“And Jace took ninety-six bottles.”
“A total of a hundred and forty-four bottles.” I did a quick mental calculation using Vinnie’s estimates. “If the bottles contain heroin, it would be a total of twenty-eight point eight kilograms.”
“That’s a fuckload of heroin.”
“With a street value of seven point two million euros.” I swallowed.
“Holy hellfire, Doc.”
“That’s a huge motive for torture and murder.” Daniel looked at the photos. “And then there’s all this.”
Colin pointed at the top photo. “These are people, documents, wine bottles and artefacts.” He flicked at the bottom photo, then frowned. “There’s another photo under this one.”
I walked closer and took care to lift the top photo by only touching the sides. As soon as I saw the photo under it, I removed the pin that held the top photo in place and took both photos to the desk. Manny stood to the side to make space for the photos and for Colin to lean over them.
“Shit!” Colin leaned closer, then stepped back and pushed both his hands through his hair. “Those are artefacts that are part of the Oxus treasure.”
“The one Nikki was blabbering about last night?” Manny leaned forward and stared at the photos. There were three small golden statues. Two were bearded men who looked like they were holding something. The other was a small gold figure of an antelope, possibly a deer. “Doesn’t look like much to me.”
“The value of those pieces is incredible. Most of these will never be for sale.”
“You think Nikki was right about the treasure hunt?” Vinnie’s smile was mischievous. “Franny will be so happy.”
“No.” Colin shook his head. “There is simply no truth in there being any treasure maps in Roubaud’s paintings leading to the Oxus treasure.”
“Are these pieces stolen?” I asked.
“Not as far as I know.” Colin shrugged. “I’ll have to check with my contacts at the museum, but the last I heard, all the surviving metalwork they’d found from the treasure was on display at the British Museum.”
“Then why did Adèle have photos of these pieces?” Manny asked.
The men started speculating and I turned away. I looked at Adèle’s chart and let my mind wander over all the questions I had. Not only did I wonder why Adèle hid a photo of pieces of the Oxus treasure, I wondered how it was connected to the wine. I didn’t know of any vineyards in Iran, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
I continued staring at the chart, knowing that it would take a while to answer these and the many other questions I had.
Daniel took his phone from one of the top pockets in his uniform. “Huh. The manager of the self-storage warehouse is in the wind.” He looked at me. “Gilles Mahout is missing. I sent a few officers to locate and question him, but he’s nowhere to be found. The people who rent lockers have full access to the warehouse at all times, but the manager’s office is only manned during office hours. It’s office hours and he’s not there. The place is standing wide open.”
“His house?” Manny asked.
Daniel’s phone pinged. He smiled at Manny. “They must’ve heard you. Two officers went to his apartment. The front door was open, clothes missing from the wardrobe and all electronic devices gone.”
“At least we have the ID of one bad guy.” Vinnie shrugged when all of us frowned. “What?” He pointed at the photos on the pinboard. “We have no idea who any of those guys are.”
“Not true.” I was becoming vexed with his exaggerations. “Colin identified four of the men who frequently buy black-market art.”
“I did.” Colin’s smug expression didn’t hide his amusement.
“Whatever.” Vinnie turned to Manny. “What I’m saying is the manager dude wouldn’t have run if he wasn’t guilty. And I don’t think he’s very smart. We’ll catch him quick sticks.”
“Famous last words.” Pink glanced at his phone. “The crime scene techs are here.”
Daniel lifted his index finger when I took a step forward. “I asked them to record everything carefully and send all of it to you immediately.”
“They’ll have to take everything here in for processing.” Pink narrowed his eyes at the perfume bottles. “Prints, trace evidence of the contents and so on. I’ll quickly clone her laptop and send it to Francine before the techs take over here.”
“Want to come with us, Vin?” Daniel asked. “We’re going to the self-storage warehouse.”
“Why?” Colin asked. “Should we come?”
“Nah.” Pink put his phone in his pocket. “It’s just a routine check. We’ll check Gilles’ office as well as the locker where Jace found the cache. And the dogs are there. We’ll see if there are more drugs.” He blinked. “Or more wine bottles with drugs.”
Vinnie’s smile was immediate. “I love watching those puppies work.”
“They’re trained officers of the law.” Manny turned towards the stairs. “Unlike you.”
“I sent you all the photos I took here, Genevieve.” Pink looked at the chart. “I didn’t get shots of the hidden photos. I don’t want to disturb stuff before the techs process it.”
“Your photos will suffice.” There was so much just on the surface to analyse.
“Thanks, Pink.” Colin winked at me. “We’ll see you guys at the team room.”
I sighed. “Yes. Thanks, Pink.”
“Anytime, Genevieve.” Pink’s smile was genuine and not for the first time did I see affection. Since he’d moved into our apartment, he’d referred to me a few times as his friend.
I didn’t ponder upon it for very long. My mind kept drifting back to the chart.
Chapter SEVEN
“Well, that was interesting.” Daniel walked past Francine’s desk and stopped at the door to my viewing room. “Where do you want to chat?”
I glanced back at the images of Adèle’s chart filling all fifteen monitors and frowned. “I don’t want to chat.”
He laughed softly. “Of course not. What I should’ve asked was where you would like for me to debrief you on our visit to the self-storage warehouse.”
“We’ll do it in here.” Manny got up from his desk and pointed at the round table close to the large windows. “Doc’s room is too small for all of us.”
I was loath to leave studying Adèle’s chart and figuring out the different aspects of her business, but Daniel had already interrupted my train of thought. I got up. “The table is a better option.”
“Then I’ll make coffee.” Vinnie walked to the small kitchen on the far side of the large open space. We were on the top floor of the building adjacent to the one Phillip owned and ran his insurance business from. The elevator to our floor was only for our use and led to the foyer of Phillip’s building. Vinnie, Colin and Daniel had taken extensive measures when designing our team room to make it as secure as possible. And difficult to access.
My viewing room was the only closed-off space. The soundproof glass walls and doors not only kept us in sight of each other, but also maintained the spaciousness of the area. Colin had a desk in my room, Manny a desk in the team room and Francine had a large computer station set up across from the door to my room.
Vinnie spent most of his time on the dark green sofa by the windows or in the small kitchen. He reached up to pull down a bin from the top of one of the cupboards and filled a plate with his homemade cookies. By the time he walked to the round table with the large tray of coffee mugs and cookies, we were all seated. “The cookies are just for the worst hunger. Don’t eat too much. I’m making lasagne for dinner and you’d better eat it all.”
“Count me in.” Daniel grabbed a cookie from the plate and leaned back. “Pink got lucky when he moved in with you guys. Good food every day.”