The Gauguin Connection

by Estelle Ryan

  This case was the most exciting thing that I had ever faced. Apart from my innate dislike for change being greatly put to the test, the intellectual challenge was fast proving to outweigh all my fears. I had been in my viewing room for the last three hours looking into cargo and cruise ships. My expanded search had rendered thirteen cargo ships and seven cruise ships owned by a shipping company with only one ship in its fleet. This pattern was outrageously suspicious. So engrossed was I in following the latest connection that I didn’t even hear Phillip enter the room until he spoke.

  “Where’s your car?”

  I started and turned to him, thinking of a lie. I couldn’t come up with anything but the truth. “I didn’t come in my car today.”

  “Then how did you get here?” I should’ve expected Phillip to be suspicious of a change in my routine. He leaned in closer. I knew the exact moment that he noticed my injuries. “Good God! Genevieve, what happened?”

  I closed my eyes. Typical blocking behaviour when someone did not want to face something unpleasant or was trying to create a distance from something. I definitely did not want to discuss this with Phillip.

  “Genevieve.” He sounded calmer, but also angrier. “Look at me.”

  I realised that I was sitting, like a cowardly child, with my eyes closed. I slowly opened one eye. My uninjured eye. Phillip was leaning in close enough for me to feel the puffs of his breathing on my face. I opened my other eye. The depth of the concern he exhibited was disconcerting. I steeled myself against it and leaned away from him. “I’m okay. I have a bad headache, but I’m okay.”

  “Did that criminal do this to you?” His eyes were focussed on the cut above my eyebrow. We had decided this morning that the cut didn’t need professional attention and I had put two butterfly plasters on it to pull the skin together.

  “Colin?” My voice was two pitches higher. What a ridiculous accusation. Colin might have been many things, but violent he was not. “He would never do this. As a matter of fact, he’s the one who stopped it.”

  Phillip dragged a chair closer and sat down heavily opposite me. “Genevieve, you can’t continue like this. I won’t allow it.”

  “I’m on this case, my work, because you, as my boss, ordered me to do it.”

  “I know.” He dragged his hand over his face and took a deep breath. “Tell me what happened.”

  “I would prefer not to.”

  “As your boss,” he looked me straight in the eye, “and as your friend I’d prefer that you do.”

  “I’m not going to tell you everything, not yet.”

  His gaze focussed on my lifted chin. He called it my obstinate look. “Tell me what you can.”

  I sighed with relief. I didn’t know if I wanted Phillip to know of Vinnie’s involvement. How long I could keep this from the man I always told everything, was yet to be determined. So I told him all the parts of the previous evening, carefully censoring out Vinnie’s involvement.

  “And Colin found you drugged in your apartment and didn’t phone an ambulance?” He was outraged. My head was throbbing and I didn’t have the energy to placate him.

  “It wasn’t necessary and I don’t want to fight about this.”

  “Oh, Genevieve.” Phillip sounded tired. “You are going to be the death of me yet.”

  “I don’t plan to kill you, Phillip.” My logical comment made him laugh. I wasn’t trying to be funny.

  “Your co-operation in this case and with Colin might.” He waved the topic away with a weak gesture. “Don’t even think about convincing me otherwise. We are telling Manny about the attack.”

  “I agree. I would also like to ask him about the insignia that I saw on the one man’s sleeve.”

  “Is this all you can tell me?”

  “The most important parts, yes.”

  “How did Colin know something was wrong?”

  “I would rather not discuss anything else, Phillip.” Knowing Phillip, he might just phone the police, the military and Interpol if he knew that Colin had placed a listening device in my apartment. Fortunately, Phillip accepted my answer. Had he pushed, I would’ve told him. I was glad he didn’t push.

  “I will phone Manny and find out when we can meet. He is out of town today, so hopefully it will be tomorrow.” He sat back in his chair. “Where did you disappear to yesterday?”

  “Oh, yes.” So much had happened since my rude exit from Phillip’s office, I had almost forgotten. I told him everything about Danielle, her boyfriend and the cruise they had met on. I put the presentation that I had prepared for yesterday’s meeting on the screens and did a bit of show and tell. Most of it he already knew.

  “Did you find anything on the ship manifests that Manny sent you?”

  “Yes. Three of the recovered artworks were on cargo ships owned by companies that only own one ship.”

  “That is more than just a coincidence.”

