Page 34 of Shadow of Doubt

“Outside or inside?”

“Inside, on the floor. But the paint appears to be from the exterior side of the window. We think that’s how the killer made entry.”

“Have you spoken with the neighbors in the adjacent buildings?”

“We’re in the process, along with expanding our search for additional CCTV footage.”

“Good,” said Brunelle, pausing as the waiter brought her tisane and set it on the table. Once the man had departed, she said, “Based on thesummary, it looks like Jadot was a career intelligence officer, charged with recruiting and running spies. He had postings at a variety of French embassies around the world, eventually rising to senior positions toward the end.”

Gibert nodded. “Correct.”

“His last posting was just over a year and a half ago at the embassy in Beirut,” she stated, looking up from the file at Gibert. “Isn’t that about the time the French ambassador there died by suicide?”

“That’s how it was reported,” Gibert replied, taking another sip of his drink.

“Meaning what? It wasn’t a suicide?”

He shrugged. “No one knows for sure.”

Brunelle pulled up a news article about the incident and checked the dates. “It looks like Jadot got pulled from the embassy and returned to Paris right before it happened. He didn’t finish out his rotation. Why not?”

“According to what I was told, off the record, Jadot believed the ambassador had been compromised.”

“Compromised by whom? The Lebanese?”

Gibert shook his head. “The Russians.”

Jesus,she thought. It was always shocking when someone in government service was suspected of being an asset for a foreign country, much less an actively hostile foreign country. “So, what happened?” she asked. “Did Jadot blow the whistle? Is that what caused the ambassador to take his own life?”

“Allegedly, he was told by his superiors to back off.”

“Back off?Why?”

“They wanted to mount some sort of counterintelligence operation.”

“And?”

“And,” said Gibert, “he didn’t think they were moving fast enough. He kept pushing. That’s what got him recalled.”

“So Jadot returned to Paris and shortly thereafter the ambassador died by suicide.”

“Yes, but according to my guys, Jadot claimed never to have confronted the ambassador.”

“Then who did?” she asked.

“They think Jadot, angry over being recalled, may have told someone else before he left.”

“Such as?”

“No one knows,” he replied with another shrug.

“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”

Gibert shook his head, reached back into his briefcase, and withdrew something else. “There’s also this.”

“Is that what I think it is? You actually cracked it?”

“Yep,” he replied, punching in the passcode and sliding Jadot’s phone across the table to her. “We’ve got a new guy in digital ops. Crazy good.”

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