Jack’s phone woke him at three o’clock in the morning.
“Guten Morgen, Herr Taggart.”
“Guten Morgen to you too, Otto.” Jack glanced at the clock. “Or should I say good afternoon where you are. What’s up?”
“Roche is at the airport and has booked an Air France flight departing for Paris. It’s scheduled to arrive in Paris at one-thirty this afternoon.”
“That was short and sweet,” Jack said. “How about Wolfgang? What’s he been up to?”
“Followed him to a mall this morning where he had a doctor’s appointment. Knowing the area he hangs out in, he likely has a venereal disease. After that he returned home and has probably gone back to bed.”
“And Roche wasn’t seen meeting with anyone?”
“No. He had breakfast alone at the hotel and doesn’t look happy. Do you want me to notify Paris and have them follow him from that end?”
“No, let him go,” replied Jack. “I’m hoping his boss will be coming to see me in a few days. I don’t want to chance heating anyone up. Are you able to stay on Wolfgang?”
“Sure, but it’ll cost you a beer next time I see you.”
* * *
At eight-thirty in the morning, Jack arrived at work and Rose spotted him in the hall as he passed her door. “You!” she said, pointing her finger at him. “Take a seat!” She gestured to a chair in front of her desk.
Oh, crap, what now? Jack sat down as directed.
“I found out where Klaus Eichel went yesterday as soon as he was freed,” said Rose, glaring at Jack.
“Oh?”
“Don’t give me that innocent look! You told me you didn’t hurt him!”
“I didn’t say that. I said I was as gentle as the situation allowed. He tried to grab my shotgun. My only other alternative was to shoot him.”
“You told me you even assisted in lowering him to the floor!”
“I did, but had to use the butt of the shotgun to do it.”
“Are you trying to be funny?”
“Not really. Did you look at the photos of the victim who had his painting stolen?”
“Yes, I did,” replied Rose evenly.
“There’s nothing funny about it. It was Klaus who did that to him.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to dispense justice,” Rose snapped.
Jack stared silently back at her.
“Damn it, Jack, I know Klaus is a sadist and was abusing your informant, but you don’t take the law into your own hands.”
“I didn’t. It was simply a situation where I had no other choice.”
“Both sides of his jaw are fractured and he hardly has any teeth left.”
“Maybe next time he won’t try to grab a shotgun from me.”
“There better not be a next time,” warned Rose.
“Did you read that he continued to burn Mr. Jaiger with a cigarette even after he told them where the painting was?” asked Jack.
“You don’t know for sure it was Klaus. Not one hundred percent.”
“Really? Not one hundred percent? Maybe I’m better at math than you.”
“Don’t be impertinent,” she said. “That’s not the point. Even if it was, it doesn’t give you the right to attack him.”
“It was him who tried to attack me. If you don’t believe me, call Sammy. He saw it.”
Rose stared at Jack a moment, then said, “I want to make myself clear. I won’t stand for unnecessary violence.”
“You made yourself clear.” Jack tried not to let the anger he felt show in his voice. “I only use as much force as necessary. Is there anything else?”
Rose paused. “Yes, two things. I have a translated copy of all of Kerin Bastion’s undercover notes, including notes from his partner, Maurice Leblanc, who was on surveillance across the street from the park when the murder took place.”
Jack clenched his jaw.
Rose caught the look. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said quietly. “You were doing your job and he was doing his. It happens.”
“You said you had two things. What’s the other?”
Rose studied Jack. Anger was a natural step on his road to recovery. It was how he dealt with his anger that concerned her. She decided to let it go for now. “The other thing I have is about who spied on Clive Dempsey for the bad guys.”
“Big Joe Investigations,” said Jack with sudden interest. “What have you got?”
“The company is owned by a Joe Hershey, who works out of his house. He’s an ex-member from the Prairies who was stationed in a variety of plainclothes units.”
“I don’t know him,” Jack said.
“He didn’t have a good rep. Apparently, he would fabricate stories to make himself look good while making his colleagues look bad. He wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to intelligence.”
“Not someone I would trust to work with us,” noted Jack.
“For sure,” agreed Rose.
“Going by the name of his company, I take it he’s a large man?”
“The person I spoke to said he weighed about two hundred kilos and that there wasn’t a gram of muscle in his whole body. He said you could tell what police cars he drove because if they had bucket seats, the back of the seats were broken off from his weight.”
“Won’t be a tough guy to spot if they hire him to work on me,” said Jack.
“He has two other guys he hires when he needs them. I’ll get all the details and photos within the next day or two, including vehicle descriptions.”
Jack nodded, then updated Rose on the phone call he’d received from Otto regarding Roche returning to Paris. Afterwards, he returned to his own desk and updated Laura. They then read the translation of Kerin’s notes, along with those of his partner, Maurice Leblanc.
When they were finished, Jack looked at Laura and asked, “What do you think?”
“Kerin was set up to see if he had a surveillance team,” replied Laura. “Walking from the café, then hanging out at a park. There had to be counter-surveillance on him.”
“I’m positive there was. Goes along with Roche telling him he would only be meeting the Ringmaster once. They wanted to up the pressure. He should have ditched the surveillance team.”
“Yeah. All it did was get him killed.”
“That and trying to phone to warn me,” Jack said bitterly.
“Obviously he was too inexperienced to know he was being set up.”
“I don’t know if experience would have saved him as far as the phone call goes.” Jack shook his head. “If I was in that situation, I don’t know if I would have acted any differently. Hope I never have to find out.”
“If it’s about me, I kind of hope you make the call,” Laura said dryly.
“Kind of hope?” Jack raised his eyebrows. Just then his phone rang and he reached to answer it.
“Got some news you might be interested in,” said Connie. “We managed to get an emergency tap on Anton’s phone late last night. We got an incoming call from his brother in Paris at seven this morning.”
“Surveillance put Roche Freulard on a flight from Frankfurt bound for Paris at about noon their time,” Jack said. “Doing the math, it would mean Roche placed the call at four o’clock in the afternoon his time. What did they say?”
“Roche wasn’t happy. Turns out the Ringmaster was going to step down and recommend he take over the organization, but all that’s on hold until they get their hands on the painting. Roche isn’t the only one upset. Anton said that Klaus figures he is going to be fired.”
“Klaus figures right. They don’t want him to know until he returns to Europe. They’re probably afraid he’ll do something stupid if he finds out here.”
“I agree. Anyway, that was the gist of their conversation on that point. Then Roche told Anton that the Ringmaster is sending Wolfgang over to see you.”
“Oh, crap,” Jack muttered. “I was hoping the Ringmaster would show up in person. Wolfgang Menges was the driver when Roche rode in the back seat of a Porsche after he called me from the hotel in Frankfurt. There was a swarthy-looking guy in the front with Wolfgang. That’s who I was hoping would come.”
“Maybe he will later. Roche made it explicitly clear that nobody was to lay a hand on you. The idea is to get you to trust them.”
“They think I have the painting in bonded storage,” Jack said. “They’re going to want to sucker me into taking it out. I’m going to request that Detective Otto Reichartinger, from Germany, and Kerin’s partner, Maurice Leblanc, come to assist in the event others besides Wolfgang show up. They might recognize someone.”
“Good idea, but there’s more. I think you’re going to get a call from Anton. He was told to try and check you. He’s going to arrange to meet you, then have surveillance put on you.”
“Perfect.” Jack grinned. “I love it when a plan comes together. I’ll prepare a background cover for my UC. Maybe the Ringmaster will show up after they check me out.”
“You’re okay with them tailing you?” Connie was surprised.
“Okay with it? I love it!”
“That makes me nervous,” Connie said gravely.