I said, “So let’s go to Lille, not just over the phone but in real life, in person. I like that way better. I can be very persuasive in person, face to face.”

She laughed lightly, as if that were a joke. “What are you going to do when we get there?”

“We’ll see.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. I’ll think of something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know yet. We’ll improvise.”

We hit the road. On the way to Lille I pulled off the highway into a big-box store parking lot. Nazari looked at me curiously but didn’t say anything. She stayed in the car. I bought duct tape, a baseball hat, hoodie, new tracksuit pants and a pair of sneakers two sizes too big for me. All of that was in black. She shook her head when I came back to the car, but she was smiling at the same time.

“What’s the tape for?”

“There’s always a good reason to have duct tape around. I’ve been missing it, to tell the truth.”

My plan was to get access to the computer once we got to the rental agency. I was going to wait until their lunch break, hide in the bathroom. But it didn’t work out that way. Pegasus Auto Leasing was not a car rental place, it was a small office with nothing but a guy taking messages for a whole bunch of shell companies. I asked Nazari if we could trace the companies. She said good and persistent investigators could usually find out, but it might take a couple of years.

We were walking out of the office, with nothing to show for the trip. A lot of expectations, but no results. It was disappointing. And then the burner phone in my pocket vibrated again. In the noiseless corridor, the discreet ring sounded like a stone cutting saw going through granite. This time I got the phone out in time and pressed the green button.

Chapter Forty-Two

I put the phone to my ear.

“Keeler.”

At first there was only noise. Like helicopter rotors chopping air. It was a muffled noise, as if the phone on the other side wasn’t capable of handling the amplitude.

My intelligence officer friend Blomstein spoke. “Keeler. I tried calling before.”

“I was busy.”

“I’ve been busy too.”

“With the guy’s face I hope.”

There was a pause. Blomstein trying to decide what to tell me. He settled for something about nothing.

“I didn’t run the face yet. I’ve been busy. But I took a look at the pictures.”

“I’m listening.”

“That’s why I was trying to call you. To tell you what I thought, initially, off the top of my head. Which might be important to you, before I get the face run properly.”

“I’m still listening.”