Castle Killing

by Alec Peche

  He watched her leave the room, worried about her safety, yet in the time he’d known her she dodged many a bullet so to speak. He was hurt when she first mentioned the incident; hurt that she hadn’t told him earlier, but he supposed he was partially responsible for that as they hadn’t had a moment alone until just now and he had to agree with her reasoning for not contacting the police. It would add more complications and add nothing to their treasure search. Besides the guy, in the end, did little harm to Jill. He thought he’d look up taser gun side effects, but he was pretty sure, that Jill’s only injury was the small skin burn.

  Chapter 34

  Jill entered the pub and joined Michael and Nicole who had been speaking in German huddled over Michael’s computer.

  “Did you guys locate the painting?”

  Nicole shook her head ‘no’ and added, “We were speculating on where it might be, and we couldn’t think of a location that it can’t be. An art collector could have taken it anywhere in the world.”

  “Unless it was moved in say the last month, the painting needed to be in a location that both Nick and Girard visited.”

  “True,” Michael said, “but how do we know where they’ve been?”

  Jill thought for a while and said, “I have Nick’s passport among his personal effects. Let me get it and check the countries he’s visited recently.”

  “He won’t have gotten a pass if he moved among the Schengen countries,” Nicole said.

  “What’s a Schengen country?” Jill asked having never heard of the term.

  “European Union countries,” Nicole said.

  “Oh, ok, you’re right that he wouldn’t have a passport stamp likely for much of his travels. Still, let me see what he has. It will at least document his travels in the UK, right?”

  “Yeah,” Michael said.

  Jill left to gather Nick’s passport and returned to the bar moments later while opening the passport to read the country stamps. It was five years old and she located the United States stamp from when he visited them in Colorado to help work on a case.

  His recent activity included three trips to the UK, including twice entering Scotland at the Edinburgh Airport passport control. That was curious, Jill thought.

  Looking at Michael and Nicole, she said, “It’s rather odd that he’s had three crossings into the UK over the last three months or so. Odd because I’m not aware of any business or family interests in Scotland. I’ll check with someone in his company to see if they were negotiating an account here in Scotland.”

  “Do you have the dates of the various pictures on Girard’s phone? That will clue us in on their movements.”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t remember if the dates were labeled. He had a different model of a phone than the one I use,” Jill said thinking about getting another view of the phone. To help her make a decision on the next step, she asked Nicole, “Tell me about the legal process you go through from discovering a stolen Nazi artifact? How do you actually identify and acquire it.”

  For the next ten minutes, Jill listened to the two art experts describe a process that varied from case to case, but she heard a constant in it that she wanted to use now for this case.

  “I think I should contact DI Campbell of Police Scotland for his help. I think we could get some information on Nick’s movements here.”

  She heard her phone beep and noted the response from one of Nick’s employees. She was unaware of any negotiations anywhere in the UK.

  “Usually we bring the police in after we’ve located the artwork, but this is a different case, so let’s see if they have an interest to join our search when we don’t know if the treasure is inside Scotland,” Michael said.

  Jill looked at the time and found it to be approaching nine at night. Too late to call the detective on his personal cell phone with a non-emergency question, so she chose his office phone and left a message.

  “I’ll see if he calls me back in the morning,” Jill said. Tomorrow was her last full day in Scotland, so it was now or never for DI Campbell to render assistance if he was interested.

  Michael and Nicole just shrugged and said, "You're the expert about the police. Personally, I've never dealt with Police Scotland, so I appreciate your knowledge and connection. So should we just hang out here in the bar in the morning and wait to hear from you?"

  Jill thought a few moments and shook her head, "Do whatever you want in the city. If the Detective Inspector wants to assist, we'll go to him, and his building is about twenty minutes from here so just stay in a thirty-minute radius of 14 St. Leonard's Street and I'll keep you posted."

  They shortly said their 'goodnights' and departed from the bar.

  Nathan looked up in surprise when she entered the room. She was back at least an hour earlier than he expected.

  "You're back early. Did you find the location of the painting and call it a night?"

  "Yeah, right. It was that easy," Jill said with a mocking grin. "No, I contacted DI Campbell for his help, so we'll see where that goes in the morning."

  "So you're not going to the distilleries with me?"

  "I don't know; it'll depend on the DI's response. Would you be terribly disappointed?"

  "Yes and no. It's a beautiful country, and we might have found the Loch Ness Monster while we traveled north to one of the distilleries. I'd also be pretty proud of you if you locate a ten million dollar painting stolen from a family by the Nazis. That would be special for the family, and the publicity wouldn't hurt your reputation as a private detective."

  "I don't do these jobs to bolster my reputation, but you're right it will be a positive mark on my resume. We'll have the motive for Nick's murder and that's important too.

  "If you get involved in the case, I could cancel my appointments and stick around Edinburgh and explore whiskey and beer since I'm always looking for new ideas. I can always come back and meet them later."

  Jill sat next to him on the sofa and leaned in to kiss him, "You're such a sweetheart to tolerate my vacation disruptions with such good cheer. Guess that's part of why I love you; you let me be me."

