Left To Run

Neither did you, a small voice reminded her.

But she pushed it away with a slight shrug. She reached the baggage claim and watched as the luggage circled the metal slatted conveyor belt; she waited patiently, but still never fully managed to shake the anticipation clotting her chest.

At last, she managed to retrieve her bag, waiting for a space to clear around the claim.

She found herself brushing her hair behind her ears and straightening her outfit even while she approached customs and waited for the border agent to survey her special detail passport and papers. Get a grip, she thought scathingly. Why was she so concerned about her appearance all of a sudden? John or not, why did it matter? Adele was taller than most woman, but not unusually so—her long, dirty-blonde hair framed features that hinted of her French-American heritage. Exotic, some said. A single mole stippled the top of her lip, a source of insecurity as a teenager, but no longer.

Adele thought of the last night she’d seen John, swimming in Robert’s private pool on his estate. The way John had been at the start of the evening, followed by how he’d behaved toward the end. He had tried to kiss her, hadn’t he? Had she misinterpreted the gesture? Whatever the case, when she’d pulled back, he’d been offended. He’d left shortly after.

In defiance to her burbling emotions, Adele messed her hair, intentionally disheveling her bangs. Then, setting her jaw, she wheeled her suitcase through customs and out into the receiving area of the airport.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for the tall, lanky form of her previous French partner. But as her gaze looked over the waiting crowd, there was no sign of John. Her smile—which she hadn’t realized was displayed—became rather fixed as her gaze settled on a suited woman standing against the tinted glass of the window facing the streets outside the airport.

Her smile faded completely as she recognized the woman’s pursed lips and her silver hair pulled into a bun. The woman resembled a no-nonsense supply teacher, or perhaps a nun out of smock. Not a single strand of hair was out of place, and even the wrinkles along the edge of her eyes seemed to stretch as if attempting to stand to attention.

An agent she’d worked with before… But not John.

This particular agent had been Adele’s supervisor back when she’d worked for the DGSI. She also had been demoted, an unfortunate scenario whose blame had been placed solely on Adele’s shoulders. Every ounce of scorn and impatience displayed itself in every crease and glint in Agent Sophie Paige’s eyes, but at last, she raised a hand and gave a quick jerking gesture in Adele’s direction.

Not a wave, but more a beckoning call like a master calling their pet hound. Adele stood frozen for a moment, feeling people jostle past her as they moved to greet waiting family or friends. The still air swelled with laughter, the sound of bodies embracing, the quiet murmurings of exhausted travelers retreating from the airport and hurrying with relief toward waiting cabs or cars on the curb.

For the briefest moment, Adele had to resist the urge to turn right around and march back onto the plane, leaving Sophie Paige and her scowl standing by the window.

But at last, she mustered up the residue of her courage, quickly brushed her hair back into place with furtive motions, and moved toward the waiting form of her past supervisor and new partner.

CHAPTER SIX

Removed from the center of Paris, in the northwestern suburbs of the Ile-de-France region of the capital, Adele kept her eyes forward as the car pulled up to the fourth floor of the DGSI parking structure. The afternoon drive had proceeded in complete silence; now, Agent Paige brusquely exited the vehicle, calling something over her shoulder about meeting with Foucault. She left Adele alone to meander her way through security to her old mentor’s office.

Stepping into Robert’s office was a relief.

Adele could feel her shoulders sagging as if a weight were lifted as she stepped through the door with a quiet knock on the frame. The day’s travel weighed heavy, but her spirits lifted as she scanned the familiar room. The walls still carried the same framed pictures of old race cars and beneath them shelves of dusty books with cracked leather covers. Two desks now sat in the room. The second desk had been placed by the window with an upright leather swivel chair behind it. On the desk a small, golden nameplate read, Adele Sharp.

Hearing a man clear his throat, she redirected her attention to the first desk and its occupant.

Robert Henry was already standing. He often stood when a woman entered the room. The short man was straight-backed with a long, curling mustache oiled and dyed black. He wore a fine-fitting suit, which Adele guessed had been tailored specifically for him. Robert came from wealth; he didn’t need the job at the DGSI, but he enjoyed it. Perhaps this was the reason he had one of the best records at the department. Robert had once played soccer for a semi-professional team in Italy, but had returned to France when he’d been recruited by the French government long before DGSI existed.

