The Flinck Connection (Book 4) (Genevieve Lenard) (27 page)

Daniel secured his prisoner and took Francine’s phone to call in his team. Francine immediately forgot about the man under her foot, rushed to her computer and pressed a red button next to it. She refused to answer Manny’s questions, declaring her computers needed to be as useful as a housewife’s. She also muttered about never coming back to this place.

The next few hours were more taxing than I could have anticipated. The president’s security team got involved and numerous other high ranking officials made appearances. I became increasingly agitated despite my decision to remain in control. Having to painfully whisper answers to the same questions more than once was most vexing. Colin wouldn’t allow anyone to separate us and did most of the talking, saving my voice and my temper.

Eventually, Isabelle intervened, supported by the president and six hours later we were free to go after promising to be available for any further questions. Colin and I stepped into the cold evening air and I took a deep breath. We walked quietly to Colin’s SUV, the street crowded with black vehicles and men in suits.

Colin opened the passenger door for me, walked around the car, got in and didn’t move. His nonverbal cues indicated great inner conflict. I didn’t know what to do. Did he need me to talk to him or stay quiet? I didn’t have any intuition handling sensitive moments like these. I thought it wisest to not interrupt Colin’s thought process, so I leaned back against the seat and stared out into the night.

For three long minutes we sat in silence until Colin shifted to face me. “We are going on holiday. Far away from here. Preferably somewhere warm. I will do whatever you need so it will be okay for you, but we are going on a three week holiday, Jenny.”

“Why?”

Colin burst out laughing. “Really? After all this stress, your life being in danger and you don’t see the reason for a holiday?”

I thought about this for a moment. I could see how neurotypical people would need a break after the last two weeks we’d had. “Do you need a holiday?”

Colin leaned deeper into his seat. “Yes, love. I need a holiday. I need to be somewhere with you, knowing that you are safe and happy.”

“I
am
safe and happy.” I tilted my head back to consider my statement. “Yes. I truly feel safe and I am happy. Although I’m frustrated that Dukwicz escaped. But that doesn’t affect my current happiness.”

Colin’s expression changed and I realised how much concern he’d exhibited when it was replaced by his affection for me. He leaned closer to me until our noses almost touched. “Thank you, love.”

I didn’t know why he would thank me for being happy, but I didn’t ask. Instead I enjoyed the kiss from the one person whose physical touch I didn’t mind, the one person whom I’d come to trust implicitly.

A loud knock against Colin’s window interrupted us. A second later the backdoor opened and Manny got in. “Well then, let’s go. I’m hungry. I hope the criminal is out of jail and cooking.”

“I have like a million questions.” Nikki fell into the dining room chair, her eyes bright. Vinnie and Nikki had been released hours earlier and had been anxiously waiting for our return. She had greeted us at the door and had given Manny a fierce hug that had made him blush. He’d returned the hug.

“First tell me that you were treated well at the police station.” Manny sat down heavily in his usual chair at the table.

“The little punk was told to never return.” Vinnie was stirring something in a pot on the stove. The aroma of the late dinner he was preparing was hugely appetising. “Those officers were seriously pissed off with her.”

“What did you do?” Manny straightened, his eyes wide.

Nikki lifted one shoulder. “Played poker with them. They’re just sore losers.”

“If you were playing for money and not for Post-It notes, you would’ve cleaned out their bank accounts, punk.”

I sat down next to Colin and allowed the normality of this to settle me. All the panic, looming shutdowns and need to hide in my head slowly moved into the background.

“I did win us some sandwiches and chocolates.” Nikki turned to glare at Vinnie. “Most of which you ate.”

“I’m bigger than you.” Vinnie slapped his muscular abdomen. “Need more food.”

“Where’s Francine?” Nikki asked, rolling her eyes at Vinnie. “I think your cooking needs spices.”

“She left before us,” Manny said. “Took a taxi to get away from what she called ‘Big Brother’s minions’. That woman is paranoid.”

Just then keys sounded in my front door and it opened. Francine walked in with Phillip. “Look who I found getting out of his car.”

It took a few minutes to assure Phillip that we were all unharmed. Only when he asked me and I answered honestly, did he sit at the table and relax. Francine walked into the kitchen, pushed Vinnie out the way with her hip and peered into the pot. “I think this needs cumin.”

“Stay away from my food, you spice witch.”

Nikki put both elbows on the table and leaned towards us. “Spill. I want to know everything. I’m sick of watching the news on TV and not knowing if it’s all like censored, the way Francine always says we receive the news.”

“It’s already on the news?” Colin asked.

“It’s like all over the news and the internet, and I don’t know what to believe. Did they really arrest the Minister of Justice?”

