The Gauguin Connection Page 16

  I was still running in circles. I looked at the three computer screens in front of me and wanted to use some of the words I had heard Vinnie utter when he had burned his hand on the stove yesterday. It had been an extremely frustrating few days since I had met Leon. Daily meetings with Manny had done nothing to further our co-operation. He had seemed more angered by my lack of new connections and information than I was. Aggravating man.

  After four days of fourteen-hour searches, countless data files being perused and combed through, I had nothing. To top everything, Colin had disappeared. He had left a message with Vinnie that he was looking into something and would check in as soon as he could. That was also four days ago. I hadn’t heard anything from him since. I was getting increasingly annoyed with agents and criminals alike.

  “Your coffee, m’lady.” Vinnie placed a steaming mug of coffee on the coaster next to my right hand. “You should really take a break, Jen-girl. It’s Sunday morning, for goodness sake. You should be enjoying a lazy breakfast.”

  I glared at the huge man hovering over me. He reminded me of a documentary I watched about fowl. Not even the mother hens clucked around their chicks as much as he did around me. I didn’t tell him that he reminded me of a chicken though. With a sigh I sat back and reached for the coffee. “Where is Colin?”

  Vinnie pulled out a chair and sat down facing me. He was wearing his usual canvas pants and loose T-shirt. I had wondered if he had any other clothes in his wardrobe, but after a week of him living in my apartment, I had come to the conclusion that this was his uniform. His pants and shirts were always neatly pressed, just like a uniform, and he took great care with his appearance. He was also quite fastidious about keeping the kitchen neat. This giant of a man was a surprising perfectionist.

  “He said that he would come as soon as he can, Jen-girl.”

  “Where is he?” This time I infused much more demand in my voice. This brought humour lines to soften Vinnie’s features.

  “Busy.”

  “Is he working on this case?” If I had not been so annoyed by his amusement and watching him so closely I would not have caught the micro-expression of discomfort. “Vinnie! Is Colin out and not working on this case?”

  “I did not say that.”

  “You didn’t need to. It’s written all over your face. What is he doing?”

  “Jen-girl,” he pleaded, “I can’t tell you. Colin will come back soon. Most likely today.”

  I let out a feminine groan of annoyance, a sound very unlike me. This broke the last of the tenuous hold I had on my patience. I could feel my gaze intensifying and by the alarmed look on Vinnie’s face, he had noticed the depth of my ire. At the exact moment I was ready to blast him with four days of built up frustration, a strange ringing came from my handbag on the chair next to me.

  “Your phone is ringing.”

  “Nobody should be phoning me.” I opened my handbag with more force than necessary. I found my phone in its pocket. A glance at the screen did not help me to identify the caller. I slid my finger across the touch screen to answer the call. “What?”

  “Is that how you answer your phone, Doctor Face-reader?” The surprise in Manny’s voice drove my annoyance level higher.

  “Where did you get my number? Nobody is supposed to have my number.”

  “Phillip gave it to me. You never answer your home phone, so I made him give me this number.”

  I was going to kill Phillip for this. “It’s Sunday morning, Manny. What do you want?”

  “I was hoping that you maybe discovered something new. I just got off the phone with the Chief. And he gave me hell. We need to make some headway, missy.”

  “Doctor,” I said through my teeth. “Maybe if I had the financials from the Foundation, I would have been able to give you something new. Where are those financials? You keep promising them to me.”

  “And I keep telling you that I’ve requested them. As soon as I get the figures, they will be available to you.” He took an audible breath, I supposed to calm himself. He sounded as annoyed as I felt. “Are we done with this hostile greeting?”

  Shame pushed colour into my cheeks. Hoping that Vinnie didn’t see me blushing was too much to hope for. He was staring at me, listening intently to my side of the conversation. I turned my torso away from Vinnie and sighed. “I’m sorry, Manny. I’m just extremely frustrated that I’ve not made any new progress.”

