Castle Killing

by Alec Peche

  "Yes we'll make those arrangements after we take all of your contact information down. You will all need to make a statement, but we'll have other detectives assist with that."

  Michael asked, "Is there anything you would like me to say to Mr. Floris?"

  Campbell thought for a moment then shook his head, "He needs to be read his rights by an official translator. I've shown him my shield, so he knows who we are. Even if you can't read English, most police badges look alike."

  Jill thought of something, "Ask him if there are any hostages inside the house?"

  Murray answered for him, "We checked with the ferry company and the Bird Society and knew before we arrived that there were no permanent residents here this week. I assume the boat down at the dock belongs to him, but we'll do a search of all the buildings on this island just to be sure, as there's nothing stopping anyone from visiting the island by private boat as you can see. It's going to be a long night here, and I'm sure there 'll be a press conference tonight as well in downtown Edinburgh as this is a major piece of stolen art."

  Campbell added cynically, "Just got to prove to the public that we coppers are giving them their tax dollars."

  Jill looked up as she saw a helicopter approaching. Murray and Campbell also squinted at it and said, "Wow the brass is pulling out all the resources for this case - that's our only police helicopter in all of Scotland. Maybe they can give you a quick ride back to the mainland."

  They watched the helicopter land at a site near the lighthouse on the top of the hill. A party of men and a woman descended the path down the hill toward them, and she saw Murray and Campbell snap to attention.

  "Bloody hell, it's the Chief and his minions," muttered Murray to Campbell.

  Campbell was moving his attention between the approaching party and Mr. Floris, who was lying compliant on the ground, restrained with the officer guarding him.

  The Chief had obviously been briefed about the painting as Jill noted that DCS Craig was at the back of the party. She bet he'd had a great job of explaining who the civilians were on the case. She thought Nathan was correct; they would have an exciting story to tell their friends.

  His party approached, and introductions were made. The Chief said, "This is one of the more unusual cases during my time as Chief. We're holding a press conference early in the morning, and I thought it was best to get my ducks in order by visiting the crime scene and meeting the people involved. DCS Craig has briefed me on the way over, but DI Murray and Campbell, I would like to hear your report about the events today. After that, I would like to hear from the civilians. Perhaps there is somewhere we can take our suspect to hold him in more comfortable surroundings while we await the arrival of more officers."

  The two DIs moved off a few feet away for a discussion with their Chief. DCS Craig assisted the officer from the boat with hefting Mr. Floris to his feet and moving him down the path to a rock to sit on while under guard. Jill noticed that he had a bloody nose and upper lip which spoke to the speed at which he descended to the ground after Nathan's stomp kick to his shoulders.

  Nicole and Michael were holding the painting with white gloves. She hadn't seen the gloves before now, but she supposed those were tools of the trade when dealing with precious art. Nathan had poured water on the cut on his hand and Jill produced a band-aid from her purse to cover up the still bleeding cut.

  "You'll live. I don't think there is any danger of you bleeding to death, although you should get a tetanus shot as there might have been some Clostridium on that roof from dust or bird poop," Jill speculated eyeing the roof.

  "Got my tetanus about three years ago. How long is it good for? I thought a decade."

  "Yeah, that's generally true. I'd feel better if we could rinse the cut with something stronger than water. Let me see if there's a first aid kit on the helicopter or boat; then I could clean it up properly," so saying she walked down to where Mr. Floris was resting and asked directions to the kit in the boat. By the time she located and returned with the kit, the Chief was done with listening to his detectives and was moving towards her.

  "I was unaware that any civilians sustained any injuries during this incident."

  "She's a forensic pathologist just wanting to make sure I don't end up dead on her table," quipped Nathan. "I cut my hand on the roof as I swung down to kick Mr. Floris. It's a minor injury already treated. With any luck, I'll have a scar to remind me of this episode."

  The Chief smiled at Nathan's remarks and said, "If you're not comfortable having a pathologist treat your wound, our pilot is a medic."

  "I think your Mr. Floris might need his care more than I," Nathan replied as they looked at the bloodied face.

  "Ah yes," said the Chief as he asked one of his party to get some care for Mr. Floris.

  He returned to Nathan and Jill and said, "I have a new respect for my detectives for listening to your story this morning and joining you in the hunt for the painting. I would not have put our resources into play. My detectives filled me in on some of your other cases, so I guess I understand why they threw caution to the wind to assist you and I'm grateful they did. I think I have a good summary of what happened here, but I'd like to hear about the death of your friend in Wales and how that fits with this case. I understand that is what started the ball rolling on this case."

  "My friends and I were here for a long-planned vacation in the United Kingdom. We expected to meet our friend Nick Brouwer from the Netherlands here."

  "My condolences on his death. I understand that he has no family and you and a friend in Germany are taking care of his arrangements? Is he connected to your private detective company?"

  Jill provided an explanation of the case where she met Nick and Henrik and how they helped her since.

  "So I got an odd explanation about a stay-behind army from one of my detectives. Can you explain that to me?"

