could see muscle and bone. The edges of the wounds were blue and cold. The blade had gone right through a tattoo on his left upper arm. A holy cross holding an angel’s head. The tattoo meant that the guy murdered for spiritual reasons. I checked down at the stomach. The brand that Emily had talked about was there—a star with an eye in the center.
Pavel entered. His face reddened. “What happened? Who do you think did this?”
“Wait a minute.” David rubbed his chin as if he had an idea but wasn’t completely sure. He went back to the first guy. “This looks familiar to me in some way. The cleaning and the face peeling.”
Pavel rubbed his face with both hands. “I don’t understand.”
Another man behind us spoke, “They were cleaning up. Killing any witnesses.”
“This wasn’t a cleanup.” I rose. “This was an interrogation.”
Pavel widened his eyes. “Someone. . .tortured them before us?”
“Yeah.” A nasty taste coated my mouth. I sniffed the air. “I thought I smelled soap, but it isn’t that. What do you catch in the air?”
Pavel paced in the cell. “I don’t smell anything.”
“That’s what it is. Now everything makes sense.” David walked over to me. “You smell perfume.”
“Exactly.”
“Perfume?” Pavel stopped pacing and gave me an odd look. “What does that mean?”
“You see those wounds on the peeled off man’s face.” I pointed to him. “Only a butcher would do that.”
“Are you saying the Butcher was here?” Pavel’s voice rose. “In your house and interrogating these men?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Jean-Pierre was here. If it’s one thing I always remember, it’s how someone kills.”
Jean-Pierre, you smart bastard. You knew which men hid the footage, but you had to get to them first.
David nodded. “And the cleaning the body part, before torturing. . .that’s Giorgio. He has his cousin, the Butler with him.”
Pavel turned back to the bodies. “Why would Jean-Pierre risk this?”
“If he can catch the responsible guys, before us, then he’ll have more bargaining power for the Corsican.”
David stepped to my side. “And now the Devil is off the table of negotiations, since he has him.”
“He’ll want more now.” I stormed out of the cells and went to the stairs. “I thought he would contact Emily first, but once he saw us leave the property he risked an arrival here. The Devil was too tempting for him. Plus, he knew I would surround her with guards.”
Very smart. Good chess move. But do you have any other plays?
I changed direction and went back to the other cell. “I should have figured out who took the Devil from the piss on the floor. The Devil surely would have urinated on himself, upon seeing the Butcher.”
Pavel remained in the cell, looking at the dead men.
David came to me. “And what about your butler and two maids? Why did he kill them?”
“He knew that they helped.” I turned to David. “Yesterday, he called Emily and told her that we shouldn’t kill the kitchen staff. He was lying. He knew that if I tortured them, they would tell us what was going on. So, he claimed that they were innocent.”
“Shit.” David raked his fingers through his hair. “I should have caught that. I’ve dealt with Jean-Pierre a lot. He’s a hell of a strategist.”
“No. I only had Emily’s safety on my mind.” I headed out of the cell and rubbed the back of my neck. “Since Jean-Pierre killed the butler and two maids, I’m sure they helped with getting the monkey heads, chimpanzee, and gorilla in here.”
Pavel, David, and I went up the stairs. The rest of our men stayed in the cells and cleaned up.
David shrugged. “We can still look the bodies over. Maybe check for the mark on their stomachs.”
“Good idea.” I nodded. “Regardless, Jean-Pierre will play this all out carefully. He won’t kill anyone that doesn’t deserve it. He knows I’ll be pissed that he came into my house. If he murdered them, then they were involved in some way.”
Pavel hurried past us and headed for the kitchen.
“Let me try to fix this.” David pulled out his phone and spoke into it, “It’s me. I thought you had watch of all airports. Check Saint Petersburg’s trains. Give Jean-Pierre’s face to authorities as well as his cousins’ pictures, especially Giorgio. He must’ve flown into another city and took the train from there.”
All Moscow agencies had been aware of his possible appearance. Jean-Pierre was smart enough to sneak in, but could he slip back out?
Minutes later, David