The small French man examined Adele for a moment, but his eyes twinkled, betraying the smile which hid behind his lips.

“Hello,” said Adele, unable to resist a smile of her own.

Robert Henry smirked now, flashing a row of pearly whites missing two teeth. Adele had heard many stories to how he’d lost the teeth, each of them more far-fetched than the other.

They held eye contact across the room, watching each other for a moment.

Then Adele said, “You use too many emojis.” Some of her bad temper from earlier began to fade in the face of her old mentor and friend.

Robert sniffed. “I consider it an art form.”

“Mhmm,” said Adele. “Weren’t you the one who told me the advent of cartoons was the death of culture?”

Robert set his shoulders and with a prim wiggle of his chin replied, “A genteel man knows how to admit when he’s wrong.”

Adele’s smirk turned to a good-natured grin. Robert Henry had been like a father to her for many years. Her own father wasn’t a fan of affection, but Robert was the sort who went out of his way to make sure Adele felt welcomed and comforted. Robert owned a mansion, but he lived in it alone, and often welcomed the opportunity to have guests. Adele would be staying at his house for her time in France.

“Took you a while,” said Robert, glancing at his watch. The glistening silver timepiece looked like the sort of item that might’ve belonged on a banker’s wrist. Robert adjusted his cuff links and nestled the watch beneath the edge of his perfectly pressed sleeve.

Adele leaned her suitcase against the doorframe, placing her laptop bag on the floor. “Whoever scheduled my flight gave me a three-hour layover in London,” she said. “Then it took some time getting the car—we had to walk to the other side of the airport. Someone more petty might think she did it on purpose just to frustrate me.”

Robert frowned. “She? Who did Foucault pair you with?”

Instead of answering, Adele strode across the room and extended her hands, embracing the smaller man. She wasn’t particularly tall, but Robert was still three inches shorter. She hugged her old mentor, and felt a warmth through her chest. He was smaller than she remembered, though. Almost… frail. Though Robert dyed his hair and his mustache, Adele couldn’t shake the notion he was aging. She separated from her old friend and smiled again. “We’ll be working out of your office, I hear,” she said.

Robert patted her on the shoulder in a comforting way. “Yes—that’s yours.” He nodded to the desk with the name plate.

“You put it by the window. I appreciate that.”

“I remember how you liked the view last time you were here,” said Robert with a shrug. He lowered his hand and moved back to his own desk chair, emitting a quiet groan as he lowered himself, settling with a soft sigh.

“You all right?” asked Adele.

Robert nodded, waving away any further questions with a dismissive gesture. “Yes, of course. The old bones just don’t move like they used to. I’m afraid I won’t be in the field with you.”

Adele gave a noncommittal nod. “Figured you wouldn’t be. We just need someone to keep track of things back here, anyhow.”

Robert was no longer smiling. His gaze seemed heavy all of a sudden.

“You’re not sick, are you?” Adele blurted out. She wasn’t sure where the question came from, but it ushered forth before she could stop it.

Robert smiled and shook his head. “No, not that I’m aware of. But,” he tapped his fingers against his desk, and then glanced at the computer screen across from him, “I’m learning how to use it better. Email is hard. But I figured, well, for your sake…” He trailed off, glancing at her.

Adele felt a flush of gratitude. She knew how much Robert despised technology. Despite the number of emojis he used in his texting, he’d been stubborn on the advent of computers. Still, she had demanded Interpol allow Robert to be a part of her team. That was the deal she’d made with Ms. Jayne when hashing out the contract.

At the time, she’d heard whispers and rumors that the DGSI was trying to edge Robert out of his position—a mandatory retirement. She felt a flash of frustration. The thought of anyone taking Robert’s job was unconscionable. They’d built DGSI’s homicide division, in part, with his efforts. He had made a name at other agencies long before the DGSI had even formed, which had attracted many new recruits. Adele respected most of the agents who worked for France’s intelligence agencies, but there were none she respected more than Robert. He was clever in an intuitive sort of way, and he was rarely wrong. The last case in Paris, he’d insisted the killer had natural red hair, and he’d noted the vanity of it. She hadn’t been sure, but in the end, it had proven an accurate deduction.

