I wasn’t in the mood for social repartee. I held up my hand when Pink inhaled to answer and looked at Daniel. “What did you find at the self-storage warehouse?”
“Nothing that is of immediate use to our case.” Daniel sobered and took a sip of the coffee Vinnie handed him. “The documents in the manager’s office show that Adèle paid for five lockers in that self-storage warehouse. Not all of them were next to each other.”
“The security in that place is terrible.” Pink took another cookie and placed it on a napkin next to his coffee mug. “There are three cameras outside, but nothing inside the warehouse. I would never use a place like that to store something I valued.”
“Yet Adèle did.” The expression on Daniel’s face alerted me that he knew why. He nodded. “Because she took care of her own security. By the time we got there, the regional manager had arrived. He opened all her lockers for us and all five of them had cameras installed inside and just above the doors outside. All top-of-the-range cameras—small and strong.” He looked at Francine. “Did she stream the footage to her system?”
“Yup.” Francine’s fingers hovered over her tablet screen, ready to type in whatever search we needed. “The girl was one strange cookie. She had state-of-the-art security, but her computer is way too easy to access. One password and anyone could be in her whole system. She stored all the video footage from the lockers on an external drive. The crime scene techs found it behind the perfume bottles, but I had already remotely accessed it. Shocking security. I checked the recordings of the last few days and so far haven’t found anything suspicious.”
Francine was one of the most sceptical people I’d ever come across and I completely trusted her when she said there wasn’t something noteworthy. I’d been so absorbed in studying the photos of Adèle’s chart that I hadn’t given much thought to the self-storage lockers. “What was in the five lockers?”
“The dogs went on full alert in one of the lockers.” Vinnie straightened in excitement. “The techs tested the air and said there was residue of cocaine and heroin. But that locker was completely empty. Two of the others were also empty. One had some of her personal stuff, like an old sofa, a bicycle and a few boxes. The techs are going through that now, but the stuff we saw was nothing important.”
“He’s leaving the best for last.” Pink looked at Colin.
Daniel also turned his attention to Colin sitting next to me and smiled. “As soon as the techs are done in that locker, they’re bringing the artworks here.”
Colin’s eyebrows rose. “What artworks?”
“I took photos.” Pink took his smartphone from a pocket in his uniform shirt and tapped the screen. “I’ll send them to you now. Hey.” Pink looked up from his phone, his brow pulled down low over his eyes. “Did any of you know Adèle had a sister?”
“No way.” Francine swiped her tablet screen and started tapping. “I didn’t find anything about any sister anywhere.”
“The case file said nothing about siblings,” Daniel said.
“Why do you think she has a sister?” Manny asked.
“Because of this.” Pink turned his phone to show us a photo of two young women laughing at the camera. This was the first photo I’d seen of Adèle. I didn’t know which one of the two women she was.
They were on an empty beach, the sunset creating beautiful hues of purple and orange behind them. The woman with the short blonde hair and freckles on her nose had a red heart drawn around her face. Above their heads in distinct feminine writing were the words, ‘The best twin anyone could ever want. Love you, sis.’
“Bloody hell.” Manny tapped his index finger on the table and looked at Francine. “Find her.”
“On it, boss.” She winked at him.
“What else don’t we know?” Manny slumped into this chair. “We don’t even have a proper connection between Caelan’s dead friend and Adèle.”
“I consider the wine to be a very strong connection between Jace and Adèle.” I studied Manny’s expression. “I’m surprised that you would dismiss that.”
“I’m not dismissing anything, missy.” Manny grunted when Francine slapped him lightly on his shoulder, immediately returning to tapping and swiping her tablet screen. He inhaled deeply and schooled his expression to his usual scowl. “I’m just saying...”
“These are all artefacts that have been looted from Iran.” Colin interrupted Manny and lifted his smartphone. “My God. These works are priceless cultural treasures. They should never be in an unguarded storage locker.”
“What are you talking about, Frey?”
Colin pointed at his phone. “The photos Pink just sent us. Two of the artworks they found in Adèle’s storage locker are part of the Oxus treasure. These pieces should be in the British Museum exhibition.”
“Are these the same pieces in the photos in her house?” I asked.
“Yes.” He swiped his phone screen and held it for me to see. “This one and”—he swiped again—“this one.”
One of the bearded men and the deer.
“What about the other pieces?” Daniel asked.
“These are all from the Persian era,” Colin said.
“And let’s not forget that Jace had a degree in Persian history.” Pink looked at his phone. “He would’ve known about this treasure.”
“You think that’s relevant, Doc?”
I considered my answer for a few seconds before looking at Manny. “I don’t want to speculate.”
“Doc.” His expression was very familiar.
“No need to become irate. In this situation, I think speculation is called for.” I ignored Manny’s faux relief. “If Jace had seen these artworks, he would undoubtedly have recognised them to be from the period he knew well. But I have to reiterate that we have no way of knowing he’d seen these.”
“And it’s impossible that he studied this era and didn’t know about the Oxus treasure,” Colin said. “I also think that Jace would’ve mentioned it if he’d found this. He would’ve been much more excited about these artworks than the crates of wine.”
“Hmm.” Manny narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure there’s nothing to this Oxus treasure thing, Frey?”
Colin’s lips thinned and he exhaled loudly. “It’s a theory some treasure hunter started in the 1980s. It’s utter nonsense.”
Manny pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. “Tell me about this Oxus treasure. Without writing poetry about it.”
“It’s a collection of about a hundred and eight pieces of metalwork in gold and silver as well as around two hundred coins.” Colin’s muscles relaxed as he talked about a topic he was so passionate about. “These pieces were found around 1880 in the Oxus River. The greatest value of this treasure is the possibility that some of it dates as far back as 200 BC.
“The exact date and location it was found have never been established, but it is said to have been discovered by local people somewhere on the north bank of the river. That part is now in Tajikistan, but then it was all part of the Persian Empire. The area was a major ancient crossing point for the river.”
“I’m sure Caelan can tell us more about the river and how it has changed in the last few centuries.” Daniel looked at me. “Where is Caelan?”
“I don’t know.” Why would he even assume I did?
“He’s with Phillip.” Francine smiled at me. “He refused to leave.”
“Get him up here,” Manny said. “His useless facts might be useful for once.”
Francine rolled her eyes at Manny and lifted her phone. We didn’t need information about the Oxus River at the moment, but I did have questions about geocaching. An unrelated thought flashed through my mind. I looked at Pink. “Have you recovered anything from Jace’s phone?”
“Nah.” Pink winced. “Between the damage, the toilet water and the cleaning agent, that phone is completely destroyed. We couldn’t get anything from it.”
“Dammit.” Manny sighed. “Please tell me you got something from testing the wine bottles.”