Adele patted herold mentor on the shoulder, moving back to her computer. “My dear, dearinnocent friend. What you can find on the web would shock you. Whatever thecase, this Gabriel Waters knew both our victims. And he sent explicit photosbefore they died.”
Robert continuedto stare at the screenshots on the computer.
Adele said, “Theyalso sent his address.” She reached her own computer and double-checked theemail had also made it to her phone.
Robert eyed heracross the room. “Are you going to take her?”
Adele adjustedher sleeves as she pulled on her jacket. “Suppose I should, shouldn’t I? It’swhat I would want her to do.”
Robert saidnothing, but just tilted his head toward the door.
Adele breathedheavily, but then threw her hands up. “I guess I’ll try to take the high road,you know? Damn low road is mighty appealing.”
“Stay safe,”said Robert.
“Same to you.”
“Adele,” saidRobert, calling out from where he now leaned back in his chair behind the largedesk.
She glanced backand raised a questioning eyebrow.
“If he tries to…show you anything, don’t hesitate to shoot him, understand?”
Adele paused,and then her eyes widened as a small spurt of laughter escaped her lips. “If heflashes me, I’m sure Foucault will see it as a justified shooting. Not tomention Ms. Jayne.”
“Damn right,”said Robert.
Still chuckling,Adele moved away from the door and disappeared down the hall, heading towardSophie Paige’s office to retrieve her partner and go question Gabriel Waters.
She wasn’t surewhat she dreaded more. The car ride with Paige or the thought of confrontingsomeone connected to the murders of two young women.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The car ride toMr. Waters’s home proceeded in absolute silence. Neither Adele nor Agent Paigeuttered a word for the duration of the winding journey through the tightlywound avenues and streets of Paris, passing the Disney Store and Pomme de Pain.Gabriel lived about thirty-five minutes from the DGSI headquarters, and thefurther they went, the thicker the clusters of buildings became. Large treesjutted from the sidewalks. The buildings were like one great block ofapartments, all in a row, with little division between, spanning the entire boulevard. Delivery trucks and public buses linedthe sidewalk as well, parked or idle. A single restaurant Adele didn’trecognize, made entirely of glass on all sides, was situated across fromvarious business set on the opposite side of the street, facing the tenements.
Atlast, Agent Paige pulled the vehicle to a halt outside a blocky gray apartmentset in the arrondissement near the Champs-Elysées. She parallel parked betweentwo vehicles next to an advertisement pillar across from a gated hedgerow,hidden between two chains of buildings.
At the end of thearrondissement, in one of Paris’s many hiddengardens, Adele glimpsed a couple of children playing on a pink bicycle, pullingeach other around and around the cobblestones between the hedges under thewatchful eye of their mother, who stood in the doorway of a terrace.
The street wasbusy, but otherwise, Gabriel Waters’s apartment complex seemed quiet enough.Adele studied the address on her phone and then looked back up at the building.
“This is it,”she said. “Says here he works in maintenance.”
Agent Paigeunbuckled her seatbelt and turned off the engine. She had insisted on drivingand Adele had decided it wasn’t worth contesting the point.
The bad bloodbetween them, instead of slowly dissuading over time, seemed only to be gettingworse. Now, though, Adele felt a flicker of fear. She thought of the last timeshe had chased down a criminal with a new partner. That time, the suspect haddove off the motel balcony into the pool. Bullets had been fired—they’d beenlucky no one had died.
Adele shifted andlooked at Agent Paige. “Do you have my back?” Adele asked, quietly.
Paige watchedthe younger agent for a moment, but then said, “Do you have mine?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Paige shrugged. “Followprotocol and we’ll both be fine. This,” she said, glancing at her phone, “GabrielWaters is an American. Maybe you should take lead.”
Adele wasn’tsure if her partner was offering her an olive branch or shoving her in front ofan oncoming bus. Still, at least they were talking. That was some measure ofimprovement. Adele and Agent Paige both exited the vehicle, slowly closing thedoors to avoid making noise.
Adele examinedthe large gray section of the long row of crowded buildings. The paintedconcrete had chipped in places and the side-alley garden grass was overgrownaround the terrace steps. A pile of mail rested before the front door, yet tobe collected. “Think he’s home?” asked Paige, her hand going beneath her jacketand resting on her holster.
Adele shrugged andcontinued toward the side of the alley. She peered around the hedge, toward thewindows. The window in the middle of the alley above the cobblestones was open,allowing a quiet breeze to waft in.
“I think he is,”she said.
They took theconcrete steps up to the patio, and in a quiet voice, Paige asked, “Does hehave a family?” For the first time, there was a note of concern to her tone.The older agent looked uncertainly across the sidewalk in the direction of thehedge-garden, toward the two children playing on the bike beyond the blackgate. She hesitated, then said, “Give me one moment.”
Before Adelecould protest, Paige moved off the steps and hurried, with long strides, up thewide avenue, through the pedestrians, towards Mr. Waters’s apparent neighbors.
Adele hesitated,uncomfortably standing silent on the front steps, glancing at the buzzers. Asfar as Agent Paige’s talk about protocol, abandoning her partner in front of asuspect’s home hardly fit the bill. Adele watched as her partner talked withthe mother on the overlook terrace, and waited as the woman quickly ushered herchildren up the steps and into the apartment. Adele couldn’t hear above thesound of traffic, but it seemed as if the mother were thanking Paige beforeshutting the door. Adele continued to watch as her partner returned, the concernin her eyes having faded. Behind her, the windows were being shut and curtainsdrawn.
“Didn’t know itwas habit to inform the locals,” said Adele, her eyes fixed on her partner.
“Just buzz thedoor,” Paige snapped.
“No,” Adelesaid, “in answer to your earlier question. He doesn’t have a family. And helives on the ground floor.” Then she turned and unsnapped the holster to herweapon but didn’t draw it. Gabriel Waters was only guilty