Francine came to the table and sat down. “Manny arrested him.”

“No way!” Nikki looked at Manny, awestruck. “That is like the coolest thing ever.”

I closed my eyes against Nikki’s abundant use of the word ‘like’. Her offensive use of the English language was mitigated by her relaxed posture and easy laughter.

“I’m equally curious,” Phillip said.

“What do you want to know?” The dark rings under Manny’s eyes and the lines around his mouth evidenced the toll this case had taken on him. The last six hours he had spent liaising with numerous law enforcement agencies, constantly speaking on a phone he’d taken from one of Daniel’s team members.

“First, I just want to say how supercool it is to have everyone together. I was really worried.” Nikki took her arms off the table and straightened. “Okay, now my questions. Is it true what they’re saying on the news? That Minister Lefebvre was trying to kill the president? Have you found out yet who sent me those DM’s? What about the president’s wife? Do you think she will be coming here for tea?”

Nikki inhaled to continue her questions, but Manny interrupted her. “You sound like a journalist at a press conference.”

“This scandal is any journalist’s wet dream come true,” Francine said. “Oh, what am I talking about? This scandal is
my
wet dream come true.”

“Supermodel!” Manny glared at her.

“Doc G? Is it true about Minister Lefebvre?”

“It’s complicated,” I whispered. “He didn’t plan to kill the president at first. He’d been working to discredit the president and his wife with a lot of fraudulent information. He was, however, responsible for the Boston heist.”

“No way!” she said again. “That’s like so bad.”

I thought I would be able to ignore it, but my compulsion was too strong. I gave in and whispered, “Nikki, you cannot use ‘like’ in the manner you’ve been doing. It is grammatically an abomination, it sounds intellectually inferior and frankly, it is beneath your IQ.”

She smiled. “I’m like so sorry, Doc G.”

Everyone chuckled and I knew I had lost this battle. I delayed this argument for another day.

“Tell me more. Tell me more.” Nikki looked at Manny.

Throughout the six hours, Daniel had given us frequent updates as his colleagues located and arrested the other individuals implicated in this case. In turn, Manny had been in
contact with the lead investigator, also receiving updates. I left it up to him to answer Nikki.

“René Motte and J.L. Legrange were arrested a few hours ago. They couldn’t wait to give Lefebvre up. Apparently he’d been controlling them for the last ten years and there was nothing they could do to get out from under his domination. The investigator was shocked at how quickly the idiots started sharing information on whatever incriminating information they have on Lefebvre. But not before their lawyers made sure that a lesser charge for their information was on the table.

“Of the two, Legrange is in the better position. He and Savreux had kept insurance in case something like this happened. Savreux had all that financial detail in his rented cellar. Legrange kept their original communication and planning. As a lawyer he knew it would come in handy as a negotiation tool if he were ever to be caught. He and his lawyer are using that tool now. It will give the prosecution team a lot of material to work through.”

“But why did they rob the Boston museum?” Nikki asked. “Was it for the money?”

Manny had relayed all the updates to us, including how surprisingly close Colin’s unfounded hypothesis had been to the truth. The self-satisfied smile on Colin’s face warned me he was going to point it out again. “Like I predicted, Motte, Savreux, Dubois, Legrange and Lefebvre were all wronged in some way in the late eighties.”

“You didn’t predict that about Lefebvre.” This was the third time I reminded him of this.

“Only because we didn’t know he was the fifth man.” He winked at Nikki. “Motte and Legrange told the investigator that they had originally planned this to thumb their noses at whoever they were angry with at that time. When they managed to pull it off and successfully leave America with five hundred million dollars’ worth of art, they saw an opportunity. That was when they sat down and worked out a business plan for their art theft business.”

“They had a business plan?” Phillip’s eyebrows were raised, the tightness around his mouth revealing his indignation.

“They did.” Manny scowled. “Bloody lawyers. With their legal studies and Dubois with his banking experience, they knew the loopholes to get around laws and stay undetected. They were well-prepared for their lives of crime.

“And?” Nikki asked. “Is Legrange walking free because he gave all that information?”

Manny snorted. “Not by a long shot. The charges might be lessened, or his sentence might be reduced, but this conspiracy is far too great to let them off scot-free.”

“What about the president of Gabon and that minister guy?”

“Paul Ngondet was also arrested earlier in his hotel here in Strasbourg. The plan is to hand him over to the International Criminal Court so he can be tried for crimes against humanity,” Manny said. President Mariam Boussombo’s evidence was also going to be handed over to the ICC.

Six hours had been a long time and I’d had been able to look through Mariam’s file. It was well-prepared and would have many repercussions. Not only did the file make an indisputable case against Minister Ngondet, but it also implicated numerous Gabonese and several French officials. J.L Legrange might have power now to negotiate on the current cases, but then he would have to face charges for his involvement in the crimes in Mariam’s file.