  “There is no such thing as coincidences.” I told him the rest of what I had discovered about the ships. “Now I’m looking into the cruise ship connection. I started to cross-check all my lists with the cruise ships. Maybe there is a connection with the dead artists, the private investigators, the miraculously rediscovered artworks and the other shipping companies. I will let you know when I find any more connections.”

  “Your report so far will most definitely please Manny. This is much more than I expected. If you find a connection with the cruise ships ... well, that would just add another complication to an already complicated case.”

  I agreed with him. This was a case with so many different elements it made me think of a pendulum clock. All these separate gears, springs and weights were somehow connected. Then there was the power source, either a weight on a cord that turns the pulley or a mainspring. Without that power source, none of the parts would be of any use. They wouldn’t move, wouldn’t make the clock work. What, or who, the power source was in this case, I had no idea. I also didn’t know whether it was just one source. This bothered me greatly. I had to have been quiet for a long time, because Phillip started looking concerned and asked, “What?”

  “I’m missing something, Phillip. A vital part. The part that moves, manipulates all the others.”

  “Explain?”

  I gave him my pendulum clock analogy and felt very proud of using it. “All these elements are separate. There must be a central element that connects all these artists, artworks, ships and so forth. The power source that makes it all connect and work. This is eluding me.”

  “And frustrating you.” Phillip knew me well.

  “Greatly. That is why I keep digging to find more connections. Somewhere these connections will have to cross paths and that will lead me to the person holding this all together.”

  “The person controlling all this.”

  “Assuming it is one person,” I said. We were quiet again for a short while, lost in our own thoughts. I broke the silence, following the direction my thoughts were going in. “Is there something happening between Russia and the EDA or Eurocorps at the moment that we know about?”

  Phillip took his time to think about this. “Manny is the best person to ask, but I would say that the most obvious contention between Europe and Russia in the last decade or so has been natural gas. There are also the ongoing disagreements about the construction of the highways being built. The North-South and East-West highways.”

  “Ah, yes. The eternal struggle for power. If humans aren’t fighting for power over territory, it is for resources, accessibility or some other reason. But in the end it all leads to a desire for power.” As much as we like to think we have evolved, we haven’t. These struggles are as old as time. A question was burning in me. “I know that you trust Manny, but I just need to know. Are you very sure that he didn’t by accident tell someone about my involvement?”

  “One hundred percent.” His answer came without any doubt. “It must be from someone else who has access. That is why we need to tell Manny about this attack.”r />
  “I’m not arguing about this. I also think that he needs to know that the people he thinks he can trust might not be trustworthy.”

  “What has the world come to?”

  “The world has always been like this. It’s human nature.”

  “That is a very bleak look on life, Genevieve.”

  “I don’t think it is. It’s just realistic. There has always been war. Whether the reasons were economic, religious, territorial or racial, it’s been there. And will be there. The same way with people’s desire for power. It has always led and will always lead to espionage, betrayal and other forms of treason. Usually, it is the people who are at the bottom level of the pyramid who are the most sincere, the kindest and the closest to goodness we can find.”

  “Can’t argue with you there.” He sighed. “You’re going to have to apologise to Manny.”

  “Why?” Immediately I was on defence. I had done nothing wrong. Or had I?

  “For walking out on the meeting yesterday.”

  “Oh yes, that.”

  “He was very unhappy.”

  “More than usual?” My question solicited a bark of laughter from Phillip.

  “Much more. As a matter of fact, he was furious. He felt that you were dismissing him and this case as something of lesser interest. As per your request I didn’t tell him about Colin, but he knows that I’m hiding something. Don’t underestimate Manny’s insight and intellect, Genevieve. He only looks disorganised and scatterbrained, but he has a sharper mind that most people I know.”

  “I knew that the first time we met.”

  Phillip looked very serious. “You know that at some point you will have to tell Manny about Colin.”

  “I know.”

  “Why don’t you want to?” he asked gently.

  “I don’t want Manny to take him away from me.”

  “This is the second time you’ve said this. Do you realise that you sound like a little girl who found a puppy and wants to keep it?”

  “I would prefer a comparison to a scientist who discovered a new species of butterfly.” Phillip was right. Colin was not a puppy or a butterfly that I could keep. My throat was dry and my voice scratchy. “It’s just that he makes me feel.”

