3 The Braque Connection (9 page)

“He did,” I said. “It was very clear in his body language. I was surprised you didn’t catch that, Manny.”

Both men turned to me.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Francine whispered loudly. Her dramatic delivery lessened the tension, and I renewed my concentration to not speak my thoughts.

“FYI, he does owe me only one favour,” Colin said to Manny. “If I take this painting to him, I will be in his debt. Something I can’t say I’m excited about.”

“Just give me the evidence and I’ll arrest him, Frey.” Manny shrugged as if he didn’t care. I knew that wasn’t true. “Easy solution. You won’t be indebted to this criminal and I’ll have another notch on my belt.”

“He’s not a criminal. You’ll have to get your rocks off arresting someone else, old man.” Clearly Vinnie knew this enigmatic friend of Colin’s.

“Ah, now that you’ve joined the conversation, want to tell me if you’ve found out something from your crime buddies about the guns?”

Vinnie lifted one shoulder. A half shrug. He was going to lie. “I haven’t found out much. Tomorrow I’ll meet up with some guys and will possibly have something more to tell you. Maybe. Or not.”

“I would have thought you would work harder to help your buddy out of this mess he’s in.”

“Oh, I’m doing what I can, old man. Don’t you worry.” Vinnie was still leaning against the wall, looking nonchalant, but he had taken offence at Manny’s insinuation.

Manny got up and walked to the team room. “Do more. We need to put this whole craziness to bed before it turns into the same things we had previously with Kubanov.”

Francine followed Manny to the team room, teasing him about his sexy three-day-old stubble. I didn’t know how Francine saw that as sexy. It made Manny look older and even more tired than usual. Colin’s torso turned to the team room as well.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’m going to drop the painting off and I’ll be back.” Colin turned back to me and stared at me for a few seconds, allowing me to read his expression. The deep gratitude I saw made me feel uncomfortable.

“It’s my job,” I said. “I’m good at it. And I promised you I would find Susan’s killer. I hope it makes you feel a bit better.”

“It does.” Breaking his usual behaviour, he leaned over and kissed me. It wasn’t a quick peck. He conveyed not only his affection for me, but also his relief through the passionate kiss. I kissed him back.

“Get a room, dude. Seriously, man.” Vinnie sounded so disgusted that both Colin and I laughed. With a final goodbye, Colin left through the wooden door leading to the hallway.

“Please come in, Vinnie. Let the door close.” I was convinced he didn’t want Manny to hear what we were going to talk about.

Vinnie stepped away from the wall and pressed the button on the keypad behind him. “What’s up, Jen-girl?”

“What have you found out about the guns?”

“Shit, you saw that?” He walked over and sat down in Manny’s chair. “Jen-girl, you can’t tell anyone. This dude is bad news. He’s extremely smart, which is what makes him dangerous.”

“Is this the man you are meeting tomorrow? Is he the same guy you talked about before? Hawk?”

“Of course you would remember that. Damn it, when did I talk about him?”

“A year ago.” I smiled at his grunt. “You should know that I don’t often forget names or details. I also remember Manny asking you then to help him catch Hawk.”

“As if.” Vinnie snorted. “Mind you, after this I might just give him up to the old man. Hawk has recently been up to a lot of shit and he needs to be stopped.”

“Yet you feel confident enough of your own safety to visit him with questions about his business?”

Vinnie shifted in his seat. “I am not going to tell you how this happened, but Hawk owes me big. Really, really big. Me and mine are safe from him.”

Although all cues pointed to Vinnie being sure of his safety, flutters of fear moved around my stomach. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

Vinnie smiled at me. “Of course, Jen-girl. I want to get information so that we can clear Colin.”

“Have you told anyone else? Do you have someone who will go with you?”

His eyes shifted. Avoidance. “I have a plan.”

“Vinnie?”

“It’s safe, Jen-girl. Don’t worry.”

I did. “Maybe we should tell Colin. And Manny.”

“No!” He sat up. “Don’t tell Colin. He’ll worry and would want to come with. The old man will follow me there and lock everyone up. Including you if he finds out you knew anything.”