  The silence that left the open line softly buzzing made me wonder if I had shocked Manny with my apology. It made me feel a bit better that I might have surprised the perpetually dishevelled agent. “I understand your frustration. After the Chief’s phone call this morning, I threw my cereal bowl against the wall. Now I have to clean the mess up.”

  I laughed softly at the image of a pyjama-clad Manny cleaning up soggy cornflakes from the walls and floor. There were rare moments like this that I almost liked him. “Why is the Chief pushing this so much?”

  “Good question. It isn’t as if I’m taking time off other projects or neglecting anything important. If anything, this is extremely important and should be given more time and attention. I really don’t like being torn another one.”

  “Another what?”

  There was a moment of silence. “Nothing. Never mind. Did you look at the email Leon sent you?”

  “I did. And as I said in my email that I cc’ed you on, none of those insignias look even close to the one I saw on the uniform.”

  “Are you sure?” Him questioning my ability to clearly recall the design and colour of an insignia rankled me. Instead of being rude, I chose to remain silent. After a while he got the message. “Okay, that’s settled then. Please just tell me that you did discover something new.”

  “Nothing new. Just more confirmation. Everything I know, I emailed you in the last report.” At least writing that report had made me feel productive. I was fast nearing a point of desperate frustration.

  “This is how most investigations go. You get a lead, hit a wall, get a lead, hit another wall. Sometimes you happen upon that one thing that brings everything together and answers all the questions.” The line was quiet for a long time while both of us were lost in our thoughts. Manny sounded tired when he spoke again. “Have you looked at the file on the weapons theft?”

  “I have, but not in depth. I looked superficially for something that might represent a pattern, but got a bit lost in this shipping thing. I’ll look into it soon.”

  “Do that, and let me know if you find something.” We exchanged awkward good-byes and ended the phone call. I leaned back in my chair and wished for some kind of inspiration to start a new search that might lead to more clarity of how everything fit together.

  “Telephone skills are not one of your strengths, Jen-girl.” Vinnie’s voice broke into my thoughts and I abruptly turned to him. I had completely forgotten about his presence. He had an uncanny ability to blend into his environment. Numerous times I had completely forgotten about him being in my apartment while he sat a few feet away from me reading his newspaper. It would appear that I was comfortable in his presence. “Jen-girl? Come back to me.”

  “Hmm?” Once again I had disappeared into my head, trying to understand all these new dynamics in my life. “Oh, the phone. No, I don’t like speaking on the phone.”

  “Why not?” He looked genuinely interested.

  “Body language accounts for an overwhelming percentage of our communication. If I only have a small percentage to analyse, I don’t understand people and can’t tell when people are lying.”

  Vinnie gave a surprised laugh. “You really believe people lie so much?”

  “Of course. It is part of social interaction. Saying what is truly on your mind, giving your honest opinion and answering questions truthfully is an overwhelmingly bad thing to do in a social setting. Being polite and diplomatic relies heavily on your skills to twist the truth so it doesn’t upset anyone.”

  “Wow. And you never lie?”

  “Not
never. I lied last week.” I had to stop talking because Vinnie was laughing so hard. He must have seen the look on my face, because he stopped.

  “I’m sorry, Jen-girl. I really didn’t mean to offend or hurt you. I’ve just never met anyone like you. And that is a compliment.”

  My smile thanking Vinnie for his strange compliment froze as a familiar figure walked towards us from the direction of the study. Colin. He had broken in again. Our eyes met and both sets widened in an involuntary micro expression. This indicated a positive emotional response to a pleasant surprise. It immediately made me irrationally angry that I was as happy to see him as he me. Combined with his refusal to use the front door had my blood pressure soaring. “Where have you been?”

  “Hi, Jenny. Miss me?” He gave me an arrogant smile and nodded to Vinnie. “What’s up?”

  I didn’t give Vinnie a chance to return the greeting. My voice was hostile at the realisation that I actually did miss the criminal. “Four days. You just up and go for four days doing god knows what. I know that you haven’t been working on this case. How am I supposed to trust your commitment to this when you go off without giving me the courtesy of telling me?”

