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With a heavy sigh, Pizarro dropped into the seat across from Bright.
“I take it you’ve seen the report,” Bright said, noting the look of dejection on Pizarro’s face, which he could hardly blame him for.
Pizarro nodded. “I’ve read it, but I don’t believe it. It’s ridiculous that just because someone flashed an Interpol ID card, which should have been picked up on as fake, they were able to not only see a prisoner but be left alone with him so he could poison the guy.” He shook his head disbelievingly. “Someone’s going to lose their job over this, several people probably. We can’t even be glad the guy who killed Baptiste was caught on multiple cameras because it’s almost guaranteed that he was wearing a disguise. He’d have to be the biggest idiot in history to come in here and kill a guy without wearing a disguise.”
“I think it’s safe to say this guy isn’t an idiot, and certainly isn’t the biggest idiot in history,” Bright said. “If I had to guess, I’d say Noir’s hired himself a professional, and it wouldn’t have mattered how carefully the ID he presented was scrutinised. Whoever Noir’s hired would have made sure to have an expertly made false identity card. He would also have managed to poison Roland Baptiste even if he hadn’t been left alone with him.”
“What do you mean? How could he have done that? Surely if there had been even one officer in the room with them, he wouldn’t have been able to poison Baptiste.”
“You must have missed the part in the report where it said the poison was in the coffee Baptiste drank. It probably wouldn’t have taken more than a second or two for the fake agent to slip the poison into the drink, and I imagine he’s adept at doing such things without being noticed.”
“Okay, so Noir’s hired a professional hitman, and he’s already knocked off one target. What happens now?” Pizarro asked. It chilled him to think that someone could make it all the way through the station to the custody area, slip poison to a prisoner, and then leave again without anyone suspecting a thing until it was too late.
“We increase the protection around Sofia Torres and Marc Delcroix, and we do everything we can to find the man Noir’s hired before he can get to either of them. I gather your forensics people have fingerprinted and checked for DNA every inch of this station that he could have even looked at and are processing all of that data.” Bright didn’t say as much, given how dejected Pizarro looked already, but he doubted the forensics team were going to get any results from the wealth of fingerprints and DNA they were likely to gather.
Pizarro was silent for a few moments before saying, “We could move Delcroix to a different hospital, perhaps a private one, and increase the number of protection officers around him. It would probably be easier to protect him at a private hospital, where the staff are likely to be more discreet, as are any patients who are aware of the security operation, and there will be fewer people around to worry about. I have no idea what more we can do to protect Miss Torres, though. She’s already on a boat that’s being moved every twelve hours, with half a dozen protection officers, and the number of people who know where the boat is at any time is being restricted to only those who absolutely need to know. Short of putting her on a battleship and surrounding her with marines, I don’t see what else we can do.”
“If I thought you could arrange that, I’d suggest you do so. I hate to think what sort of hoops you’d have to jump through to get permission to have a civilian witness given protection on a naval ship, though.” Bright suspected it would require permission not only from someone high up in the navy, but also from someone of ministerial rank in the government. “Putting Delcroix in a private hospital is a good idea, though. As you say, it will probably be easier to protect him there.”
**
“DO YOU WANT TO TELL me how the hell this happened, Agent Bright?” Meteiros demanded.
The two of them were down the corridor from the room in Barcelona Royal Hospital where Marc Delcroix, Noir’s killer, had been protected while his transfer to a private hospital was arranged.
“First Baptiste is killed in the middle of the day while in custody, by someone masquerading as one of your agents, and now Delcroix has been killed by someone masquerading as the doctor in charge of this case. Both times he’s just walked in and killed one of Noir’s men and then disappeared as if he was never there. How is that possible?”
“As I told Sergeant Pizarro earlier, Philippe Noir has almost certainly hired a professional hitman. That’s why he was arranging for Delcroix to be transferred to another hospital,” Bright said as he watched the trolley bearing Delcroix’s body being wheeled away. “It’s a pity he wasn’t able to arrange things a bit quicker. Whoever Noir’s hired, I imagine they’re expensive. Someone this good has to be, but I don’t suppose that matters to Noir right now. He’s probably prepared to pay almost anything to keep himself out of jail. If you’re looking for something positive, and I’m sure you are, there’s only about half a dozen people across the whole of Europe good enough to have done both jobs, and Interpol takes a keen interest in their movements. With luck we should be able to figure out who is responsible for this, and soon.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Meteiros said pessimistically. “You guys apparently know who they are, yet they’re still out there, that says a lot.”
“Things don’t work any differently for Interpol than they do for you guys,” Bright said. “There are plenty of people right here in Barcelona that you and your officers know are criminals, of one sort or another, yet they continue to walk around free. These people didn’t get where they are by being sloppy or incautious. We know who they are, we just haven’t been able to get enough evidence against them yet. I’ve requested the latest information on the people most likely to be responsible for this. We should have it soon. In the meantime, you need to warn the men protecting Sofia Torres. They need to be as alert as possible after this.”
“I’ll warn them. I’ll also give them orders not to let anyone on the boat if they’re alone, even if it’s you or me. This guy’s clearly able to make himself look like other people, so I’m not taking any chances.”
“That’s a good idea. It might be better to take things further, though, and tell the protection detail not to let anyone on the boat at all, and to take into custody anyone who tries to get on, no matter who they claim to be. If no-one’s allowed on the boat, it won’t matter who Noir’s killer tries to disguise himself as. Or perhaps organise a password to identify people with permission to board the boat.”
Meteiros nodded. “Good idea. I’ll call them immediately and give them their new instructions.”
While Meteiros took out his phone so he could make the call, Bright turned to Pizarro, who had been standing a short distance away during the conversation.
“Has Doctor Ramirez been able to provide any useful information?”
Pizarro shook his head. “He’s still in shock. He hasn’t said much at all. When I asked who attacked him, he said, ‘it was me, it was me’. I assume he meant the person who attacked him was disguised to look like him, not that he attacked himself. I don’t think we’re going to get anything more out of him until tomorrow at least. What I don’t understand is why Noir’s hitman didn’t kill him. Why did he leave him alive to be a witness?”
“Professionals rarely kill people they don’t have to,” Bright said. “And there was no reason for this guy to kill Doctor Ramirez. It’s possible he’ll remember something that will help us once he gets over his shock, but I doubt it. I imagine all he’ll be able to tell us is that the guy who knocked him out and tied him up looked exactly like him, which we already know. It’s possible your forensics team will be able to get something from the areas we know he was, but I can’t say I’m hopeful.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be so pessimistic, especially since I said I wished Noir would hire a professional so we wouldn’t have so many random and unnecessary deaths, but right now I think our chances of catching this guy are pretty low unless he does something sloppy, and I don’t think that’s likely. All we can do is hope we get lucky and do everything we can to make sure Sofia Torres stays safe.”
“Just what do you think the chances are of us managing that?” Pizarro asked pessimistically.
Bright chose not to answer that question.