“Manny is not that old.” I waved away the irrelevant topic. “I don’t know anything important. But I do know that I don’t want you to go alone.”

“I won’t be alone. As I told you, I have a plan.”

I stared at him for a full minute until I was convinced of his truthfulness. It was an unfamiliar and extremely inconvenient feeling to worry so much about one’s friends.

Vinnie took a few more minutes to convince me how badass he was. His words. I sent him away when he started talking about cooking dinner. I needed to focus on the twenty-seven cases. Hopefully worrying about Vinnie wouldn’t distract me too much.

Chapter EIGHT

“This is a crap idea.” Vinnie’s voice was low and remorseful. “An epically crap idea, Jen-girl.”

“So you’ve said before.” I had not been counting, but I estimated in the last fifteen minutes Vinnie had told me ten times that he regretted this idea. “It is Francine’s idea and you told her it was brilliant.”

“Well, I made a mistake. This is going to end badly, I just know it.” We were in Vinnie’s black pickup truck driving to the outskirts of Strasbourg. I had gone to bed late last night after studying the cases and woken up early this morning. To my surprise, Colin had left a note for me next to the coffee machine that he had to meet someone and would see me in the office.

No sooner had I made coffee than Vinnie and Francine had come into my apartment. That was how this new situation had developed. To be truthful, I couldn’t believe I had agreed to this. “I thought you said Hawk trusted you. Why would it end badly?”

For a moment Vinnie took his eyes off the road to glare at me. “Because.”

“That is not an answer, Vinnie. You went out of your way an hour ago to convince me how safe I would be if I went with you.”

It had taken Vinnie more than an hour to persuade me to join him. When he had told me what his original plan had been, I had admitted its genius. He had arranged for a female colleague to go with him to Hawk, pretending to be his psychologist. She was also supposed to be the psychologist to a range of other criminals and had seen an opportunity to make her sessions more lucrative. A few of her patients had told her about their crimes and their needs for untraceable weapons. She wanted to be the one supplying them with guns.

That was where Vinnie came in. He was to introduce her to Hawk in an attempt to gain some insight into these weapons. Unfortunately, Vinnie’s colleague was in hospital after being arrested for being in a bar brawl last night. Vinnie had spent the whole night looking for someone who could take his colleague’s place, but no one was available. Francine couldn’t play this role because Hawk had met her once. Since Francine was a memorable person, they didn’t think it wise to even consider her for this role.

Three more factors added complexity to the situation. Firstly, it had taken a lot of convincing for Vinnie to set up this meeting with Hawk. Vinnie didn’t want to cancel the meeting in fear that Hawk would never agree to another time. Secondly, Vinnie knew Hawk well enough to be convinced the arms dealer would become suspicious if Vinnie showed up without the psychologist and started asking questions about untraceable handguns.

Lastly, Hawk had told Vinnie that this morning was the only time he had available for a meeting. Apparently he had something very important happening in the next few days that would take up all his time.

Francine had thought I would be perfect for this ruse. There was logic in her reasoning, but it had taken a lot of convincing to sway me. If not for Vinnie’s plea that doing this could help clear Colin’s name from any suspicion, I would now be in my viewing room. Safe.

“You promised no harm would come to me.”

“Not from Hawk.” Every time Vinnie said this, I couldn’t find one single deception cue. “It’s the others I’m worried about.”

“Which others?”

“Colin. The old man.”

Understanding filled my mind. “You know they are going to be furious with you for taking me.”

“Colin still thinks you are falling apart from the kidnapping. The old man would love using this opportunity to arrest me.”

I bristled at Vinnie’s first sentence. My whole life I had to fight against myself, my own weaknesses. To have people I valued treating me as weak offended me greatly. It made me obstinate. The more I thought about this, the more determined I became. I didn’t even need Mozart. “Do you value our friendship?”

“Of course I do. What the hell kind of question is that? If I didn’t think you were the smartest and most reliable person I’ve ever met, I would not have asked you to come with me in the first place.”

