2 The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

incarcerated. Preferably forever. “What evidence?”
    “It doesn’t matter now. Nothing ever came from it.” He sighed heavily. “When I agreed to join Interpol it was on the condition that I could pursue the Kubanov case.”
    It had taken weeks of Mozart to forget the terror I had experienced because of Kubanov. “So what happened to your investigation?”
    “We got some solid leads that would’ve connected Kubanov to more international crimes. If we had been able to get our hands on that evidence, we would’ve had a good case against him.” He slumped in his chair. “When I reached that point in my investigation, the top guys took an interest, grabbed all the files from me and said that they would get their own guy on it. Can you imagine that?”
    “No.” I only said this because Manny looked at me with expectation to share his disgust.
    “Exactly! The bastards sent their guy and if scuttlebutt is to be believed–”
    “What is scuttlebutt?” I asked.
    “It’s navy slang for rumours.”
    “You’ve never been in the navy. Why would you use that term? Why not just say rumour?”
    Manny bit down hard on his jaw for a few seconds. “Yes, you are still as annoying as always. Rumour. There, I said it. Rumours were flying that the person they had sent in to gather the evidence on Kubanov had been killed. My case went cold after that. I wasn’t allowed to pursue Kubanov anymore.”
    “Why not? I thought you were put in charge of your own specialised investigation unit. Did you get demoted?”
    “I did not…” Manny took a deep breath. “Apparently something happened that is far above my specialised pay-grade. I have carte blanche on which cases I take, as long as it is related to white collar and art crimes.”
    “What about conflict with your co-workers? Wouldn’t they be resentful of your power to take cases from them?” I had read that some of the fiercest competition came within law enforcement, especially investigative services.
    “Not that I really care, but these guys are so overrun with cases that I’ve found them immensely grateful to hand anything over. I can have any case I want.”
    “Except the Kubanov investigation.”
    His face tightened with anger, but his response was interrupted by Phillip’s return. He lifted an eyebrow at Manny’s body language, looked at me, but didn’t say anything. He sat down and glanced at the files on my desk. Manny and I had completely gone off topic.
    “We have to solve these thefts, Genevieve. As soon as possible.”
    “Of course. Why do you sound more stressed now? Did something happen with your phone call?”
    “Yes. Madame Lenoir is threatening to sue us. She has no leg to stand on, since we have nothing to do with her security at home, but it is a nuisance any which way. Now I’ll have to get the lawyers involved and it will cost time and money that I don’t want to waste on this.”
    Phillip was venting. Academically I understood the need people had for this. I sometimes needed to vent. But it was boring. I picked up one of the files and flipped through it while Phillip addressed Manny when he saw that he had lost my attention. I scanned the police reports and looked at the crime scene photos. Something caught my eye and I picked up another file. Five files later I was frowning.
    “Why has this flower not been identified?” My questions interrupted Manny in the middle of some unimportant observation about rich people’s sense of entitlement. Both men looked at me with raised eyebrows. I shook a photo at them. “The flower?”
    “What flower, Genevieve?” Phillip asked.
    “The flowers that were left at every scene.” I pointed at a red flower on the mantelpiece. “It is out of focus and too far for me to identify what kind of flower it is, but the same red shape appears in all five crime scene photos.”
    “What?” Manny grabbed the photo out of my hand and studied it. “Show me the other photos.”
    I laid five crime scene