2 The Dante Connection (11 page)

“And you are sure this is a pressure plate?” Edward asked. “How would you know?”

Colin closed his eyes briefly. “When Jenny, Genevieve, stepped on it, there was an audible click. That and the wires brought me to this conclusion.”

Edward slowly lowered himself to his haunches and inspected the carpet around my feet very lightly with his fingertips. “Would that be your wild speculation?”

“Please don’t touch me,” I said. “I don’t like being touched and will probably move if you do.”

Edward froze and there was a short silence. “I wasn’t planning on touching you, Genevieve. I’m just feeling around your feet for this pressure plate. It would seem that you were correct. There is a plate. I don’t know if it is a bomb though.”

From a pocket Edward removed a device. It was in two parts, attached by a cable. The one part looked like one of those laser guns the traffic police used to catch people speeding. The other had a display screen and a few control buttons.

“What is that?” Colin asked.

“This is Fido,” Edward said and aimed the laser gun part at my feet. “It is equal to using a sniffer dog or bees to locate explosive devices. It detects a wide variety of commercial, composite and pure explosives.”

“What is its accuracy rate?” I asked. This was fascinating in quite a disturbing way. I might have enjoyed this marvel of scientific and technological development much more had I not been the one being sniffed by a machine.

“Less than three percent false alarms.”

“But there is a possibility.” My voice cracked and I focussed on my breathing for a few seconds.

Edward finished aiming the sensor at my feet and looked up at me. “I’m not going to let anything happen here, Genevieve.”

His reassurance didn’t help. How could I believe him? He was no doubt trained in keeping the situation under control. That would mean keeping me calm. In order to do that I was sure he would lie. And I couldn’t read his body language under that big suit or his facial expressions, which meant I had nothing. I didn’t know if I could believe him and that automatically made me not believe him. This circuitous thinking raised my heart rate and my breathing was becoming irregular.

“Jenny, look at me.” Colin had moved another centimetre closer. “I wish I could hold your hand, but that might change your balance and we can’t have that.”

“My leg,” I said softly.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Edward asked.

“Tell him to not speak to me, please,” I said to Colin. A moment ago Edward’s presence had been tolerable. Not anymore. Even though I knew his name, Edward was still a stranger to me. Him being so close to me was triggering behaviour I had worked hard to control. “My leg is beginning to cramp. My thigh muscles are quivering. I want to move.”

Colin vehemently shook his head at Edward. I supposed the man was on the verge of speaking to me again. “Unless it is of utmost importance, don’t say anything. I’ll handle Jenny. She won’t move.”

“Handle me?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Don’t go interpreting things I didn’t say, Jenny. I just mean that I’ll talk you through this.”

“Then you should’ve said that. Why do people say one thing when they mean another?” I grunted in discomfort. My right thigh muscle was pulling into a knot. “Colin, my leg.”

“Is a very sexy leg,” Colin said. “Both of them actually.”

My jaw went slack. His eyes dropped to my legs and slowly moved from my feet to my thighs. He leaned slightly to the side to look behind me. “Your arse is really sexy too. In these jeans especially. I like how it hugs your butt. Although I prefer you in your pyjamas. With sleepy hair. Stuff fantasies are made of.”

I was frozen in a combination of horror and fascination. Colin had fantasies about me? He thought I was sexy? And he had said all this in front of Edward. I was sure that even Manny could hear it from his position by the doorway. There were sounds and movement next to me, but I was too absorbed by Colin’s ghastly inappropriate behaviour to pay attention to it. What was he thinking saying these things?

“Yes,” Colin continued. His eyes moved over my torso and paused on my chest. “It’s a pity that your jacket is hiding your cleavage. The top you’re wearing this morning? Wow. When you move, it moves just enough for me to see a bit of lace from your bra. Now that really got my attention. Sexy, sexy, sexy.”

Then I saw it. The
orbicularis oculi
muscles contracted around his eyes. The corners of his mouth pulled to the side so quickly in a smile, I almost missed it. If I had not been so shocked by what he had blurted out, I might have caught on to it much sooner.

“You have truly stooped low, Colin.” Disgust lifted my top lip and I dropped my voice. “Low.”

