As soon as I inserted the key in the front door to my apartment, the door burst open. I barely had time to register Vinnie’s large presence filling the door before he picked me up in a hug so tight I had difficulty catching my breath to complain. My feet were dangling at least twenty centimetres above the floor, my arms encased by his. I felt like a rag doll.
“Jen-girl. You’re okay,” Vinnie mumbled into my hair. It was the slight thickening in his voice that surprised me more than anything. The intimidating giant of a man was close to tears. This caused a foreign desire in me to comfort him. I stopped fighting his hug and rested my head against his shoulder.
“I’m okay, Vinnie. You can let me go now.”
“You heard the lady. Let her go.”
It was like someone had flicked a switch. All the muscles in Vinnie’s body tightened at the hostile order Manny uttered. Still holding on to me, he turned me away from the two older men behind me, presenting them with the wide expanse of his muscular back, which in turn made him much more vulnerable to attack. His instinctive protectiveness was much stronger than I had thought. I started squirming. “Vinnie, it’s okay. You know Phillip and that is Manny.”
Over his shoulder Vinnie glared at both men. “What are you doing here?”
“Vinnie.” All this physical closeness was becoming too much for me to handle. The strained tone in my voice evidenced it. Fortunately Vinnie picked up on it and slowly put me down. He moved a strong arm across my chest to keep me behind him as he turned. I knew that he was much stronger than I, so I didn’t even attempt to fight his manoeuvre. Instead I walked deeper into my apartment, turned around and sternly addressed all three men.
“This has been a very long evening. We are all tired and I don’t have the patience to deal with the three of you. Unless you are willing to accept my honesty without any niceties, I suggest you go home and come back after I’ve had a long, hot bath and slept for at least eight hours.” I was really hoping that all three of them would be loath to be with an undiplomatic me. It was not to be. I saw it on all three faces.
“Honesty would be a nice change.” Manny pushed past Vinnie and walked straight to the kitchen. “A cup of coffee would also be very nice.”
“I’ll make it.” Vinnie was not only being overprotective of me, he was also being territorial of my apartment. Vinnie left Phillip at the door and stalked to the kitchen. Phillip closed the door quietly and walked past me with amusement shining in his eyes.
“This is going to be interesting,” he said quietly and then also walked to the kitchen. “Manny, why don’t we all sit here by the dining room table? Vinnie can make us coffee and we can talk.”
Phillip was facing the two men who both were showing all kinds of power displays. He unquestionably was a master at mediating difficult situations and I was exceedingly grateful for his presence. Manny and Vinnie were staring at each other, measuring the other’s strength. Vinnie might beat Manny when it came to physical strength, but it was the older man who had experience and the law backing him up. It was also he who first stepped back. Not that it made him any less of a threat. Without another word he walked to the dining room table, pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. The night’s events had really taken its toll on him.
After a quick visit to my bathroom, I joined Phillip at the table. We sat in uncomfortable silence while Vinnie moved around the kitchen.
“Who is he?” Manny pointed with his chin to the kitchen.
“He is–” Phillip started to answer, but stopped when Manny started shaking his head.
“No, Phillip. Little Miss Face-reader here is going to answer all my questions today. You are not going to help her. Not any more.” He looked at me. “Now answer me, who is he? And I want the full truth.”
“Vinnie. He’s a friend of Colin’s and is also helping with the case. He knows everything I know.” It looked like I had slapped Manny in the face. He bit down hard on his teeth and I rushed on. He had asked for the full truth and I was going to give it to him. “He has helped a lot to get us this far in the investigation.”
“And I’m Jen-girl’s bodyguard.” Vinnie placed a tray with four large steaming coffee mugs on the table and sat next to me.
“Do you have a record?” Manny addressed Vinnie through his teeth. I assumed that Manny was referring to Vinnie’s relationship with law enforcement, not the Olympics.
“No.”
“But you’ve been investigated?”
“Maybe.”
“He’s not stalling or lying. He’s telling the truth. Had he lied, his eye contact would have changed. When Vinnie lies, he actually engages in greater eye contact, not less,” I quickly explained when anger pulled Manny’s face into a tight scowl.
“Hey.” Vinnie looked offended as if I was sharing a secret he had trusted me with.
