The Courbet Connection (Book 5) (Genevieve Lenard) (10 page)

He didn’t respond. His back was stiff and his head started shaking again. I opened the door and was glad he wasn’t looking at me. I didn’t want him to see the sadness on my face if by chance he registered the nonverbal cue. A few seconds later, he walked past me into the hallway, muttering geographical facts. I knew so little about him, but his reaction made me think that he didn’t have a frame of reference for friendship or trust.

I locked all the locks and turned to find Colin, Vinnie and Francine staring at me, their food forgotten. The expressions on all three faces were notably similar. I saw affection, pride and a bit of sadness. I didn’t know how to react to that, so I sat down as quickly as I could and pushed the cold food around on my plate.

“Jen-girl, you rock.”

I’d learned that it was a compliment and nodded.

Colin took my hand in his and put my fork on my plate. “You did good, Jenny. We’re proud of you.”

“You were really good with him, girlfriend. I would never ha—”

I looked at them. “You would have. You have shown me kindness and understanding. Why can’t you give it to Caelan?”

“He’s a little shit, that’s why,” Vinnie said. “And you’re prettier.”

I ignored his attempt at humour. “Don’t be rude to him. I was like that. I had to learn to pretend that I could function within social norms. It didn’t come naturally or easily to me. Caelan is very young and it looks as if he’s had no guidance.”

“We’ll try to be more patient, Jenny.”

I pulled my hand back and looked at Francine. “What did you find out about Tor and the next Silk Road?”

“Oh, we’re changing topics. Okay. Well, I didn’t need to learn anything about Tor. I’m familiar with it. What I had to check was this new Silk Road. It took me some time since they hid it quite well. But then I quickly overrode their security and now I’m busy roaming around.”

“What did you find?” I wished she would be more logical in her reports and treat it less like storytelling.

“No, no, no, my bestest BFF.” Her smile was playful. “Since there are no lives on the line, I made the executive decision that I’ll prepare a show and tell for tomorrow. We are not going to talk about work tonight.”

“I want to talk about work. About Colin’s arrest and your findings.”

“I know and I don’t care.” She lifted her wine glass. “We’re going to talk about travelling or books or maybe even watch a movie. No more work talk.”

A few times Francine had taken control of our evenings. Without fail, the start of these evenings had been hard for me. To my surprise, spending time in such a manner had turned out to be quite enjoyable. But I truly wasn’t feeling inclined to have a light-hearted conversation tonight. Too many things were pressing on my mind.

Francine didn’t allow me to decline and, in her words, ‘micro-micro-analyse’ the current situation. She immediately started a lively debate about the benefits of romantic comedy movies. It was going to be a long night.

“Doc, I can reason with you, but that kid… He’s something else.” Manny stifled a yawn and stretched his neck. This morning he looked particularly rumpled, dark rings under his eyes. All of us had arrived early at the office, eager for updates. Everyone, including Phillip, was seated at the round table in the team room, coffee and fresh croissants in the centre. Manny took a sip of his milky tea and sighed. “Did the kid say when he would be coming in and sharing his oh-so-important information?”

“No, he didn’t.” Vinnie stirred another spoon of sugar into his coffee. “If he ever shows.”

“He will.” I knew Caelan wouldn’t be able not to keep his word. It might just not be on our schedule. “What did you find out about Colin’s arrest?”

“If you give me a chance to breathe, Doctor Face-reader, I’ll tell you.” Manny reached for another croissant. I didn’t know how many breaths he needed before continuing, but knew from his nonverbal cues that he wasn’t in good humour. I decided to wait for him to continue. He tore a large piece off the croissant, pushed all of it into his mouth and spoke around it. “Those two idiots at the police station were giving me the run-around. Doc, that means they weren’t answering my questions and when they did, they lied. There’s something off about them. So I went to Lyon.”

“That’s a four-hour drive.” Francine pouted. “You should’ve taken me with, handsome. I would’ve kept you company.”

Manny ignored her. “I took the train. Much less hassle and just as fast. And I slept on the way back. Came here directly from the station.”

“I was wondering why you were wearing yesterday’s clothes.” Francine drew her dark red nail down Manny’s sleeve. “I was just about to get jealous.”

“Get off me, woman.” Manny glared at her hand. “I’m too tired to deal with you.”

“Lower resistance might mean victory for me.” She gave him a seductive look, but leaned back in her chair.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.” He gave her another glare. “I met with a close contact I have at the Interpol headquarters. He asked around and found out that the art crimes unit has launched a full investigation into Edward Taylor. They have a file with all kinds of information at the moment.”

“What information? What investigation?” Colin pushed his plate away. He breathed a bit louder through flared nostrils. “How the hell did they get onto Edward Taylor?”

“A reliable source not only gave them your name, but sat down with a sketch artist to create a physical description of you. I saw the sketch and it’s exactly what you looked like yesterday.”

“How the hell…?” Colin’s lips thinned, his hands tightening into fists.

“I don’t have all the answers yet, Frey.” There was empathy in Manny’s expression. “What I do have is a name.”

“Who? I’ll find that asswipe and sort him out.” Vinnie looked ready to leave immediately.

“You’re not going to do anything, criminal.” Manny sighed heavily. “Would you please let me finish. I’m tired and not in the mood for stupidity.”

He waited until Francine, Colin and Vinnie nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“Good. Laurence Gasquet is a private detective here in Strasbourg.” Manny frowned when Francine grabbed her tablet and started tapping and swiping the screen. “He’s currently in Amsterdam on an investigation that precludes him from any other contact but emails. I made an appointment to meet with him the moment he comes back.”

“Because you want to see his reaction to your question.”