  "Actually, if you can crack your suspect, I would guess that he knows the most. We've never had the opportunity to verify our theory about all of these men - Nick, Girard, and Giovanni belonging to a secret army, but it makes some sense," Jill replied providing an overview of stay-behind armies from WWII.

  "What would be their motive for searching for or stealing a painting dating back to the looting of the Nazi's from what I understand?"

  "I wondered that myself. The Allies set up a group of army staff and art experts at the end of the war to recover art and return it to their rightful owners. There are still many famous pieces missing from that war that are thought to be in private collections or had been destroyed during the act of fighting the war. I can't begin to guess how this Canaletto painting ended up on this island - was it a previous tenant? Did someone hide it here in plain sight? They took a chance that none of the birdwatchers staying here over the years thought to remove or destroy it. I'll leave the provenance of that painting to the experts. I understand that it will need to be examined for the age of the pigment and canvas. It'll make a nice visual at a press conference, but I don't know if it's real; sure seems that way."

  He spoke a little more with them and moved on to the art experts for a short conversation. Jill had a feeling he was collecting sound bites to use in his upcoming press conference. He took a picture of the painting. In the end, he offered them a ride back to Edinburgh just as a large boat was arriving with the experts that the detectives mentioned earlier. Nicole and Michael wanted to stay to discuss the painting with the promised art experts.

  Chapter 39

  Soon they were whizzing back toward Edinburgh. They were informed that they'd be dropped off at the Edinburgh Racecourse at which an officer was waiting to take them back to their hotel about five miles away. Once they landed, Jill noted it was a horse race course not a car racetrack and a short time later they returned to their hotel. A detective would stop by the hotel to record their testimony later, as they had an early flight in the morning.

  "Where do you want to go to eat?" Jill asked as they returned to their hotel room a
fter a full day of adventure.

  They knocked around some cuisine ideas while checking in with Campbell as to how soon a detective could be sent to their location to record their statements. The detective suggested they go to dinner and he would have a detective reach them at their hotel later. They settled on a lively pub. They both were still on an emotional high over the day's activities. Jill was hungry for meat and potatoes while Nathan wanted one last whiskey tasting session. Before they left the hotel, she'd dropped an email to Marie, Angela, and Jo about the day's discovery adding that they could likely find the story on the internet the next day.

  They had finished their meals and were both leaning back relaxed in each other's company, and the world at large. Though the pub was noisy, it had a calming effect on them or at least it did until a special news bulletin came on the air saying that there would be a special police press conference the next morning at six. The newscaster went on to read that inside sources said the press conference would be related to an old crime from WWII.

  "That's a brilliant approach to putting the most positive spin on today's events," Nathan mused.

  "Yeah and by delaying it until tomorrow morning, I bet they might have some analysis of the painting to know if it's real. The announcement also gives news organizations normally not present in Edinburgh, a chance to get here by tomorrow morning. I think this Chief is brilliant as far as how he's telling the world about this recovery."

  The news went back to the regular programming, and they listened a while to the pub patrons to see what if anything, they made of the news. It seemed that about half of them moved to other subjects, while others speculated that the police had found an old grave of someone that had been murdered.

  As they returned to the hotel, they saw a Police Scotland car in front and thought their detective must have arrived. They entered and saw a man in a dark suit and Jill called out, "Detective?"

  He turned around from the desk assistant and smiled at them, "Dr. Quint?"

  She nodded, and he said, "I took a chance that you'd be done with dinner and it seems I misjudged the time by about ten minutes."

  "Actually it's your Chief's fault. We caught the announcement of the press conference tomorrow morning and stayed to hear what people were saying in speculation in the pub."

  The detective had frowned when Jill said it was his Chief's fault, but then his glorious smile returned as he said, "That was cheeky of him. I need to get your statements. Is there a room we can use here in the hotel?"

  "If you don't mind our messy hotel room, we could do it there. We have a tiny sitting area."

  "Okay."

  Jill and Nathan took their turns reciting their stories while the other wore noise-canceling headphones that the detective had brought for the statements. They didn't want their stories to appear to have been corroborated and the headphones did the trick.

  The interview took an hour mostly getting Jill's details about the bigger components of the case and how her research took them to the final island that day. He packed up his equipment to leave adding, "Detectives Murray and Campbell are driving you to the airport in the morning and will escort you through security. They'll be here at eight sharp to see that you make your flight."

  "That's very kind of them," Nathan said.

  "Probably just want to make sure I leave their territory," Jill joked. "Please pass on our thanks to the detectives and we'll be ready."

  They closed the door on the detective, finished packing their suitcases and fell into bed, exhausted after such an action-packed day.