“His face would’ve become slightly flushed,” I continued, pointing at Vinnie’s cheeks. “Also his breathing would’ve increased a bit and usually his lips tighten just a bit. We can control only a few of the deception cues, but never all of them. His whole body is congruent with what he said.”
Manny was still clenching his jaws and I could see him struggling for control. “I’m going to need your full names.”
“You can need all you want.” Vinnie shrugged.
“I have a suggestion.” Phillip spoke in his mediating voice. “Why don’t we accept the situation for what it is? Manny, we can’t do anything about Vinnie knowing everything about the case.”
“Or about bloody Colin Frey being in the middle of this.” The way Manny said Colin’s name did not bode well for co-operation. He did not like Colin. I really wanted to know what the history was between the two men.
“So,” Phillip continued, “we are all here. Let’s work with it. I think we should start with what happened tonight and get that out of the way.”
“Yes, I would like to know why Jen-girl was at the police station for such a long time.” Vinnie moved his torso ever so slightly towards me, again showing his protectiveness.
“Vinnie,” Phillip warned. “We’re going to have to get past all this posturing and work together. Let’s just all give full disclosure on what we know so far.”
Neither Manny nor Vinnie liked this suggestion. Fortunately they accepted Phillip’s guidance. I was fascinated by this struggle for male dominance. So much so that I didn’t mind them talking as if I were not in the room.
“I first have to have my say.” Manny’s tone was still very argumentative and Vinnie bristled next to me, but remained silent. “I don’t like being made a fool of. And that is what you have been doing by withholding information from me. In my opinion it equals lying and I won’t stand for it. This is it. From now on you will tell me everything, and I mean everything, that you discover. You are not to use your own discretion and not tell me something because you consider it of lesser importance. Do you understand?”
“What if I discover that all the ships were manufactured in different years or one thousand one hundred and forty-seven Picasso artworks are currently missing? Or that the Foundation spent over eighteen thousand Euros last year on powdered hot chocolate to distribute to children’s homes or–”
“Genevieve.” Phillip had a very specific tone he used when he was warning me. He drowned my name in that tone. “Let’s agree that you’ll tell Manny everything relevant to the case.”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” Why hadn’t he simply asked for that? Everything meant everything. Right? “I hope I didn’t upset you.”
“Upset me? That does not even begin to describe how I feel at this moment. On Phillip’s recommendation, I trusted you. I had to convince the Head of the EDA and Chief Dutoit that you were beyond reproach and that I would stake my reputation on your discretion. Now I find out that you have been working with not one, but two criminals. Telling them more than you’ve been telling me. Sharing bloody super confidential information with criminals.” His ranting ended loud enough for me to wince.
>
“They’re good guys.”
“Really? That is what you are going with? This is your great argument? And here I thought you were a genius.” He leaned towards me. “I don’t care if they are bloody saints. They’re criminals.”
“Hey, watch it, pops.” Vinnie’s warning rumbled deep in his chest.
“No, Vinnie. He’s right. I should have told him everything. But you are wrong, Manny.” I pulled my shoulders back. “They really are good guys. Vinnie and Colin have helped me a lot in this case. Phillip knows me well enough to know that I would never have allowed them in my home if I did not believe or trust them. Things are very black and white for me, but at the moment you seem to be much more intolerant than I am.”
Phillip covered his laugh by coughing discreetly. “Now that we have that off our chests, can we move on?”
Manny closed his eyes and breathed deeply a few times. “Fine, let’s talk about what happened tonight. Doctor Face-reader was in the police station for such a long time, because I considered it to be the safest place for her at the time.”
“The safest?” Why would I need to hide in a police station?
“Yes, missy. When we got to the station, the police still didn’t want to tell me anything. I thought you were lying to me about Crenshaw until Leon phoned me, rather frantically. It was, is, all too suspect for me. I mean, the same day that we talked about suspecting Crenshaw to be Piros, he’s murdered. Your fingerprints were found at the scene even though I knew that you could not have done it. Very convenient. According to preliminary reports, he was murdered around nine o’clock. At that time both Phillip and I were sitting with you in your viewing room. It was very obvious something was off with this case, but I wanted you to be safe. I went with one of the detectives to the crime scene. They said that someone had broken into the house and some things were stolen. While I was talking to them your buddy phoned me.”
