The Netscher Connection Read online

  “Yeah, well, you see, this is part of my work outfit, so I kind of have to wear it every day.” He lifted one shoulder, then pointed to his blazer pocket. “I’m going to reach into my pocket and get out my ID. Please don’t shoot me.”

  “Who are you?” Colin took a step forward, his arms away from his body, his fists clenched. “What do you want?”

  The man used only his index finger and thumb to take a leather folder out of his pocket. He opened it and held it out towards me. “I’m Detective Andor Garas. I’m from the Special Affairs Department at the Budapest Police Department.”

  I didn’t move. I wasn’t interested in his credentials. I was much more intrigued by his excellent command of English, the manner in which he observed everyone looking at him and the way he then seemed to make decisions about each one. He didn’t look overly concerned with the two bodyguards, but his eyes kept straying back to Vinnie and Colin.

  Manny stepped forward, took the leather folder and glanced at it before he handed it to Francine. “So, Andor Garas, you heard the question. What do you want?”

  Andor’s shoulders dropped a bit. “Seriously, guys. I come in peace. I know who you are and I’m here to ask for help. I’m not interested in a pissing contest.” His eyes narrowed at Francine while she tapped and swiped her tablet. “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure you are who you say you are.”

  “Um... I’m pretty sure what you’re doing is not legal.” There was no judgement on his face, just curiosity.

  Francine didn’t look up from her tablet, but smiled. “It will only matter if you... huh... okay.” She lifted her tablet. “He checks out.”

  Manny turned to me. “Doc?”

  “Yes?”

  Manny raised both eyebrows and, when I still didn’t say anything, glared at me. “What do you see?”

  “In Detective Garas’ nonverbal communication?” I tilted my head as I turned to Andor. “You’re being truthful. But you should practice your deceptive skills. You’re not successful in hiding that you are nervous of all of us and in awe of Manny.”

  “What the hell?” Manny grabbed the leather folder from Francine and tossed it at Andor. “Awe?”

  A blush crawled up Andor’s neck and reddened his cheeks as he easily caught the folder and put it back in his blazer pocket. “I needed to know who I was dealing with, so I ran your names. You have quite an impressive résumé, Colonel Millard.”

  “You know who we are?” Francine’s voice was a pitch higher than usual.

  “You hack anything and everything to help your team.” Andor looked from Francine to Vinnie, his eyes pausing on the long scar on Vinnie’s face for a second. “He’s your team security, Doctor Ferreira lends her medical expertise when needed, Doctor Lenard analyses the data and people and”—he looked at Colin—“I’m not sure what you do, but you seem important.”

  “What do you mean?” Colin’s tone was quiet, dangerous, his body language threatening.

  I eagerly waited for Andor’s explanation. There had been a nuance to his statement I wanted to understand.

  “I have a fantabulous idea.” Roxy avoided Vinnie’s hand grabbing her arm and walked towards Andor. “You’re not here to kill us, right?”

  His eyes widened. “Right.”

  She turned to me. “And you’re saying he’s harmless.”

  “I said no such thing.”

  “See? We’re all going to get along just fine.” She extended her right hand to Andor. When he took a moment too long to shake her hand, she widened her eyes and looked pointedly at her hand.

  He chuckled and shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Ferreira.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everyone says that.” She waved towards the villa. “Now let’s go inside and talk.” She looked at Colin, Manny and Vinnie. “Nicely.”

  No one moved. The tension in the group was most discomfiting. I took my time analysing the detective’s nonverbal cues. “Detective Garas means us no harm.”

  “Please call me Andor.”

  Colin stepped in front of Andor, preventing him from entering the villa. “You—”

  “Truly.” Andor held out both hands, showing the insides of his arms. Non-confrontational. “I deal with douchebag alpha males every single day. I’m not one of them. I don’t think it proves my smarts by playing my cards close to my vest and trying to wrangle things so I can get all the glory. I’m here because of a case that now involves you and I’m convinced you and your team can help me.”

  The sincerity on his face and in his voice convinced not only me. Collectively, the men’s bodies marginally relaxed. But still no one moved.

  Colin studied Andor for a few seconds, then nodded his head. “Let’s get inside and talk.”

  Three minutes later everyone but Vinnie was seated around the square dining room table. It was a beautiful walnut wood table that seated twelve people with ease. As soon as we’d entered the villa, Manny had directed Andor to one side of the table and had made sure no one else sat on the same side as the detective. Vinnie was standing behind Roxy’s chair, one hand resting on her shoulder, the other ready to grab his weapon.

  Andor settled in his chair and waited. He exhibited a confidence usually seen in very accomplished individuals and people who had no need or reason to prove their value. It made me curious about him as a person.

  Manny slumped in his chair and sighed heavily. “Why do you need our help?”

  Andor blinked once then faced Colin. “Olivia Webster is missing.”

  “What do you mean missing?” Manny knocked on the table when Andor didn’t look at him. “Speak.”

  Colin’s face had lost colour. That was the only external indication that Andor’s statement had affected him. Even before he’d met Manny, Colin had mastered the art of disguising himself—not only his identity, but also his nonverbal cues. When I’d first met Colin, my expertise had played a significant role in analysing his micro-expressions. I’d come to know him well enough to recognise the deep distress he was masking now. I also saw his usual casual interest to be much keener.

