by Estelle Ryan
“It was the earliest virtual-reality, 3D art exhibition.” Nikki smiled. “They were hugely popular in Europe and the US in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, not all of these survived, but there are still quite a few on display.”
“Roubaud became famous because of his giant panorama paintings,” Colin said. “They had to build pavilions just to exhibit them. His love for Russia and Russian history came through in his art. A lot of his works are associated with the Caucuses. One of his famous paintings, The Battle of Elisavetpol, shows a scene from the Russia-Persian war near the Askerna River. He seemed to have a thing for the Russia-Persia conflicts.”
“Now that was an interesting time in history.” Nikki wiggled in her chair. “Of course it was also a horrible time, like any time of war. It was the fourth of five conflicts between the then Persian Empire and Imperial Russia. Of all five, this one was the longest and lasted nine years.”
“And inspired many artworks.” Colin leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “One of Roubaud’s earlier mentors influenced him to never take sides, not even in commissioned works. In his paintings, he would reveal the bravery of Russian soldiers as well as the heroism of the mountain men equally.”
“Ooh.” Nikki clapped her hands, her eyes wide, warning me to be sceptical of whatever she said next. “And then there are the theories about Roubaud’s art.”
“That’s nonsense, Nix.” Colin shook his head.
“We don’t know that.” Nikki looked at Francine, her conspiratorial expression completely fake. “There are theories that hidden treasure maps were worked into Roubaud’s paintings and in some of his lost panoramas.”
“What?” Francine froze, her wine glass a centimetre from her lips. She lowered her glass and leaned forward. “Tell me everything about these treasure maps.”
“Nonsense, Francine.” Colin held his hand up, palm towards Nikki, when she inhaled to speak. “Roubaud loved the Caucasus. A lot of his work is associated with the place, the people and the history. His Caucasian cycle lasted for a decade and he was prolific. He painted landscapes, lone horsemen and many battle scenes. He also loved painting river crossings. That was where the first of these ridiculous theories came from.
“The Oxus River was never even close to the areas depicted in Roubaud’s art. Yet treasure hunters inspected every millimetre of every painting he ever produced, thinking they’ll find hints of where the Oxus treasure entered the river before it started washing downstream. This ridiculousness has been disproved by numerous scholars. There is no substance to any of those theories.”
“Dammit!” Francine’s shoulders dropped and she leaned back in her chair. “And here I was just getting excited. You’re sure there’s no fire in this smoke?”
“There isn’t even smoke.” Colin looked at me. “Need an explanation?”
He knew my tendency to understand everything literally. I thought about it. “I don’t care.”
Everyone laughed.
“How was Caelan when you left him?” Phillip asked Manny.
“Pouring himself a glass of milk and cutting a few slices of white cheese to go with his white bread.” Manny shrugged. “He’s struggling, but he seems okay.”
“He’ll be fine once he goes through his nightly ritual and has a good night’s rest.” Francine’s micro-expressions didn’t agree with her statement. She was worried about Caelan. “He’ll feel even better when he goes through his morning routine before he joins us tomorrow morning.”
“He’s joining us?” Manny turned to glare at Francine. “That’s news to me. I thought I told you to convince him to stay out of this.”
Francine raised one eyebrow. “And since when did I ever follow your orders?”
“Does he have any more useful information?” I couldn’t imagine any other reason for Caelan to join us tomorrow.
“Nothing he’s consciously aware of.” Francine’s expression turned serious. “But I do think that he can help us. He was Jace’s best friend—Jace’s only friend. I also think that helping us will help Caelan deal with this. He’s not doing too well.”
I agreed with Francine’s assessment. I hadn’t seen Caelan after his earlier shutdown, but my non-neurotypical mind recovered quicker when I felt like I had control over a situation. Being left out of this investigation into the death of his best friend would leave Caelan feeling helpless and powerless. It would put unimaginable strain on his already overwhelmed psyche.
I only hoped that this case wasn’t going to take us too deep into the depravity of some criminal mind.
Chapter FOUR
“LOOK WHO WE FOUND IN the lift.” The concern underlying the playfulness in Daniel’s tone caught my attention and I turned away from the fifteen monitors in front of me.
Caelan was standing between Pink and Daniel. Juxtaposed to the two tall, muscular and older men, he looked young and lanky. He was wearing fresh clothes, had shaved and looked less overwhelmed than he had yesterday.
He walked into my viewing room and sat down in the chair Manny usually used. Daniel walked towards the kitchen where Colin was putting our mugs in the dishwasher. Colin turned and his eyes widened when he saw the painting in Daniel’s hands. He rushed over to an easel and waited impatiently for Daniel to place it there.
Pink was at Francine’s desk in the team room, handing her a set of eye glasses. I assumed those were Jace’s smart glasses—Francine’s enthusiasm when she grabbed them confirmed my suspicion.
I looked back at Caelan sitting next to me and narrowed my eyes when I noticed the dark shadows under his eyes. “Did you sleep?”
“A bit. I spent most of the night listing all the mountains on the planet, from tallest to shortest. Then the rivers from longest to shortest. Then islands from largest to smallest.”