Still, she remembered her interactions with Executive Foucault. The frown on his face when she requested Robert’s help. The agency was trying to whittle back personnel. Now, though, with his help on the Interpol attaché, she’d tied Foucault’s hands.

“I need you,” she said, simply. “You’re the best at what you do.”

Robert shook his head, sighing as he did. “I don’t know if that’s true, dear,” he said, his voice creaking all of a sudden.

“It is. Don’t worry about the computers; you’ll figure it out. I’m sure. We just need someone to touch base with, to coordinate from back here. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

Robert nodded again, his expression still glum. “I’m old, Adele. I know I might not look it.” He ran his hand through his clearly dyed hair. “But this agency, this place, I think it’s for the younger folk now.”

Adele’s brow dipped. “Why are you saying these things?”

Robert waved a hand. “It’s not important. I’m grateful. Likely, if you hadn’t asked for me, I would’ve been out of the agency within the week.”

Now Adele’s frown turned to a scowl. “You heard that? Did someone say they were trying to get rid of you?”

Robert just shook his head. “I am an investigator. I’m not meant to be stuck behind a desk. Sometimes you just know these things.”

“You’re thinking too much. You’re invaluable—trust me. And besides, if you go, then I go.”

Robert smiled at this comment and tapped his fingers together. “Fair enough. Computers aren’t my forte, but I’ll try my best. But you still haven’t said, who did the executive pair you with? John?” His eyebrows flicked up ever so slightly. A small glimmer of a smile edged the corner of his lips, but Adele shook her head, quieting his expression.

“Agent Paige,” she said with the gravity of a judge’s gavel.

Robert stared at her.

She shrugged.

He continued to stare.

“I didn’t ask for it,” she said.

“Sophie Paige?”

Adele glanced back out the door, checking that the hall was clear, then nodded. “Looks like. She was about as happy as I was.”

“Doesn’t Foucault know your history?” said Robert, his voice rising.

“It’s fine,” Adele replied in a hushing voice. “I don’t know what the executive does or doesn’t know. But it is what it is.”

“And what about John?” Robert demanded.

Adele waved a hand airily, as if the thought hadn’t really crossed her mind. “You mean Agent Renee? Well, I think he’s working another case. That’s what Paige said.”

Robert’s manicured eyebrows hung low over his eyes like dark clouds threatening a storm. “Paige,” he said with a grunt. “Now I know why Foucault didn’t tell me.”

Adele hesitated. There was something in his tone she couldn’t quite place. “What do you mean?”

Robert was still frowning at his fingers, though, and Adele had to repeat the question. His eyes darted up at last. “Oh, I mean, nothing, or—except, he knows how I feel about you. And Paige hasn’t exactly been the warmest towards you since the incident.”

Adele paused, studying her old mentor. She knew Robert would take her side. But there’d been something more to his tone. Something behind his frown that she didn’t quite understand. “Have you had words with Paige since I left?” she asked, slowly.

“Words? No.” He trailed off as if preparing to add more, but then he seemed to decide against it and gave a quick shake of his head, latching his fingers together and folding his thumbs on top of each other. “No, nothing like that. I’m sure both of you can be professional though, yes?”

Adele shrugged. “I can if she can.”

“Magnifique,” he said. “I hope you slept on the plane, though. Foucault wanted to meet the moment you landed.”

Adele nodded, her lips pressed firmly together. “Agent Paige is already in his office,” she said. “We’re to start right away?”

Her old mentor nodded as he pushed out of his chair and moved with stiff motions around the edge of his desk. “Leave your suitcase here,” he said. “I’ll send someone to take it to my home. Come now.”

Robert took her by the arm, looping her hand through the crook of his elbow, and escorted her to the elevator. Robert was old-fashioned, and there were some who thought of him as pompous. But to Adele, his behavior only summoned a fond amusement.

They waited for the quiet ding of the elevator and stepped into the compartment. For the briefest moment, Adele’s finger hovered over the button for the second floor—John’s office would be there. Was he in? No—now wasn’t the time. There wasn’t a gap of three weeks between kills like the last time. Three days. That’s all that had passed between the killings. A rapid, startling pace. A pace that might only get worse.

Adele pressed the button for the top floor and, with Robert next to her still holding her elbow, she waited as the elevator carried them up and toward the office of the executive.

