The Gauguin Connection

by Estelle Ryan

  The men disappeared through an open door into what looked like a library. I stopped next to the door and peeked around the corner. They were standing in front of a solid wooden door against the far wall of the library. Chief Dutoit reached up and took a key from on top of the doorframe. He unlocked the door and returned the key to its hiding place.

  “Let’s go,” he said and followed the other man through the door. The door closed behind them and locked with an audible click. I waited until I thought the men might have moved far away from the door. Still holding the phone in front of me, I walked to the door and reached up. I was too short. An impatient growl escaped my lips as I looked around for something to aid me.

  Most of the furniture in the room looked antique and undoubtedly too heavy for me to drag to the door. Except for the small footstool next to a beautiful nineteenth century wingback chair big enough for me to curl up and sleep in. I dragged the stool to the door and retrieved the key. I pushed the stool away and stared at the key. I didn’t know what would greet me behind that door, but I didn’t want to waste any time waiting for Manny and Colin.

  As quietly as I could, I pushed the key into the lock and turned. I winced when it clicked and held my breath. No one came storming through the door, so I pulled the door only a centimetre away from the lock. I left the key under the stool, aiming my phone at it so that Colin would know where to find it. My niche, my forte was in the safety of my viewing room, not sneaking around. The shaking of my hands, tightness in my throat and shallow breathing were evidence of that.

  It required three deep breaths before I had enough courage to open the door wide enough to look beyond the opening. I was looking at the dark-blue walls of a staircase. Most likely it led to the basement or to a wine cellar. As I slipped through the door and heard the lock click behind me, it felt like I was standing at the top of a staircase leading me to my doom.

  The sounds of the party were now mostly muted. The two men’s voices floated up the staircase, which looked uncommonly long going down. I held my phone in front of me like a shield and carefully went down the stairs towards the argument. Two thirds of the way down, I could distinguish their words.

  “This is a disaster,” the other man said. “How did they know our plans?”

  “Someone must have talked,” Chief Dutoit said. Visual cues were my strength, but it was easy to hear the contained rage in his words. “It was not anybody on my team. Which leaves only you and your trusted right hand man.”

  I had reached the bottom of the staircase. I stood on the last step and leaned against the wall, hoping that they were not close enough to see me. Straight ahead of the stairs were rows and rows of shelved wine bottles in a softly lit room. The visible plumbing and ventilation pipes running along the ceiling did not take away from the muted elegance of this space. It was a well maintained cellar. There were even paintings against the walls. Expensive paintings. In relation to the case they most probably were all forgeries.

  “Sir, it wasn’t us. I would never betray you.” The other man’s thin answer came from the right. I dared a look around the wall and saw them. Chief Dutoit was standing close to the other man. He was leaning forward, almost nose to nose, his one hand on his hip, the other tightened in a fist. The other man’s shoulders were slightly hunched, his eyes wide. “Sir, I’ve been with you for ten years. I believe in what you do. I would never–”

  “Who else could it be?” Chief Dutoit interrupted the other man’s stuttering. “Who else would know what we were planning after the award ceremony?”

  “Sir, it was on the programme that the artists would go to a retreat after the ceremony.”

  Moving only my arm, I pushed my smartphone past the corner of the wall, aiming it at them. I hoped that the lack of background noise would aid the limited capabilities of the phone’s microphone. The bad lighting most likely would not result in good footage.

  “That means nothing.” Chief Dutoit’s voice was growing softer and more menacing. I swallowed my nerves away, hoping that Colin would show up soon. What was taking them so long? I glanced at my phone’s screen. Chief Dutoit was towering even closer to the other man now. “I would like to know what led the police to take all the artists into protective custody. That was–”

  A hand clamped on my shoulder and I yelped. Loudly. My smartphone fell to the ground in a loud clatter, but I had no time to worry about my phone. All I could focus on was the terrifying awareness of a sharp blade against my throat. Not again. Please, not again. I swallowed nervously, too late realising that it would move the blade against my throat and possibly cause damage. All conversation in the cellar ceased.

  “What have we here?” the man behind me asked. I blinked in surprise as I recognised the voice of the German thug who had terrorised me in my apartment. He still had his hand on my shoulder and pushed me forward. “Come, let’s introduce you.”

  A thousand fragmented thoughts fluttered through my mind. Thoughts of Manny’s anger about me not waiting for them, that I would miss him calling me ‘missy’ when he was annoyed with me. That I would miss Colin’s touch, Vinnie’s protective presence and Phillip’s guidance. I was also growing angrier with myself for being so focussed on the conversation between Dutoit and the other man that I never even considered paying attention to the staircase. The curse of my single-minded focus.