“That’s gotta be worse than counting sheep.” Vinnie was leaning against the doorframe and winked at Caelan.
“Usually it helps me sleep, but it didn’t work last night.” Caelan scratched his thigh, then curled his fingers into a tight fist and slammed it on the same spot. “I don’t know how to cope with this. It feels like my brain is overloaded and is going to explode.”
“Overthinking seldom helps.” It usually made things worse for me and sent me into a long shutdown. “It might help to focus on something you can control. Like giving us information.”
Caelan’s fists relaxed and he straightened. “Information. What information? I can give you a lot of information about...”
“Geocaching.” I didn’t want him to give us useless facts about planets, stars and mountains. I turned back to the monitors in front of me. “Where can we find the geocaching site you and Jace used?”
“It’s on TOR.” Caelan took his backpack from his back and put it on the floor next to him. He reached into the backpack and came out with two stress balls. This was one of the many fidget toys people on the spectrum used to calm themselves when stimuli began to overwhelm them. He took one in each hand and squeezed. “Do you know how to get onto TOR?”
“Of course she does.” Francine walked into my viewing room, her tablet in her hand. “Most of the crimes we investigate have something to do with the dark web. But since I’m here, I’ll do it. What’s the address?”
“The site won’t be helpful.” Caelan shifted in his chair in a restless move typical of people on the spectrum. “The site is only for membership screening. Once you’re accepted as a member, you’re given access to the app. That’s where all the information is.”
“Okay, superman,” Vinnie said. “Can you give us access to your app?”
Caelan hesitated. “It’s private.”
“Will you use the app without Jace?” I asked.
“No.” Caelan hunched his shoulders. “We were a team. I don’t want to do this without him. I can’t do this without him.”
“You can do anything you want.” Daniel walked to the back of my room and leaned against one of the two antique-looking filing cabinets.
“Okay.” Caelan swallowed and gave Francine his log-in details in a hoarse voice. The increased tension in his body made me shift away from him.
“Give me a moment to download the app, sign in and put it all on the screen.” Francine sat down next to me in Colin’s usual chair, tapping and swiping her tablet screen.
“I checked the painting.” Colin walked in, glanced at Francine in his chair and went to stand by my antique-looking filing cabinets. Daniel joined him.
“And?” Manny walked into the room and stopped abruptly when he saw Caelan on my other side. He scowled. “You’re in my chair, young man.”
The room was feeling crowded now. I was used to the whole team in my room, but Manny’s hovering and Caelan’s fear took up a lot of space. Francine must’ve noticed my expression. She snapped her fingers at Manny. “Caelan’s our guest of honour. You’ll just have to stand next to Dan and Colin.”
“I’m not going to the back of the bloody classroo...” Manny’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Francine’s raised eyebrows. He looked at me and sighed. “Fine. I’ll go to the back.”
“This is not a classroom.” I raised my hand. “Don’t explain.”
I hoped Manny would see Caelan’s distress when confronted with neurotypical conversation. I’d become used to it over the years, but Caelan’s fragile mind at the moment wouldn’t be able to process this in addition to the stress of his friend’s death.
“I think now is a good time to tell you more about the painting.” Colin gave Manny a pointed look until the latter pushed his hands into his trouser pockets and joined Daniel and Colin at the filing cabinets. I exhaled in relief.
“Well?” Manny tapped his foot, his lips tightening even more as he glared at Colin.
Colin smiled. “Johan Klein is well-known in the Belgian art community for his excellent reproductions.”
“Reproductions? Not forgeries?” I asked.
“Yes, reproductions.” Colin nodded towards the painting on the easel. “Johan signed Roubaud’s name on the painting. Above his own. Comparing it to the original really shows Johan’s skill. The brushwork, the colours, the finest details.” He shook his head. “It’s as if someone took a photo of the original.”
“Have you contacted this Klim?” Manny asked. “I have questions for him.”
“Klein.” Colin lifted his smartphone. “My call went straight to voice mail so I left a message. I’ll follow up. Soon. I also have questions for him. For example, who bought or commissioned the painting that is now in our team room.”
Caelan was scratching his thigh again. “I need to give you information. I need to.”
“Okay, I’m in.” Francine pointed at the monitor in the centre. Then she leaned forward, looked past me at Caelan and winked at him.
I pushed back into my chair and looked at the display in front of me. I liked the design of the app. It was uncluttered. The background was a muted olive-green colour, the writing in an unadorned font and all the buttons in a clear layout and large enough for even Vinnie’s larger fingers to easily tap. “Show us the last cache you and Jace located. How do you find it on this app?”
“Click on the menu.” He stared at the monitor as Francine opened the menu on the app. “Some people never leave their homes, so some caches are online only. That’s the second tab. The last tab is the past caches. The first tab is new caches and their categories.”
“There are categories?” Colin asked.
“Four categories.” Caelan counted on his fingers. “Urban, suburban, nature and other. Other is for any place that doesn’t fit in those categories specifically. They’re also the most difficult to find. Jace and I only looked for caches in ‘other’.”
