Page 29 of Desert Wind

“Hey, we made contact with Claudia St. Martine,” said Code, walking into the conference room the next morning.

“And?” came the echoed response. He just grinned at them.

“She was disbelieving, of course. She said she’d given up on her daughter ages ago and thought it was a hoax. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to see Jenna right now, but she’s willing to speak to our team and see photos of her.”

“Alright,” nodded Nine. “Send four of our French speakers.”

“I’ll go,” said Gaspar. “In fact, I’ll take Marie and Camille. They speak better French than I do, and maybe having a woman there will be comforting to her. Tell Baptiste and Gabe to pack their shit. They’re coming too.”

“Will do,” said Code. “Should we say anything to Jenna?”

“No. Not right now,” said Ghost. “If Claudia rejects her, I don’t want Jenna to know that. I assume we’re traveling to France.”

“She has a home in the south of France, near Cannes. She said she’d arrange for us to be picked up from the airport there and brought to a restaurant in the city. She didn’t feel comfortable having us at her home.”

“Paranoid. That’s interesting,” frowned Nine. “Are you sure you don’t want more men coming with you?”

“Naw. Between Gabe, Baptiste, and me, we should be fine. Besides, Camille and Marie count as ten of us.”

“I won’t tell them you said that,” smiled Nine.

An hour later, they were on the jet and headed toward France. The women had been surprisingly prepared and didn’t argue about how much luggage they needed. When Gaspar said it would only be two to three days, they knew it would most likely be less than that.

“This woman must have a lot of mixed emotions about potentially seeing her daughter again,” said Marie. “I can’t imagine that feeling.”

“It’s funny, but Code said she was skeptical and seemed distrustful,” said Gaspar.

“Do you blame her?” asked Camille. “Your daughter has been missing for more than fifty years, and suddenly, strangers say that they’ve found her. Can you imagine how many people claimed they had her daughter, or knew where she was located, even tried to pawn off another child on her? It must have been horrible for her.

“That woman had a funeral, a burial, all of it. She’s in her eighties now. It’s not enough time to even have a discussion of what her life has been like.”

“This is why we brought the two of you,” smirked Gaspar. “Having a little feminine wisdom helps in this situation.”

After a long nap and a hot meal, they arrived in Cannes and, as promised, were greeted by a driver.

“Madames, et Monsieurs Robicheaux,” he said with a perfect French accent.

“Yes. I mean, oui,” said Gaspar. He only spoke French on rare occasions to his parents or siblings. Being away from the language had made him forgetful and probably unable for anyone to understand him.

“It’s alright, monsieur. I speak English, as does Madame St. Martine.”

“I guess I didn’t need you guys after all,” said Gaspar. “If you want to go shopping or something, you could do that.”

“Are you kidding? I came to meet this woman, and I’m going to meet her,” said Camille. “I want to see her reaction when she sees the photos of Jenna.”

“Are you expecting a strange reaction?” asked Baptiste.

“I don’t know. It’s just something that I think will tell me a lot about that woman. It kind of bothers me that she didn’t move heaven and earth to find her or at least find a body. I would have. Mama damn sure would have,” said Camille.

“I agree with Camille,” said Marie. “It’s something a mother would have done.”

“Do you think she’s involved somehow?” asked Gabe.

“I think everyone is involved,” said Marie. “We just have to find out why and how.”

“Maybe they need to be part of the security team,” smirked Gaspar. Marie raised her eyebrows at her older brother, giving him a sly smirk.

“We’ve been telling you that for years.”

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