  "Actually, it works both ways. I have an endless capacity to explore wineries, breweries, and distilleries, so as long as you abandon me near one of them, it's almost as enjoyable as being in your company."

  "Almost?"

  "I can't hug, kiss, or neck with a wine barrel or whiskey keg."

  Jill poked him in the ribs for his verbal jab and they proceeded to wrap up their nightly rituals, and fall into bed for bedtime play.

  Chapter 35

  Jill had awoken at her usual early hour, showered and dressed, and took her laptop to the hotel bar. She hadn't come up with any brilliant ideas overnight on how to find the painting's location. So instead she caught up on news and information from the California Winegrowers Association. It refreshed her brain to read about grape varietal production and new techniques for organic pest control, a particular passion of hers. She was so deeply immersed in an article on nitrogen production by crops pollinated by bees, that she likely missed the first vibrations from her cell phone. She'd been thinking instead of how to plant the perfect vegetable garden to create the nitrogen for her grape vines.

  She picked up her phone looking at the area code and thought it might be DI Campbell returning her call.

  "Hello."

  "Dr. Quint, this DI Campbell returning your call. You say you have a question about a lost artwork. Can you explain?"

  "Are you in your office? I'd rather meet you in person."

  She heard a sigh at the other end as he said, "I am at the moment, but I might not be in an hour. So make it quick."

  "I'll be there in less than twenty," Jill replied ending the call.

  She texted Nathan to notify him of her departure as well as Nicole and Michael. It was still not quite eight, and so they were likely still in their rooms. She put her stuff in her bag and hefted it on her shoulder to walk outside and hail a cab, when at the door, Michael and Nicole a
ppeared in a brisk walk, startled when they ran into her.

  "This is good timing, we thought we were behind you," Nicole said, then added. "Good morning and what's the plan with the detective?"

  Kudos to the Europeans for remembering their manners, Jill thought.

  They found a cab outside, and the three filed into the rear with Jill giving the cabbie the address.

  "Good morning to you as well. The detective returned my call, and I asked if I could see him in person regarding a stolen artwork. He said he might not be available in an hour, so we better make it quick. So I texted Nathan, then you two, gathered up my belongings and now you're caught up with my morning. My only strategy thus far was to have a face to face conversation to show him stuff."

  Nicole looked encouragingly at Jill with a smile and said, "Yes, that's a good start."

  "DI Campbell generously allowed my viewing of the cell phone yesterday. I say generously because he let me view it without my having provided a full explanation or justification first. So I think my plan is to perform introductions of you two first which helps legitimatize our search. Then I think I'll connect it to Nick and the gentleman yesterday, and end with showing him the picture to see if he's seen it. How's that sound?"

  "He's our last angle to try. I mean you could publish a picture of the painting in the major Scottish newspapers and ask people if they saw the painting but sometimes that makes the owner hide their painting and sends you on the trail of false leads and I'm not aware of any other leads we haven't already pursued."

  "Okay, then I'll keep my fingers crossed that this effort yields our painting. I'm flying home tomorrow, so it's today or you two will have to solve the case."

  After arriving at the police station, they were shown into the same room that Jill had used the night before to view Girard LeRoux's cell phone. Jill performed introductions between the Germans and the DI which set his eyebrows upwards.

  "Art recoverers, huh? Don't think I've run into that occupation before. How many pieces of art have you recovered?" DI Campbell asked suspiciously.

  "We work for Brisdale's with our time split between researching the provenance of auction items and hunting for stolen artifacts of Nazi Germany. To answer your question we've returned four items to families primarily through our provenance work."

  "So let me back up a moment and confirm that you would handle an artwork worth say ten million pounds?" Jill asked DI Campbell.

  "Actually I was a part of the team that made the arrests for the theft of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting Madonna with the Yarnwinder worth four times the price of the estimated value of an artwork you mention in your voicemail. So yes, I'm your man for art theft. Now would you explain yourselves? I'm having trouble connecting the dots between two murders in Scotland and Wales, German art experts, and an American Physician."

  "And Private Detective," Jill added. "I've got my license now."

  The detective was not amused by Jill's last sentence. She shrugged and began the story for the detective.

  "While the murderer of our friend was identified and accounted for, my friends and I wanted to understand the why of his murder. We owed that to him. After lots of research, we believe he and Girard LeRoux and an Italian man belonged to a stay-behind army from WWII."

  "They're not old enough to have served and who's the Italian man?" Campbell interrupted. Intrigued with the start of the story, but only believing it because of the credibility of Jill Quint.

  "I'll get to that. You can look in newspaper archives and find stories on stay-behind armies. It's not important to this art theft. We think that subsequent generations of stay-behind army members had little to do as there's little communism to prevent in the world. A side job of theirs may have been to recover stolen art. This is all speculation and what we've been able to put together talking to the Italian man and reading Nick's texts and emails. We think he and Girard might have discovered a painting located in Scotland that was registered on the list of stolen Nazi art. We think there was a disagreement as to what to do with the art that leads to Nick being pushed off Cardiff Castle."

