Six hills.
And suddenly it was there. Not the answer. But the question.
I know the question Cooper wants me to ask.
I know where I’m going to find Jeff.
JEAN RIZZO PACED HIS Lyon apartment, depressed. He’d picked up his children from school today and taken them to a pizza place for lunch. They’d all talked politely. Jean felt like a stranger.
Sylvie told him, “There are no shortcuts. You need to see them more.”
Jean had snapped at her out of guilt, because he knew she was right. Then he’d gone home feeling even worse. Checking his phone and e-mails, he found no message from Tracy, but two from his boss summoning him to a meeting in his office first thing tomorrow morning.
That could only mean one thing. Henri Marceau was assigning him to another case.
Jean couldn’t blame his boss. Henri had already cut him far more slack than he would have with any other detective, out of respect for their friendship. But Henri had bosses too, and budget cuts to deliver. The Bible Killer case was as cold as ever. Jean’s investigation had been an expensive failure.
Pouring himself a large glass of whiskey, Jean dialed Tracy’s number.
“Any progress?”
“Not really.” Tracy told him about her conversation with the chess player and her research into “six hills” and Roman ruins. Jean couldn’t put his finger on it, but something in her tone made him suspicious. Perhaps it was the fact that she sounded so relaxed. Jeff Stevens, a man she had married and clearly still loved, was in all likelihood being held captive by a known killer. And yet Tracy was talking to Jean about dead ends and false leads as if this were nothing but a game they were playing.
He asked her bluntly, “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing! Why are you so suspicious?”
“I’m a detective. And you’re a con artist.”
“Retired,” Tracy reminded him.
“Semiretired,” Jean reminded her back. “You know where they are, don’t you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why aren’t you telling me? Do you want to go alone, is that it? Because he asked you to? I hope you know that’s out of the question.”
“I don’t know where they are, okay? I don’t know and that’s the truth.”
“But you suspect?”
Her split-second hesitation confirmed it.
Jean’s voice became urgent, anxious. “For Christ’s sake, Tracy. Do not go to find them alone. It’s madness. If you know something, anything, you must tell me. Cooper will kill you, whatever he wrote in that note. He will kill you both without blinking.”
Tracy said, “I don’t think he’ll kill me.” Jean could hear Nick’s voice in the background. “I have to go.”
“Tracy!”
“If I find out anything concrete, I’ll tell you, I promise.”
“Tracy! Listen to me!”
For the second time in a week, Tracy hung up on him.
“Goddamn it!” Jean said aloud. Tracy Whitney was without a doubt the most infuriating woman he had ever met.
If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.