When Huck got out of Rose’s car at the airport, he detected her concern. More than once she had told him how much she loved him and for him to be careful. She also reminded him of his promise that should this become a law enforcement matter, he would notify the local authorities without trying to handle it alone.
Also indicative of her concern was that this time she didn’t just drop him off at the airport, wave goodbye, and drive away. Rather, she lingered to watch his entrance into the airport, even though the cars behind her honked their horns. Her obvious worry caused Huck, for the first time that he could remember, to think more about the caution he would need to exercise. As he stared out the window at the clouds that passed him by, he suddenly had a flashback to how he had felt when he’d led a night patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan. His mouth was dry, his stomach was nervous, and his anxiety level had moved up a notch or two. It is not good, he thought, to start a mission having these feelings so early in the game.
As Cedric winged his way to Germany, he thought, If I had a dollar for every mile I have flown just during my time with the CIA, I could have retired a lot sooner. He wondered how many times he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He decided to do what he had done on all his other flights—kick back and get some sleep. He had to be able to hit the ground running, but with this bum leg, it would be more like limping.
Cedric arrived in Frankfurt in the early hours of the following day. With only a carry-on bag, he passed through customs quickly and hopped the U-Bahn to his hotel. He and Huck had not checked out of their hotel room, but they had returned the BMW to the rental agency.
Although it was early when Cedric arrived at his hotel room, he called Berger. To his surprise it was Berger who answered the phone. “This is Cedric. I’m in my hotel room. What is our agenda?”
“Glad you’re back here. We have an appointment tomorrow morning at ten thirty with Herr Vorsitzender, the master judge. However, when addressing, him you may call him Herr Richter, which is Mr. Judge.”
“Thanks. This close to a possible postponement in the trial date, I don’t want to screw it up by not being politically correct. What should I expect in the way of questions?”
“Know that Herr Richter has already heard the prosecutor’s case for not permitting a postponement, which is basically that he has the evidence to convict Rouse. However, the fact that you and Huck have established some truth to Rouse’s statements has given cause for the judge, in fairness to Rouse, to want to hear from the ones who have substantiated some of Rouse’s claims. Although I have rolled around some possible questions in my head, I’d rather not confuse you with them but would prefer that you answer the questions put to you as best you can. By the way, he was impressed by the fact that you were a CIA agent for more than thirty years. So don’t be surprised if he shows some interest in the part of your life.”
“Got it. What time should I expect you tomorrow morning?”
“The drive to Karlsruhe will take about an hour and a half. I’ll pick you up at your hotel around eight forty-five. Short of a major accident on the autobahn, the judge is a stickler about punctuality. We should have no problem meeting our appointment time.”
“See you then. Goodbye.”
Huck’s flight was scheduled to land at Los Angeles International Airport, commonly referred to as LAX. He had formulated his travel plans to depart LAX by shuttle service to Long Beach, where he would hop a ferryboat to the village of Avalon on Catalina Island. He had reservations at the Catalina Island Inn, one of the least costly hotel accommodations on the island for this time of the year.
During the flight, Huck thought about the situation. Was he dealing with a woman posing as Alphabet Man, the name now given the infamous Mr. S., or was he dealing with a man posing as a woman…Ms. Harris? In either case, there was the potential for danger, since Alphabet Man appeared to have a direct connection to more than one assassination.
Another thing that Huck puzzled over was the approach he should take in confronting Ms. Harris. He knew that she was very intelligent and not susceptible to lies or half-truths. From his limited Google research, he learned that she had graduated number one in her law class. She had been an effective and aggressive prosecutor in the city of Seattle. She had served there for approximately ten years and had never lost a case.
She had abruptly left that job and vanished off the radar for six years before she reappeared, building an extravagant house on Catalina Island where she listed her occupation as a consultant. However, Huck could not discover what type of consulting services she provided or how one might acquire her services. All indications were that she lived a quite lonely life. Apparently the only thing that kept her name in the island’s limelight was her generous benevolence toward conservation causes.
Huck surmised that Harris’s generosity made a good framework for protection of her privacy, but it also placed her in good standing with the shakers and makers of the island. He concluded that she was likely in the position where one phone call could get him thrown off the island if he wasn’t careful.
Huck traveled by shuttle bus from LAX for just short of an hour. He then had a forty-five minute wait for the next ferry’s departure for Catalina Island. The high-speed ferry ride took another hour. Huck made the short walk from the ferry landing to his hotel, pulling his roller bag behind him. He didn’t pack much because he was counting on his stay being a short one.
After checking into the inn, he decided to have dinner at a nearby restaurant. He departed by way of the concierge desk. There he asked, “Do know where the Mary B. Harris estate might be?”
“Yes, sir. Everyone who lives permanently on the island knows the location of Ms. Harris’s estate. On Catalina, it is commonly referred to as Tara from Gone with the Wind.”