***

Paige sat by the window, a familiar comfort in the way she reclined in the office chair. Executive Foucault himself peered out from beneath a hawk-like brow, gnawing on one corner of his lip and shaking his head.

Adele and Robert stood, waiting, watching. Foucault’s eyes fixed on his computer screen and his expression only darkened. “This is it?” he asked, glancing up. “Nothing new?” His eyes darted to Agent Paige, whose own gaze bounced to Adele as if redirecting the executive’s ire.

Adele hesitated. Sunlight streamed through the open window of the executive’s large office—the gusting air ushered out some of the scent of cigarette smoke, but the odor still clung to the walls.

“I just arrived,” Adele said, hesitantly, unsure if she was being blamed for something. “I was planning to settle at Robert’s…” She trailed off at the look on Foucault’s face and then cleared her throat. “Honestly, I slept on the plane. We can start this afternoon. I’d like to see the crime scene of the second victim.”

Foucault nodded, waving a hand. “Yes,” he said, his thick eyebrows narrowed over his dark eyes. “That would be best. We don’t have time to wait on this one, hmm? No.” He nodded toward Paige. “You two have worked together before, yes?”

Paige continued to sit in silence by the window. She nodded once. Adele also nodded.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Robert intervened, clearing his throat. “A strange one, this,” he said, quietly.

Adele kept her eyes fixed on Foucault, but nodded in agreement.

Robert grunted as the attention in the room shifted from Adele to him. “The victims must have known the killer,” he said. “A friend? Maybe a family member?”

Adele turned her face slightly, rolling her head against her shoulders. “Maybe. Or maybe the killer snuck up on them. A landlord? With a key?”

Robert hesitated for a moment and silence reigned once more. At last, he said, “What do you make of the missing kidney?”

“You’ve been over the files?”

“Second report isn’t in yet.” Robert paused, inclining an eyebrow toward Foucault in question.

The executive nodded. “They’re working on it, but it’s taking some time. Full report should be in soon.”

Robert nodded and this time addressed Foucault, moving across the room to peer through the open window into the street below. A small, pink-painted cafe occupied the street across from the DGSI.

“I did read the first report,” he said. “Only the kidney missing. Why do you think that is?”

Paige and Foucault both stayed silent. But Adele glanced across the room toward her mentor, watching the way the afternoon sunlight illuminated the side of his face and cast shadows against the carpeted floor.

“Trophy collecting?” she said.

“Perhaps,” said Robert. “Makes sense.”

“What else?”

Robert shrugged and his gaze snapped to Foucault behind his desk.

The executive’s frown deepened. “That’s what you’re paid to find out,” he said. His eyes darted between the three agents and he reached out, patting the side of his computer. “We need more information, and you don’t have much time to provide it.”

Adele noted the quick way in which we became you. She paused, then said, quietly, “I’ve been thinking about the victims. Both of them expats, yes? Growing up, I had some experience with that community—not much, as my mother was local. But some American friends at school whose parents relocated for work.” She paused. “They’re a vulnerable community. Isolated a lot of times—barriers in language and culture. Perhaps the killer is using this to get close to them. Exploiting loneliness or a pressure to please the host country.”

Foucault took this with a nod and shrug. “Explore all possibilities,” he said. “Just,” he paused, “don’t make it personal.” He turned from Adele. “Agent Henry, you’ll be staying here, I presume?” Foucault’s gaze flicked to the smaller man.

Robert rubbed his mustache. “I’ll leave the field work to the youngsters, I think.”

Foucault returned his attention to Adele. “Second crime scene?” he said. “It’s still under our supervision.”

“I’m ready to start if she isn’t too tired,” Paige said, speaking for the first time since they’d entered the room. The comment seemed innocent enough, but something about it raised Adele’s hackles.

Now that the attention was once again on her, Adele inhaled softly.

Americans in France, expats—she felt a kinship with them; a camaraderie. Adele knew what it was to move from country to country, to reestablish roots, to build a life once more.

But these lives had been built only to end with bloodstains on the floor of their apartments. No physical evidence. No sign of a struggle. No sign of breaking or entering.

Now wasn’t the time for rest.

