Page 10 (1/2)

"If I hadto you now, telling you all that I know" Javet shrugged "I usually have a sense for certain things, Malone And I sense that you are telling e, and perhaps all of Paris, will be in great alar an arrest, so that they can sleep tight in their own beds at night, unafraid There may be many as ho think that you should be arrested on the spot"

"Are you going to arresttrue e came to the crypt The coroner says that youthe body as the man had been dead so short a time

You couldn’t have hidden any riches or done aith a decaying body so quickly For nowno, you are not under arrest"

"Ah"

"And what does thatme"

"You assume correctly" Javet hesitated for a moment, as if he considered his next words carefully

"There is a sense of unease rising in the city center as it is"

"Oh?" Brent frowned He’d been so totally concentrated on the work in the crypt that he’d paid attention to little else "Have there been otherhied "It is probably all unrelated We’ve had reports ofpersons But you knowpeople sometimes disappear because they choose to do so"

Brent leaned forward "And so has been done to theain, Javet hunched his shoulders "Five--inwoman of about twenty-five" He pulled open a drawer in his desk and produced a file, flipping pages One youngwomen in total Tere prostitutes the man and the other tere tourists All three tourists possessed rail passes, so they could be alh Europe As to the prostitutesthey worked the seediest streets of the city, had drug habits, andwell, they were young, but defying death on a daily basis"

"A prostitute murdered by a John or a pimp would

most probably be discovered in an alley sole body in an alley, and as I said, the other young people et to call home, and nervous mamas will call, and become more nervous So, we have taken the reports, and the files and pictures are all across the entireon the news, or in the paper"

"You e There has been mention"

"Perhaps there should be ht We need visitors from around the world We try not to panic the public irresponsibly"

"Warning theht be nice as well"

"Perhaps you should walk out before I do decide to arrest you" Brent leaned back "You’re not going to arrest ht have so to do with this murder And you do know that I didn’t kill Jean-Luc, so there is an unknown ht be afraid that I did see soht be bait to lure the real killer"

Javet shrugged "Perhaps" He kept staring at Brent as if he could read so him

Brent stared back

At last Javet lifted his hands "You are free to go As long as you do not go far, of course"

"Well, I can hardly ask you to trust a stranger, but I aht to justice as you are, sir," Brent said, rising

Javet rose as well and shook his hand Brent are that he spoke very softly to one of the men who came by his desk as Brent started out The inspector are that his French was fluent, and he didn’t want Brent knowing that he was to be followed

Even if he hadn’t heard the whisper, Brent knew that men would be sent out to watch his arette on the street, and then paused

There was soain

He had felt it before, co from the crypt, onto the street When he had insisted that Tara Adair get in her car and leave quickly

Now

For a

And close, very close

Looking back, he frowned The station suddenly seee shadon the block and across the street, there was still

He looked back at the station, and went over his conversation with Javet again He considered everything he had seen and sensed regarding the man

It didn’tof unease That soeant at the desk stopped hiain"

"He has just left with another inspector You’ll have to come back" The sense of unease re had been

And even as he stood there, it faded

And was then gone

He could do no good, standing there, arguing with the desk sergeant on duty

He walked down the block to the cafe, took a table outside, and ordered coffee with a whiskey, neat

He paid when his drinks arrived, then pretended to linger, staring at the crime tape around the crude stairway that led down to the excavation site froarden square area before the church The front of the new St Michel was also cordoned off now, around the door he had broken down

He waited, then spoke to his waiter about the toilet facilities, and rose Once inside, he followed an employees only door out a hallway to the delivery entrance in the rear

He was not followed

His car was on the street He chose to leave it while he walked on to another bar Once inside, he used the pay phone, though he had a cell phone in his pocket

He wasn’t certain that the phone even rang He heard the deep voice answering almost instantly