The Gauguin Connection

by Estelle Ryan

  The sight that greeted me in the front of my apartment would have been comical, had it not been Phillip and Vinnie facing each other off. And they were literally facing each other off. Vinnie’s body served as a human wall, preventing Phillip from entering my apartment. I had to stand to the side to see my boss and was surprised to witness a different side of the normally controlled corporate leader.

  Phillip had pulled himself up to his full height, which meant that his nose reached Vinnie’s throat. My giant bodyguard had lowered his head and was standing nose to nose with my boss and friend who I have trusted more and for longer than anyone else.

  “Let me in.”

  “Nah, old timer. You can just turn around and go back to listening to opera and smoking your pipe.”

  Phillip’s eyes widened in surprise. Even I was taken aback that Vinnie would know about Phillip’s private habits. Had he spied on my boss?

  “Where is she?” Phillip didn’t take his eyes off Vinnie, else he would’ve seen me.

  “She’s where she is.” There was ice in Vinnie’s voice.

  “I’m here, Phillip.” I stepped forward and glared at Vinnie. “Let him in.”

  Vinnie didn’t move. He looked at Phillip for another threatening five seconds before he turned his eyes to me. “Are you sure about this, Jen-girl? He doesn’t seem very friendly.”

  “He’s only responding to your animosity. This is my home and you will not treat my friends like this.” Looking up at Vinnie at this close proximity emphasised his head and a half height advantage over me. I lowered my voice and ordered Vinnie with as much authority as I could muster, “Let him in and be nice.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Vinnie stepped aside with a textbook insincere smile aimed at Phillip. “Please come in.”

  Phillip did not look intimidated in the least. As a matter of fact, he looked taller than usual and much more forceful. This case was bringing out different sides to all of us. He ignored Vinnie as if he was the help and walked straight to me. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure?” He glanced back where Vinnie was closing the door.

  I was tempted to roll my eyes. “I’m fine, Phillip. Vinnie is my bodyguard.”

  “This is your bodyguard?” Phillip’s voice raised and his eyes widened in shock.

  This time I did roll my eyes. “Vinnie, meet Phillip. Phillip, Vinnie.”

  The two men glared at each other. It was a fascinating study in male behaviour. Here were two alpha male personalities weighing the other’s threat to the territory. Were they primates, they might have started beating their chests. Apparently Vinnie decided that Phillip had passed some kind of test, moved closer and held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Even though Phillip took Vinnie’s hand in a quick shake, his rudeness took me aback. His corporate behaviour had always been smooth. Now he seemed much more on edge. “Are you a criminal?”

  Vinnie’s entire expression froze. His neck muscles stiffened, his eye focus was fixed on Phillip and his jaw muscles tightened. He addressed me without taking his eyes off my boss. “Are your friends always this rude, Jen-girl?”

  “Enough. Both of you. If you can’t be civil to each other, you can both leave.” Really. I had had enough of this posturing and male intimidation. I turned away from the two men and started walking to my bedroom. Then I realised that Colin was most likely still in there, no doubt avoiding making his identity known to Phillip. The spare bedroom was invaded by Vinnie and my study had also been taken over by my two criminal protectors. Nowhere in my apartment was safe for me to go.

  My indecision on where to go slowed my steps until I came to a standstill next to the dining room table. When Phillip spoke, his voice was a few feet behind me. “Genevieve, can we please talk?”

  I turned around. Vinnie was still standing at the door, looking ready to physically remove Phillip from my apartment. The latter took a step closer, the forcefulness on his face replaced by concern. All this male silliness was because of concern. The behaviour of this gender was at times utterly ridiculous. I sighed.

  “Let’s sit in the living area. Vinnie, would you give us some privacy, please?”

  “I’ll make tea.” Vinnie walked past us to the kitchen and I knew that he was going to listen in on this conversation. There wasn’t going to be any privacy. I ushered Phillip towards the front door and into the living space to the right. As I settled into the sofa Vinnie had earlier occupied, Phillip’s body became suddenly tense. He was looking around my apartment.

  “You didn’t tell me that they brought so much destruction.”

  I looked at the scratched furniture, my books that still needed to be properly arranged and the empty spaces where ornaments used to be. They were now somewhere in a garbage container. “My apartment was pretty well destroyed by the time they left. Vinnie and Colin cleaned up.”

  Phillip threw a doubting look towards the kitchen. “He cleans?”

  “Surprisingly well.”

  He moved quietly to the sofa and sat down next to me, leaving enough space for my comfort. “Genevieve, this is turning out all wrong. I’m really worried.”

  “We’ve been over this.” And I was bored having the same conversations all the time. “Can’t we just avoid this conversation and work on what is really important?”

