by Irving Munro
“Good to meet you, Horst and thank you for your help in this investigation. What I need is a list of the rental activity for the five employees of Geist Reiter over the past twelve months.”
“I can pull that up here from our database, Herr Ross, and I can give you some information verbally and then send you an excerpt report. Would that be satisfactory?”
“Perfect!”
“Yes, I have it here, Herr Ross.”
“Claudette Weiss - She has a car rented from SIXT on a monthly recurring rental here in Germany. She is obligated to bring it in each month and exchange for a new vehicle so we can control the mileage. She only rents in Germany.
“Mike Muguara - He rents only in Germany. His preferred automobile is the BMW, but he does exchange for less-expensive vehicles when he travels to certain eastern European countries where BMW models are frequently stolen.
“Joe Nichol - Very little rental activity, nothing in Germany, one rental in the U.S. in the past twelve months.
“Raul Hernandez - No rentals in Germany, all rentals in the U.S. You have the list of his rentals that I provided in my previous report.
“James Martinelli - No rentals in Germany. Many rentals in the last twelve months in the U.S. I list here sixteen rentals.
“As I said, Herr Ross, I can send you the report extract in the next hour. Is there anything else I can help with at this time? The colleagues are waiting for me in my previous meeting,” said Horst, concerned that his colleagues would now be agitated at the unplanned delay in their meeting.
“This again is incredibly helpful, Horst. Just two additional questions, if I may, and then you must get back to your previous meeting. The Raul Hernandez rentals, were they all from the Houston location? And the James Martinelli rentals, were they all from the same location, and if so where?”
“Yes, Raul Hernandez rented BMW 3 Series and only from the George Bush International Airport. James Martinelli always rented Cadillac SUVs. He had six rentals from Logan Airport in Boston, four from Chicago O’Hare Airport, two from Los Angeles Airport LAX, two from San Francisco Airport and two from New York JFK. All of the rentals were short duration and not flagged in our system as excessive, with one exception. There was a rental from our Boston Logan Airport location on October 18th 2013, returned October 26th with a total of 4010 miles driven.”
“That’s super, Horst, this is all I need. Please do send me the report and, again, thanks for your help.”
Horst Fleischer returned to his meeting.
“Please acknowledge receipt of the report, Bill, by signing it and sending a copy back to us,” said Wolfgang Meier, ensuring that proper standard governance procedure was followed.
“Will do, Wolfgang, and many thanks,” said Bill as he hung up the phone.
~
We have two dead men driving rental cars all over the USA, thought Bill as he sat at his desk digesting all that he had learned in the past few hours.
“What is going on here?” he mumbled. He remembered what Horst had said about the Jimmy Martinelli rentals; almost half were from Logan Airport in Boston. Joe Nichol is busting heads in Boston. I wonder if that’s all he’s doing, thought Bill.
~
Tommy arrived back from his meeting with the chief, interrupting Bill and his thoughts.
“It’s a no-go on Heidelberg, Dad. The chief is very impressed with our progress, but he doesn’t have budget for a jaunt to Deutschland. I told him about Julian Hernandez’s offer to fund any budget shortfall and he said that if we could get Julian to pick up the tab for the trip then it was okay by him. We would need to understand the protocol for working with German law enforcement, but let’s take one step at a time and get the green light from Julian Hernandez first.
“I’ll go check with Marie and see where she is on the research on the investment behind the Whispering Hollow construction program. I think she was reaching out to Julian for help on that so she could ask him about funding the trip.”
~
Marie was busy at her desktop computer, making notes furiously as she went.
“This is a real can of worms!” said Marie, looking up as Tommy walked up to her desk. “I don’t know where I would have been without the help of Julian and Yolanda. They are both in the financial business sector and Julian is an expert in corporate investment, but even he is struggling with the complexities of this investment consortium.”
“We have the meeting with Latisha Williams tonight, “said Tommy. Let’s see what she can bring to the table. We can compare notes and see what she discovered when she did the editorial piece on the marina some months back. We don’t need to tell her about everything we have, but tell her just enough to wet her appetite and see what she knows and, more importantly, what she could go find out for us. All of this construction and development must have gotten approvals through the various planning authorities. I’m sure that they must have been salivating about the revenue potential. There must be records on all of this at the local and regional level. This is a huge project and some politicians must be taking the credit for making all of this happen. Let’s look under all of the rocks.
“I need you to call Julian Hernandez and ask if he was serious about funding budget shortfall. The chief doesn’t have budget to fund a trip to Germany for Bill, so let’s see if Julian will help.”
Marie agreed that she would make the call.
Chapter 18: Venture Point Holdings
Latisha Williams was standing at the bar ordering a drink when Marie and Tommy walked into Oil Can Harry’s. A Monday is generally a quiet night in this Austin icon for those with an alternative lifestyle, and the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend was even quieter than normal. This was perhaps why Latisha had suggested that they meet there, or perhaps she just liked the décor.