“Whatever are you talking about, Jenny?” He gave me a lecherous look that was almost comical in its exaggeration.

“Did you in all honesty think I would believe you?”

“You almost did.” His smile was genuine. “For a moment there I had you in the palm of my hand.”

I sneered at the hand he waved at me. “You did not have me in the palm of your hand. You confounded me with your outrageous compliments.”

“Secured.” The voice behind me startled me and I almost moved. I blinked a few times and carefully turned my head to look at Edward. I had completely forgotten about him. “It’s safe for you to step away, Genevieve.”

He was standing to the left of the painting with clippers in his hand. The wire running from the carpet to the wall had been cut. The painting was slightly askew, which meant that he must have moved it. How had I missed this?

“It’s safe? Are you sure?” I asked. I still didn’t believe or trust him.

“Take off your helmet and tell her again,” Colin said next to me.

Edward lifted the visor. “I can’t remove the helmet by myself. Will this do?”

I nodded and studied his features. He had a crooked nose and his lips were almost feminine in their fullness. But his eyes were the most arresting feature in his face. I had only once before seen such a light blue that almost looked gray. They were framed with long, dark lashes.

“It is safe to move, Genevieve. Fido didn’t detect any explosives here and I dealt with the wiring. You are safe.” The truth was there. Even though I could not connect his facial expressions to his body language, his face told me what I needed to know.

“Okay.” The first step I took was away from the wall, away from the painting. After being locked in one position for almost an hour, my legs did not agree with the movement. It felt as if my muscles had been replaced by a gelatinous substance. My knees buckled and my legs started to fold under me.

“I got you.” Colin moved to my side with two fast steps and pulled me against him. I leaned heavily into his side, his firm embrace the only thing keeping me upright.

“What the hell happened here?” Manny stormed towards us, all his freshness of this morning gone. He bore the signs of prolonged frowning, creases on his brow and stress pulling the corners of his mouth down. “When in bloody hell did you think it was okay to start triggering bombs without letting me know first?”

Pins and needles announced the return of blood circulation and I shifted from one leg to the other. It caused a rocking motion that Colin wordlessly followed.

“Do you realise that you are saying we should inform you first before we set off bombs?” I asked, distracted. The pins and needles were becoming painfully pronounced.

Manny walked away, turned around and walked back to us. He took another step so that he was in my personal space and pointed a finger in my face. “You aggravate me.”

The stress was now clearly visible all over Manny’s body. I realised that I was the cause of it and it didn’t feel good. I stopped moving and looked at Manny. “I’m sorry.”

The rest of my apology and explanation got interrupted by Edward and his team insisting that we leave the room. They needed to make sure there weren’t any other surprises under the carpet. Edward also reprimanded Manny for walking all over the carpet without a thought.

“Can you walk?” Colin asked. Being held by him like this, I became aware of the differences in our height. I was a centimetre or two taller than the average woman, but fitted neatly under his arm.

“I think so.” I gave a tentative step away from Colin, but he followed me, still holding me tight against him. My legs felt much better, but I was sure I looked like a newborn filly.

Another man, also dressed in protective gear, but not a full-body suit like Edward, led us to the side of the wall, to the tiled floor. All the while Manny grumbled about me causing him to take early retirement.

The man who escorted us out of the room left us at the doorway. Manny got out his phone and within seconds was involved in an intense conversation, interspersed with barked orders. He nodded at us to follow him and walked to the entrance, every now and then glaring back at us.

In the larger space of the gallery, I stepped away from Colin. This time he let me go, but stayed close. I hated feeling this weak. I straightened my spine and pulled my shoulders back. Walking slowly to ensure maximum balance, I made my way to the front. The gallery was now filled with law enforcement people dressed mostly in black protective gear. I stopped.

“You okay?” Colin asked, touching my elbow lightly.

I turned to face him and pulled my elbows tight against my side. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And thank you for distracting me with the inane talk. It worked.” I tilted my head to the side. “Why did you say those things?”

“You mean telling you that you’re sexy?” He smiled his charming smile. He was trying to provoke me. Again. I let my face convey my full displeasure and waited. He laughed softly. “Okay, okay. Just for the record, it isn’t inane. It’s the truth. But I did think that saying it in such an outrageous manner was going to be better at distracting you than getting you involved in an intellectual debate.”

