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“WHO THE BLOODY HELL is Thelma Rebel?”
“Celma Rebelo.” I gave Manny a sideways look for always mispronouncing names. “She’s President Afonso Katombi’s niece.”
“Ooh, wow. Wraith is President Katombi’s niece.” Francine glanced at Pink as he also tapped and swiped his tablet screen. “You’re seeing this?”
“Oh, for the love o—”
“I will start with her biography.” I didn’t have patience for Francine’s melodrama and Manny’s impatience. “She was born in Luanda, Angola in 1979. She studied in England and returned to Angola in 2001 where she did her postgraduate studies and worked her way up at NzingaOil. Hmm. She worked her way up very fast. She started there in 2003 and by 2008 was on the management board.”
“I found another bio for her. This is an investigative article into Celma. Seems more comprehensive.” Pink waited for me to nod before continuing. “Okay, so everything Genevieve said. But there’s more. Her parents were killed in 1992 in the Halloween Massacre in Luanda. She was only thirteen years old. That same year, she went to Oxford for her high school education. Every year is listed with her sport and academic achievements. After high school, she attended uni in the UK and only went back to Angola in 2001.
“By 2013, she was declared the richest woman in Africa with a fortune of around two billion US dollars and then in 2015 her uncle became president. That next January, President Katombi denounced Celma as one of the corrupt CEOs. An investigation started into her finances, but she’d been smart. It took Angola and a few other countries years to get to the point of indicting her.”
I leaned back, my frown deep.
“What is it, Doc?”
I checked my tablet again and thought about this some more. “I can’t find anything about her care after her parents died. Pink?”
“Huh. Same here.” He scrolled down and back up a few times. “Nope. There’s a year-by-year description of her life, but nothing about family or friends caring for her after her parents died.”
“Not that this really means anything.” Armando raised one shoulder. “I mean, it’s really sad, but does it mean anything?”
“Possibly.” I wasn’t willing to speculate, but something registered in my mind that hadn’t yet come to the fore, hadn’t yet made a connection.
“Well, I don’t really care about all that.” Francine shook her hands at us. “Did you not see all the investigations and court cases against her?”
“What did she do?” Vinnie asked.
“A lot. Like really a lot.” Francine closed her eyes for a moment. “This is the woman Bree wanted us to look at. The heiress mentioned in her email. I didn’t even open the attachments she sent. If I had or if I’d looked for a photo of this Celma Rebelo, I might have put two and two together sooner.”
“Don’t do that.” Colin sat forward, his expression stern. “Could’ves and would’ves lead to a dark and downhill road. We’re here now because you’re the one who ID’ed Wraith. You’re the one who got beaten up because you wanted a friend to follow up on your suspicions. You’re the one who got us White Elephant, the three women and President Katombi’s connection.”
“Well, when you put it like that.” She blinked a few times. “Thank you.”
“Now tell us what else you found in Bree’s email.”
“Um... who’s this Bree?” Inge asked.
“Someone we trust.” My immediate response came out harsh and I cleared my throat. “A friend.”
“Okay.” Inge drew out the word, but didn’t pursue the topic.
I was taken aback by the strong protectiveness that I felt towards Bree and grateful that I didn’t have to continue this line of conversation.
“So...” Francine looked at me. “The part of Bree’s email I read fifty million years ago in our team room only said that there’s this Angolan heiress implicated in major fraudulent business deals and political interference. I never actually got to the juicy parts—her ID or anything else. Hold on, let me forward it to your devices.”
I already had it on my device, yet my tablet’s notification pinged along with everyone else’s.
Armando’s eyes widened in surprise. “Thanks. I think.”
“You’re part of the team now, bucko.”
“Part of the team for now,” Manny said before tapping his smartphone’s screen.
“Wow.” Pink looked up from his phone. “Her IQ is registered at a hundred and fifty-three.”
Armando whistled through his teeth. “Above average.”
“Pah. Doesn’t mean she’s smart.” Francine flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Committing all these crimes and thinking she would get away with it? Not smart.”
“What crimes?” Daniel asked.
“There are five active court cases against her at the moment,” Francine said. “Money laundering, harmful management, influence peddling, forgery of documents and economic crimes.”
“What’s harmful management?” Vinnie asked.
“A boss who’s a bully?” Francine shrugged. “These sound non-specific. Like the prosecutors are trying to throw as much stuff at her as possible.” She raised an eyebrow. “It’s the kind of thing people do to get rid of competition or opposition. Her uncle being president and all.”
“Dammit.” Manny rubbed his hand over his face. “This just got more complicated.”
“How so?” Armando asked.
Manny looked at him as if he was slow in comprehension. “This is now more than just an international crime being investigated. We’ve got a president of a developing nation, international companies and a multimillion-dollar oil company.”
“Ooh.” Francine’s voice was low, her look apprehensive as she looked at Manny. She tilted her tablet for him to see.
