The Flinck Connection (Book 4) (Genevieve Lenard) Read Online Free PDF Page A

this Flinck artist we are looking for.” Manny’s voice and expressions no longer held the earlier animosity against Colin. “If that painting is not here, Frey, why don’t you go through the house to make sure that it isn’t hidden somewhere?”
    Colin gave a single nod and looked at me. “Coming?”
    “Yes.” I wanted to see the rest of the house to get a better impression of Claude Savreux, the man. Even if a person’s house were decorated by a designer, there would be areas showing the influence of the inhabitant. Already his home office revealed a man for whom portraying the image of old money was important. The decor told me that he had wanted to impress with the wealth of his collections, but not to overwhelm.
    The rest of the house was not much different. On the walls were paintings that caused Colin’s eyes to widen and a few times his pupils dilated, informing me of how much Colin loved looking at that specific work. Our pupils dilated when we wanted to visually absorb as much as possible from whatever was giving us pleasure. Pink followed us from room to room, dividing his attention between monitoring the environment, inspecting the rooms and checking his tablet. That last habit reminded me of Francine.
    In the master bedroom, he shook the tablet. “Aha! I’ve got some more info on Savreux.”
    Colin turned away from a landscape painting that could have been a Monet or a Renoir. He had been standing close, his nose millimetres away from the canvas. “Scandals or boring biographical info?”
    “Mostly the boring stuff.” Pink’s nose wrinkled, expressing tedium.
    “It is in details others dismiss as banal or boring that one can often find important clues,” I said. “Tell me what you have.”
    “Well”— Pink looked at his tablet screen—“when Savreux wasn’t busy with his charity work, he was arguing with the president.”
    “The president of France?” The person we were working for?
    “The one and only. According to these articles, Savreux and a few others have opposed more than one legislation supported by President Godard.”
    “What legislations?”
    “One of those… well, it looks like the president was pushing for privacy reform. This is most likely a backlash from all the spying scandals recently revealed. You know, with those leaked documents showing how the US government has been spying on everyone and his dog.”
    “Why would any government spy on someone’s dog?” This was most peculiar.
    “It’s an expression, Jenny.” Colin chuckled. “You really should read that book Vinnie gave you for Christmas.”
    A few months ago, I had experienced my first true Christmas courtesy of my friends. The decorations Francine had put up in my apartment had caused me numerous panic attacks. Vinnie had spent even more time than usual in the kitchen, involving Nikki in all his cooking. Christmas Eve dinner had been extravagant to a point that I had considered planning a journey for next Christmas. As much as I hated travelling and all the panic surrounding a trip, it was much preferred to another Christmas Eve dinner. The excessive food, bits of tinsel under my furniture, tinsel finding its way to my bedroom had pushed very hard at my obsessive-compulsive borders.
    The gift-giving had been pleasant though. There had been a pile of colourfully wrapped gifts under the tree—a tree Colin had thoughtfully insisted had to be artificial since the pine needles would’ve driven me into a daily cleaning frenzy. Of all the gifts, Vinnie’s book with the top one thousand metaphors and expressions had given everyone the most pleasure. It was still unread on the coffee table.
    “Jenny?” Colin touched my arm to bring me back to the present. “Are you listening?”
    “I am now.”
    Pink smiled. “I was saying that Savreux provoked quite a public attack on President Godard for the new legislation he wants to pass. President Godard’s No Secrets law.”
    “Oh yes, I know about that.” It