“I might not be the expert you are, Doc, but having a face-to-face meeting, especially for the first time, often tells me much more than the answers they give me.”

“Jenny won’t assume anything, but I’m thinking that you would’ve emailed him if he’d been anyone else.” Colin raised his eyebrows. “Is there a reason you don’t trust him?”

“I don’t trust anyone, Frey.” Manny lifted his hand when I inhaled. “Anyone who hasn’t proven themselves completely trustworthy. That being said, Laurence Gasquet has a brilliant record. I should have all the reasons in the world to just email my questions to him. He worked for MI5 for ten years before he joined Interpol. He stayed with the agency until he took an early retirement four years ago. Most of his clients are highly influential people who need someone who understands stealth and confidentiality. According to my friend, he takes on a limited number of clients, charges exorbitant fees, but is very good at what he does.”

“He doesn’t have a website.” Francine shook her tablet in the air. “I looked everywhere. There is nothing anywhere on Laurence Gasquet, not even a high-school photo.”

Manny pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Are you not listening, supermodel? He’s working on sensitive cases that don’t need him to publicize himself. It’s not like he’s spying to see if some loser’s wife is cheating on him.
Apparently, his cases are industrial espionage, investigations into business partners suspected of skimming off the top, et cetera. I’m not surprised you can’t find him living in that thing of yours.”

“It’s a tablet and you also have one.”

“That you forced on me.”

“Please stay on topic.” I felt increasing disquiet because of the concern that Manny was trying very hard to conceal. “Do you think it is a good idea to visit him, Manny? What if he wants to get rid of Colin? What if—?”

“Don’t go borrowing… looking for trouble, Doc. What I would like to know is why Edward Taylor has caught the interest of Laurence Gasquet. And why he made it the interest of Interpol.”

“I can’t even begin to guess.” Colin lifted then dropped both hands onto the table. “Look, Edward Taylor is not one of my more frequently used personas. He only comes out when I’m dealing with Maurice. And that’s not often.”

Manny’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me more about this Maurice Dupin. Where did you meet him?”

“In his art gallery.” Colin proceeded to tell Manny what he had told us yesterday. He didn’t add any more details or any more personal information about this man. Colin must also have observed the change in Manny’s expression because he leaned forward and gave Manny a warning look. “Don’t go and arrest him, Millard. He’s helped me uncover a lot of forgeries and also a lot of war-looted art. He’s not one of the bad guys. He’s never moved a single work of art that had blood on it.”

“Aah. An honourable thief. Well, that’s all right then. My heart is going all gooey.” The sweet tone of Manny’s voice belied the visible annoyance on his face. He was being sarcastic again, and this time I agreed with his anger. It didn’t matter that I’d learned not all criminals were bad people. In my opinion an illegal activity was exactly that. Illegal. Manny sat up. “I’m going to speak to your precious Maurice Dupin. I have a few questions for him.”

Colin’s head dropped back and he sighed at the ceiling. After a deep inhale, he faced Manny. “I know I can’t stop you, but I would really appreciate it if you didn’t interrogate him. He’s not living under the radar and ninety percent of his sales are completely legit. His gallery is one of the better ones in Strasbourg. Don’t destroy that.”

“Hmm.”

Manny’s quiet response and his lack of usual annoyance, sarcasm and blustering caught not only my attention, but also Colin’s. He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “You bastard. What have you done? Where is Maurice Dupin?”

Manny rolled his shoulders and cleared his throat. What could he have done that would embarrass him?

“Millard?” Colin’s tone was hard.

“He’s back at his gallery.” It looked like it had pained Manny to speak. “I told those guys back at the station he was a confidential informant for me and that the two of you were working together with me on a case. That it had all been a huge misunderstanding and that they were interfering with an ongoing and very sensitive investigation.”

“Aw, Millard. You smoothed things over for me?” Colin placed his open palm over his heart. “Little old me? You shouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking that too.” Manny shifted in his seat, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Francine reached over and gently cupped his cheek. “You’re a good man, Manny. We all know you have our backs and you just proved it again.”

He awkwardly patted her hand twice before pushing it away. I didn’t know if anyone else noticed the slight puffing out of his chest and the
zygomaticus
muscles very briefly lifting the corners of his mouth. “Well, now you and your Maurice Dupin owe me, Frey.”

“And you will collect. I know.” Colin turned serious. “How bad is this going to get?”

“I don’t know.” Manny pinched the skin at his throat as he breathed heavily a few times. Classic nonverbal cues of concern. “My gut tells me this is not good. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. But we’re not going by gut feelings, right, Doc?”

“No.” I forced conviction into my voice. I had not often seen Manny worried. “We should focus on finding more information before we draw any incorrect conclusions. Going on feelings will impede our reasoning skills and would not be helpful at all.”

“What she said.” Francine winked at me.

“Dude, I think you and I should be hanging out a bit closer over the next few days or so.”

Colin’s laugh was shocked, but genuine. “Vin? You’re going to be my bodyguard?”

“Sure. Why not? And it’ll give me tim
e to convince you that
Die Hard
was the best action movie ever.” When that particular argument had entered its third minute last night, I’d stopped paying attention.

Despite my initial resistance, the evening had turned out most enjoyable. Until the trivial action movie argument. It was fascinating to observe and listen to my three friends discuss topics I generally had no interest in. Their current argument, however, was boring me. That was why I interrupted Vinnie and Colin’s rekindled debate. “Francine, you promised a presentation about Tor and Silk Road.”

“Yes, supermodel. What can you tell us about this? And why did you run off when it was mentioned?”

“Firstly”—she raised an eyebrow and looked down her nose at Manny—“I didn’t run off. I needed to find out if there was really another Silk Road.”

“Is there?” Manny asked.