  “No.” His tone held a finality that made me sigh. We were going to have this conversation. Vinnie chose that moment to bring a tray with tea and cookies. He placed it on the coffee table and gave me a searching look.

  “Thanks, Vinnie.” I made sure that my smile reached my eyes. He was annoying me senselessly, but his concern was sincere. “I’m okay for now.”

  “You’ll shout if you need me.”

  “It won’t be necessary.” The orbicularis oculi muscles around Vinnie’s eyes contracted to harden the expression in his eyes. I sighed for the eighth time. There was only one way to get rid of him. “Fine, I’ll shout if I need you.”

  He gave Phillip a last unfriendly look and walked to the back of my apartment, towards my bedroom. I didn’t even want to think about him and Colin together in my sanctuary. Instead I got up and after choosing my favourite Ella Fitzgerald CD, placed it in the player and turned the music louder than I usually would.

  “I thought you trusted him,” Phillip said when I sat down.

  “You mean the loud music?” When he nodded, I smiled. I poured us each a cup of tea and handed Phillip his before I took mine and settled into a more comfortable position. “I trust them both, but that doesn’t give them the right to listen in on my conversations.”

  “What do you mean them?”

  Oh damn. I didn’t even try to lie. “Colin is in my bedroom.”

  “They’re both here?” Phillip’s voice rose above the music and he inhaled deeply when I frowned at him. “I want to meet him.”

  “I don’t think he wants to meet you. If he did, he would’ve been out here with Vinnie.”

  “Genevieve, there are some things you don’t know.”

  “There are a lot of things I don’t know.” For instance, how to build a computer virus. I also didn’t know all the species of animals on this planet of ours. Nor did I know who the most influential people in the fashion industry were. Until recently I hadn’t known about Kwaito, a music genre specific to South Africa.

  “That’s not what I mean.” His sharp answer brought me back to the present conversation. “There are some things that you don’t know about Colin.”

  “I should think so. I’ve only known him for a short time.” The exasperated look in Phillip’s eyes gave me pause, so I took a moment to absorb what he had said. “Do you mean that he might be pretending to be something he’s not?”

  Phillip glanced towards my bedroom door and dropped his voice a few decibels. “I have discovered some things about him.”

  I stopped him with my hand, palm towards him, in the air. “I know that Colin has had
a life of crime, Phillip. There is much about his ... um ... work that I find disconcerting, but he is a man I trust. He’s proven himself to me.”

  “He is keeping things from you. He is–”

  “No. I’m not going to argue any further with you about his involvement. Or Vinnie’s for that matter. They are helping me and I trust them. Let me rather tell you what we’ve discovered.”

  After a few moments of Phillip searching my face for something, he conceded. “What have you found?”

  I told him about the cruise ships, each belonging to a company and the odd ownership thereof. All the while he listened intently, sipping his tea. My tea was getting cold. I also told him of the auctions on these ships and the legal gray area auctions at sea enjoyed, but it was the EU charity that really caught his attention.

  “I’ve never heard of the Foundation for Development of Sustainable Education.”

  “Well, it’s been around for almost twenty years.”

  “And you say that the Foundation is connected to ten cruise ships.”

  “That we have found so far.”

  “I wonder if Manny knows about this.”

  “He most definitely knows about the Foundation.” I watched Phillip’s eyebrows shoot up and explained. “He’s on a photo on their website. He attended a gala function and is on the photo with his friend, Leon Hofmann, the head of the EDA and also Tomasz Kubanóv.”

  “The Russian philanthropist?”

  “You know him?” I asked.

  “I only know of him. He’s Russia’s Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Bono.”

  “I don’t know who they are.”

  “Of course you don’t.” Phillip smiled and was silent for a long time. “We’ll ask Manny about this tomorrow when we meet. I sent him your report and we can discuss it tomorrow, together with all this new information.”

  I placed my untouched cup of tea on the coffee table and turned to Phillip. “Why did you come tonight?”

  My question must have interrupted his thoughts, because he looked confused for a second. “Oh. Oh yes! How could I have forgotten?”

  “Forgotten what?” I asked when he didn’t continue, but was digging into the inner breast pocket of his suit jacket.

  “This.” He handed me a photo. “Danielle’s roommate, Anna... Anna...”

  “Anna Pascal?” In my mind’s eye I could see the exam-stressed student in her messy apartment, worried about her roommate.

  “Yes, her. Well, she came into the office this afternoon and brought this photo. She said that she had forgotten that Danielle had given it to her. It’s a photo of her and her boyfriend on the cruise where they met.”