I stared at him. By the day my respect for this man grew. If only he hadn’t had a long criminal history, I would have considered him a peer. No, I mentally corrected myself. I did consider him my peer. He might not have the same genius IQ I had, but he had a natural ability to see deep into people. Without wasting a moment, he had known the best way to get my mind off the bomb and my cramping leg and not allow me to disappear into Mozart.

“When you look at me like that I get worried,” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting.

“You shouldn’t be worried.” I lifted my hand and after a moment’s hesitation, placed the tip of my index finger on his sleeve. “What you did in there was incredible. I am deeply grateful.”

Loud footsteps stopped next to us. Manny. “Would you please now tell me what the bleeding saints you were doing here?”

“Don’t start with me, Millard.” Colin moved just a fraction, but it was enough to form a barrier between me and Manny. “Remember that I was the one who phoned you.”

“Which might be the only intelligent thing you did all day.”

Not only did my expertise give me the skills to live more unobtrusively among neurotypical people, it also enabled me to understand irrational behaviour. Manny had been frightened by the gravity of the situation. His aggression stemmed from relief rather than anger. Yet it grated on my nerves.

Colin and Manny were now involved in a very loud, very insulting argument. Both men letting off steam. With a sigh I looked around. Everyone in the gallery was moving with purpose, investigating. I found it mildly amusing that no one was paying particular attention to Manny and Colin. One of the many GIPN guys caught my attention. Something about him was familiar. I squinted and wondered if I had met him before.

The two men next to me were talking at the same time now. It drew my attention away from anything and anyone else. Neither Colin nor Manny was listening to the other, both speaking in raised voices.

I had had enough. No one noticed me leaving quietly. I needed to be in a safe place. I needed to be in my viewing room. And I needed Mozart.

Chapter TEN

It was only when Phillip sat down in one of my viewing room chairs that I became aware of his presence. A quick glance told me he was about to give me a long lecture. I knew Phillip’s facial expressions well. When his bottom jaw moved from side to side and his nostrils started flaring, it spelled trouble for me. I closed my eyes and waited.

“Look at me, Genevieve,” he said after what felt like ten minutes. Most likely it had only been fifteen seconds. I opened my eyes and blinked at him. Because I knew him so well, I saw the concern hidden behind the anger. “A bomb?”

“Manny phoned you.” I turned back to my computer for a second to turn down Mozart’s Symphony No. 24 in B-flat major. It became background music and I looked at Phillip.

“Yes, he did.” Any other person might have missed the flash of a smile. I had seen Phillip’s amusement. “You stole his car.”

“Technically I suppose you could call it stealing. But he left the keys in the ignition, so is it really stealing?” I would have to check this.

“You took his car without his permission. It is stealing.” Again the micro-smile. “He is extremely unhappy about it. Why did you take his car?”

“I was bored with him and Colin arguing. And I wanted to come and work. I could see that they were not going to bring me here without another argument, so I left. Manny’s car was conveniently close to the building and had the keys in it. It was indeed timely, because I didn’t want to get into a taxi.” I shuddered at the memory of my recent experience. I could still smell the cheap lavender air-freshener trying to mask the smell of fast food and body odour. “How did Manny know I had taken his car?”

“GPS,” Phillip said and I nodded.

“We live in a society where everyone can be watched and tracked.” I liked this fact when it enabled me to do my job when I investigated an insurance fraudster. I didn’t like this as much when it was aimed at me.

“Big Brother watches us all the time.”

“Oh, I know that reference!” I sat up in my chair. “It comes from the George Orwell book
Nineteen Eighty-Four
, where–”

“Genevieve,” Phillip held up his hand, “tell me about the bomb.”

I slumped a bit. “Didn’t Manny tell you?”

“He only said that you and Colin triggered a bomb.”

“We did no such thing. I stepped on a pressure plate that could or could not have been a bomb. Edward said that there were no explosives, so maybe it wasn’t a bomb.”

Phillip slowly placed his hands on his knees and leaned a bit forward. “Who is Edward? No, don’t tell me. It isn’t important. What is important is that the bomb disposal unit confirmed that it was a bomb.”

“Manny told you this?”

