Castle Killing

by Alec Peche

  "So he wanted a further explanation of how he went about establishing provenance for a particular piece that an owner wants you to auction?" Marie asked.

  "No, it was more a discussion of what cities contained stolen Nazi art. The largest cache of goods was found in Austria in a city called Altaussee which was about fifty miles from one of Hitler's homes in Germany, but that was shortly after the war's end. Nick was more interested in what other cities contained hidden Nazi valuables. He asked about what we had found in Poland or one of the former Russian states of Latvia or Lithuania, or Scotland."

  "Was there any Nazi treasure in those countries?" Nathan asked.

  "Poland, yes. As recently as two years ago, treasure hunters were convinced they'd found secret tunnels in a city called Walbrzych. After millions were spent digging, the tunnel was declared to be the result of ice formations and no real discoveries have been made in that country. As for the former Russian states, valuables taken from Jews before their death in the concentration camps were melted down, and gold and gemstones outside of their original settings are nearly impossible to trace."

  "Has most of the stolen Nazi stuff been discovered by now?" Jo asked.

  "Actually, there are famous Renoir and Matisse paintings missing. In total it's estimated that there are still one hundred thousand works of art missing," Nicole replied. "We don't know if some of the art was destroyed by the Nazis, by the war, or whether it's hidden by some collector who may or may not know its provenance."

  "Wow," exclaimed Jo and Jill in unison.

  Angela had been listening to the discussion and injected an idea into the group, "We have Nick's personal stuff, and maybe if we look through it, we might find information that will lead to the trail Nick was following."

  "You have his possessions, why?" Michael asked. "Shouldn't they have gone to his family?"

  "Turns out we were his family," Angela said with a catch in her voice as Jo and Nathan each reached over to rub her shoulders. "His parents are dead, he has no siblings, never married nor had any children. A friend of ours is burying him on his land in Germany, outside of Stuttgart."

  "Oh," Nicole said and then assessing Angela's response added, "I'm sorry for your loss."

  "May I see his phone?" Michael asked.

  "No," replied Angela. "It's one of the few possessions we have and besides the phone is locked."

  "I know someone that might be able to unlock it for you," Nicole offered.

  "That's okay, we have our own expert who will get it unlocked for us," Jill said. "We really can't let it go out of our sight. I trust the expert that I will have trying to unlock the phone, you, on the other hand, might accidentally damage it."

  "Okay," Nicole said sensing that she wasn't going to move these people on the issue of the cellphone. "When will you have it opened?"

  "Tonight or tomorrow. We had dinner with a friend who's a security expert, and he's sending me someone to access the phone," Jill said.

  "Tomorrow is also our last day in Scotland as we return home the following day," Marie said. "Jill and Nathan are staying a few more days. So you may have to follow us home to the United States to get access to any of Nick's belongings."

  "Or you could wait perhaps four to six weeks from now when we'll have a memorial service for Nick near Stuttgart," Angela offered.

  "We're anxious to have answers as soon as possible, and so if need be, we'll follow you to the United States," Michael replied.

  With Michael's response, Jill and friends understood the depth of this couple's passion for finding the truth about further Nazi seized property, or perhaps it's what Brisdale’s expected of its employees.

  "Why don't we trade contact information and then we'll get in touch with you as soon as we have something," Jill suggested.

  The couple offered this information as did Jill and soon they left the bar.

  After they exited Nathan asked, "So what do you think?"

  The women looked blankly at him not sure which aspect of the situation referred to his question.

  "I mean do you think they're legitimate?"

  "Yeah," said Angela and Marie. Jill nodded, and Jo shrugged.

  "What an interesting case! Imagine how famous you'll be if there's something on Nick's phone that points you to the Nazi gold or art. I like this mystery better than your murder investigation," Nathan said.

  "This is a murder investigation first and a treasure hunt second," Jill replied.

  "Yes but you solved the murder. It was the man that tried to push you over the wall."