“What buddy? I don’t have buddies.”
“Colin Frey, your criminal buddy. He phoned me and shouted at me.” These were two men who stood at opposing ends of the law and societal norms. I did not need much imagination to predict how hostile that conversation must have been. “He wanted to know if you had been arrested. Something you should keep in mind, Doctor Face-reader, is that your co-operation with criminals does not bode well for you.”
“Children, children.” Phillip sounded simultaneously tired and amused. “Let’s stay on point here. Manny, you were saying that Colin phoned you. Did you learn anything interesting?”
“Hmph. He did not tell me much. Only that when he entered Crenshaw’s house, the man was already dead. He also thought that the whole thing seemed staged and he thought that the doc might be someone’s target. He did not say who that someone was, nor did he say why he was in Crenshaw’s house. What he did was threaten me. Me! An officer of the law.”
“What did he threaten you with?” Phillip asked.
“That he was going to destroy my career, my life if he found out that you,” Manny looked at me the way I looked at messy kitchens, “were treated badly in any way. Looks like your buddy is sweet on you, missy.”
Vinnie chuckled and Phillip simply looked horrified.
“I don’t exactly understand the meaning of ‘sweet on me’, but it leads me to infer that you mean Colin is attracted to me. That is ridiculous. He is a highly intelligent, intuitive individual who is also extremely loyal. What you misunderstood for attraction is loyalty.” The human race and their silly romantic notions. I placed the blame completely at the door of fairy tales and Hollywood.
“On point, people. Genevieve, why was Colin at Crenshaw’s house?”
I had no doubt that Phillip would give me one of his fatherly talks later on, warning me against Colin. For now I was happy to stick to a less personal topic. “He didn’t know it was Crenshaw’s house.”
“Whose house did he think he was illegally entering?” Manny emphasised the two last words.
“Mark Smith’s. When we found his name on the manifest, that he had shared a room with the artist Karin Vittone on one of the cruises, there was an address with his name. He had bought a piece of art at the auction on the cruise and it was to be shipped to him to that address. Colin went to check it out.”
Blood was flowing to Manny’s face, indicating fury.
“How did the police know to go to Crenshaw’s house?” Phillip’s question seemed to reduce Manny’s ire. Marginally.
He answered in a tight voice. “Apparently the police received an anonymous phone call telling them that there was someone in the house. When they arrived, there was no one there, but they found Crenshaw in the living room with eleven gunshot wounds to his chest and torso. None of the neighbours had heard any gunshots, so they’re thinking that a silencer was used. As you know, they found Doctor Face-reader’s fingerprints on a whiskey glass and also on the coffee table in the living room.”
“Did they find her fingerprints anywhere else?” Vinnie asked.
“No, but they were still processing the rest of the house when I left.” Manny looked at me strangely. “I might not have a gazillion degrees in face reading, Doc, but your face is telling me that something is bothering you.”
“Do you know if someone can steal my fingerprints and put them on a glass?”
Manny lifted his eyebrows and then frowned. “When did this happen?”
“When those guys broke into my house, I think they took my fingerprints. Just before I passed out from the drugs, the Spaniard pushed my fingers against what looked like a tablet computer. I saw it scan my hand, but didn’t know what to think of it.”
“It’s possible and very easy to do, Jen-girl.” Vinnie stopped explaining when he noticed Manny’s interested look. “Or so I saw on Discovery channel.”
I laughed. “Now he is lying.”
“Jen-girl, please don’t give my secrets away.” Vinnie squirmed next to me.
“Vinnie is right. Planting fingerprints is not exactly rocket science. It seems like someone is trying to set you up, Doc.”
“Which means that someone is feeling very threatened by what Genevieve is discovering.”
“But how do they know what I’m discovering?” I started counting people on my fingers. “Phillip is not telling anyone. Neither are Vinnie and Colin. You and Leon are the only ones with bosses and other people asking about this. Since Crenshaw has been murdered, it can’t be him, so who else is there that might be connected to this whole thing?”
Manny’s shoulders slumped. “It has to be someone within the agencies. Either the EDA or Eurocorps. As it is, Eurocorps is going to have troubles with Crenshaw’s murder. Most likely they will be able to spin it into something much less malevolent.”