  Jill was up with the birds and tuned the television in to watch the Chief's press conference. As she thought, they had done some verification of the painting. They had an age range on it dating to Canaletto's time, but it required more study by art experts. She appreciated that he didn't state her name for the record, but referred to her as a private detective from California. He mentioned two agents from Brisdale's and that the painting was stolen from an Amsterdam art merchant who had fled the coming Nazi invasion. The Chief had no explanation of how it ended up on the island, just that it had been there at least thirty years, untouched by birdwatchers. She saw Campbell, Murray, and Craig standing behind the Chief. He had Campbell step up to the podium to relay their treasure hunt the previous day. By the end of the press conference, there was no mention of Mr. Floris or a secret army. Jill couldn't find fault with anything said during the press conference, so she turned back to getting ready for a long flight home.

  Jill went down to the hotel's café for a carafe of coffee needed to wake Nathan up and breakfast. She returned to the room, waking him up and once assured that he would stay awake, she went back to her own breakfast and email. She rather liked that Nathan didn't talk in the morning as he was slow to awaken. She could get a nice start to the day while leaving him to his own speed of waking up. She left out the few things he needed to wear, shower, or shave with and had their bags ready to go. She was glad of their escort as she felt assured the airport security process would be fast and she wanted to hear more about what they discovered that wasn't said during the press conference.

  They had their bags at the curb and were enjoying a Scottish mist when the van of yesterday pulled to the curb. Campbell got out to help load their bags in the back saying, "I know you Americans carry a lot of luggage and we were afraid it wouldn't fit in a squad car, so I asked for the prisoner wagon, but it was in use, so we settled for yesterday's car."

  "Ha ha," Jill said. "I'm glad I brought just one case so you can't complain about my luggage. Saw you at the press conference; you did well."

  "Thanks, the Chief didn't want to talk about Mr. Floris or the stay-behind army at his press conference. It took us a while to think of a story flow that would leave out some of the details."

  "How's the public receiving the news? I'm sure you've had some feedback by now."

  "I think most people are pleased that we're restoring a possession to a family that likely lost everything in WWII including their lives. The other comments I've heard relate to the painting going unnoticed by the birders."

  Murray added, "People have been making comments about bird people being blind to everything but birds. It is amusing that they missed a ten million pound painting in front of their binoculars."

  "Was it in the house on the wall? I wondered what Mr. Floris said under questioning as to the painting's location."

  "He said it was in what looked to be a study in the house. The study was filled with reference guides on birds and a bird poster was covering up much of the painting. We asked him how Girard or Nick found the painting, but he didn't know, he simply followed the instructions in the notebook to find the painting."

  "Did you find out when you visited the island as a kid in camp?"

  "Yeah, it was driving me crazy. So when I returned to my house late last night, I pulled out some old photo albums and found a picture of this island in one of them. Our camp director must have taken us into the study to show us bird books or posters and we saw the painting then. I think it must have planted itself deep in my brain to find this odd Italian painting with bird books. I think at that age I might have thought the books were about the birds in the picture."

  "That's good, at least one mystery has been solved," Jill said. "I still don't know how Nick found it. He never struck me as a bird fancier, but then again who knows where his travels took him in their secret stay-behind army."

  After taking a breath, she peppered the DI's with more questions, "Did you learn anything else from Mr. Floris? What was he going to do with the painting? Has the family that the painting belongs to said anything? Were you able to get any details of the group he belonged to? Does he speak Guernésiais? Did he say there was anything else of interest in the notebook that pointed him to the island?"

  "Whoa, that's a lot of questions. What's Guernésiais?" asked Murray.

  "It's a rare language originating from the island of Guernsey. We found emails and text messages on Nick's p
hone in that language," Jill replied. "I figured it was the language of the secret group they belonged to. You might use that question to see if you can crack Mr. Solis. My limited experience with him, suggested he was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but a very willing follower."

  "What's that expression?" asked Murray trying to puzzle the woods.

  "I'm sure you have a Scottish expression for it," Jill laughed. "It means that he didn't appear to me to be the smartest criminal."

  "Failing means you're playing," Murray said.

  "What?" Jill laughed.

  "Even if you're lousy at something, at least you're in the game is how I would describe our Mr. Floris. I think he'll be our guest for a long time as I'm betting MI6 might want to ask him some questions. We'll keep him out of the public's eye until we decide what to do with him. In the end, he might just get deported home," Campbell said. "As to what he was going to do with the painting, I don't think he knew; he hadn't thought much beyond finding it. We haven't finished questioning him so I'll add your question about the notebook. Maybe Italian authorities will give Girard LeRoux's notebook to us. As for the family that rightfully owns the painting, we haven't made a notification yet pending verification from our art experts that it's real and the people that it belongs to are the legitimate heirs. It's way beyond my pay grade."

  They were pulling up to the airport and Jill could see another officer pulling up cones so they could park. After parking and introducing the officer that would escort their party through security, they continued into the terminal to their airline desk where they were swiftly helped with their luggage, tickets, and passports. From there they found a fast escort through security as well.

  Campbell added, "I didn't feel that threatened by him and his gun yesterday as he never had his finger on the trigger. So we have a wide range of things we could charge him with, but the spooks and government might think it best to just send him home."