  "Who's the Italian guy?" asked Campbell again.

  "Yesterday when I took a break from researching what the 'hidden treasure' might be and exited my hotel for lunch, once I traveled a few blocks, an Italian man came up behind me and hit me with a jolt of current from a taser gun."

  "Did you report this to the police?"

  "No," Jill said holding her hand up. "Other than the unpleasantness of the electrical jolt, he didn't hurt me. We had a discussion using my phone translator feature, and then I took him back to Nicole and Michael as Michael speaks Italian to see what his full story on the treasure might be."

  Campbell was just looking at her with disgust said, "The very act of owning let alone hitting you with a stun gun is illegal in Scotland. Your Italian man should be in prison for the next five years in Scotland."

  "Well it's too late, he left last night to return to Italy. I don't know his name or which city he is from, so let's move on."

  "Were you burned by the electrodes?"

  "A small burn on the back of my neck; look we're wasting time. I'm fine, the Italian man has left the United Kingdom, so let's worry about the art."

  There was just silence as Jill was hit by waves of anger coming from DI Campbell. Then abruptly he exited the room. She looked at Michael and Nicole whose mouths had dropped open in astonishment and shrugged.

  "You're a calm one!" Nicole exclaimed and after a pause added, "Should we leave?"

  "Let's wait a bit and see what happens. Maybe he stepped out to cool his temper down. Besides, I think the door is locked."

  After about five minutes Campbell returned with a woman.

  "This is DI Murray, she worked on the last large art heist in Scotland," Campbell said as he made introductions. The detective was tall with thick gorgeous red hair pulled back in a ponytail. Freckles covered her face, and Jill bet she'd weakened many a criminal with her good guy persona.

  "Do you have a picture of what you are searching for?" Murray asked.

  Jill opened her laptop and brought up a picture of the Canaletto painting of San Margherita square in Venice.

  "I've seen that picture somewhere, though not recently, maybe in my childhood," Murray said.

  "Where did you see it?" all four people tried to ask the same question at the same time.

  "Let me think," Murray said staring at the photo.

  There was silence in the room while she stared at the computer screen with Campbell, while Jill, Michael, and Nicole stared at the detectives.

  "I think I've seen it too. Where did you get this picture?" Campbell asked.

  "From the cell phone of Girard LeRoux," Jill replied.

  "Let me get the phone, and we'll look at what's on either side of the picture," Campbell said.

  "I took pictures of that last night. I can show you on my laptop."

  Campbell just stared at her and then muttered, "Ok then."

  Jill showed the detectives pictures on either side of the painting. Then she set it on rotation so that the three images rotated every five seconds. Again the two detectives stared trying to remember where they had seen the painting.

  DI Murray looked at DI Campbell and asked, "Could they be from summer camp as a wee child? Did we play on islands in the firth?"

  "Maybe we went there for summer camp. My own wee ones went to soccer camp last summer. They don't seem to have the types of camps I went to as a wee one anymore. Now there has to be goals attached to the camp," Campbell replied.

  "I remember visiting an island during one of my camps, and we scampered all over some rocks. One of my mates stumbled and left his skin behind on the island. Now you get sued for something like that as the parent removes their child from such a bad camp, but I just have fond memories."

  "Maybe that's where we saw the painting as I have vague memories of an island visit."

  "How about the islands you can see from Edinburgh castle?
Might any of them contain a painting? Are any of them inhabited?" Jill asked.

  "Not really," replied DI Murray. "How about Loch Lomond? It's a large lake that contains several islands, and I do remember one summer camp there."

  "Maybe we should call our parents to see if they remember where they sent us to camp," Campbell proposed.

  "Okay, I'll give mine a call."

  The two detectives stepped out of the room to make calls to their respective parents. Knowing they would quickly get into a personal discussion, they wanted privacy.

  Jill meanwhile was looking up Scottish islands as they spoke. By the time the two detectives returned she lined up four islands in the firth and three in Loch Lomond. Could they visit seven islands in one day? Would the two detectives escort them? They might have bigger fish to fry in regards to crime. She decided to drop a text to Nathan that they might be making that trip to Loch Lomond after all.

  Chapter 36

  The two detectives returned to the room with a third person. Introduced as their superior, Detective Chief Superintendent Craig and quickly brought him up to date on the problem.

  "Both Murray and I checked with our parents, but they don't remember where we went to camp."

  "While you were out of the room, I think I might have narrowed our search down to seven islands," Jill said. "Perhaps we can discuss their merits."

  Craig raised his eyebrows with a variety of emotions flaring behind his steel-rimmed glasses, but then he nodded and said, "Go ahead."

  "Let's start with Loch Lomond. I'm sure you know much more about the lake then I do, so pardon me if any of this is repetitive. There is a building on each of the named islands that might contain a painting. By this I mean, they are not ruins which would ruin a painting. Also, the fact that Mr. LeRoux had a picture on his phone means there must be some way for the public to reach the island. "

  "How did either man Mr. LeRoux or Mr. Brouwer know to visit the island?" Campbell asked. "It's not as if any of them are on anyone's bucket list."