  “Feel what?” Phillip asked carefully.

  “Much more than ever before.” I looked down at my hands and admitted softly. “I’ve not once flinched when he touched me.”

  “He touches you?”

  “Twice he got my attention by touching my arm.” It took me a moment to realise why Phillip suddenly looked relieved. I was indignant. “You think I’m a virgin? I’ll have you know that when I put my mind to it, I find a man’s touch quite pleasurable.”

  “Stop right there. Please.” This was the first time in six years that I had managed to make Phillip uncomfortable.

  “Too much information? I’m sorry. My comfort around Colin is quite disconcerting for me. I suppose it’s made me defensive.” I had so many new emotions to analyse.

  “Why do you feel so comfortable with him?”

  “I trust him.” My statement came out as a whisper. Phillip drew in a sharp breath, but I stopped him with a lifted hand. “I know. It even surprised me. But it is the way it is. I don’t want to fight with you about Colin. As a matter of fact, I would really appreciate your support.”

  “Oh Genevieve, you’ve always had my support.”

  “And your worry.” I got a wry smile from him.

  “And my trust. I know that you would never in a million years associate yourself with someone that you didn’t feel safe with. I have always trusted your judgement and will do so in this case as well. But only as far as Colin’s character goes. I need you to trust me as well.”

  “I do.”

  “Then trust me to handle Manny. Trust me to tell him that you went against his and my wishes and got outside help involved. I will convince him that you would never do anything to jeopardise the case. That you acted in the interest of solving this as quickly, accurately and cleanly as possible.”

  “You think you could convince him of all that?” Disbelief weighed heavily on my voice. “I read him, Phillip, and I saw that he is extremely cynical.”

  “We’ve been friends for longer than you’ve been alive. I’ll bring him around.”

  I knew that Phillip was a top class negotiator and could make people see his point in an effortless few sentences. Yet it took a conscious effort from me to nod my head in agreement. Immediately Phillip’s demeanour lifted and he awarded me with a relaxed smile.

  “Fantastic. If you could email me this report,” he pointed to the monitors where the report was still on display, “I will forward it to Manny. He can read through it and I’ll try to set up a meeting for tomorrow.”

  I was not looking forward to meeting with Manny. Even though he was an interesting subject to read, I found the thought of being the focus of his displeasure hugely unappetising.

  The last few minutes with Phillip brought to my mind once again why I so much enjoy being in his presence. Never had he discounted my opinions and had always been open to discussing, debating, negotiating and settling issues with me. It was that trust in me that helped me make an instant decision. “I have a bodyguard.”

  “You have a what?” It must have been his cultured upbringing that prevented him from shouting at me.

  “A bodyguard and driver, to be precise. He’s a friend of Colin’s and will keep me safe.”

  “And you’re okay with this?”

  “Well, not really. I have someone with me all the time and I’m not used to it. It does, however, make me feel safer. It’s also quite amazing how much extra thinking time I have now that I don’t have to drive.”

  “This bodyguard doesn’t speak to you?”

  “He does, but I just ignore him most of the time.”

  Phillip snorted inelegantly, but recovered quickly. “When did this happen?”

  “Colin organised it last night after the attack. We had a huge argument about it at first.”

  “I’m sure you did.” I didn’t know why Phillip was smiling.

  “He did give me a very valid argument and I conceded. Even though I still don’t particularly like the idea.”

  “Who is this bodyguard?”

  “A friend of Colin’s.” Phillip did not look happy with my hedging. “Before you get angry with me, I read him and made very sure about him before I agreed to it. I’m as sure as I can be that he can be trusted.”

  My boss and friend did not look convinced. “If he’s Colin’s friend, it might be a good assumption that he’s also a criminal.”

  “He can be trusted, Phillip. Colin has a vested interest in this case and wouldn’t have brought someone who can not be relied upon.” I was defending Colin and Vinnie now? What had my uncomplicated life come to?

  “So I’m not the only one concerned for your safety?”

  “Oh no. Colin was quite vocal and very unpleasant about that. I didn’t have much choice in it actually.” As I talked, I realised that Phillip’s question was sarcastic and I frowned at him. “Are you being nasty to me?”

  He sighed. “No, I’m just worried. I’ve regretted agreeing to help Manny almost from the first day. This was only supposed to be a paper investigation, not anything closely resembling what it has turned into.”