“Do you want me dead?”

“Jen-girl, now you’re seriously pissing me off.” His bottom jaw protruded and his lips were thin lines.

“Good. I depend on you, Vinnie. You will keep me safe. We will deal with the others after we’ve gathered information from Hawk. Why do you trust him so much?”

“Firstly, thanks. Secondly, never make the mistake of thinking that I trust him. Hawk is known throughout the arms trade to be a ruthless son of a bitch. He didn’t become the best by being a nice, kind, generous person, Jen-girl. He is a killer first, a businessman second. I know Hawk really well and, well, he owes me big time.”

At eight in the morning, the traffic was getting heavier by the minute. We were going to an address in the industrial area Vinnie had told me, but it had no meaning to me. Not that it mattered. I had never been to any industrial area in or around Strasbourg. Or in any other city for that matter. My travels had been to museums, galleries or remote villages untouched by industry.

After I had agreed to go with Vinnie, Francine had insisted that I wore a disguise. She also equipped me with appropriate technology to record the visit to Hawk’s warehouse. Everything had happened so fast, I’d needed to mentally write the Adagio and Allegro of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 1. It had soothed my nerves some, but hadn’t alleviated an overwhelming concern I had.

“Jen-girl!”

“Don’t shout, Vinnie. I’m right next to you.”

“You’re not listening to me.”

“I want to phone Colin again.” It worried me that I had not been able to speak to him. This had been the one point I had been adamant about. If I were to join Vinnie, Colin had to know. The problem was he wasn’t answering his phone.

“On it.” Vinnie pressed a few buttons on the steering wheel and a ringing tone filled the cabin. It rang twice before going to voicemail. Vinnie waited for the signal. “Dude, phone Jen-girl as soon as you get this. It’s important.”

I rolled my head and unclenched my hands. Not discussing this with Colin was more stressful than normal. I mentally scoffed at the word. Nothing about this situation was normal.

“Jen-girl.” Vinnie was speaking loudly. “You’re doing it again. Stay with me. We’re about twenty minutes out and I want you to go over the plan with me.”

“I wish I could speak to Colin.” Often I had to fight my proclivity to become obsessed with an idea. Usually I had better control than now. I simply couldn’t let go of my need to hear Colin’s voice, his reassurance.

“I know. Although I think he would be seriously pissed.”

“I think so too.” Despite the many unanswered calls to Colin earlier this morning, I had agreed to accompany Vinnie. Now I was suffering from cognitive dissonance about my decision.

“Can we please go over the plan again, Jen-girl?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know that you remember everything.”

“I have an exceptional memory, some might call it eidetic. I remember the finest detail of what we talked about. You know this.”

“Please just do this for my sanity.” He was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white. If reciting our strategy would appease him, I could do this. I had nothing else to do while we were travelling. It might also keep me from paying attention to the panic threatening to enter my consciousness. The longer I thought about this, the more flaws I was finding.

“I am Doctor Ingrid Sebastian, your psychologist, treating you for severe anger control issues. You have been my patient for the last year, and have been confiding in me about your criminal activities for the last four months. A few weeks ago I told you that I have patients who also function in the crime world. Some of them have mentioned their frustration at not finding weapons that cannot be connected to someone or some crime. Then I approached you with a business proposal.”

“And since I don’t sell weapons, I offered to introduce you to Hawk. That way you have direct access to the main supplier and you will give me a discount on future sessions.”

What I could read from Vinnie’s nonverbal behaviour was that it had been a stressful night for him. Asking me to take part in this ruse had caused him to frequently rub the back of his neck in a pacifying gesture. He had stopped the moment I had pointed it out to him.

“The old man must never find out about this, Jen-girl. He’ll lock me up just for taking you.” Vinnie mumbled something more. I only caught a few words, but it sounded like he wouldn’t fight Manny if he arrested him for this transgression.

“It would be naïve to think that Manny wouldn’t find out about this.” He would be livid and would most likely act on his threats to arrest Vinnie. Yet I knew I was going to tell him. After I told Colin. I shuddered at the thought of their reactions.