  I was prodded by the hand on my shoulder and the knife to my throat until I stood in front of Chief Dutoit and the other man. My self-aimed anger and the enormity of the situation were far too significant for me to succumb to panic. If only I would live to tell this story, to face Manny’s anger. I didn’t want this to be my last day on earth. I wasn’t ready to die.

  “Doctor Lenard, we meet again.” Chief Dutoit studied me through narrowed eyes.

  “Chief Dutoit,” I answered in French. I wanted us to speak in the language that would give me that word again. “I can’t say that this is a pleasure.”

  “I found her lurking at the bottom of the staircase, listening to your conversation,” the thug said in accented French. I wondered if he had not seen my smartphone, or whether he considered it broken and thus harmless when it had hit the floor. Was it still streaming and recording?

  “You will have to forgive my colleague’s right hand man for his tactics.” Chief Dutoit nodded at the knife against my throat. “It is only for the safety of the event.”

  I considered lying, telling him that I had lost my way. Only for a moment though. My lack of deceptive skills would only anger a man who looked close to the edge. His nonverbal cues were alarming. I had to do something to bring him back from his rage. I forced my muscles to relax, conveying as little threat as possible. I focussed on calming my breathing so that my voice would be controlled, soothing. “It is quite a large selection of wines here. I’m not a big white wine drinker. Only in summer, maybe with a good salad would I indulge.”

  Chief Dutoit stilled, frowned, then smiled at me. “What do you favour? A merlot? Cabernet sauvignon?”

  “My palate prefers a good Pinot noir. I like its purity, its freshness. The notes of damp earth make me feel one with its origins.” I could not believe I was talking about wine while very possibly facing death.

  “I also prefer a good red wine.” The tightness in his face and posture lightened a bit. “I prefer a Cabernet sauvignon though. It goes well with my preference for red meat.”

  “You really are him,” I whispered. “You are Piros.”

  We stared at each other. There was no mistaking his pronunciation of the word red in French. Add to that everything else I knew, I was in an eye-lock with one of the most notorious criminals in Europe. I was sure that Manny would be able to align Chief Dutoit’s career-tracks with Piros’ activities. Thinking about Manny, where was he?

  “Ah, Doctor Lenard, you’ve just earned yourself a death sentence.” Chief Dutoit looked disappointed. He nodded at the German who let me go, but stayed close to me. I couldn’t resist the need to touch my throat. It
was unharmed. Chief Dutoit, aka Piros, walked closer until he stood a foot away from me. “You’ve been the most fun I’ve had in years. A worthy adversary. All these years and no one got even close to me.”

  “They couldn’t get close to you if you were the one leading the investigation, or the one closing it down.”

  “True, true. It pays having worked one’s way up the ladder, making friends along the way. It’s always who you know, not what you know.” His smile sent an uncontrollable shiver down my spine. “Tell me, how did you figure it out? I know it wasn’t that idiot, Millard.”

  I wanted to, but I didn’t defend Manny. I counted on him not being an idiot so that he could find me and save me from this terrifying ordeal. My hesitation to answer him unfortunately lasted a moment too long. Piros lost his patience and slapped me hard across my left cheek. My head snapped back and I almost lost my balance. When I looked up at him, all I saw past the tears in my eyes was ruthless cold menace.

  “How did you figure it out?” His shouted question was as violent an assault on my senses as the slap. I flinched before I could control my panic and my responses with a measure of Mozart.

  “Red,” I said past the tightness in my throat. “I heard you say red.”

  I focussed on the micro movements of his facial muscles to keep me grounded. I could see his mind computing what I had just told him until he reached a conclusion. I saw his intent, but it didn’t prepare me. He slapped me viciously across the same cheek as he screamed at me, “Who was it? Who told you where my name came from?”

  I tried, but it was too much for me. The picture of Danielle lying in a pool of her own blood flashed across my consciousness followed by disjointed flashes of financial spreadsheets, shipping manifests, flash drives, Vinnie’s smile, Manny’s frown, Francine’s tablet computer. I sank to the floor of the cellar. If I allowed the black void to suck me in, I wouldn’t feel any pain, I wouldn’t fear for my life. It was beckoning me and I was tempted.

  But then I wouldn’t be able to tell Manny who Piros was. On a painful breath I imagined Colin holding my hand while I listened to Mozart. The darkness receded and I opened my eyes. I had my arms wrapped around my waist, keening softly and rocking myself. I must have been like this for a few minutes, because Piros was a few feet away from me, barking orders into a cell phone.