  "Yes, you're correct that we know who killed Nick, but we don't know why. If we don't know that then how do we know if this case is at an end?" Jill reasoned. "We were suspicious at one time of a second man being involved in this whole thing, but we haven't circled back to that. If there's a second man, there may be a third, and we may be dealing with an organization."

  "That's a lot of maybes, but I understand your caution. So what are your next steps?"

  "I already contacted Henrik, and he's able to send his phone expert here tonight," Marie said. "I was working out the arrangements once I knew our direction. Henrik found a room for him in this hotel, and he'll be here in about two hours."

  "That's past my bedtime," Jill said. "Nathan, you're the night owl amongst us, will you meet him and deal with him?"

  "Sure babe."

  "So tomorrow we're going to Aberdeen or did we decide on Glasgow?" Jo asked.

  "We couldn't make up our minds so we'll flip a coin. Heads for Aberdeen, tails for Glasgow," Angela said.

  "I think we should go to Glasgow, I checked the train schedule and it takes three hours to reach Aberdeen and Glasgow is a bigger city with more stuff to see and do," Nathan said.

  "Ever our travel planner," Jo said. "I agree with Nathan, let's take the shorter train ride. I'll visit Aberdeen on my next trip to Scotland."

  "Okay, Mr. Travel Planner do you have a time we should depart?" Marie asked.

  "The trains go by every fifteen minutes so we can leave when people want to."

  They worked out a time to meet the next morning, and all adjourned to their rooms. Nathan decided to wait for Henrik's man in the hotel bar. He could get some work done and not disturb Jill. They made sure the phone was the only electronic item in Nick's possession at the time of his death, and it was. He took his laptop and Nick's phone to await the arrival of Henrik's person.

  Nathan had been deep in the design work of a new glass for a friend that he'd made beer glasses for. Seeing the shot glasses in the distilleries had given him an idea for a beer glass. He felt someone touch his arm and he looked up into the eyes of a young woman.

  "Are you Herr Conroy?" the woman asked.

  "Yes. Do you work for Henrik Klein?"

  "Yes, I'm Anna. I understand you have a phone that you need to access. May I see it?"

  Nathan wondered if the woman was old enough to drink, but he supposed that was where tech skills were to be found these days.

  "Would you like something to drink? That is if you're old enough to drink."

  She laughed and said, "Herr Conroy, I'm twenty-two, so I'm old enough to drink, but I don't want alcohol to cloud my brain so I would like a decaf coffee if they have it, if not then tea."

  Nathan ordered two decafs and came back to the table with them. The woman unloaded a few items from her shoulder bag. One device scanned the phone, but Nathan wasn't sure exactly what the device was doing. Instead, he said, "Do you think you'll crack it in the next hour?"

  She looked up and smiled, "Nineteen minutes."

  Wow, he decided not to interrupt her anymore and went back to playing with his glass design. He jumped when he heard her say, "Done."

  She handed the phone to him and said, "I reset the passcode to my uncle's last name which is five-five-three-four-six that way it is still locked but none of you will forget the passcode."

  "Thanks! Who's your uncle?"

  "Henrik Klein. Klein is five-five-three-four-six
on your keypad."

  "Wow, so those computer brains run in the family?"

  "Uncle Henrik has ten nieces and nephews, but only two of us are hackers."

  "No wonder you arrived so fast here, he must have sent you on his plane."

  "Yes, and tomorrow I'm going to explore this city for a day as payment for doing him a favor before I head back to work at home. Here's my card if you need me tomorrow for anything."

  When Nathan returned to their room, Jill woke up. She was a light sleeper, and though he'd tried over their years together to avoid waking her up, it was nearly impossible.

  He heard her voice in the dark ask, "Is he going to have the phone unlocked before we leave Scotland?"

  "She already unlocked the phone," Nathan said, and Jill could hear the grin in his voice. She reached over and turned the bedside lamp on. While squinting against the sudden light, she put her hand out and said, "Give it to me."