“Can I see it from the hotel?”
“No, sir. You will need to walk to the bay, and, with your back to the water, look up to your left. The mansion on the mountain ridge to your left is the Wrigley estate; Tara is located on the mountain ridge to the right of the Wrigley estate. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you very much.”
“No problem, sir. I get that question all the time.”
Huck followed the concierge’s directions, and when he reached the bay and turned to look inland, he discovered that he could see two mansions on two separate mountain ridges. The one on the right, Tara, could not be missed. As he gazed at the two homes, he thought, The movie version of Tara would appear to be a she shed compared to the Catalina Tara.
Cedric and Berger sat in the outer office to the judges’ chambers at 10:20 a.m., waiting to be called. Promptly at ten thirty, the receptionist said, “Gentlemen, Herr Richter will see you now.”
Berger replied, “Danke dir.”
When Cedric entered the chambers, he thought, This looks like a mini courtroom.
Two judges sat in high-backed chairs next to each other, as if to say, “Call the next case.”
Speaking in German, Berger introduced himself and Cedric and thanked the judges for granting them an audience and for their willingness to hear why Herr Rouse warranted an extension in his trial date. He also informed the court that Herr Smart had not yet mastered the art of the German language and had requested that the proceedings be conducted in English.
The judge on the left, in perfect English, said, “Herr Smart, thank you for changing your plans to be here on such a short notice. I am Judge Hoffman, one of the primary judges. Seated next to me is one of our two lay judges, Judge Schroder. The gentleman seated at the desk to your right is the case prosecutor from the public prosecutor general’s office. And of course, the person sitting to your left is the recorder for this meeting.
“Also, I want to extend my thanks to Attorney Berger, who from all indications is working very hard to ensure that all information relevant to Herr Rouse’s case is heard and considered. Herr Smart, do you wish to mak
e an opening statement before Judge Schroder and I begin our questioning?”
Cedric stood, nodded in acknowledgement of the prosecutor, and then turned to the judges. “Herr Richters, it is my honor to be given the opportunity to answer any questions you may have. I am a representative of the Price Detective Agency of Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. Our agency was hired by Herr Rouse’s parents to find the truth. As for my personal background, I served as an agent for our country’s Central Intelligence Agency for more than thirty years. As an agent, I have investigated both intelligence and counterintelligence operations and have served as a field agent. I have worked with the Price Detective Agency for five years. Our last case prevented the assassination of the president of the United States. I will now answer your questions with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”
Herr Richter Hoffman began. “Herr Smart, I am very impressed with your credentials and thank you for the success you had in your last case. The information you have secured, which Herr Berger has shared with the public prosecutor general’s office, is very interesting. Why do you suppose that you were successful in acquiring this information when our prosecutor could not?”
“Herr Richter, with all due respect to the prosecutor’s office, the primary purpose of that office is to find evidence to convict a person of a crime. As I said earlier, our mission from the beginning was to find the truth. We did not set out to find evidence as to Herr Rouse’s innocence; we set out to find the truth, regardless of how the evidence affected Herr Rouse.”
“How did you do that?” asked the judge.
“We closely examined Herr Rouse’s statements and then sought sources that could validate those statements. For example, Herr Rouse stated the location of both the building and the office where he reported to have been interviewed for a job—a job that he thought was with our CIA. The office complex manager told the police that the suite from which Rouse claimed to have worked had not been rented for several months. Apparently the police accepted that as the truth. We personally examined the suite and found a scarf on which perfume still lingered. In short, the office complex manager lied to the police. After finding the scarf and applying a little verbal pressure, he cracked like a walnut and admitted that he had accepted an advance rental payment with the authority to rent the suite to any other wishing to occupy the space. Simply put, the manager accepted a bribe that he did not want to reveal to the police.
“We then located the owner of the scarf, who was the receptionist for the organization, Empire Enterprises. That was the name of the company to which Rouse applied for a job. The person to whom the scarf belonged not only offered statements that she was employed by the company but also cooperated in providing a sketch of the person who did the recruiting, a man who went by the name of Mr. Lester Storey, or Mr. S.”
The judge addressed the prosecutor. “Why didn’t the police follow up on the office manager’s statement?”
“Herr Richter, I do not know, but I will find out and get back to you on that.”
“Herr Smart, how were you able to locate other members of the assassination team for which Herr Rouse is alleged to have been a member?”
“Luck, Herr Richter, and speculation. After talking with the receptionist, we told her to contact us if she remembered anything else or if she had some concerns. She notified us that she thought there was an attempt on her life and that she was being stalked. We speculated that Mr. S. viewed her as a potential future problem and attempted to eliminate that problem.”
“Why didn’t she contact our police?”
“For the same reason that she did not contact them when Herr Rouse was arrested. She didn’t want to get involved with the police. Furthermore, her involvement with the police and the time she might have to spend in a courtroom testifying could cause her to lose the part-time job on which she depends for her income.”
