It was midnight when Jack bade Carina and Roche good night, and an hour later when he met the team in Otto’s room. He was surprised to see Yves there, as well.
“Working late tonight for a boss,” Jack teased him. “Perhaps you could give my bosses back in Canada some guidance on doing real police work.”
“I won’t sleep until the Ringmaster is in jail,” Yves explained. “Maurice called me to say that while you were having dinner, two men were checking for surveillance around the hotel and that they called Roche out to look at our van.”
“So that’s what that was about,” Jack said. “He gave me a bit of a hairy eyeball when he left the table, but seemed relaxed when he returned.”
“We had the van leave when they were watching,” Laura said.
“In the future, let’s get one extra room in whatever hotel I’m staying in,” Jack suggested. “Preferably one that overlooks the main entrance so you’ll be able to see who comes and goes. The room could be used as a field office as long as everyone takes care not to be seen. It would also make it easier for me to debrief everyone.”
“I would agree with that.” Yves nodded. “So how did it go tonight? Are you still scheduled to fly to Marseille tomorrow morning?”
“Yes. We’re booked for two nights at the Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port Hotel. After that, it will be up to me whether I stay or continue my search for a retirement villa elsewhere. As far as tomorrow goes, they’ve lined up a real estate agent to take us around after we check into our hotel.”
“I’ll try to get us a room,” said Yves. “Although I am not sure how to get one that overlooks the entrance without drawing suspicion.”
“Tell them you stayed in the front of the hotel years earlier on your honeymoon and that it has sentimental value for you,” Laura suggested.
Yves smiled. “That might work.”
Jack nodded. “The name of the art expert who’ll be accompanying me is Carina Saftstrom. She gave —”
“Ha, a Swedish name,” said Otto, grinning at Laura.
“Yes, she’s Swedish,” said Jack, giving Otto and Laura a quizzical look.
Laura nodded begrudgingly at Otto. “Okay, so you do know women.”
Otto opened his eyes wide and pointed to them, still grinning.
“As I was saying,” Jack continued, “she gave me her business card. I want someone to put a trace on her phone and get a list of all her calls. She may have had brunch with the Ringmaster today … or I guess, technically, yesterday.”
“She told you that?” Laura looked astonished.
“Not in those exact words. Let me start from the beginning.”
When Jack was finished, Otto said, “The swarthy-looking man I saw with Roche in Frankfurt looked more like a Spaniard or an Italian, not Russian.”
Maurice said, “Perhaps you saw someone else. The Russian has to be him — but who is he?”
“He’s definitely a good possibility,” replied Jack, “and for now I will go under that assumption. Her call history may give us a name.”
Maurice nodded, then wrote down the phone numbers from Carina’s business card.
“Tonight she’s staying in a hotel that sounds like the Hotel of the Little Louvre,” said Jack.
“The Hotel de Lille Louvre,” said Maurice. “It’s about a kilometre away. A modest place, perhaps fifty Euros a night, but reportedly clean.”
“Guess the money associated with valuable paintings is for the owner and not those who evaluate or work on them,” said Jack. “Her home base is in Zurich, but she also uses answering services, which are the other numbers on her card.”
“Paris, Rome, Stockholm, London, and Zurich,” Maurice noted from the business card. He handed it back to Jack.
“Which means our man from Moscow likely used her answering service in Paris to contact her,” Jack said. “Either that, or through her email address. Still, it would be nice to find out who she’s phoning.”
“A list of who she calls won’t be a problem,” Yves said. “Who calls her through the answering services is a problem. If we check those, word may get back to her.”
“She told me he had to catch a flight back to Russia this evening,” Jack told him.
“We could check the manifests and come up with a list to run past the Russian police.”
“I would be a little worried about checking with the police in Russia,” Jack said. “There’s a lot of corruption there, and if this guy is as rich as I imagine, he’ll have connections. I don’t want to risk it, especially if I can draw him out in another week on my own.”
Yves breathed out audibly. “I understand, but speaking of risk, what about Carina? What if she puts in a bad report on you?”
“We cross that bridge when we come to it.” Jack glanced at Laura. “I think I can befriend her enough that she won’t say anything too detrimental.”
Laura nodded knowingly.
“Maybe she’d help us if she knew the truth,” suggested Maurice.
Jack shook his head. “I prefer she not know. It could change her demeanour around Roche and I doubt she’d stand up to questioning. These people are violent. The less she knows about me, the better. I don’t want her ever seen as having intentionally helped me.”
“Even if she wanted to co-operate, I doubt she’d want to give up her profession and spend the rest of her life living under a false identity,” Yves added.
“I wouldn’t mind if inquiries were made about her with the Swiss police,” said Jack, “providing it could be done without her knowledge. I’d like to know more about her. Anything I can use to distract her while getting her to like me might help.”
“Pretend to share common interests to gain her trust,” Otto put in.
“Something you do to attract women?” Laura asked him, pretending annoyance.
“With these eyes?” Otto pointed to them again. “Not necessary.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Laura snorted. “How could I forget?”
“Are you sure you don’t want inquiries made in Russia?” asked Yves.
“No,” Jack said. “His prominence in Russian society may result in word getting back to him. Besides, I already know a lot about him. He’s a philanthropist, an art collector, his wife died of cancer, he’s a bit of a risk taker, and he’s a sportsman who likes to hunt.”
“There was nothing sporting about how Kerin was murdered,” said Maurice bitterly.
Everyone nodded silently. Jack continued, “The point is, I’ve got plenty to work with to help me befriend him.”
“You shouldn’t have any trouble portraying a risk taker.” Laura’s tone was dry. Then she turned to Yves. “How about I make the inquiries regarding Carina? I’ve worked undercover with Jack for years, and a woman’s point of view about her background may prove useful.”
“Why not?” Yves said. “You’ll likely have as much influence with Interpol and the Swiss as I do.”
“She was born in Sweden,” Jack said, “but her parents moved to Zurich when she was a child. Her father and mother both worked in the chocolate industry. She mentioned she went back to Stockholm and lived with her aunt and uncle for five years while she went to university. Then she moved back to Zurich, but often returns to Stockholm. Besides English, she’s fluent in German, French, Italian —”
“All three of those are official languages in Switzerland,” Yves said, “although English is common there, too.”
Jack nodded. “On top of that, she also speaks Russian and Spanish.”
“I’ll contact Interpol tonight,” Laura said. “Have them check with Sweden and Switzerland.”
“She’s a smart woman,” noted Otto, “as well as beautiful. You should enjoy the coming week.”
Jack nodded agreement, but his eyes said otherwise.
Laura knew what he was thinking. Don’t worry about it, Jack. She’s a big girl and it won’t be the first time some guy has lied to her. Besides, it’s only for a week, then you can send her on her way.