  He did and waited for her to ask the next question.

  "What's the unlock code?"

  "Klein"

  "Huh?

  "Five-five-three-four-six. It's how you spell Klein on a keyboard," and then Nathan took pity on her as he watched her active brain try to get into gear after being woken up from a dead sleep. "The tech was Henrik's niece, and she thought if she used his last name for the passcode, we would remember it. She also gave me her card if you have any problems tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow! I'm going to review what's on this phone now and see if there are any clues."

  Nathan just shook his head and changed out of his street clothes. He lifted the sheets to get into bed beside Jill who was sitting upright against the bed's headboard.

  "Damn! I bet there's a thousand pictures, hundreds of text messages and emails written in a variety of languages. We'll need a translator to get through this stuff," Jill said scanning through the email messages.

  "You can forward the emails to your computer and use Google Translate to read the messages for you no matter if they're written in German, Dutch or French. You're an early riser. Why don't you fall asleep now and get up at your usual time and peruse the phone."

  "I'm excited about this new information. I don't think I can fall asleep."

  "Perhaps we should use this bed to do something else besides sleeping or viewing a phone," Nathan said, demonstrating what was on his mind.

  Chapter 26

  As Nathan predicted, Jill was up early. After quietly dressing for the day, she left the room, Nick's cell phone and her computer in hand. The bar doubled as a coffee bar in the morning, so she settled there planning on getting work done while waiting for her friends and Nathan to appear. She knew he'd set his alarm as they wouldn't otherwise see him before ten and they planned to be in Glasgow by then.

  She began by viewing the recent pictures. Nick had taken a few during the weekend at Henrik's a month or so ago, and that gave her a chronological starting place. She smiled at a few of the pictures taken of her friends; there were some great pictures of Angela. Since Angela was so often their photographer on vacation, there were fewer pictures of her than the rest of them generally in their vacation photo collections.

  There were other pictures too including the typical shots taken of your feet when you don't realize the camera function is on. There were also some landscape shots. A couple Jill thought she recognized from Belgium, but she wasn't sure of the other locations. Were they random pictures or had Nick been photographing a potential Nazi gold train location? She thought that if she'd looked at the pictures a month ago, she might have wondered where they were taken, but thought nothing more of the location.

  What could she do with random landscape locations? She looked up as Marie approached the table.

  “Good morning. What did you find on Nick’s phone?” Marie asked recognizing the phone in her hand as Nick’s.

  “Some good pictures of Angela and some landscapes I don’t recognize.”

  “Can you use Henrik’s software to identify the location? Any sign of the Germans this morning?”

  Jill hit her forehead and said, “Duh, why didn’t I think of that? Haven’t seen them yet. Maybe I should text them to ride the train with us this morning so they can view the pictures.”

  “Let me see the pictures of Angela.” After viewing several, she added, “Yep those are keepers. They’re some of the best I’ve ever seen of her.”

  “How do I send these to my computer? My email isn’t on Nick’s phone.”

  “Could you text them to your phone then use your phone to email them to yourself?”

  “Sounds like a plan. There’s probably a faster way, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “I guess you should text the Germans and have them meet us at the train station,” Marie added.

  Soon they were joined by Angela, then Jo, and finally as it was getting close to the time to leave for the train station, Nathan arrived.

  As they were exiting the hotel, the German couple was already outside waiting at the curb. “We thought we’d walk with you to the train station,” Nicole said. “What did you find on the phone?”

  “Pretty much what any of us have on our phones – pictures, emails, and texts. Unfortunately, none of us speak a second language so we can’t read the Dutch or German – or whatever language it’s written in.”

  “I speak both of those languages and could translate for you,” Michael offered.

  “That’s okay. I’m going to use Google translate. It’s slower but safer. No offense, but I still don’t trust you, so there’s a limit to our sharing with you. We have landscapes we hope to identify with software, but if you recognize any of the locations, it will go faster. It’s too hard to show you stuff on the phone and walk, so let’s just sit close on the train,” Jill suggested.