“Please continue.”
“We placed the receptionist under surveillance. Mr. S. sent other team members to eliminate her and we successfully apprehended them. With Herr Berger’s assistance, those individuals were placed in police custody.”
“What is the basis for the extradition of the Turkish businessman?”
“Although we were confident that Rouse did not have a motive for the assassination, someone else must have had one. Our investigation revealed that a Turkish businessman was attempting to secure a rail contract with the German government and that the Hesse representative was creating an environment where that deal might not go as the Turkish businessman wanted. From our view, the Turkish businessman had the most to gain financially if the Hesse representative was eliminated. We later secured evidence that the Turkish businessman believed that I was getting too close to uncovering his motive, so he sent a hit team to eliminate me. They are also in German custody. We believe that the Turkish businessman is the one who hired Mr. S. to lead the assassination of the German statesman.”
“All this is interesting. Tell me why you think we should postpone Herr Rouse’s trial?”
“We believe that we’re on the verge of identifying and possibly apprehending Mr. S. If we are successful, it could result in the evidence that will prove Herr Rouse is also a victim in the assassination. Although the prosecutor has a lot of circumstantial evidence as to the guilt of Herr Rouse, we have provided evidence that proves, for the most part, that what Herr Rouse has stated about his involvement is the truth. The arrest of Mr. S. could provide justification for separating Herr Rouse from those who knowingly participated in the crime.”
“Do you have anything else for our consideration?”
“If our petition for a postponement of the trial date is honored, there is a good possibility that the court will have the opportunity to secure the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in the case of Herr Rouse.”
The two judges conferred, but their discussion was undetectable by either Smart or Berger. “Thank you, gentlemen, for the information you have provided us today. We will get back to you within forty-eight hours as to our decision.”
As Cedric and Berger departed the chambers, they overheard the judge say to the prosecutor, “Staatsanwalt, please remain for further discussions. The points Herr Smart has raised has brought attention to…” The remainder was inaudible to either Smart or Berger.
Chapter 51
The following morning, Huck found a shop where he could purchase a pair of binoculars. He then located a place where he could rent a scooter. Scooters and motorbikes appeared to be the primary mode of transportation on the island. At the rental agency, he learned why. The number of automobiles on the island was limited, which had resulted in a fifteen-year waiting list to bring a motor vehicle onto the island.
From the rental agency, he obtained a copy of a road map for Avalon. The agency also gave him directions on how to get to Wrigley Road, which would take him to both the Wrigley estate and Tara of Catalina.
Within a matter of minutes, Huck was out of the business district of Avalon and perched on a two-wheeler that made a buzzing sound as it strained to climb the mountain road up to Tara of Catalina. The road wound past the Wrigley estate and continued its twists and turns, eventually running past Tara.
Across from Tara was the entrance to a walking path into one of the many island parks. At the entrance to the park was a parking spot for bikes and a space where tourist buses could park so that its occupants could take pictures. From the parking lot, Huck saw several wooden tables and benches just beyond the park entrance where visitors could enjoy a picnic.
After parking his scooter, Huck made his way to one of the picnic tables, the binoculars hanging around his neck. There he planned to take up surveillance to see who entered and exited Tara. He had decided that he would observe for a few days before he made his move.
Upon returning to Frankfurt, Cedric thought Rouse would appreciate an update
on what was happening at home, so he decided to visit him at the jail.
After signing in at the confinement facility, Cedric was escorted to an interview room. Shortly thereafter Rouse was brought in and led to the other side of the table from where Cedric was sitting and then handcuffed to the table.
Cedric could no longer contain himself. “Is all this really necessary? This man has been a cooperative inmate, and I have been completely searched. Everything I had, to include my watch, has been confiscated until my departure.”
“Policy, sir. Everyone in solitary confinement must be cuffed to the table to prevent any aggressive incident or their attempt to escape.”
“It’s OK. I’m used to it,” said Rouse.
“I hope they are treating you well.”
“As well as anyone in solitary. The food is tolerable, there is little noise, and I know that I am safer there than I would be with the general population. Periodically, I am reminded that when I make it to the general population, I will probably be dead within the first hour.”
“Let’s change the subject,” suggested Cedric. “There are two things that I want to tell you. First, a few days ago, I was with your parents. Both are doing well. They wanted you to know that they love you, that you’re constantly in their prayers, that they believe in your innocence, and that they want you to remain strong because they believe you will soon be reunited with them.”
“How did they look?”
“I’ll be honest with you. They looked distraught and tired. But they showed complete faith toward a positive outcome to your situation.”
“I’m so sorry for what I have brought on them. I’m glad they are together again.”
“Now for a little positive news, but I don’t want you to get too optimistic. Berger and I just came from a meeting with the primary judge for your case. We appealed for a postponement of your trial date—”
A Price for Balancing the Scales Page 26