again. “I was speaking to Colin Frey. He is the outside consultant who has been helping me with this case. He said that you were to keep that phone and that he was going to contact you on it soon.”

Were it not for the aggressive policemen shouting orders at us, Manny’s expression might have been comical. “Colin Frey! You’ve been working with Colin Frey?”

“Yes. I don’t think we have time for an argument now, Manny.” I nodded meaningfully at the officers still shouting at us to show our hands and exit the vehicle. “As soon as I can, I will explain everything to you.”

“You will do that and so much more, missy.” Manny lifted his hands above the steering wheel in a universal gesture of surrender and I copied him.

Orders were shouted at us and Manny followed them, proving his excellent grasp of French. I also followed all the orders, but completed it with enhanced gestures of surrender and harmlessness. On the inside of a minute I found myself standing on the street, hands in the air and staring at the barrels of two handguns. They must have thought Manny to be the more dangerous, since he had three guns aimed at his chest.

My parents could never understand why lesser situations would send me into a black space of nothingness, but larger, more intimidating events invigorated me. It was because the larger events provided me with such a wealth of behaviour to observe and analyse that I didn’t want to miss a moment. Having more than half a dozen officers shouting at me, treating me like a dangerous criminal was fascinating beyond anything I had ever observed.

With the exception of one officer, they all were confident that they had the situation under control. Their bodies were balanced, muscles ready to act on any change in the situation. It was, more than anything else, their faces that gave away their confidence. Looking straight ahead, they were constantly assessing Manny and me, their mouths drawn in determined lines. They knew what they were doing and trusted each other to do the same.

A shorter officer to the left of me did not share that confidence. He was overcompensating with exaggerated gestures and body language aggressive enough to cause concern. Anger pulled his eyebrows together and lifted his top lip in an aggressive sneer. It wouldn’t take much for him to do something that might end with fatal consequences.

I turned to him with my hands lifted even higher, exposing my torso completely. Humans responded to the body language presented to them and I was giving him innocuous. I regulated my facial muscles into a submissive smile which almost turned triumphant when I noticed the muscle tension in his body lighten. This was too easy.

Manny was on the other side of the car, not having as much fun as me. He was shouting back at one of the officers. “Just let me reach into the inside pocket of my jacket. I’ll show you my credentials. I’m an EDA official, you arrogant prick.”

“Sir, keep your hands where we can see them. We know who you are. Our orders are only to apprehend Miss Lenard.”

“It is
Doctor
Lenard to you, sonny.” Manny lowered his arms a fraction. “If you only have to apprehend her, why are you aiming your guns at me?”

“Manny.” I addressed him quietly, hoping he would hear me above all the commotion. “You’re not helping the situation.”

“Not helping…” He sputtered and then inhaled deeply. “She’s right. I’m not helping. Could we all just stop shouting at each other?”

I didn’t want to point out to him that after we exited his car, he had been the only one shouting. Instead I kept my eyes on the insecure officer. “What do you need me to do?”

“Please turn around, face the vehicle and place your hands on the roof.” It was the officer next to him who spoke, which brought most of the tension back to the first officer’s stance. He was not respected by his peers and he resented it. Team dynamics was a study in itself, but now was not the time for it. I did as asked and lost my focus when cold handcuffs embraced my wrists.

I lifted my eyes, looking for something to analyse so that the panic starting in me wouldn’t grow. I didn’t have to look far. On the other side of the car, Manny was now in deep debate with the officer who looked to be the team leader.

“What do you mean, you have fingerprints?”

“Miss”—the officer swallowed at Manny’s growl and corrected himself—“Doctor Lenard’s fingerprints were found at a crime scene and we need her to come in to the police station for questioning.”

“So you arrested her?”

“The crime scene is quite incriminating, sir.”

“What crime scene?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t tell you that. It is an ongoing investigation.” The officer was genuinely sorry, but I didn’t think it was because of his concern for me. His face told me that he would’ve taken great joy in telling Manny about my alleged crime.

“It’s okay, Manny. I’ll go with them. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The expression on Manny’s face told me that he didn’t think that to be the truth. He was furious with me for not telling him about my co-operation with Colin. I was sure that that was the only wrongdoing he could accuse me of. And accuse me he was going to. I could see the promise of it in his eyes. He looked at me for a few more moments and I watched anger make way for concern. “Are you okay?”

I knew what he was referring to. “I’m okay. This is not as bad as that photo.”

He gave me a tight smile. “Don’t speak to anyone, Genevieve. Do you hear me?”

“Why not? I haven’t done anything wrong.” I had nothing to hide.

Manny bit down hard on his teeth and turned to the leading officer. “May I please have a minute with Doctor Lenard? Your courtesy will be noted and will be remembered by the EDA and Eurocorps in the future.”

The officer’s eyes flashed in respect for those two agencies and nodded his agreement. “One minute, then we go.”

Manny walked around the car and stopped inside my personal space. Now didn’t seem to be the time to remind him of the fifty-centimetre rule. Not while I was handcuffed and surrounded by police. He pushed his face close to mine and I wondered if it was because he wanted me to read how serious he was. “Listen very carefully to me, Doctor Face-reader. This case that we are working on is the most important thing that you should remember right now. As you know, we are working with people who have enough power to ruin you, me, Leon, Phillip and whoever the hell they choose. I do not want you to say anything to anyone. Not even to ask for water or the lavvy.”

“The lavvy?”

He rolled his eyes. “The toilet, missy. I will follow you to the police station and sort this out. Then you and I are going to have a very hard conversation.”

The officers were becoming restless, glancing uneasily at us. My mind was working overtime and I had reached a hypothesis. We didn’t have much time, so I was going to be honest and direct without polite filters. I lowered my voice and leaned very close to Manny’s ear. “They’re going to say that I killed Crenshaw. I didn’t. Colin didn’t. Colin thinks it’s a conspiracy and that this is a setup.”