“First the attack and warning in your apartment and now this. Why is this happening?” Phillip asked Manny.
“My gut tells me that someone wants to discredit the doc. She doesn’t have much else to lose except her reputation.”
“That’s harsh, Manny.” Phillip was defensive and I wondered why he thought Manny had insulted me. It was all true.
“If they manage to cast enough doubt on her integrity, whatever she uncovers can easily be made inadmissible in court. And they will win again. Now that I’ve shown you mine, show me yours, Doc.”
“Show you my what?”
“Oh god, this is going to drive me insane.” He actually grabbed and pulled at his short hair. “It is now your turn to tell me everything that you’ve kept from me.”
It took me only fifteen minutes to fill him in on all the bits I hadn’t told him about. “See, I wasn’t withholding that much from you.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Manny’s lips thinned and his pupils constricted. Now was the right time to use my insights to win his favour. I blurted, “Piros is going to kill all the artists on Friday.”
All movement stilled. I might as well have been looking at a paused scene of a video. Manny blinked slowly and leaned towards me. “Explain to me
in easy, short sentences how you know this.”
I reached into my handbag hanging on the back of the chair and took out the programme. I placed it on the table and pointed at the front page. “What does it say?”
Manny glared at me. Phillip, who knew my methods well, answered me. “Should I read everything?”
“Yes.”
“The Foundation for Development of Sustainable Education’s sixteenth annual gala fundraiser. Twenty-seven June, seven o’clock. La Maison Russie, 213 Rue des Jonquilles.” Phillip looked up from the programme. “Interesting.”
“What is interesting?” Manny’s impatience indicated I had to explain.
“Jonquilles is the French word for daffodils. Rue des Jonquilles is Daffodil Street.”
“No fucking way!” Vinnie stared at me with open awe. “That whole thing the Russian murderer was shouting, the red will end all twenty-seven daffodils? This is it? He was saying that Piros will end everything on the twenty-seventh at Rue des Jonquilles?”
I had planned a more eloquent delivery, but Vinnie’s excited questions were equally effective. Manny’s eyes bulged. He slammed his hand on the programme. “You think it’s going to happen at this event?”
“This is merely an educated guess,” I said. “But it makes perfect sense. Despite the lack of irrefutable evidence, the Foundation is linked to the deaths of all these artists. In conjunction with what we’ve learned so far about Piros, the RNT and the auctions at sea, it seems a logical conclusion. Add to that the thugs who broke in here, saying that Piros had something big planned for the flower house. You told me how flower-rich La Maison Russie is. And it’s on Daffodil Street.”
“It’s not a far reach to conclude that La Maison Russie is the flower house,” Phillip said thoughtfully.
“Given what you’ve told me about Piros, the probability of him being there is very high.” I nodded at Manny’s alerted look. “Not only is he a master strategist, he exhibits symptoms of megalomania. The delusions of grandeur, of having great social and political power are evident in the role he is purported to have played in some riots and revolts. There is also the violence and manipulation for which he has a reputation. Megalomaniacs often suffer from poor self-esteem. His need for validation would dictate his presence for this action. He would stand somewhere, from his position of power, and watch his plan come together.”
“That’s all nice and dandy, but Chulkov said that the red will end all twenty-seven. We’re assuming it doesn’t mean that Piros will destroy twenty-seven paintings or close twenty-seven businesses, right?”
“Even in English we talk about ending someone when murder is on the table, arsehole.” Vinnie, always so gentle with me, looked like he wanted to crush Manny.
“I’m not a linguist, but I’m fluent in English, Russian and French,” I said. “Looking at it from numerous angles, this is the only interpretation that reasonably makes sense. The red will end all twenty-seven very possibly means that Piros will end the artists on the twenty-seventh.”
“How do you know it will be the artists?”
I took the programme, found the right page and laid it open on the table. I pointed to the text. “In this article, it says that the auction will be preceded by an awards ceremony for young accomplished artists. The Foundation has invited sixty-seven artists from all over the world. Awards in seven categories will be given and after the auction they will be treated to a weekend in the French Alps. I pose that they will not reach or return from the Alps.”
“Sixty-seven young artists?” Manny’s eyes were huge. “This is worse than I thought. I’ll have to run this by Leon.”
“Can’t you cancel this event?” I asked. “That would prevent Piros from ending anything.”