  Andor leaned forward in a manner friends did when sharing anecdotes. “So, my boss’ big boss is friends with Ms Webster’s boss. My boss is pissed off that this got dumped in our lap, but I think he’s more pissed off that the big boss blackmailed him with revealing how badly he lost at the last interdepartmental poker game.” He shrugged. “But that’s just my take on things.”

  “You haven’t told us anything useful yet.” Manny sounded bored, but the slight contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscles around his eyes betrayed his piqued interest.

  “Very true.” For the first time, Andor showed the excitement he’d been attempting to hide since he exited his car. “I’ll start with the bosses and then tell you my side of it.”

  Manny nodded and Vinnie sat down next to Roxy. Andor was building rapport with my team at a faster rate than most people. Even though scepticism was still clear on most faces, it was slowly being replaced by interest.

  “So, Ms Webster... what the bleep, I’m just going to call her Olivia. Anyway, Olivia’s boss phoned my boss’ big boss when Olivia didn’t check in with him last night. She’s here... oh, wait. Do you know why she’s here? Do you know what she does for a living?”

  No-one answered him.

  “Okay then. I’ll just tell you as if you don’t know. Olivia is a lawyer at a prestigious legal firm in Manhattan. Most of her cases are white-collar crime cases. Sometimes she’s hired by families to dispute last wills and testaments. She’s currently in Hungary because of a case like that.” He lifted an index finger. “I’ll tell you about the case in a sec. Anyway, Olivia’s boss is also her mentor and thinks of himself as her godfather. When her case brought her here, he made her promise to check in every morning and every evening. She’s been in Hungary for three days and so far has spoken to her boss twice a day, every day.”

  “Until last night,” Colin said softly.

  “U
ntil last night.” Andor nodded. “Her boss became increasingly worried when Olivia didn’t phone him at their usual time or at all during the evening. He didn’t even wait until this morning before he phoned my boss’ big boss.”

  “Why don’t you just say Commissioner Drozdik?” Francine pointed at her tablet. “If that’s the big boss you’re talking about.”

  “It is.’ Andor’s smile was mischievous. “It’s more fun calling him my boss’ big boss.”

  Francine’s smile was wide and genuine. “Can’t argue with that.”

  Manny knocked on the table again. “Speak.”

  “So, one man’s favour became another man’s order and my boss woke me up to shout at me to find this woman.”

  I added everything he’d told us to what I saw in his expression. “Your boss doesn’t know that you already knew Olivia was in Hungary and that you were surveilling her.”

  “You saw me yesterday.” He didn’t look surprised. “I wasn’t surveilling her. I was waiting for her to meet with me.”

  “She was going to meet with you?” Colin asked.

  “Yes.” He waved his hand as if to stop something. “Wait, let me tell this right. Firstly, my boss didn’t know that I was going to meet Olivia yesterday. I didn’t know what to make of it when she contacted me and asked for a meeting. She sounded scared on the phone and then wanted all kinds of silly counter-surveillance steps to make sure that I wasn’t followed to that café. Honestly, she sounded paranoid and I wasn’t going to tell my captain and make anything official until I knew what she was up to.”

  “Tell me exactly what she told you when she phoned.” My expertise was in nonverbal communication, but sometimes I was able to derive important information from someone’s words.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, then focused on the ceiling. Recalling. “She phoned me yesterday morning at around ten, saying that she asked around and heard that I was the right person for controversial and sensitive cases.” He smiled at Francine when she picked up her tablet. “You can check. I’ve worked on eleven high-profile cases that involved crooked politicians, a religious leader and even a doctor who played God. On a few of those cases I co-operated with the National Bureau of Investigation. I wasn’t surprised that my name came up when she asked around. I was, however, going to ask her who she had asked.”

  “But you didn’t get the chance.”

  “Nope. I saw her talking to you and”—he looked at Colin—“you. Then the delivery truck honked and just like that she ran.”

  “Did you see where she went?”

  “She ran into the small alley that goes to the church. I followed her, but I’m sure you know Szentendre has so many winding little streets that I wasn’t surprised that she disappeared.”

  “Finish telling me what she said when she phoned.” I needed to hear everything.

  “Oh, sorry. Yes. She gave me her name and told me that I can confirm that she’s a lawyer from New York. She said she was working for a family who was disputing a last will and testament. She’d uncovered something and didn’t know how to proceed with the information in Hungarian jurisdiction. She didn’t want to disclose anything else on the phone. Even though she didn’t say it, I got the feeling that she was worried about someone listening in on the conversation.”

  “There’s more.” I could clearly see it on his face.

  “Yes. She told me that if for some reason she didn’t show up yesterday afternoon, I was to meet her this morning at six next to the church.”

  “Let me guess.” Manny pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. “She wasn’t there.”