“How many people are part of this community?” I looked at the many language icons at the top of the page. “Is this international?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “This is why the internet caches are the most popular. Gifted people from all over the world look for them.”
“Gifted people?” Francine asked.
“People who are in the two percentile scale of intelligence and have certain characteristics.”
“What characteristics?” Francine glanced at me.
Caelan repeated word for word what he’d said earlier. Except this time he stopped after listing the characteristics. Then he looked at my shoulder.
“How can the site ensure that their members are gifted?” I asked. It was difficult for psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose children and adults as gifted since there wasn’t any specific test that could determine that. Often gifted people were misdiagnosed as having ADHD, being on the spectrum or having even more severe mental health issues.
“We work on trust and honour.” Caelan shrugged. “I’ve already noticed three people I’m sure are not gifted, but as long as they don’t break the rules, no one will complain or withdraw their membership. They have to have higher intellect to take part in the hunts in any case.”
“You didn’t answer my first question.” I still wanted to know. “How many people?”
“This app has one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three members.” Caelan shifted in his chair. “The other sites have the mundane hunts. This site only has caches with complicated riddles that we need to solve before we get the correct co-ordinates. Sometimes the solved riddle gives a secret clue that needs to be decoded and only then do we get the co-ordinates.”
“That seems like a lot of work just to get to a final cache,” Vinnie said from the door, a frown pulling his brow down.
Caelan looked at Vinnie’s shoulder. “It’s not about finding the final cache as much as it is about solving the riddles before anyone else. Or faster than anyone else.”
“Which then gives you a higher score.”
“When there’s a countdown, it’s even more challenging.” He took a shaky breath and lowered his gaze to look at both his hands squeezing the stress balls. “Jace loved the countdown caches.”
“Explain these countdown caches, superman.” Vinnie’s tone was soft with fondness.
“Sometimes when a solved riddle answer is entered into the app, a countdown starts. It could be an hour or maximum twenty-four hours. It’s a waiting period before the next GPS co-ordinates are revealed. This way, the cache owners keep the competition high. Even if we were the fastest with the first cache, we’d have to be the fastest with the second cache as well to get to the last cache first.”
“Cool.” Pink joined Vinnie by the door and looked at the monitors. “A fun way to keep the tension levels up and avoid anyone having a head start.”
“I don’t like it.” Vinnie crossed his arms. “If I worked hard to get a head start, I want the benefits.”
Colin waved Vinnie’s complaint away. “Caelan, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your communication with Jace.”
“We used his smart glasses and our phones.”
“Only?” Colin narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Or did you maybe use another form of communication? Not just spoken and written words?”
“Of course. Jace used sign language all the time.”
“Bloody hell! Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”
Caelan glanced at Manny’s shoulder. “Because signing his words isn’t any different than speaking or writing.”
I understood how this reasoning made sense to Caelan, but knowing that Jace used sign language was indeed useful information.
Francine had not stopped looking through the app and all the different options. She paused her tapping and leaned forward again to look past me at Caelan. “Are all the caches on the app?”
“Yes. They have to be. Else they don’t count.” He looked down at the stress balls. “Most caches are in the field, but a lot are only on the site or the app. Not all the members like to leave their homes.”
“Like you,” Colin said softly. “That’s why you teamed up with Jace. With him enjoying the caches outside, you could get to even more riddles.”
Caelan nodded.
“Some of the clues are not in the app, but come from the surrounding location. That was also why Jace wore the smart glasses and streamed video from them. That way I could also see where he was and find clues that he might miss.”
“Huh.” Francine blinked a few times at her tablet screen. “Are there comments hidden in some of the caches’ html source codes?”
“What are you talking about?” Manny glared at Francine’s tablet.
She lifted it. “I’m fooling around on the app and clicked on the link to one of the caches. The html code looked funny and lo and behold!” She paused dramatically. “A hint.”
The corner of Caelan’s mouth lifted. “She’s right. Some cache owners hide hints or clues in the source code. To find a cache you really have to know where to look.”
I thought about this while Manny and Vinnie agreed on the outrageous amount of work to waste time with these silly hunts. With so many different places to look for clues, I let my mind wander over all the bits of information we’d gathered from the crime scenes.
“I have a question about the GPS numbers.” Pink smiled when Caelan turned to look at his shoulder. “We know that a geographic location has latitude and longitude. The numerical values for these come in different formats, some with fewer numbers. Which one does this app use?”
“All three.” Caelan directed Francine to a new cache and pointed at the monitor. “This cache owner used decimal degrees. See? There are only five numbers for north and five for west. But some of the others use degrees decimal minutes and others degrees minutes seconds.”
“What the bloody hell does this all mean?” Manny and Vinnie had similar frowns pulling their brows down.
“It means that it could be misleading.” The left corner of Caelan’s mouth lifted slightly. “If given only five numbers for north and west, a geocacher might think he’s using the decimal degrees format, but the cache owner could’ve given incomplete co-ordinates. Part of the riddle helps complete the co-ordinates, leading to the next cache. We have to figure it out. Add a countdown and it’s a really great challenge.”