“Bloody hellfire.” Manny fell back onto the sofa and sighed heavily. Then he lifted his phone, got up and walked to the bedroom he shared with Francine.
“What was that all about?” Vinnie asked.
Francine’s eyes followed Manny until he closed the bedroom door. “Portugal has a ten-percent share in NzingaOil and the French minister of education a three-percent share.”
“A political minefield.” Daniel nodded towards the bedroom door. “Glad I’m not him.”
“Why not?” Armando leaned forward and whispered loudly, “Is he speaking to the president?” When no one answered him, he leaned back in his chair. “Understood.”
Francine turned her tablet for me to look at the screen. “What do you think?”
I was looking at a still from the drone video next to a photo of Celma Rebelo. The still was the moment the assistant’s hat was pushed back. It was the most we’d been able to see of her face.
“The jaw, nose and lips look the same to me,” Inge said.
“I agree.” Colin tilted his head. “Hm-mm. I think Jake’s source is Celma Rebelo.”
“So now?” Vinnie raised both hands as if imploring us. “Now can I say that Wraith is the Collector is Jake’s assistant is Celma Rebelo?”
“Genevieve?” Daniel raised one eyebrow, waiting for my answer.
I shook my head. “I feel confident saying that Celma Rebelo is Wraith. Francine identified her. But given President Katombi’s indisputable connections to the companies involved in the Collector’s crimes, I can’t confirm the rest.”
I had more to say, especially about the question of President Katombi, but I was distracted by Inge’s expression as she looked at the photos on Francine’s tablet. I studied her for a few seconds, then pointed at her face. “How do you know Celma and what do you know about her?”
“What the fuck?” Vinnie jumped up and turned towards the closed bedroom door. “Old man! Get over here!”
Manny opened the door and glared at Vinnie as he walked towards us. “What?”
Vinnie pointed at Inge, who had lost all colour in her face.
Manny stopped in front of Inge. “Speak.”
She swallowed. “I know where that woman is staying.”
The room exploded in reactions. Armando sat with his mouth slightly agape, staring at Inge as if he’d never seen her before.
Despite Manny and Vinnie’s rude responses and accusations, Inge showed no signs of contrition. She looked at me. “As much as I liked Jake and felt sorry for him, I never trusted him. I was stupid to trust the intel he brought to us. That’s my bad. But my distrust paid off.
“He met his source often. I followed him quite a few times. I told you I blend in well. He never made me, but she’s good.” She glanced at Francine’s tablet. “I followed her home one day and she almost made me. I managed to follow her all the way to her house though.” She looked at Armando’s shocked expression and laughed. “It helps when everyone underestimates you.”
“Who are you?” Armando’s pupils were dilated and his blinking increased. He was attracted to Inge.
She smiled and winked at him.
“Address.”
Her smile dropped when she noticed Manny’s expression. She nodded and gave him the address. “It’s a good thirty minutes from here. That area is one gorgeous house after the other.”
Armando looked out of the window, then at Colin. “It’s dark out. Now seems like a good time to go have a look around.”
Inge pointed her index finger at Manny. “And don’t even think of asking me”—she nodded at Armando—“asking us to stay behind. We’re good at getting in and out undetected. This is our playground.”
Manny’s lips pulled into a thin line, his face turning an angry red. As he inhaled to speak, Pink stood up. “I’ll stay here with Francine and Genevieve. We have a lot of data to work through.” He patted the holstered weapon on his hip. “We’ll be safe here.”
“Thierry and Bianca will stay outside.” Vinnie also got up. “Come on, old man. You can come along for the ride and keep all us criminals in line.”
“Bloody hell.” Manny rubbed his hand hard over his face. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Aw, we’re just keeping you young and spry.” Vinnie chuckled when Armando looked confused.
“He’s not that old.” Armando frowned at Manny. “Right?”
“Bugger off, criminal.” Manny pointed at the door. “Start moving.”
I didn’t realise I was gripping Colin’s hand tightly. Not until he tugged. I dropped his hand. I hated that I was causing the slight wince of discomfort on his face. “Sorry.”
“It’s nothing, love.” His expression softened even more and he took both my hands in his. “We’re only going to do recon, Jenny. We’ll be safe.”
I wanted to believe him. I really did. “Celma is smart.”
“Not smarter than all of us together.” He kissed my knuckles. “And she doesn’t have you on her team.”
“Frey!” Manny was standing by the open door. “Let him go, Doc. I’ll keep his sorry arse out of trouble. This time.”
“In your dreams, Millard.” Colin kissed me on my cheek and straightened. “I’ll be home soon, okay?”
I gave a single, jerky nod. I didn’t like this. Not at all. But Pink was right. We had a lot of data to study. I needed to scan through all the documents Bree had sent. I also wanted to learn as much as I could about Celma. And President Katombi. How was he involved? Was he the Collector? Or was it Celma? And where did the three women fit in?
I pushed Mozart’s violin sonata to play in my mind as the others left and Francine and Pink took their seats at the dining room table.