  The other man was watching me with hatred and disdain on his face. His steady hand was pointing a gun at my head. I looked at my own shaking hands. I wanted to be in my viewing room, not here. If not my viewing room, any other place would suffice. I just wanted to not feel so damned terrified. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the German making his way to the staircase.

  “What’s wrong with you?” The other man’s disgusted question brought my attention back.

  “I was slapped. Hard. Twice.” I tried to stand up, but he stepped closer and just shook his head. The gun was close enough for me to see into the barrel. I imagined that I could see the tip of the bullet. I swallowed a few times.

  “Your weakness sickens me. People like you should not be allowed in public.”

  “For once I agree with you, Pierre.” Piros slid his cell phone into his jacket pocket and walked closer. “It’s arranged. I will leave through the back, my transport will pick me up. You can deal with her. You’ll have to keep it quiet though. The place is crawling with police. Just find out what she knows first.”

  “It will be my pleasure.” His smile told me what kind of sick pleasure he would get from following Piros’ orders.

  “Doctor Lenard,” Piros looked down at me with all the arrogant power he thought he had. “It truly was a pleasurable few weeks watching you work. You’ve caused me great inconvenience, but a new challenge. I will have to regroup, but it is a long overdue necessity.”

  “You won’t get away.” I said it with more conviction than I felt. Surely Manny and Colin should have found me by now. Where were they? Was Piros really going to get away?

  “I will.” He smirked. “You won’t.”

  Powerless I watched as he turned away and walked to the back of the basement. Presumably to another door that would lead him to freedom. Lead him to continue his evil work. I had to do something. I had to stop this, but I didn’t know what. I wanted to howl with frustration, but didn’t dare do anything with that gun so close to my head.

  Suddenly my senses were overwhelmed by the loudest sound and brightest light I had ever encountered. All my frustration, thoughts and desperate plans made place for panic. It felt like a bomb had exploded in the cellar, but I was still alive. I looked for damage, debris flying about but I couldn’t see anything. The loudness of the bang left me totally disoriented. I fell back on the floor, my hands slammed over my ears, screaming soundlessly. My ears were ringing, nausea causing me to curl into a foetal position. An irrational thought crossed my mind that I had never felt more alive.

  I forced Mozart into my mind as it threatened to shut down. When strong arms lifted me against a solid chest and gently carried me away, my breathing became erratic. Bile rose in my throat from the fear of being touched. The fear of being carried to a place worse than where I was. I started squirming, but the hands held me tighter. We were climbing the stairs, away from the cellar. Shouted orders barely superseded the ringing in my ears and I felt even more disoriented and scared.

  “Jenny, you have to calm down.” I felt Colin’s voice rumbling where he held me against his chest. I opened my eyes. My vision was back. The bright flash of light must have only blinded me momentarily. We were in the library. Colin sat down in the large wingback chair still holding me to his chest. “I’ve got you. Just calm down.”

  “Piros.” I managed to push the word past my lips.

  “GIPN has him.” From his breathing I knew he was speaking louder than usual. I was glad. The ringing in my ears was terrible. He touched my face and I leaned into his palm. “God, I nearly died waiting for those arseholes to get their shit together. I thought we were going to lose you. Why didn’t you wait?”

  “I was scared we were going to lose the opportunity to catch Piros red-handed.”

  Colin bit down hard on his jaw, not taking his eyes off me for one moment. “Never, ever again. You will never put your life in danger like this again. Promise me.”

  I stared at the agony on his face, in his eyes. “You care.”

  “Of course I fucking care!” He took a few calming breaths. “Jenny, promise me.”

  It wasn’t a hard promise to make. I never wanted to experience the last ten minutes again. “I promise.”

  “Jen-girl!” Vinnie’s voice boomed across the room. He ran to us and slid to a stop on his knees at our feet. He looked at Colin. “Did you make her promise?” He looked at me. “Did you promise? Your word, Jen-girl. We want your word.”

  “I promised Colin that I would never put my life in danger like this again.”

  “Did you promise that you would never go into another situation without one of us next to you?”

  “Vinnie, that is an illogical promise to make. You can’t always be with me.” I pushed myself into a more upright position. “Why didn’t you guys come to my rescue earlier? Didn’t you get the video I was streaming to your phone?”

  “We got it,” Colin said. “Manny and Leon decided that it would be better to send the professionals in to control the situation. We had to wait ten minutes for GIPN to get themselves organised over here.”