“Yes. He also said that you should tell me how you and Colin landed up there.”

I told him about the painting, the email and how I had made the connection with my name and surname. And that I had obviously been right.

“But you do realise that you should’ve phoned Manny before you stormed into La Fleur Galerie.”

“Not really. I wasn’t sure about the connection. Like most connections, at first it is only a clue that leads one to something more concrete that one can then call irrefutable proof.”

“Genevieve.” Phillip’s jaw was moving again. He took a deep breath and spoke clearly. “You need to slow down and think about this some more. On paper it is a completely different story if you pursue a clue or a connection until you have the evidence to solidify it. You are not trained to be out there.”

I inhaled to argue my point, but stopped when Phillip lifted his hand. His raised eyebrows implored me to consider his point. I did. And then I groaned.

“Did I make a terrible mistake?”

“No, you didn’t. You made an intelligent and accurate connection between some abstract and disjointed bits of information we had. Next time it might be better if you consulted with Manny first before you acted.”

I thought about this. “Manny asked you to handle me, didn’t he?”

Phillip chuckled. “Not in those words exactly, but yes. You scared him. You scared me too.”

“I didn’t mean to. I was just following–”

“A lead. I know. But promise me that you will speak to Manny first before you do something like this.”

“I’ll be quite happy to leave all the action to him. I didn’t like being there.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.” He leaned back in his chair and nodded at the monitors. “What are you working on?”

Thankful that this conversation was finished, I straightened in my chair. “The burglaries. There are too many coincidences between the burglary cases, Francine’s attack and the email and painting I received.”

“And you’ve found something to link it all?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure. This is one of those clues that needs to be solidified into factual evidence.” I took a deep breath to prepare myself for this explanation. I wanted to make it as clear as possible. I hated repeating myself. Even more than that, I hated having to explain my explanations. “None of the victims share any similarities in clubs they frequented, social circles, travel itineraries or anything else. What they did have in common was that all of them used high-end insurance and security companies.”

“Which makes the burglaries even more bizarre. With trained security personnel on the premises, these amateur thieves should never have gotten in. But we know this already. What else?”

“A conclusion I was bound to draw was that the thieves must have received information from within the circle of security. They received inside help, either from within the insurance companies or the security companies.”

“But they didn’t all use the same companies.”

“True. But then I started looking at what these companies might have in common. The insurance companies didn’t share any common factors that were of significance.”

“The security companies did?” Phillip’s voice raised in excitement.

“Yes. Look at this.” I pointed to five of the monitors. “Each security company has the same badge at the bottom of their page.”

Phillip leaned closer and squinted at the monitors. “What is that?”

“It is an internet security package, or like they call it, a professional security solution.” This had been the connection I had subconsciously made and only fully realised when I had seen those badges. “I don’t have experience or knowledge in this area, but I wonder if that software program was used to hack their systems. When Francine looked into the burglary at her great-uncle’s, she discovered that the security company’s system had been hacked.”

Phillip’s eyes grew wide before he became pensive. “Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?”

“I don’t have the ability to know what you are thinking, Phillip.” His smile told me I had erred. “Oh, it was one of those questions.”

“Yes, it was. Now tell me what you are thinking.”

“To ask Francine to use her skills and see if my hypothesis is correct.”

Phillip smiled. “I thought that was what you were thinking.”

The viewing room door whooshed open and Angelique walked in, as cautious as always. “Sir, there are people here to see you. And Doctor Lenard.”

I didn’t know whether her distaste was for Phillip’s guests, for me or that these people wanted to see me as well.

“Show them in, please, Angelique,” Phillip said. The older woman left the viewing room and returned three seconds later with Manny and Colin. Neither looked pleased. At least they didn’t have any signs of a physical altercation. It was a relief to see that they hadn’t resorted to such boorish behaviour, even though it would’ve been befitting their earlier verbal onslaught.

“I could have you arrested, Doctor Face-Reader.” Manny walked right up to my chair and stared down at me with narrowed eyes. His expression did not convey anger. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You shouldn’t leave the key in your car’s ignition.”

“And you shouldn’t drive away in other people’s cars.” Manny stood back to look at the monitors.

