“It’s crisp, all right.” Manny snorted and the women smiled. Rose relaxed a bit, her hands no longer clutching her coat. Manny turned to the male tourist. “So Pierre, what brought you here this morning?”
“The same as them.” Pierre Bruel nodded towards the woman. He was in his forties, well-groomed and spoke with quiet confidence. Like the women, he was dressed warmly, his knitted cap pulled low over his brow and his scarf high against his jaw. “I’m here for a conference and decided to do some forest bathing before our workshops start today.” He glanced at his watch and smiled. “Yeah, I think I’m going to miss the first few.”
“I can’t place your accent.” Manny slumped lower into his coat. “Where are you from?”
Pierre’s smile lifted his cheeks, but didn’t cause small wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. “I was born in Belgium, spent my first five years there before we moved to England. I’m currently living in Reading. I work for an international IT company there. I suppose my formative years and my mother being Flemish still has an effect on my accent.”
“Makes perfect sense.” Manny’s faked friendliness was convincing. “Reading, huh? There are some beautiful woods around for forest bathing.”
“My favourite is Fobney Island Nature Reserve.” Pierre paused until he noticed Manny’s positive reaction. “I wanted to come to this forest because I heard it was famous for horse riding paths.”
“Oh, you got the wrong forest.” Daniel smiled. “You’re most likely thinking of the Neuhof forest to the south of Strasbourg.”
“Seriously?” Pierre’s disappointment was the first genuine reaction he’d shown. “Dammit.”
Manny chuckled. “You still have time to explore, right?”
“Right.” Pierre appeared distracted for a moment. On a quick inhale, he smiled. “I’m here for another three days, so there’s indeed still time for that.”
“I’m sure you’ve told the officers more than once, but could you please indulge me by telling once again how you found the bodies?” Daniel first looked at Pierre, then at the women.
“Oh, those poor people.” Nina glanced towards the crime scene and crossed her arms. “It’s just awful.”
“I got here around nine.” Pierre nodded as if agreeing with himself. “Yes, the news was just starting on the radio when I pulled into the parking area. I got out, locked my phone in the boot and went in that direction.” He pointed to the crime scene. “I hadn’t walked three minutes when the colours caught my eye. One of the things I love about forest bathing in winter is how monochromatic everything is. Just the snow, the bark and green leaves. Nothing else to distract my mind.”
“What did you do when you saw the bodies?” Daniel asked.
“Oh, I didn’t know they were bodies at first.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought someone had dumped some camping gear or rubbish or something there. But as soon as I was close enough, I saw they were people. It was horrible.”
“We arrived after Pierre,” Rose said softly. “His car was already parked and we were glad that there weren’t more people. We wanted a true nature experience.”
“We went in the same direction and saw Pierre staring at the people.” Joan cleared her throat and closed her eyes. “The bodies.”
“I didn’t know what to do.” Pierre hunched his shoulders. “I could see they were dead.”
“We didn’t know what he was looking at, so we walked there.” Nina blushed. “I might’ve screamed when I saw those poor people.”
“She did.” Pierre’s smile was wide. And genuine. “Gave me the fright of my life.”
“I immediately called 112.” Joan straightened a bit. “I make a point of knowing the emergency numbers in every place I visit.”
“Wise.” Manny nodded slowly. “I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for you to see all of that.”
“Terrible.” Pierre shook his head, his sigh deep.
“I...” Rose swallowed. “I think I’m going to have nightmares about this.”
“It’s okay, lovey.” Nina stepped closer and put her arm around Rose’s shoulders. “We’ll find a way to cope with this. We’re hardy like that.”
“Did you see anyone else?” Manny asked.
“No one.” Pierre looked at the women. They nodded. He stared into the forest. “It’s so quiet and white here that it would’ve been easy to see someone else.”
Manny was quick to hide his scepticism. A few days ago, Vinnie and Pink had been in a deep discussion about camouflage in numerous environments. Manny had pretended to read a book, but I’d seen his attention drifting to their conversation.
He looked at me, one eyebrow lifted. I exhaled sharply. He wanted me to give him a verdict on the short interview we’d just had. Experience had taught me that he would be most displeased if my opinion was frank and therefore obvious. I thought about my wording for a few seconds, then looked at Pierre. “Where’s your car?”
Manny gave me a sideways glance before dropping his shoulders a bit more. He made a point of looking at Daniel as if the latter was annoying him before facing the tourists. “This is so daft. The Frenchies have a million silly rules. If you guys don’t let us look in your cars, they’re going to kick up all kinds of fuss because we didn’t dot our i’s and cross our t’s. So to speak.”
“No problem.” Joan took a set of keys from her jacket pocket and pointed at the only red vehicle. “It’s a rental and it’s in my name. You can record everything if that would help. I don’t mind.”
“Oh, that’s darling of you.” Manny took the keys and handed it to Daniel. “I’ll make sure they don’t scratch the car.”
She shrugged. “I have insurance.”
“Pierre?” Manny turned to the IT specialist. “May we see your car?”
“Of course.” The contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscles under his eyes were fleeting, but I’d noticed it. He was relieved. He took a key fob from his trouser pocket and handed it to Manny. “Also a rental. But I would appreciate it if you guys didn’t scratch it.”
“No problem.” Manny walked to the gray car that would blend in on most of the roads in Europe. Ten minutes later, Manny handed Joan and Pierre their keys back. “The crime scene techs recorded everything just in case we’re called to the carpet. Now we can show them we were diligent and you guys are only guilty of witnessing something extremely horrible.”
“If you could go with these officers, they’ll take your statements and you’ll be free to go.” Daniel smiled at Pierre. “And hopefully, you’ll get to visit the Neuhof forest.”
Pierre’s smile was relieved. “Thanks. Yes, I will definitely make a point of getting there. Something good has to come out of this experience.”
Two officers led the tourists away and we walked back to our vehicles. Vinnie was leaning against Manny’s sedan, still talking on his phone. We stopped next to Colin’s SUV and Manny held up his hand while he made sure the tourists were occupied and out of earshot. “What did you see, Doc?”
“Inconsistencies.” I winced. “The problem is that it’s not really suspicious to show a few inconsistent nonverbal cues under circumstances such as these.”
“What did you see?” Manny lowered his brow and stared at me.
“The women’s body language didn’t raise any alarms with me.” I glanced at Pierre talking into a camera while an officer recorded him. “Pierre showed relief that could’ve been because he wasn’t caught in a crime or because this traumatic event is over.” I paused, recalling his micro-expressions. “He tried hard and mostly succeeded in controlling his responses and nonverbal cues, but a few times it was too calculated. I can give you exact examples. Should I tell you all of them?”
“Dear God, no.” Manny scratched his chin and looked at Daniel. “Your guys found nothing suspicious in his rental?”
Daniel shook his head. “No evidence of blood. It’s clean inside, the boot is empty and clean.”
“Hmm.” Manny thought about this for a few seconds. “Can you get someone to tail Pierre? Someone who will not be made?”
Daniel nodded. “I’ll organise it.”