Vinnie turned into a property with rows of large warehouses. Each one looked impenetrable, walls without windows and the doors shut. There were no cars, only trucks, SUVs and larger vehicles. We drove past the buildings and I only caught glimpses of men loading or unloading boxes and other items that no doubt were being put in storage until they had to be shipped to their new owners. None of the buildings had logos, only large letters on each corner. We stopped at R.

“This is it.” Vinnie cut the engine and turned to me. “I know you’ll be fine. I’m more worried about me.”

“Myself. It’s worried about myself.” I shrugged when Vinnie looked at me with incomprehension. “It’s not relevant. Let’s go and find out if you can control your anger while introducing me to my new gun dealer.”

“I can control my ang… oh, cool. You’re getting into character.” A genuine smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I knew you would be fine.”

We got out the car and I had to grab onto the door when my legs got entangled in the long skirt Francine had given me to wear. It was a soft green material that flowed to my feet, the skirt mostly shapeless. With that I wore a colourful shirt that I would never even take off a shop hanger. It was equally shapeless, the two items combined adding at least eight kilograms to my frame. If Francine had not brought the clothes in sealed plastic covers from the dry cleaner’s, I would not have worn them.

I had tenaciously refused to wear someone else’s shoes, and Francine had reluctantly given in. The sneakers she had taken out of my wardrobe clashed with the outfit, which she had maintained added to my makeover. She completed this image with an overabundance of jewellery and subtle, but strategic make-up. When I had looked in the mirror, a hippie with gaunt eyes and prominent cheekbones had looked back at me.

Vinnie stepped around the pickup truck and stopped next to me. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Remember about the glasses.”

“They’re on my face, Vinnie. They’re irritating me. How can I forget about them?” This was Francine’s final but most important touch. Not only would they further obscure my profile, but these glasses were equipped with a micro-recording device. The hinge of the left arm was a small switch if touched on the inside. It would record everything I looked at. If Hawk hadn’t been scrambling all signals around this warehouse, it would also have transmitted the images to Francine. Now it was merely a recording device. One I planned to study in depth as soon as I was in the safety of my viewing room.

“Just wait to see if Hawk decides to have us scanned for transmitting devices before you switch it on.”

“This is the fourth time you’ve told me this. I remembered it the first time.”

Vinnie responded with a snort and shook his head. “Come on then, Nancy Drew.”

I didn’t know who this was, but saw his attempt to lighten the moment with a jocular reference to someone he had a fondness for. I followed Vinnie to a smaller steel door inside a door large enough for trucks to enter the solid steel structure. It was a beautiful summer morning. The temperature had not climbed yet, but would soon. I wondered if there was adequate air conditioning in these structures.

The door opened before I could ask Vinnie the inane, yet interesting question. A woman stepped out and squinted into the sun. She was wearing fatigues similar to Vinnie’s. Over her sleeveless T-shirt was a leather holster with a large gun under her left arm. She was right-handed. Her posture was one I’d seen only in soldiers. This small woman was a warrior and protector just like Vinnie. It was in her body language and her muscle development.

“Rhonda Smothers, you sexy beast.” Vinnie’s tone held warmth and familiarity. “How’s it hanging?”

The woman nodded to the gun. “Still to the left, Vinster. How are you?”

They hugged briefly, Vinnie nearly lifting her off the ground. There was none of the gentleness I had observed in his physical affection towards me. He was treating her similar to Colin, with less trust, but equal regard. Their crushing hug ended and Vinnie stepped back, half in front of me. “I’m well, as you can see. How’s Hawk?”

“Pissed at you.”

“Because of her?”

Rhonda looked at me, evaluating. “Oh yes. You know he doesn’t like visitors. And now you’re bringing in a civilian? Not wise at all.”

“Rhonda, I would like for you to meet my shrink.” He stepped to the side, allowing Rhonda access to me. “This is Doctor Ingrid Sebastian. Doc, this is Rhonda, a very good and long-time friend of mine.”