  “Ten minutes of hell.” Vinnie’s groan barely rose above the ringing that was still loud in my ears.

  “Doctor I-read-fucking-faces Lenard!” Manny’s angry voice drew my attention to the cellar door. He stormed to us and I felt Colin’s arms tighten around me. Vinnie stood up, but strangely didn’t put himself between me and Manny. Instead he moved to the side. Manny stopped in front of us, glaring down at me long enough for my heart rate to increase. “What the fuck were you thinking!”

  “Manny,” I said softly.

  “Don’t fucking Manny me!
I can’t talk to you right now. I’m so fucking angry with you.” He was short of breath from rage. On a growl he glared at Colin. “You talk to her.”

  I blinked in astonishment as Manny swung around and stormed back to the basement. What happened to the dynamics between them while I was in the cellar? There was a sense of co-operation between them that I had not seen before.

  “Jenny, are you okay? Really okay?” Colin asked when I looked at him.

  “There’s a loud ringing in my head.”

  “It’s the stun grenade they used,” Vinnie said. “It produces a loud blast and a flash of light to disorient the enemy.”

  “It worked on me,” I said. “Did it work on the German, Piros and the other man? Oh my god, do you know who Piros is?”

  “We figured out that Dutoit is Piros while you were playing Nancy Drew,” Colin said.

  “I don’t know who she is.” I shrugged off another meaningless name thrown at me. “How did you figure it out?”

  “Manny phoned one of his old friends at Interpol to ask about Simon Brun. Seems Manny’s old friend is one of the big guys over there. Big enough to have answers to highly confidential questions. Apparently Simon Brun had made quite a name for himself in the covert world at that time. Enough for this friend to remember the alias and the agent. Bloody Chief Dutoit.”

  My response died in my mouth as three men, dressed in black like the thugs who had broken into my apartment, escorted Piros through the cellar door. His face was beaten up, but he looked like he had won a prize rather than being caught. Behind them Manny followed, shaking his hand. My eyebrows lifted as I looked from Manny’s bloody knuckles to Piros’ battered face. I didn’t say anything until they left the room. “Why does Piros look so arrogant?”

  “He probably thinks he is too valuable for any law enforcement agency to send him to prison,” Colin said. “He reckons he’s an asset who will be valued and given special witness protection status.”

  “How do you know this?” I asked.

  Colin silently stared at me until I realised his work for Interpol must have taught him a lot about these kinds of situations. My understanding must have been evident on my face. He shook his head at me when I opened my mouth to say something about this. I closed my mouth and bit down on my lips for good measure. Colin smiled for the first time since I opened my eyes to find myself in his arms. I was still in his arms. I tried to sit up, but he held on to me.

  “Colin, let me up. I can’t sit on your lap.”

  “Why not?”

  I frowned. “I don’t know.”

  “Well then. Stay here until you feel better.”

  “I feel fine.”

  “Not light-headed?”

  “A little.”

  “What about your cheek?”

  My hand floated up to touch the sensitive swelling where I had been slapped twice. “I don’t think anything is broken. It really hurts though.”

  “You will get checked by the paramedic.” Manny’s gruff order caught me by surprise. I hadn’t seen him come back into the library. He was standing with his hands on his hips a scant few feet away, the corners of his mouth pulled down. “What are you doing on Frey’s lap?”

  “She’s lightheaded,” Vinnie said as if it would answer more than just that one question. He had seated himself in the adjacent chair. He looked exhausted.

  “He’s touching you.” Manny looked totally put out by this. Colin looked smug. I wanted to change the topic.

  “What about the German and the other man? Who is the other man? Where are all the guests?” I asked.

  Manny studied me for a while. At least this time it wasn’t with intense rage twisting his facial muscles. I only saw inflexible determination. “This is how it’s going to be, missy. You will first allow the GIPN team doctor to check you. If, and only if, he says that you are okay, will I answer all your questions. You will not complain when he needs to touch you to determine that you are okay. Understood?”

  There was only one correct answer. “Yes.”

  Fifteen minutes later I was still on Colin’s lap, but had just endured being prodded and touched by a dark skinned doctor with dreadlocks and gentle hands. Colin’s hand rubbing small circles on my back had helped me focus on calming my breathing when the doctor pressed against my cheekbone. As soon as he said I was okay, but might consider x-rays just to be sure, I leaned away from him. Vinnie stood up and scowled at the doctor until he left. All the while Manny had been talking on his cell phone. As soon as the doctor left the library he dragged an antique chair closer and perched on it. He looked uncomfortable on the spindly legged chair.