  She watched as the couple searched for another solution and thought of none. The walk to the train station was short, fifteen minutes, then a little more time passed as they purchased tickets and found the track for their train. Fortunately, the train was waiting on the platform, and they could board immediately. It was apparent this was a commuter train as many people were dressed in business attire. They couldn’t find seven seats together and ended up pairing off in twos. Nicole asked Nathan’s permission to sit next to Jill, and he agreed as he’d planned to fall back asleep.

  As soon as everyone settled in their seats, Jill and Nicole went to work on the phone, while Jo and Angela planned their itinerary for their Glasgow sightseeing excursion. Marie and Michael spoke of his travels as someone connected to the art world. He was very well-traveled, and it was fascinating to get his view as a European on the various countries of the world. Marie walked away with some notes for future vacation choices.

  Jill and Nicole meanwhile were going through Nick’s phone. Nicole glanced at the email titles, and they sorted through hundreds of emails including some from Jill and Angela. There were one or two emails in a language that Nicole didn’t know. They tried Google Translate, and the language wasn’t recognized.

  “Maybe this is French, but it’s written in code?” Nicole offered. “It looks a little like French, but it’s not.”

  “We need to find some language expert to review it to verify that it’s not an obscure language versus something written in code. I bet there are a variety of languages that are spoken by a small number of people. Certainly, in Google Translate, I don’t see any Native American languages like Cherokee or say, Oneida. I bet there are perhaps hundreds of languages that aren’t in this software so let’s find a website that is more inclusive.”

  After a quick search, they found online resources to help, but their train was pulling into the Glasgow station. They were out of time for the moment.

  “Will you forward one of the emails to me so I can figure it out while you folks are sightseeing?”

  “Sure,” and Jill did so. “How about I forward a few of the landscape pictures to you as well. We’ll text you when we’re ready to return tonight, and we can catch up then.�
�

  Jill could tell that Nicole wasn’t satisfied with the plan, but she also knew no persuasion would work to get Jill to give her Nick’s phone. Will that Jill turned off all thoughts about the mystery of Nick and instead focused on having a splendid day in Glasgow on the last day of her vacation with her friends.

  Jo and Angela directed their day visiting the highlights of Glasgow – the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the People’s Palace, and the Botanic Gardens. Along the way, they sampled food and visited merchant stalls buying small items to take home with them. All too soon they returned to the train station for the ride back to Edinburgh notifying Nicole and Michael of their travel arrangements.

  Jill was excited to see what Nicole had found in her absence. Were the strange words a language her software hadn't recognized, or a code? If it was a code, how would she go about understanding it?

  Soon they were all aboard another commuter train back to Edinburgh, and while it was busy, they all found seats although not in the same rail car.

  Jo remarked, "It would be a long ride home if you had to stand for over an hour."

  "Perhaps you can't do that on one of these railcars; they may cap ticket sales by the number of seats," Angela suggested.

  "Yes, you're probably right about that," Jill said. "Europe and the UK figured out trains far sooner than the United States."

  "They probably have fairly accurate projections of ridership," Jo said. "They have a lot of experience, and they can probably add railcars for peak times."

  "Spoken like a true accountant," Nathan said with a smile.

  "Just saying that's how I would manage the system," Jo smiled back.

  Soon they were settled in their seats and Jill and Nicole huddled together on Nick's phone.

  "What have you found out?" Jill asked.

  "I contacted a language professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin," Nicole replied.

  "I assume that's a University in Berlin?" Jill asked thinking that Humboldt was a northern coastal region back in her home state of California.

  "Yes, I checked, and it has the best reputation for languages. We were lucky in that the professor had a few students at his disposal and they love questions like mine. In about three hours they called me back with the information that the language was Guernésiais, a rare language from the island of Guernsey. My professor said that something like between one-thousand and two thousand persons speak the language."