Dead in Hong Kong (Nick Teffinger Thriller) Read Online Free Page A

Emmanuelle said. “If he got motivated enough, and if security worked with him, he’d be able to get original paintings off the walls, into his department, and out the door. He’d also be able to get fakes hung in their place. All he needed was to be motivated enough. He got that motivation when you were kidnapped in Hong Kong.”
    Now it made sense, p erfect sense, finally after all this time .
    “After they took you, they contacted your father and gave him an ultimatum,” Emmanuelle said. “They also contacted the head of security, Yves Blanc, and told him that both you and his daughter would die if he didn’t cooperate in the plan.”
    Prarie cocked her head.
    “So they never actually took the 8-year-old?”
    Emmanuelle shook her head.
    “No, they didn’t have to,” she said. “Taking you made it real enough to make Yves Blanc cooperate. The rest is pretty straightforward. The paintings were switched while you were held captive. Afterwards, they let you go.”
    “I had no idea,” Prarie said.
    Emmanuelle squeezed her hand.
    “Your father stole art to save your life,” Emmanuelle said. “Unfortunately, it gets worse.”
     
    “EVERYTHING WENT UNDETECTED for about four months,” Emmanuelle said. “Then one of the paintings—the Monet—was going to be shown in a special exhibit in London. Of course, whenever that happens, the piece is inspected by both the museum and the accepting party. That’s when it was discovered to be a fake. Over the next month, every painting in the museum was inspected, which lead to the discovery of the other four fakes. A lot of people did a lot of brainstorming about what happened and came up with the theory that I just told you.”
    “What did my father have to say about it?” Prarie asked.
    “Nothing,” Emmanuelle said. “He wouldn’t cooperate. Neither would Yves Blanc. They both denied having any knowledge or involvement, no doubt because they had been threatened that you would be killed if they ever cooperated with the police.”
    “And the 8-year-old too, I assume,” Prarie added.
    “Of course,” Emmanuelle said. “They were both protecting the lives of their daughters. The museum had no alternative but to discharge both of them. That’s why your father left the museum and took a job as a taxi driver. He didn’t quit, he was fired. He was a good man. He did what he did but he also had no choice. Everyone who knows about the situation agrees that they would have done the same thing in his position. No one blames him. They didn’t want to fire him, but couldn’t keep him on for obvious reasons. Everyone at the museum was very clear in that they would never file criminal charges against him. That’s why he never got arrested.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, it might have been better if he had.”
    Prarie cocked her head.
    “What does that mean?”
     
    “IT MEANS THIS,” Emmanuelle said. “Word of what happened is getting out. Now, unfortunately, there is at least one group of people, and maybe more, who know the paintings are out there in the world somewhere and are hunting for them—not to return them, but for their own personal wealth. It’s our belief that one of those groups confronted your father to try to get a lead. Your father didn’t cooperate. They shot him in the back of the head and made it look like a routine robbery.”
    Prarie pictured it and shivered.
    “Yves Blanc was also killed last week,” Emmanuelle said. “Did you know that?”
    No.
    She didn’t.
    “It gets worse,” Emmanuelle said. “With your father and Yves Blanc now gone, there’s only one connection left to the original robbers, namely you. That’s why I’m seeking you out and why they will be, too.”
    “But I don’t know anything,” Prarie said.
    “Maybe yes, maybe no,” Emmanuelle said. “What I propose is that you and I go to Hong Kong and find out. We’ll try to get a lead based on what you know about your own kidnapping. Don’t worry about money.