  Colin’s eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth moved slightly down. I was making him angry. “Jenny, stop.”

  “Dude, I didn’t tell her anything. I swear.” Vinnie sounded worried.

  “I know, Vin.” He gave Vinnie a half smile. “She read you.”

  “She is here.” I slapped my hand on the dining room table. To my disgust, tears were gathering in my eyes. I hadn’t cried in front of people in eighteen years. I bit down hard on my teeth, resenting everyone who had caused me to have uncontrolled emotions in the last week.

  All signs of anger on Colin’s face were immediately replaced with concern. Slowly, as if not to startle me, he pulled a chair closer and sat down between Vinnie and me. How could he look so calm when my emotions were bouncing around in me like this? Emotions had always been a nuisance to me. I knew that they were messengers, telling me what was happening in my psyche, but having them often interfered with rationality. And now was a time to regain my grip on rational thought. My breathing had become too rapid and I started focussing on calming myself and closing my mind to pesky emotions.

  I called up one of Mozart’s earlier works and concentrated on the blank sheet of mental music paper. It took writing nine bars until I felt normalcy settle in me. I opened my eyes to find Colin sitting real close. He leaned a bit closer and gently placed a warm hand on my clenched fists. “I’m sorry I left like that, Jenny. I never meant to upset you.”

  “I shouldn’t have been so upset just now.”

  “What caused it?” he asked with a concerned frown.

  “The realisation that I missed you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. A sense of vulnerability and terror washed over me. I squeezed my eyes closed and frantically started writing a few more bars of Mozart. In over two decades I had not given anyone this much power to hurt me as I had just done. Admitting that I had felt the loss of Colin’s company placed me in a position that I had sworn to myself I would never occupy again. I didn’t want to need people.

  “Jenny, look at me.”

  It took me three more bars before I opened my eyes and looked in a face completely devoid of malice. I studied him intently for a full minute before I allowed myself to believe that he looked genuinely concerned. To his, and Vinnie’s, credit, neither had uttered as much as a snicker at my uncensored admission.

  “I’m okay.” I answered the question I saw in his eyes.

  “Good.” He leaned in even closer to completely invade my space and whispered, “I also missed you.”

  Relief stole my breath. I knew that it showed clearly on my face. There was no way that I was able to control that intense an emotion from showing. Colin gave my hands a light squeeze before he released them and sat back. “If I promise to never leave you like that again, will you tell me where you are on the case?”

  I dismissed his promise with a wave of my hand, thankful to move away from emotions, and proceeded to tell him the miniscule progress we had made in the last four days. The few bars of Mozart that I had written had also served to calm my frustration with the case. As I told Colin about my conversation with Manny, something was pushing in the back of my head, seeking attention. Maybe if I wrote a few more bars, I could allow it entrance and examination. I suspected it was the key to moving forward.

  “Have you checked names of the dead artists against the shipping manifests, guest lists, etcetera?” Colin’s quiet question blasted through my brain like lightning. That was the thought that had been seeking entrance.

  “I was waiting for you.” I turned back to the computer and immediately opened that file. “I found five artists that were murdered and you knew of thirteen. You never gave me their names. Without more data the search would have been futile.”

  One by one Colin recited names. A few he had to spell, their foreignness uncomfortable on the ear and tongue. Two of the names I already had on my list. It was with those two and four others that I heard sadness change Colin’s voice. He had known these people. I turned to him and held his eyes for a short moment. “I’m sorry about this, Colin.”

  “So am I.”

  I entered all the names into the software to search against the ships’ manifests and pressed enter. “This is going to take some time. Vinnie made coffee. Would you like some?”

  Vinnie was already halfway to the kitchen when Colin answered, “That would be great. Thanks, Vin.”

  “He has completely taken over my apartment.”

  “Is that a problem?” Colin glanced at the kitchen before studying me.

  “No,” I answered after taking time to find how I truly felt. “He’s neat and non-intrusive.”

