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Gabe nodded, his expression thoughtful. She looked at him again, feeling worried about his hand and very disturbed that the killer must somehow have known they were investigating him.
"Any other impressions from that attack?" she questioned.
He cupped his chin in his right hand, still favoring his injured left.
"Fast. Very violent. A man, for sure. Tall, powerful. And seemed almost - almost desperate. Frantic. I wish I'd been quicker, but it took me totally by surprise."
"No way you could have predicted that," she agreed, wondering what the killer had been doing there.
And then, Pierre returned. He held a printed sheet of paper in his hand.
"I've had a look," he told them. "And yes. There are two possibilities in October."
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
"Who are they?" Cora asked the leader. "Who are these two people?"
"Both are men," Pierre said. "The first is Lucas Schubert. He left us about two months ago. We asked him to go. He was one of those that were removed from the foundation."
"And why was that?" Again, she had to fight herself not to fall into the trap of becoming hypnotized by the leader's hypnotic voice, the soothing rise-and-fall rhythm of his words. She wasn't going to fall for his rhetoric that she could guard against. But the tone itself? Now she could see how he managed to sway his followers so effectively. He was easy to listen to and easy to believe, and although he'd tried to persuade her that this foundation was innocuous and spiritually based, she still didn't trust him.
"Lucas was not achieving what he needed to hear. I, and my inner circle, watch our recruits very carefully. The saying is true that one bad apple can spoil the entire bag. We do not allow the wrong attitudes to thrive in an environment where everyone needs to feel protected and nurtured. So we monitor them, and we ask them to leave if they do not make the grade."
"So Lucas Schubert left?"
"He went home, I believe."
"Where's home?" Gabe asked. There was an edge to his voice. Cora glanced at him, looking worried. It sounded as if he was in pain. She needed to get him to a doctor. That hand needed more than a rinse under a tap. It might need a couple of stitches. It would definitely need disinfecting after the rusty blade of that ax had pierced it.
"Home, I believe, is in Munich, Germany," Pierre said.
Cora nodded. If this man was a foreigner, then there would be records of him leaving the country, and she could check those out with her contact at the FBI. That would be confirmable.
If he was still here, then he was a prime suspect, and they would need to hunt for him.
"And who's the other one?" she asked.
"The other one is a local man, Marcel Damian. He lives in one of the neighboring villages."
"Give me the details," Cora said.
She could see Pierre didn't like having to cooperate to this extent. He didn't like it at all.
"Remember what I told you," she insisted. "The family, Heidi's family, want answers. They want to know if this killer is caught. They don't want this happening to anyone else."
He stared at her with a level gaze.
"I checked out what you said this morning," he said. "Heidi le Roux has no known media contacts. No cousins with influence. No nosy aunts or uncles. You were telling an untruth, madame. So tell me now, which of us is the liar?"
So she'd been caught out. Cora shrugged. Let him accuse her of a moment's subterfuge if it made him feel better.
"My threat about the media was just that. A small bluff to achieve my aims. Like your explanation of why there was a noise outside and that it was just a candle going out when I was inside the church's inner room."
She stared at him hard this time. He wasn't going to cling to the moral high ground. Not in his position and circumstances and not with her. He'd also told a lie and needed to own it.
He looked at the floor. His body language was admitting: point taken.
"Alright. From here on, I agree, it will be easier to find this killer if we are open with each other," he said, raising his head. "And after what happened last night, I want him found. I just need my foundation to be safe and protected."