  “Phillip will visit you at your apartment tomorrow. He sends his regards.” He gave a crooked smile. “He knew we weren’t going to leave you and he didn’t want to overwhelm you with too many people around.”

  I looked around and noticed that there were still a lot of police type people walking around the house, but mostly we were alone in the library. I didn’t feel overwhelmed sitting on Colin’s lap, Vinnie less than a foot to my left and Manny sitting right in front of us. How my life had changed in less than a month.

  “Will you answer my questions now?” I asked.

  “Doc, you’re not good for an old man’s mental and physical health.” He ignored Colin and Vinnie’s snorts. “Okay, here’s the rundown. The other man was Piros’ lawyer. Had been for the last fifteen years. A crooked lawyer to boot.”

  “Like all lawyers,” said Vinnie.

  “His name was on the list of payments on the flash drives,” he continued as if Vinnie didn’t exist. The sense of their co-operation a thing of the past. “He’s in custody as is the German. Both of them immediately asked for legal representation.”

  “Will they get it?” Colin asked.

  “Maybe not immediately. This is an international case with terrorist roots. Piros and his associates don’t have much but the most basic of human rights after what they have done. Piros thought he would be able to cut a deal, but there is no chance of that ever happening. Not with the crimes he has committed.”

  “And we have evidence,” I said proudly.

  “That we do, Doc. That we do.”

  “What about the artists?” I asked.

  “After the ceremony they were put on a bus, GIPN intercepted them and took them into protective custody. They are all young people, at first arrogant, but started talking very quickly when they realised their freedom was at risk. We should get even more evidence from them.”

  “And they’re safe,” I said.

  “They are. If only you had enough sense to keep yourself safe, missy.” He frowned at me. “You, the rational, logical, level-headed, intellectual genius, followed a known mass killer into a basement. Have you no sense of self-preservation?”

  Manny was getting agitated again, so I refrained from commenting on his habitual redundant use of adjectives. “You talked so often about catching him red-handed, I didn’t want to lose the opportunity. To be honest, I didn’t really think much about my own safety.”

  “I swear to all that is pure and holy, Doc. You need a keeper.”

  “I do not.” All three men made disagreeing noises. I was deeply offended. “I do not need a keeper.”

  “Anyway,” Manny continued. “While you were busy giving us heart attacks with your mindless behaviour, the GIPN team moved all the guests to the other side of the house. They’re still vetting all the guests and have so far detained twelve men.”

  “Those men I noticed to be military types?” I asked.

  “Possibly,” Manny said. “I’m quite impressed with the GIPN team and the police helping them. They’re good. The whole cellar takedown happened fast, efficient–”

  “And saved my life,” I said. We were silent for a few moments. I didn’t know what they were thinking, but I was still trying to tie up loose ends. “What about Kubanóv? We know that he has to be involved with this.”

  “We have no evidence, Jen-girl,” Vinnie said.r />
  “That doesn’t matter now,” Manny said. “He got away.”

  Colin tensed. “What do you mean he got away? We know he must have been bankrolling Piros and this whole operation.”

  Manny’s answer got interrupted by his cell phone’s annoying ringtone. He glanced at his phone and grimaced. “Give me a moment.” He walked away from us as he answered his phone. The call didn’t last very long. There was purpose to his steps as he moved back to us.

  “What’s up, dude?” Vinnie sat up in his chair, looking concerned.

  “Don’t call me dude. You have to leave.”

  “Because I called you dude?”

  “No, you simpleton. All of you have to leave now. Take Doc home.”

  I pushed away from Colin. “Why?”

  “I’ve kept most of this investigation under wraps and I think I’m going to pay for this within the next ten minutes. The Head of the EDA just told me that the Secretary General from Interpol, the Chief of Police and a few other head honchos are all on their way here. I have no doubt that they are going to ask me about the help I received. Doc might be okay admitting to working with me, but I’m sure you two wouldn’t want all these guys seeing your faces.”

  Vinnie jumped up from his chair. I wasn’t ready to leave yet, but didn’t have a choice when Colin stood, picking me up. “Hey! I still have questions.”

  “They’re going to have to wait, Doc. I’ll come around tomorrow morning for a debrief.”

  I wanted to argue, but Colin and Vinnie were already moving to the back entrance. Only when we left the house did Colin listen to my near panic pleading. He gently lowered me until my feet touched the ground. But I didn’t need to walk anywhere. We were next to the limousine that had brought us here, the driver patiently waiting for us by the open back door.

  Chapter THIRTY