The Courbet Connection (Book 5) (Genevieve Lenard) Read Online Free PDF Page B

admission.
    “Nobody who is important.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Vinnie’s not. Francine, Manny, Phillip, Nikki.”
    “And you.” I relaxed slightly and put my latex-covered hands on his shoulders. He was right. It didn’t matter that people were scared of that which they didn’t understand. “You were never scared of me.”
    “Never.” He pulled me a bit closer. “Now tell me what kind of promise Nikki managed to get out of you this time.”
    Colin understood the difficulty I experienced in my relationship with Nikki. He particularly enjoyed it when Nikki was able to get my unwilling agreement to something no one else would ever have been able to convince me to do.
    “I’m going to investigate the disappearance of her friend. Her gut”—my tone indicated my derision of this notion—“tells her he has been kidnapped.”
    “Kidnapped?”
    I glanced at a grease stain on the table. It motivated me to relate Nikki and Rebecca’s suspicions in the most concise manner possible. Colin listened without interrupting. The moment I finished, I stepped out of his embrace and picked up the cleaning supplies.
    “Do you think there’s anything to Nikki’s gut feeling?”
    “Don’t start calling it that too.” I sprayed wood polish on the table and rubbed it in with a soft cloth. “And I don’t know if there is anything to her ungrounded suspicions. I’ll have to research it before I draw any conclusions.”
    For a few minutes I worked in silence, aware of Colin studying me. Eventually I looked at him. “What?”
    “Something happened at the office today, didn’t it?”
    “Manny phoned you?”
    Colin snorted. “Millard only phones me in dire situations, Jenny. No, he didn’t phone me. I know your cleaning habits. This is not annoyance-at-students-eating-pizza cleaning. This is something-is-bothering-you cleaning.”
    “You study my cleaning habits?”
    “No, I just observe you. That’s what people do when they get to know each other. The same way you understand the deeper meaning behind most of my body language. It’s more than just academic knowledge.” Colin followed me to the kitchen and watched me put the cleaning products in their designated places. “So? What happened?”
    I closed the cupboard door and leaned against it. “Caelan came in and insisted on speaking to only me. He wants to work with me on a case. He claims that there is a dark net that is selling forged masterpieces.”
    Colin held up both hands. “Who is Caelan?”
    I inhaled deeply and took a moment to organise my thoughts. I relayed this afternoon’s events to Colin. His expression went from interested to annoyed to worried, but the strongest emotion was when I mentioned the artist Caelan had told me to relay to Colin.
    “Are you kidding me?” Excitement was all over his face. “And he said Gustave Courbet’s Full Standing Figure of a Man was one of those paintings?”
    “Yes.”
    “That painting was part of a huge discovery of Nazi-looted art two years ago. The authorities only recently revealed the full extent of the almost four thousand works of art discovered in a man’s attic. Some amazing masterpieces were recovered. Including this Courbet.”
    I remembered the case Colin was talking about. Although I had only read one article about this shocking haul, it had been an in-depth report. “Those artworks are accounted for. Why would Caelan’s mention of this artist be of such interest to you?”
    The orbicularis oris muscles contracted Colin’s mouth into a pout we adopted when we were contemplative or doubtful.
    “Don’t you dare say it.”
    Colin laughed as he took my hands and pulled me into his arms. “Okay, I won’t say I have a gut feeling about this. A very strong gut feeling. I also won’t say that I’m worried about Caelan and that we should make sure that he’s okay.”
    “You don’t make sense. You said it by saying that you won’t say it.” I pushed lightly against his chest. “Why