  I looked at the photo and saw a happy and very much alive Danielle smiling up at a good looking man. He was tall, in his early thirties with Mediterranean features. His facial expression immediately caught my eye. He was looking down at Danielle, his orbicularis oculi tightened, exhibiting intent. What his intention was would be pure speculation, but sexual it was not. None of his other non-verbal cues communicated sexual interest. The rest of his body confirmed the intent showed by his constricted pupils.

  His right hand on his hip, left arm draped over Danielle, and feet firmly planted were signs of a strong, territorial display. Nothing in his body displayed comfort or infatuation, whereas Danielle was clearly smitten. She was leaning into him, her arms thrown around his torso and her neck totally exposed while looking up at him. Where everything in her expression was soft, he was as hard as marble. I felt righteous indignation rise in me for the abuse of such innocent trust.

  “What do you see?” Phillip’s voice reached me through the fog of the thousand words this picture was telling me.

  “A girl who trusted a calculating, hard man. Do we know who he is?”

  “Not yet. I scanned and emailed the photo to Manny. Hopefully one of their databases will identify this man.”

  “If he’s the one who caused her death, I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison.” I looked up from the photo and stifled a yawn. This caused immediate worry lines to crease Phillip’s brow and he stood up.

  “You’re tired. Really, Genevieve, you need to take better care of yourself.” After a few more warnings from him to eat enough, rest and not go into the office too early, Phillip left. I made sure all the locks on the front door were in place and then turned the music down.

  “You can come out.”

  Immediately Colin and Vinnie exited my bedroom and made their way to the kitchen where I was putting the cups and saucers in the dishwasher.

  “Loud music? Really, Jenny.” Colin sounded annoyed. I stood up from the dishwasher and was surprised to see real anger pulling at his facial muscles. He was standing in front of me, hands on his hips with his thumbs facing back. A clear communication that there were issues he was not pleased with. “You told me that you trusted me.”

  “I do.”

  He moved closer, more confrontational, glaring down at me. “Then why the music?”

  I sighed. “Colin, you don’t intimidate me with your dominant display of vexation.”

  “My domi–” His indignant response was interrupted by Vinnie’s laughter.

  “Oh, that’s rich. Dude, she nailed you.” Vinnie’s entire body was shaking with mirth. The corners of my mouth lifted in response. Not that I found anything funny. It was simply a pleasure to not be totally immersed by seriousness. Colin didn’t seem to appreciate this moment as much. His brow was lowered and deep lines formed a frown of displeasure. Should I apologise?

  “I didn’t mean to offend you, Colin.” This only deepened his frown, so I tried another tactic. I was truly not good at this. The only thing I was really good at was honesty. “I knew that Phillip was going to argue with me about Vinnie’s presence and I didn’t want you to overhear something that would cause another show of male behaviour. As fascinating as I find men behaving like primates, beating their chests, I don’t know how to referee that and didn’t want it in my apartment.”

  Different sounds of annoyance were uttered by both men and I threw my hands in the air. “That’s it. I don’t know how to communicate with you when you are like this. I’m going to bed.”

  I started walking towards my bedroom, but the men were blocking my exit out of the kitchen area. They didn’t move and I stopped in front of them with an angry huff and a lifted eyebrow. We stared at each other for a few long heartbeats. My brain was working overtime, trying to figure out how to deal with this. How on earth did people have relationships when no one was willing to listen to the other person’s honesty?

  “Can we sit down and talk about this?” Colin broke the standoff with his quiet question.

  “Are you going to listen to me or get angry at everything I say?”

  He inhaled to answer me, thought better of it and pressed his lips together. A second later he stepped aside. “Let’s sit down. I’ll listen as long as you also listen.”

  “I always listen.”

  “And always argue back.”

  Vinnie found this funny and chuckled quietly as he followed us to the living area. We all settled in the sofas and I quickly gave them the highlights of Phillip’s visit. When I mentioned the photo, both men leaned forward.

  “Let me see the photo.” Colin held out his hand. I picked it up from the coffee table next to me and handed it to him. He studied it for a while before he handed it to Vinnie. We discussed what was visible on the photo, but came to no conclusions. It would be up to Manny and his people to identify this man.

  “Dude, you could ask Francine,” Vinnie suggested. “You know how good she is with finding things, info, people.”

  “Let Jenny first speak to Manny tomorrow. If he isn’t able to get the man’s name, then we can contact Francine.”

  “Right on, dude.” Vinnie leaned back in the chair, happy with Colin’s solution. A pensive silence descended on us and Phillip’s words of warning came back to me. After a while I felt Colin’s eyes on me and looked at him.


  “What’s bothering you, Jenny? What are you not telling us?”

  I studied his face for any telltale signs of deception, malice or animosity. I found none of that. What I did take note of was how he waited out my scrutiny with a quiet calm. Either I was completely mistaken and he was an arrogant, overconfident psychopath. Or he was comfortable with himself and with me, allowing me to read him until I reached a conclusion. Which I did.

