Klaus parked his car in front of the workshop. When he got out, he heard the sound of the band saw from inside and saw that the side door was open. As he stepped inside, he said, “Hey! Hope that fucking pimp is alive so I can saw a chunk off him!”
“Don’t move, shithead!” yelled Jack as he and Sammy appeared from behind him.
Klaus spun around and saw Jack pointing the shotgun at his face.
Most people would not have moved. What Jack hadn’t counted on was that Klaus thought Anton and Bojan were dead and believed he was next. He lunged forward in a panicked attempt to grab the shotgun by the barrel. Jack took half a step back and pivoted the shotgun, using the butt once more to smack him in the mouth. Combined with the momentum Klaus had when he was lunging forward, the blow knocked him sideways, landing him face first on the concrete floor. Seconds later, he moaned and looked back up at Jack.
“What are you? Crazy?” Jack aimed the shotgun at his face. “Don’t move, I said!”
Klaus gurgled and coughed pieces of broken teeth onto the floor. The plate screwed into his jaw to cover the first fracture remained in place, but now his jaw was fractured on the opposite side. Luckily for him, his mouth was still frozen from surgery, and the pain, for the moment, was minimal.
Jack eyed Klaus, who remained sitting on the floor as he held his jaw with the palm of his hand. Damn it. Rose won’t ever believe this. He looked at Sammy, who rolled his eyes in response. Jack then locked eyes with Klaus and said, “That’s what you get for being stupid. Also, don’t ever call me a pimp. I hate pimps!”
Klaus sullenly stared back at him.
“Get up and walk to the back of the shop,” Jack ordered. We’re going to tie you up alongside your two friends.”
“They’re alive?” Klaus moaned.
“See for yourself. Get moving!”
Moments later Klaus was bound and blindfolded with duct tape, and lay beside Bojan and Anton. Unlike the other two, he was not gagged due to his mouth injuries. During Klaus’s capture, Jack had detailed Benny to remain in the den to monitor the closed-circuit television cameras. Now Jack, Laura, and Sammy stepped into the main area of the shop to talk in private.
“What are you going to do?” Laura asked.
“Roche will be calling me in an hour,” Jack replied. “I’ll leave you and Sammy here on guard duty while I go back to the house. I need to use the Internet.”
“You said Rose wants us to cut these guys loose after you talk with Roche.” Laura glanced at the captives in the back of the shop. “That could prove interesting. I have a sneaking suspicion they won’t be too happy with us. Particularly Klaus. Did you really have to smack him again?”
“He tried to grab the shotgun!” Jack looked at Sammy for corroburation.
Sammy pretended to look surprised at Jack’s comment, but then smiled and nodded.
“Bet you broke his jaw again, which means I need to make sure he doesn’t suffocate,” Laura said. “If he does, you can be the one to do CPR. I’m not.”
“It’s not like he has any teeth left to bite you,” Jack replied.
“Yeah, good point.” Laura could see that Jack’s mind was elsewhere and knew he was trying to decide a course of action. “Go,” she said. “Find a quiet place to think and come up with a game plan. I’ve got Sammy for company.”
Jack made his way to the house and sat at the kitchen table, then grimaced as he called Rose. “Klaus arrived and is tied up alongside his two buddies,” he said as soon as she answered.
“Good. Without problem I take it?”
“I was as gentle as the situation allowed. I even assisted in lowering him to the floor, but his mouth appears to be bothering him.”
“I’m sure it is. I can only imagine how he’ll feel when the freezing wears off.”
“Are the French set to go with the phone taps?” Jack wanted to change the topic.
“I’m expecting to hear back any minute.”
“I should go,” Jack said. “I need to figure out how I’m going to play this.”
After hanging up, Jack glanced around the kitchen. He thought of the fun he had with his own family over dinners and tried to imagine what it would be like for Gabrielle raising a child without a father. A father who died trying to save me. What can I ever say to her? Any words I come up with will be trivial against the pain she feels.
He glanced at his watch. I have less than an hour. He pushed the image of a dead policeman and his pregnant widow to the recesses of his brain. Who is the Ringmaster? What do I have that I can use? Roche didn’t seem overly concerned about the drugs and jewellery….
He brooded for a moment about why the head of an organization would risk committing the murder himself. It didn’t match the behaviour of other criminal kingpins he knew. Those jobs are usually assigned to some flunky. The meeting with Kerin could easily have been postponed for such a purpose.
Then Jack came to a chilling conclusion. The Ringmaster enjoyed doing it. He’s a sociopath. What do I know about him? He likes art and murder. I know about murder, and I need to think about art. Telling someone I used to eat crayons won’t cut it.
He used his own phone to go on the Internet to find out what he could learn about a sad clown by the name of Pierrot. He discovered that the clown was a lovable but hapless fool who was in love with a character by the name of Columbina. She left Pierrot for another clown by the name of Harlequin.
Harlequin? So that’s where the name came from for those romance novels. His thoughts went back to the painting. Why is it so important? Is it all about the money? Or does it represent something else … something personal to the Ringmaster?