“We were surprised when we got the names of the account holders of those thirteen accounts.” Francine leaned back to allow Vinnie to place a plate in front of her. Nikki got up to help him set the table. “Motte, Savreux, Legrange, Dubois and Lefebvre had only twelve of the accounts. The thirteenth account belongs to Paul Ngondet.”

“That child-killing bastard.” Manny shook his head. “Ngondet told the officers who arrested him that the five men were to blame for everything. He claims to have been working under them for many years. Apparently, they forced him to sell stolen masterpieces and other artworks to his corrupt colleagues in Gabon. Of course that is utter bullshit.”

Mariam’s file indicated that Minister Ngondet had used the art sale money to fund his elaborate lifestyle, and also to fund some of the terrorist groups and other military factions to keep the war in central Africa alive. He had been receiving a lot of money from mediating arms deals, training child soldiers and other warmongering.

Manny took an angry breath. “In her research, President Boussombo had connected Paul Ngondet to Savreux and Legrange, but wasn’t able to dig deep enough to find the cornerstone of their evil empire. She knew it was someone with strong connections in France and Gabon, but she didn’t have the resources or enough trustworthy people to help her find out who it was.”

“That is a shocking conspiracy,” Phillip said after a few quiet moments. Vinnie and Nikki brought steaming dishes to the table and sat down.

“It seems like everything came to a head two years ago.” Manny’s eyes widened when he saw the content of the large oven dish. He waited for Nikki to dish up. “When Raymond Godard became president, these idiots knew that President Boussombo now had an ally who could help her clean up her country. They also knew that President Godard would push for transparency and their days of laundering bucket-loads of money was counted.”

“How is the president of Gabon?” Nikki gave the serving spoon to Manny.

“Recovering quite well.” One corner of Manny’s mouth lifted when he dished a second spoon of Vinnie’s lasagne onto his plate. “She should be returning to Gabon in a few days.”

“Do you know who sent those DM’s?” Nikki asked.

“Yes.” My voice cracked and I took a sip of water. “It was Henri Fabron. He is quite unmoving in his loyalty towards the president. When he first met Julie, Minister Lefebvre’s assistant, he didn’t know whom she was working for. They started seeing each other romantically and that was when she decided to trust him with her concerns.”

Julie had sobbed when she told her side of the story, happy to be relieved of that secret. I had watched her carefully while she talked and had seen no deception cues.

Colin put his arm around the back of my chair. “You shouldn’t speak so much. Let me finish telling this story.”

I nodded, grateful.

“Julie had been in the minister’s house a few times and taken note of the masterpieces since her brother is an artist and she thought he would be interested. When she mentioned these to him, he told her all of the works she described were on some list of stolen art. When she told Fabron about her discoveries, he insisted on doing something. She was terrified that she was wrong and could lose her career and Henri didn’t want to bring the investigation so close to the president and his wife. He also didn’t know if there was anyone he could really trust going through the normal channels of investigation.”

“So the little shit decided to use us.” Manny had especially taken offence that he had been manipulated by Henri. “He knew how much the president trusted us, but he didn’t want to ask us directly. That’s why he trapped us with reverse psychology to investigate.”

Both Manny and Colin had been disappointed to find out that Henri Fabron had been assisting us all along. Their conflicting expressions of intense dislike and respect had been fascinating to observe. The president’s assistant had reasoned, after his meetings with
Manny, that the older man would investigate more vigorously if told not to. He had been right and Manny had been greatly displeased about this fact.

“Was he the reason
Vin and I played poker with the policemen for twelve hours?”

“No,” Manny said. “It was Lefebvre. When he was informed about your search for a connection between the president’s wife and Elf, he knew that we were getting closer to his secret. He became desperate to stop us.”

“I’m sorry, Doc G.” Nikki put down her knife and fork, contrition clear on her face.

I took a sip of water. “I know, Nikki. We all learned a lesson from this.”

“Oh, I did.” She folded her arms. “I’m going to stick to drawing. For like forever. Why did nobody ever figure out that charity was on the take?”

“The Libreville Dignity Foundation wasn’t on the take, lass.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“That they were on the take?” Colin waited until I nodded. “It means they were part of the fraud.”

“We don’t know yet...” My throat burned too much and I looked at Francine.

“We don’t know yet if everyone there was involved,” she said. “Or who exactly was involved. Lefebvre has organised their auditing since they were founded. There will also be a special investigation into their finances. The forensic auditors will trace all the money that has gone in and out of their accounts, including that sub-account. It might take a long time.”