  “Rare qualities in a man.” The soft wrinkles forming in the corners of his eyes clued me in that he was joking. I was actually about to agree with him, but answered him instead with a small smile. We held each other’s eyes until he shifted his body. A series of minute facial muscle movements warned me that he was going to say something he considered of great importance.

  A succession of pings crudely broke the moment. I didn’t take my eyes off Colin and saw how he changed his mind. His focus shifted from something internal to the computer. “What was that?”

  “Connections.” I turned to the computer and looked at the lines of information that the software programme had delivered. I didn’t know if Colin understood what all the little white letters on the blue background meant, but found myself too stunned to ask. It was hard to believe what I was looking at. This might just be that one thing that Manny and I were talking about. That one thing that would connect all the different elements we had uncovered so far.

  My mind was working full speed. In order to assist it, I turned my internal Mozart to top volume and leaned into the cerebral activity. Nothing else existed at that moment. Not Vinnie placing Colin’s coffee on a coaster next to him. Not Colin softly calling to me. What mattered most were the pieces of the puzzle moving to their places on their own volition. At the crescendo in the middle of the second movement, a thought popped into my head and I acted on it.

  I entered another search order into the software and waited, all the while letting Mozart lead the way. I didn’t hear anything from the two men. Whether it was because I had completely blocked them out or they were silently waiting for me, I didn’t know. Nor did I care. I was rocking back and forth to the music in my head and looking expectantly at the computer screen.

  Another ping and a second window with search information popped open. I maximised the window, simply to see this golden find fill as much space as possible. “Oh my god.”

  “Jenny?” Colin’s warm hand lightly touched my forearm and slowly brought me back into my skin and into the room. “What have you found?”

  I stared at him through the haze of excitement. “An address.”

 
The shock of my statement was evident in the widening of his eyes and his slack jaw. After a silent few heartbeats, both Vinnie and Colin’s eyes moved to the computer screens. The slight narrowing of their eyes and the consequent frowns meant they didn’t understand what they were looking at. “Jenny, tell us what we’re looking at.”

  I inhaled very deeply. I was going to explain. That required simple vocabulary, sentences and focus. I changed windows to the results of the first search and pointed out a few lines in between all the script. “Every single one of those artists was on one of those cruise ships at some point in the last eight years.”

  “Motherfucker.” It was the first time that Vinnie used such strong language in front of me. It was usually reserved for the kitchen while I was working. He must have been as shocked as I was.

  Colin’s profane expletive followed immediately, his head moving from side to side in shocked denial. I changed windows to the result of the second search and tapped lightly on the screen. “I was wondering about romances like Danielle had with her Russian boyfriend. Of all the artists, only two ever shared their rooms. Danielle was one. The other was Karin Vittone. She shared a room with a Mark Smith. His address is on the manifest.”

  “Where does the fucker live?” The menace in Vinnie’s voice reminded me that he was more than just a non-intrusive houseguest.

  “Here. In Strasbourg.”

  “Judas fucking Priest.” Colin leaned back in his chair. “I’ll go visit the bastard.”

  “Both of you are jumping to conclusions that he is a guilty party.”

  “How can we not?” Colin asked. “Just look at everything we’ve found so far. The fact that Mark Smith shared a room with one of the dead artists makes him at the very least a person of interest, but most likely a suspect. I’ll go check out his house tomorrow evening.”

  “What do you mean ‘check out his house’?” A cold feeling crept through me.

  “He means break into the fuc ... the suspect’s house, Jen-girl.” Vinnie spat out his disgust at this person. Obviously, innocent until proven guilty was not something he lived by.

  “You can’t break into his house. It’s illegal.” The comical look on both the men’s faces brought reality crashing around me. “Of course. You are a criminal who breaks into places and steals things.”

  “Jenny.”

  “Oh, don’t use your warning tone of voice on me. Do you want all the reasons why this is a bad idea?”

  “Will you make me a list?” The relaxation around his eyes stopped me cold.