“That’s a hasty option and maybe not the best. I don’t have the guest list, but I can assume that the place will be crawling with important EU officials. Cancelling the event without, as you called it, irrefutable proof is not an option. We need an alternative plan. Continue doing what you do best. Find us some more connections, more evidence. Leon and I will plan operational strategies.”
We sat in pensive silence for a few minutes. The excitement of the last twenty-four hours was weighing heavily on me. I really needed that hot bath and my bed. Then I would be able to analyse this again. Usually I didn’t need to take time off when I was working through challenging problems. That was because it was exclusively a cerebral exercise. This time it had involved being taken to a dirty, messy police station in a disgusting police car. And all the physical proximity during this case had my mind begging me for a reprieve.
I was just about to excuse myself when Phillip broke the silence. “What are we going to do to keep Genevieve safe?”
Manny turned to me, narrowed his eyes and tilted his head a fraction. “Would you agree to not leave your apartment until this thing is over?”
“What if it takes months?”
“Oh dear god, I hope not. My health would not survive that.” He rubbed his hand hard over his face. “Let’s hope we find Piros, the art forgers, the weapons and the bloody traitor so this can end. Very soon.”
“I’ll agree to one week.” Staying in my apartment was not going to be punishment. It had taken me years, but I had surrounded myself with things that made me feel safe and at home.
“And I’ll be here.” Vinnie folded his arms in a gesture not to be argued with. It took almost a full minute before the three men grunted their agreement on my safety. This might have pointed to some kind of truce, but it was resentful, reluctant and without any mutual trust.
“Phillip, could you please bring all my computers later on? I’ll need them by,” I looked at my watch and did a quick time calculation, “three o’clock this afternoon.”
“I’ll bring them around. You just make sure that you get enough rest.”
“We’re not done yet.” Manny looked put out that Phillip and I were making arrangements for later. He clearly wanted to continue this discussion. “Who killed Crenshaw? If you’re so sure it wasn’t Frey.”
“Of course it wasn’t Colin. What would be his motivation? Really, Manny, I thought you were more intelligent than that.” I held up my hand at the three different reactions. Vinnie chuckled, Phillip inhaled to undoubtedly mediate and Manny, well he just looked angrier. “I’m too tired to censor myself, so you’ll have to accept this, or go.” I really wanted them to go. I waited, but no one left nor did they say anything. I sighed. “I’m not a murder investigator, but if I look at it logically–”
“How else would you ever look at it?” Manny grumbled. I ignored him.
“– I would have to start my suspect list with Piros. I wouldn’t suspect him of actually pulling the trigger. He most likely ordered his private army of mercenaries to do his dirty work. They did steal my fingerprints and planted them at the crime scene. Logical deduction leads me to the conclusion that Crenshaw’s murderers are the same thugs who broke into my apartment and manhandled me.”
“Yet once again nothing would be traced back to Piros. The guy is a strategic planning genius. In the almost two decades that his name has been floating around Europe, nothing ever pointed to anyone specific.”
“Then he most likely is a very good chess player,” I said absently. The change in Manny’s breathing made me look at him. “What?”
“Chief Dutoit is a good chess player. And he’s been breathing down my neck about this case. I’m sure I have at least five missed calls from him by now.” He stopped himself with a humourless laugh. “I’m talking utter hogwash. It wouldn’t be the Chief. I think we’re all just tired and are reaching now.”
“Talk for yourself, Manny. My mind is clear. Tired, but clear. I do, however, think that you should leave so that I can rest.”
Vinnie moved next to me, pulling himself up in his chair and so making himself look bigger than the giant he was. “Yes, I think it’s a good idea to let Jen-girl rest. You should leave.”
Years of dealing with all kinds
of criminals must have made Manny immune to intimidation, but Phillip looked perturbed. “I think it’s a good idea. Manny, let’s go.”
It took another five minutes of reassuring Manny that I would not keep anything relevant from him again. But it took only a scowl from Vinnie to reassure the men that I would be safe at home, under his protection. The moment my front door closed and Vinnie locked all five locks, I almost cried with relief. I didn’t think I would be able to stay awake through a hot bath. Maybe just a quick shower before I gave my body the rest it was screaming for.
Chapter TWENTY-ONE