Colin had quietly moved to my left side and sat down in a chair that I knew I had not placed there. He lightly touched my shoulder until I turned to him. He didn’t speak, he just inspected my face in a manner I supposed I did at times as well. Something he saw must have pleased him because he visibly relaxed and nodded. “Glad you’re okay.”

“What am I looking at, Doc?” Manny asked. I closed my eyes for a second to get past the irritation of having to repeat myself. And then I did. Almost verbatim, I told them what I had told Phillip a few minutes before.

“Okay, so we need to get the cyber unit to check if this software was used as a Trojan horse to get into their systems.” Manny was sitting next to Phillip to my right. Colin had stayed on my left. I wondered if my assumption was correct that he wanted to keep as much distance as possible between him and Manny.

“Or we could ask Francine,” I said. Colin’s breathing changed and I glanced at him. “What? If Francine wants to be involved in this, she’s going to work with Manny as well.”

“Francine is already involved in this, Jenny. But you might want to ask her first if she wants to work with him.” He lifted his chin towards Manny.

“She phoned me this morning after breakfast, Frey.” The
buccinator
muscles pulled one corner of his mouth into a sneer. “She is convinced that it is a huge government conspiracy. Apparently I am not part of that since Doctor Face-Reader here trusts me. Do you trust me, Doc?”

The question came to me so fast that I flinched. The intensity in Manny’s stare alerted me that my answer was required, but more than that, it was important. I raised my eyes to the ceiling to consider my answer. When I came to a decision, I looked at Manny only to see his lips tighten and his colour change. “Why are you angry?”

“You have to think about your answer?”

“Of course. I had to consider all the levels of trust before I could answer you honestly.”

Manny looked at Phillip and threw his hands in the air. Phillip only smiled.

“But,” I continued, “I’ve come to the conclusion that I do trust you. You are competent in your profession and I have empirical evidence that you have high ethics and morals, and that the denouement of your, of our, actions is an important consideration in your decision-making process.”

Manny pinched the bridge of his nose and it looked like he was trying not to hyperventilate. Eventually he just shook his head and looked at me. “Your head must be a scary place to be in, Doc.”

“Actually…” I stopped, assessed and smiled. “You are accepting my trust as a compliment and returning it with a backward compliment. Okay. Although your compliment is not exceptionally eloquent.”

“Why don’t we move on,” Phillip said. “Manny, don’t you think Francine would be a better choice than the cyber unit? She’s personally invested and could focus all her energy on this. I’m sure the unit has other cases they’re working on as well.”

“The problem is that she is personally invested,” Manny said. “That is never advisable to have someone work on a case when there is any personal connection to the crime, the suspects or any aspect for that matter.”

“That means I should also be disqualified from working on this case,” I said. “The email, the painting, the lion, it all points to a connection with me.”

“But you’re not normal.” Manny groaned and lifted both hands, palms out. “That came out wrong. What I meant was that you are not like everyone else who allows their emotional involvement to cloud their judgement.”

“You are right on both accounts. I am not normal, not according to society’s standards, and I also am perfectly capable of looking at a situation objectively.”

“I wish more people had that ability.” Manny turned back to the monitors. “Okay, so let’s ask Francine if she would be able to find out if the software these security companies used has a virus or some other computer thingie that allowed the thieves to get inside information.”

We all stared at the computer monitors, thinking. Then I remembered. “My computer was hacked.”

“What?” Phillip’s exclamation would have echoed if my viewing room had not been soundproofed. Oh dear. “When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me, Genevieve? Is our system compromised?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I just noticed that something was wrong yesterday. I always log out of everything and when I switched my computer on I was already logged into my email account. And two of my icons had been moved. Francine secured my laptop.”

“But what about the company’s system?” Phillip was notably concerned. He barely blinked when Manny’s phone started ringing and he moved to the corner to quietly speak into it.

“We should ask Francine to secure it,” I said. “She told me how easy it was to hack into my computer and into the company’s network.”

Red spots coloured Phillip’s cheeks and I could see his heart beating faster in the carotid artery in his neck. His hands were in fists on his lap, belying his otherwise calm posture.

“Jenny, I think you should let me tell the rest of this story,” Colin quietly said next to me. Maybe it was because he was growing concerned with Phillip’s state of agitation.