  “Are you making fun of my lists?” My voice gradually rose until the last word came out as a squeak.

  “A little.” He grew serious. “Your lists, however, are what have gotten us this far, so I’m very happy with your lists. But,” he stopped me as I reached for the notepad to start on all the reasons why he shouldn’t break into Mark Smith’s house, “I am going to look at this house, list or no.”

  “Let him do this, Jen-girl.”

  I glared at Vinnie for interfering and then closed my eyes. A few bars of Mozart and I was calmer. I supposed I didn’t have a choice in this matter. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’ll go tonight and just look around. Check out the neighbourhood, the security and a general look around. Tomorrow evening I will break into his house and look around inside. I want to see who he really is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A man is much more than just a name.”

  “Not that I think Mark Smith is his real name,” Vinnie interrupted.

  “Neither do I. We’ll have to see if it’s his real address.” Colin shook his head. “Some people are such incompetent criminals. Anyway. We all reveal a lot about who we are by how we live. Our homes give away a lot of inside information on our lives, likes, habits and the like.”

  Suddenly I was very curious to see Colin’s home. And Vinnie’s. I already knew what my apartment said about me. I wasn’t hard to decode. Then I thought again about Colin’s plans for the next two nights. “I don’t like it.”

  “I’ll be careful, Jenny.”

  “If you get caught, don’t come back here.” I couldn’t stop the petulance tainting my voice. Vinnie chuckled and Colin’s smile reached deep into his eyes.

  “I won’t get caught. I’m too good for that.” He turned to Vinnie. “Did you get the phones?”

  “Oh, yes.” Vinnie got up from the table and grabbed a large paper shopping bag from next to the coffee table. I hadn’t even noticed him putting it there. He handed it to Colin. “There are three in there. Bought in different stores.”

  “Good.” Colin dug into the bag and took out three different boxes containing cell phones. He handed me one, but I refused to take it. “Take it, Jenny.”

  “No. I already have a smartphone.”

  Colin sighed. “I know. This is a phone that cannot be traced to you, Manny, Phillip or anyone else.”

  “Why do I need this?” I narrowed my eyes when Colin and Vinnie exchanged a look. “What?”

  “Someone’s been trying to wiretap your phones.”

  “My phones?”

  “Your home phone and most likely your cell phone,” Vinnie said. “Two days ago there was an unscheduled visit from the telephone company to your building. Since then your phone has a different buzz.”

  “And now I need another cell phone? Why?”

  “Jen-girl, don’t you ever watch any cop shows or movies? Ever?” Vinnie rolled his eyes when I mutely shook my head. “You’re strange. If you watched anything other than the news, you would know that we need these phones to communicate without anyone else knowing about it. And it seems like there are a lot of people interested in knowing about this.”

  I took a moment to process the information and took the box from Colin. “Okay.”

  “I’ve already set it up. It has Colin’s and my numbers on it.”

  “Don’t use it to contact anyone but us,” Colin added.

  “I never use my smartphone.” I broke off and tilted my head. “Not to phone people anyway.”

  “Her telephone skills are not the smoothest,” Vinnie whispered loudly to Colin, who only smiled.

  I took the cheap phone out of the box and looked at Colin. “Will you phone me to tell me that everything is okay tonight?”

  He nodded.

  I shook the phone at him. “And tomorrow evening? If anything happens, you’ll phone?”

  “She cares about you, dude.” Vinnie smiled. I felt like throwing my new cell phone at his head. He must have sensed my displeasure, because his smiled died and he tried to force his face into a neutral expression. He failed miserably.

  “Ignore him.” Colin moved closer to the computer. “Can you give me the address, please?”

  With a sigh I wrote down the address on a post-it note and handed it to him. He looked at it for a few moments and then handed it back to me. Apparently I was not the only one with a good memory. No matter how much I convinced myself that I didn’t believe in gut feelings, a tightness in my torso made me feel very uncomfortable about Colin’s plan. A tightness that didn’t want to go away.

 

  Chapter SEVENTEEN