  “Let’s not waste time on regrets. It’s unproductive.” I was getting bored with this thread of the conversation. “I still have a lot of the shipping manifests to go through. The sooner I get back to it, the quicker I might find some connections that will help us finish this.”

  Phillip stood with a smile. “That is me being dismissed. I will handle Manny. You just make sure that you have that criminal and your bodyguard under control.”

  “What about Manny’s friend at Eurocorps. Have you met him?”

  “Not yet. I would like to meet him.” He straightened his already erect posture even more. “I would also like for you to meet him.”


  “To read him.”

  “Yes. I trust Manny to know whether someone is clean, but I would like to make sure.”

  “Maybe he could join us tomorrow when we meet with Manny?”

  Phillip laughed. “For someone so adept at reading facial expressions, you’re not very good at hiding them. Your distaste at the thought of this meeting is written in capital letters on your face.”

  I didn’t have a response except to roll my eyes, which made him chuckle again.

  “I’ll speak to Manny and see if Leon can join us tomorrow. You have to be at that meeting, Genevieve. Don’t run out again.”

  I shook my head, which brought on a sharp pain, reminding me that I had recently been attacked. “I’ll be there. I want to speak to Manny and also meet his friend.”

  “You really shouldn’t be here.” Concern narrowed his eyes. “Go home, Genevieve. Rest.”

  “I can’t. There is too much to do.”

  “At least work from home. Take the computers. And tell Colin to keep an eye on you so that you won’t overwork yourself.” His eyes widened with a sudden memory. “Your cell phone. I want your number.”

  “I never use the phone, Phillip.” At least not until Colin had decided it was acceptable to steal into my life.

  “I’m not going to budge on this. I want your number.”

  With not a small amount of resentment I wrote down my number on a post-it note and handed it to Phillip.

  “Go home. If I come back in ten minutes, I want to see this room empty.” His face and tone of voice brooked no space for argument. In all honesty, I didn’t want to argue.

  “Okay. I’ll go home. Please email me or phone me at home if you find anything new. I really don’t want to use my cell phone.”

  Phillip just shook his head and moved to the door. “I’ll let you know what time our meeting is with Manny and Leon tomorrow. Take it easy, Genevieve.”

  I watched him leave my viewing room and turned to the monitors. His visit had interrupted my momentum. The ache around my eye and Phillip’s order made it easier for me to get ready to work from home. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. I saved and closed the documents I had been working on, packed my work computer and the EDA computer and walked to the elevators.

  Vinnie would be waiting for me in the car in front of the building. When he had dropped me off, he promised not to move from that spot and I knew that he was not going to break his word. I reached the front door and on a bracing inhale opened it. Vinnie was leaning against my car, tapping away on his smartphone. As if sensing me, he looked up and his whole face lit up with a smile.

  “Howdy, Jen-girl.” He pushed away from the car. “What’s up? We’re going home?”

  “I’m going to work from home.” I moved around him to the passenger door, scared that he might hug me. His familiarity and openness was disconcerting.

  “Okey-dokey.” He folded his gigantic body into my little city car and turned the ignition. “Tomorrow we’re taking my car. This little toy is far too uncomfortable for me to spend a day in.”

  I made a non-committal sound and settled back into the seat. While Vinnie chattered away about the people he noticed on the street in front of the office building, I allowed my mind to wander. I loved this time of the year in Europe. The beginning of the summer holidays saw the end of serious traffic congestion, shops crowded with bargain-hunting students and parks filled with them carousing. The city would start to empty itself now as people headed off to seaside resorts. This left me free to go for long runs through the many beautiful parks in Strasbourg without feeling as if I was wading through throngs of people.

  I continued to ignore Vinnie’s monologue. We were driving on one of my favourite medieval streets, trees separating the street from the river on the left, historic buildings on the right with happy flowerboxes adorning petite balconies. We crossed the bridge leading to my apartment and I sighed with visual contentment. The view of the riverside, especially spectacular all lit up at night, pleased my sense of the aesthetic.

  My street was a few intersections ahead and my mind floated back to the case. I didn’t plan on wasting time at home. As soon as I got there I wanted to get back into looking for patterns and connections with the cruise ships. I had already noticed two interesting things and wanted to follow up on them. I just hoped that the destruction in my apartment that still needed to be cleaned up was not going to be too distracting.

  Chapter THIRTEEN