Gauguin Connection, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

the security doors in and out of our offices.
    “He’s really one of the good guys.” Phillip rested his hip against the long table once we were alone in the viewing room. It took all my self-control to not physically remove him from invading my space like that. Instead I took a deep breath, reminding myself that he too would leave soon and my viewing room would be my own again.
    “It’s evident.”
    “You were reading him?”
    I just looked at Phillip. After all this time, he should have known that I read everyone.
    “What did you see?”
    “He’s sincere. He believes in what he does.”
    “That would be Manny’s essence.” His eyes lost focus. “I remember a time when we were both young and full of dreams. I used to tell him that one day he would become a superhero.”
    “Superheroes don’t exist.”
    Phillip’s expression sobered and he gave me a quick smile. “Indeed that is true. So Manny became the next best thing.”
    “The Deputy Chief Executive of Strategy at the EDA?”
    “Someone fighting for what is right.”
    “How does that make it the next best thing to being a superhero?”
    Phillip looked relieved when there was a knock at the door before it whooshed open and Manny came through carrying a black leather case.
    “Phillip, can I have a moment alone with Ms Lenard?”
    “Of course. I have a few phone calls to make.” Phillip gave a slight nod and left me with Manny.
    “Well.” He moved around the viewing room trying to look comfortable, but his entire body communicated his discomfort. He lifted his hand to presumably run it over the artful workmanship of the filing cabinets.
    “Please don’t touch that.” I hated when people were in my space. They always wanted to touch my things and then I had to clean their oily fingerprints.
    Manny withdrew his hand. “Phillip trusts you. He knows you. I don’t. I don’t know anything about this thing that you have.”
    “What thing?”
    “Your”—he waved his hand towards me and then let it drop limply next to him—“autism.”
    “I was never really diagnosed with autism. People just like to label me that way so that I make more sense to them.”
    “What were you diagnosed as?”
    “Many things.” I was not going to tell him all the tests and psychological probing I had gone through. “You can also choose to believe that I have high functioning autism.”
    Manny looked intrigued and moved closer to me. “You don’t believe that you have high functioning autism?”
    “It doesn’t matter what I believe.”
    “To me it does. If we are going to work together, I need to know who it is that I’m trusting.”
    “I appreciate that you need to know this, but I’m not going to become your best friend, Colonel Millard. Working together on this case really only requires your trust in my skills and my discretion. Both of which you will have full access to.”
    Manny studied me for a long time. I didn’t flinch. “You are a very strange individual, Ms Lenard.”
    “So I have been told.”
    “Just one more question.” He swallowed his discomfort. “Do I need to be careful what I say or do in case you, you know, go all weird again?”
    “Go all weird?” If I wasn’t still shaken by the uncharacteristic lapse of my control, I would’ve smiled. “I can guarantee you it won’t happen again. And you don’t have to tiptoe around me. I’m much less delicate that most people think.”
    The corner of Manny’s mouth quirked into an almost-smile. He reached into the black leather case and took out a black laptop.
    “Okay, then. This is the EDA computer. I don’t know what the IT guys did to it, but they claim it is unhackable.” He opened the laptop and waited for it to boot up. It took him ten minutes to take me through all the passwords. It took me only once to memorise both twenty-six-digit passwords. I was impressed with the layered security on the computer and told Manny so.
    “Yes, my guys are some of the best. You will have