“I’m ready when you are,” said Adele, already turning toward the door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Adele ground her teeth in frustration, tapping her fingers impatiently against the woodwork of the door frame that led into the apartment. She glanced at her watch for the tenth time in the last thirty minutes and her eyebrows lowered even further over her eyes, darkening her countenance as a flash of impatience jolted through her.

“Christ,” Adele muttered. She frowned as she glanced up and down the street, tracking the flow of vehicles. She kept trying to spot any government issues, but found her attention drawn only to the loaner she’d parked against the curb by the empty meter. It was still afternoon, with the sun high in the sky, dipping only slightly in the horizon.

Adele and Sophie had taken separate vehicles, as Adele would be heading to Robert’s straight from the crime scene.

She leaned against the railing leading up the concrete steps and turned back toward the front door of the apartment. For a moment, she considered entering on her own. But generally, protocol dictated two agents were required on scene in tandem. On her first day back on the job in France, Adele didn’t want to stretch boundaries. Still, Agent Paige was making it difficult. Already, she was nearly thirty minutes late.

Adele let out a low growl. She’d made arrangements with Robert to take her luggage to his house, and then driven straight to the crime scene. The drive had taken twenty minutes. Paris was one of the few cities with next to no stop signs. It was rumored there was one stop sign, somewhere; Agent Paige must have found it and not known how to proceed.

Nothing else explained why Adele had been waiting on Paige for half an hour.

She glanced along the street, toward the gap between the blocks of buildings. She swallowed, staring toward the open path across the street, with hints of green hidden within. Something she loved about Paris had been the little passages and hidden gardens ready to be explored as if through some labyrinth crisscrossing the hunched buildings. The French had a special word for those who walked aimlessly, enjoying the side roads and gardens: la flânerie. Adele couldn’t remember the last time she’d relaxed enough to walk aimlessly. And now certainly wasn’t the time.

With a final puffing breath of frustration, Adele turned to the doors and moved to buzz the bottom button marked Landlord. He’d been instructed to let her in. With or without Paige, Adele was determined to see the crime scene of the second victim.

Before she could push the buzzer, though, there was a quiet screech of tires. Adele glanced over her shoulder and spotted a second SUV with black tinted windows parking behind her own vehicle. Agent Paige’s silver hair appeared over the top of the doorframe as she exited the driver’s seat, taking her sweet time about it. The older agent paused on the curb, then snapped her fingers as if realizing something, turned back to her car, opened the door, and began rummaging around inside.

Adele stared; it took nearly a minute before Paige found whatever she’d been looking for, and then once more, at a snail’s pace, began to move toward the stairs to the apartment. She gave a noncommittal grunt in Adele’s direction.

Adele suppressed her temper. She would have to work with Paige for the duration of the case, and starting off on the wrong foot wouldn’t help anything. But it almost seemed like her assigned partner was intentionally dragging her feet on this one.

“I thought we agreed to come straight here,” said Adele, trying to keep her tone neutral.

Paige shot Adele a long look out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah? I’m not usually in a hurry to waste my time. The crime scene monkeys have already been over this. Not sure why we’re here.”

Adele turned fully now, looking away from the apartment doors and the buzzers to face her partner. “We’re here,” she said, gritting her teeth, “because I want to examine the crime scene myself. Is that all right with you?”

Paige picked at her fingernails, flicking whatever she found onto the sidewalk. “You’re not going to discover anything new.”

“Maybe not, or maybe so.”

Adele could smell Agent Paige’s perfume, though to call it perfume would have been a stretch. Her partner smelled of soap; not scented soap, but rather a sort of plain cleansing odor that hearkened of hygiene and simplicity. Agent Paige wore no earrings, nor jewelry of any kind. She had a strong profile with a roman nose and sharp cheekbones. Adele remembered her first year at the DGSI, working under a taskforce with Agent Paige—she’d been intimidated by the older woman then, and, judging by the twisting swirling in her gut, the sensation hadn’t faded.

Adele had never visited Sophie’s family, but she knew from discussions with other agents that Paige had five children of her own, all of them adopted. And yet, in Adele’s experience, she’d never seen the woman miss a day of work. It had taken some digging, when she’d been at the DGSI, but by the sound of things, Agent Paige’s husband stayed at home, taking care of the kids while his wife worked long hours for the government.