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involving artists.”
    “And what does this have to do with our current case?” Phillip looked like he was having a hard time keeping up with me, so I slowed down a bit. I had after all had forty-eight hours to connect all the dots in my mind.
    “The girl in the photo is most likely an artist.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “While I was looking for more discoveries by poets, I was looking through a lot of newspapers online. In one of the newspapers I noticed a small report about a murder, which made me think again of the girl.” An involuntary shudder rippled through me. “Manny said that she was killed with a Eurocorps weapon, one typically used by agents. Also one on the list of the stolen weapons. So I phoned Jacques.”
    “I’m afraid to ask. Who’s Jacques?”
    “The detective we worked with last year on the arson case.”
    “Please tell me you didn’t give him any of this information. Manny couldn’t emphasise enough how important confidentiality was.” Phillip sounded like someone was strangling him. Strong distress caused his throat muscles to constrict.
    “I only asked him if he could find out if there were any open cases in France and the rest of Europe with a SIG 226 nine-millimetre as the murder weapon.”
    “And he didn’t ask you why you wanted to know?”
    “Of course he did.”
    “And?”
    “I lied to him.” I was so proud about this achievement that my voice lifted with this admission. “I told him that I’m working on the side for a private investigator and that he asked me to do some research into this.”
    “And he believed you?”
    “After some time.” I’d had to use all my learned skills of deception to convince Jacques, but it hadn’t taken too long. Not only did people lie easily, they just as quickly believed a lie.
    “Oh, dear. I don’t want to know the details. Just tell me what you found out.”
    “Well, he told me that there are two unsolved murders in France, one in Italy and two in Greece where this type of weapon was used. The cases happened four to seven years ago and there’s been no reason to connect them whatsoever. I told Jacques that I was wrong and there obviously was no connection. I even managed to sound very disappointed.”
    “Genevieve, lying is not something to be so proud of.”
    “It is. It’s only the second time this year that I’ve lied, so I’m very proud that I was so believable.”
    Phillip shook his head with a half-smile, but quickly sobered. “Tell me more about these murders.”
    “Well, once I had this information, it was really easy to find out the rest. All five victims were artists. And not just any artists. They were highly regarded in their fields.”
    “What fields?”
    “This is another interesting anomaly. If there was a serial killer in Europe, he might have chosen something more fitting to a type. The only thing these people have in common is that they were artists. Their age, gender, social status, everything differs so greatly that it is difficult to imagine that this could be the work of a serial killer. Not one of the artists specialised in the same field. One was fantastic at the restoration of Renaissance art, the other was a sculptor, the other specialised in bronzes and the other one was a graphic designer. I think the last one was skilled in watercolours from the Romantic era, especially Turner’s works. They came from different countries, so why a serial killer would or could find them doesn’t make sense at all.”
    “A serial killer with a Eurocorps weapon.”
    “That is another reason that makes me think it’s not a serial killer. These murders were all committed with the same type of weapon, but not the same weapon. I’m sure if Manny requested the ballistic reports of these cases, he would be able to match it to the stolen Eurocorps weapons.”
    “I’ll be sure to tell him about this.”
    “You can also ask him why it is that the other cases didn’t register that they were Eurocorps