  “He told me that you’re not telling me everything, that there are things that I don’t know about you.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  “I know that.”

  “My favourite colour is blue,” he said with a smile. I didn’t understand why he would tell me this, but surmised it might have some social significance, so I smiled politely. This had him chuckling softly. “Never mind. Jenny, any time you have a question about or for me, just ask. I’ll be as honest as possible.”

  “You can only be honest or not.”

  Vinnie snorted and Colin groaned. “Okay, then I will be totally honest, but will only tell you what I can.”

  There was not a single sign of deception to be seen. No one was that good at lying. “Thank you.”

  “Same goes for me, Jen-girl,” Vinnie said. There was a smile in his voice. “Although this whole honesty thing is totally new for me.”

  I took a few moments to think this over and then decided that there were a few answers I wanted. “Can I ask you something now?”

  Colin looked at me askance, obviously suspicious. “Okay.”

  “Are you working for the EDA?”

  His lips twitched with humour. “Most definitely not.”

  “Eurocorps?”

  “Jenny, you’re the one accusing me of being a criminal from the moment we met. How can you think that I’m working for one of these guys?”

  “You’re not answering my question.” Which was an answer in itself.

  Colin sighed. “I’m not working for Eurocorps.”

  “What is your connection to Manny?”

  “What makes you think there is a connection?”

  I ignored Vinnie’s soft gasp and focussed on the numerous cues Colin was exhibiting, telling me exactly how uncomfortable he was. “Answering my question with a question is an attempt at diversion far beneath your intellect, Colin.”

  “Manfred Millard is a person that I am not fond of, Jenny. This is one of those cases where I want to be honest with you, but I can’t tell you everything.”

  “But you have a connection?”

  “Yes.” That one word carried a wealth of information. His lips drawing sideways to produce a sneering dimple in his cheek showed me that there was no love lost between the two men. Whatever the event was that connected Manny and Colin it did not produce happy memories. Hissing the word through his teeth only reiterated my reading of his face.

  “I would really like to know.”

  “Maybe one day I will tell you.”

  “Okay.” My silent acceptance surprised him. Then he smiled at me with relief and gratefulness. Apparently, this was a sensitive topic for the man portraying himself as unaffected by the world. He was not. I settled back into the sofa and allowed my mind to wander over the day’s discoveries. I couldn’t find any new links that we might have overlooked, so I turned my attention to the two men sitting with me in contemplative silence.

  I took a mental step back and looked at the three of us lounging on my sofas. Vinnie was taking up most of the space of the sofa facing the bookshelf, while Colin and I were on opposite ends of the sofa facing the balcony. The body language all around communicated high comfort, trust and goodwill.

  It astounded me that I had two people in my apartment exhibiting such cues while in my presence. Never, to my knowledge, had I had that effect on anyone before. Was this what friendship was like? People comfortable in each other’s presence. Was I comfortable in their presence?

  Before I could analyse this question, Colin spoke. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “What, dude?” Vinnie rearranged himself to sit a bit more upright.

  “The forgeries.” He was sitting with his eyes closed and spoke as if to himself. “There must be someone facilitating the forgeries being sold at the auctions at sea.”

  “Please explain,” I said.

  “What doesn’t make sense is that there are so many varied artworks. So far we have almost fifty artworks that were miraculously recovered by private investigators who do not exist. At least not that we know of. Of those fifty works we have paintings in all kinds of mediums – statues, bronzes, different eras, different everything.” He opened his eyes and looked at me. “There is not one single forger able to reach so wide in this range. Not one.”

  “And you know all of them?”

  “All the ones able to forge works at this level.”

  Vinnie’s gasp drew my eye. He was clearly surprised that Colin would tell me this and therefore almost implicating him via the association or knowledge. I looked back at Colin. “How do you know them?”

  “That is not important now. What is important is that I believe there are quite a few forgers working on this. That is the only way I can explain this varied portfolio of works.”

  “Dude, do you actually think that would happen? You know how stiff the competition is out there. I can’t imagine a group of forgers forming a union and co-operating.” Vinnie paused a second and tilted his head. “Unless the money is good.”

  “The money is never good enough. Not for something like this.”

  “Something like what?” I asked.

  “I don’t know yet. It just doesn’t make sense.”

  I couldn’t see us uncovering any revealing clues tonight, so I pushed myself out of the sofa. “I’m going to bed.”

  “Rest up and we’ll speak about our discoveries tomorrow evening.”

  “Nighty-night, Jen-girl. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll clean up after Colin here as soon as he gets his messy ass home.”

 

  Chapter FIFTEEN