  “There was no one there.” Genuine concern contracted the corners of Andor’s mouth and eyes. “That early in Szentendre, almost everyone is still sleeping. It was easy to hear footsteps and see anyone approaching the church. I was there at five-thirty and waited until seven. Until six-thirty only three people were in the vicinity. Then a few cleaners and two delivery trucks showed up. But no Olivia.” He looked at Colin. “I saw that she recognised you. She spoke to you. Did she say anything? And how do you know her?”

  Colin stared at Andor for a few seconds. I could see he believed the detective’s story. But he was undecided on how much to reveal to this stranger. “She only said my name. The delivery truck honked before she said anything else. We turned to look at the truck and when I looked back, she was gone.”

  “Yeah, she moved bleeping quick.” Andor opened his arms and rested his hands palms up on the table. “Look, I know you guys don’t know me and therefore have no reason to trust me with anything. But I have a feeling that this is important. Not only do I think that Olivia is in real danger and we should do what we can to find her, but I think the case she’s looking into might be important. And is the reason she’s missing.”

  For a moment no one spoke. Francine’s interest was undisguised, as was Roxy’s. Vinnie and Manny both clearly communicated their reluctance, but I could see their curiosity. It was Colin’s dismay and the myriad nonverbal cues from Andor that affected me the most. I needed time to process what Andor had told us and compare it to what I’d seen on his face as well as what I’d learned from meeting Olivia.

  “Doc?”

  No. I silently shook my head. I wasn’t ready to give an opinion. I needed time. And I needed Colin alone so I could ask him what he wanted to do. The idea of putting him in a position that caused him any kind of emotional turmoil brought darkness to my peripheral vision.

  I ignored Manny when he asked me again for my opinion. I also ignored the concerned looks I got from everyone. I got up and left the dining room without looking back.

  Chapter FOUR

  I wasn’t surprised when Colin entered our large ensuite bathroom nine minutes after me. When Émile had declared this room ours, I’d been pleased. The room was spacious, with large windows and a sliding door that led to a balcony overlooking the extensive grounds. The furniture and finishings in the room were of the highest quality and comfort.

  But it had been this bathroom that had immediately served to relax me in this unknown environment. The cream-coloured tiles and minimalistic finishings soothed my mind. The bathtub was large enough to easily accommodate two people.

  Like so many times in the last few days, I was sitting in the empty bathtub, hugging my knees to my chest. The other times Colin had found me in the tub, I had been rocking and keening while in a complete shutdown. Now I was only sitting here to think.

  The moment he saw me in the tub, he kicked off his shoes and climbed in with me. Every time I’d come out of my shutdown or meltdown in the last week, Colin had been in the tub with me. He sat down facing me and studied me for a moment. “Are you okay?”

  “The question is too generic. If you want to know whether I’m going to shut down, the answer is no. If you want to know whether I’m upset, that question would also be too generic, but the answer would be yes.”

  “Is it because of Olivia?” Immediately, he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t answer it. It’s another bad question. Um... I suppose I should rather ask what you are doing in the tub.”

  “I need to think.”

  He nodded and leaned back against the tub. When he closed his eyes and dropped his head back, I knew he was going to give me the time I needed to process the events and information from the last twenty-four hours. I also knew he needed this moment for himself.

  I thought about Olivia’s strong response to seeing Colin, the open fear on her face and the other expressions that I’d registered. My thoughts turned to Andor and I wondered what it was that he was not yet telling us. And why he seemed immune to the hostility he’d received from almost everyone on the team.

  “I loved her.” Colin’s quiet statement drew me back into the present. He was looking at me, his emotions raw and unhidden on his face.

  “I know.” When he’d told me about Olivia, I’d known he was sharing the basic minimum, but I’d seen that his emotional connection to her had been deep and stron
g.

  “I think I hurt her really badly when I just disappeared.”

  I nodded. “I saw the memory of that pain on her face yesterday.”

  “Shit.” Colin pushed his fingers through his hair. It felt like there was a vice tightening around my chest when I saw the internal turmoil pulling at his mouth and eyes. “I want to grab Vinnie, rush out and find her. But I also want to run the other way.”

  “Why?” My question applied to both his instincts.

  “I hate the idea that she might be in danger. But she also represents a part of my past that... well, I was young and stupid. I’m not proud of what I did to her.”

  I valued the complete honesty in my relationship with Colin. I never had to worry about hidden meanings behind his words. I knew it wasn’t always easy for him to be as open with me as he was. But he knew that I didn’t expect him to share every detail of his life with me. I’d told him that events, experiences and thoughts about the past that were pertinent to our lives, affecting our relationship, were all I was interested in. It helped me understand him better and formulate an effective strategy to deal with challenges that arose because of his past.

  I’d been frustrated when he’d told me that he agreed and disagreed with my approach. He agreed because unnecessary information was exactly that: unnecessary. But he disagreed because knowing little bits of useless information about my life helped him get a much better overall picture of who I was.

  After some thought, I’d conceded to his point. I always insisted on as much data as possible in order to gain an accurate holistic view of a case. Why would it be any different in relationships? I never asked him to share parts of his past he wasn’t willing to and he didn’t push me. Yet thinking about it now, I realised how much we’d trusted each other with our pasts. How much I’d confided in him and he in me.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded downstairs towards the others. “There are things I don’t want them to know.”