There was a poster adjacent to the bar advertising “Drag Survivor” every Wednesday and another pitching “Stripper Circus - The Dirtiest Show on Earth” on Thursdays. Tommy was really glad it was Monday.
The Williams family was from Mississippi. Latisha had grown up in Jackson, the state capitol, and she had attended Mississippi University. She graduated with honors from the Meek School of Journalism and was now a nationally renowned crime reporter with the Austin Statesman newspaper. Her father and mother lived in New Orleans, where her father Leroy H. Williams sat on the city council.
~
“Hi, Marie, haven’t seen you in quite some time, how’s Shelly?” said Latisha in her dark, sultry southern voice.
“She’s good, Latisha, how’ve you been? I see you still get enjoyment poking the badger. Someday you’ll upset the wrong people, or perhaps that’s what really turns you on,” replied Marie.
“Good to see you too, Marie, you haven’t changed a bit,” laughed Latisha. “I take it this this is the great Detective Tommy Ross that I’ve been hearing so much about. Good to meet you, Tommy.”
Tommy and Marie ordered a couple of Lone Star long necks and followed Latisha to a table in a quiet corner that she had obviously chosen in advance of their arrival.
“So you suggested that we meet, so here I am and I’m all ears. So what’s really going on over at Whispering Hollow,” said Latisha not wasting any time.
Tommy took it from there.
“I am sure that you’ve done your homework, Latisha, and you know that earlier this year there was a body of a man found at Whispering Hollow. It was reported that it was a homeless person who had accidently burned to death when setting a fire to keep warm.”
“Yes, I remember that, not exactly going to make CNN. Wolf Blitzer is not flying into Bergstrom any time soon,” said Latisha, getting a little bored with the preamble.
“So as you guessed it there is more to this story than meets the eye, but we’re not going to share it all with you unless we get your agreement to stay quiet for now. If you do, we would also like to enlist your help as we think that you may have information that could be useful. We also think that you’re good at what you
do, and working together we might be able to solve this. If you do this and give us your word to stay quiet for now, then we’ll give you the exclusive when we eventually get all the pieces of the puzzle to fit. It could be big, Latisha, and you would have it all to yourself.”
Tommy paused to allow Latisha to take it all in.
“What if I just say yes and then go run with the story tomorrow anyway?” said Latisha with a grin.
“Then I would spread the word on what you did and you would be finished in Austin. I would make sure that everyone was told and your sources in the Austin Police Department and elsewhere would dry up,” said Tommy.
The grin was suddenly gone from Latisha’s face.
“Well, I guess I have no choice then. You have my word. Now spill the beans! What’s going on, what do you think I know and how do you think I can help?
~
Latisha was on board! Tommy brought her up to speed on where they were in the investigation and the fact that they thought it might be linked to the huge construction project in some way.
Latisha sat for a few minutes digesting all that she had heard. Her brain was wired to look for conspiracy in almost everything. That’s what made her such a good reporter and helped to earn her the Rottweiler reputation and be voted as one of the most influential black female voices in America. She was not about to share completely what she knew about the marina project; she needed these two detectives to talk more, so she started a conversation to dig into the detail a little more.
“It’s a big leap from a dead homeless guy to a murder connected to a regional development project. What evidence do you have to suggest that there might be a connection?” Latisha had stuck the shovel in the ground, now she wanted to see if they started digging. Tommy picked up the shovel.
“You are right, Latisha; however, good detective work starts with gathering facts and then trying to organize them into an overall pattern. Most times it involves looking for the parts that don’t fit a given situation and asking the question, why? We are not saying that it’s linked to the construction project. However, the killing did take place right in the center of everything that is going on over there at Whispering Hollow. We have many whys here that need to be examined:
1. Why try to make the murder looking like a lynching?
2. Why choose that spot miles from main highways?
3. Why cut the dead man’s hands off?
These whys then lead us to speculation:
1. The “lynching” plot was designed to set us off in the wrong direction right from the start.
2. The wording on the “message” was not written by rednecks looking to kill wetbacks.
3. Eyewitnesses had suggested that white trucks were seen leaving the scene after the fire was set.
4. We have seen lots of white trucks in the area involved with the construction work.
“Marie and I discussed this with the third member of our team, my father, Bill Ross, who has had many years of experience working homicides in the UK. He was instrumental in helping us solve the Luther Fisher case a few months back. His speculation is that this might be another example of “hiding in plain sight.”
The murder took place in such a remote area as Whispering Hollow for a reason, and that reason was not a lynching of some poor vagrant or wetback. It was because the killers lived in the neighborhood. They drove white trucks around all the time. No one would think anything suspicious, and when the deed was done they would simply fade into the background and return home at the end of another day’s work.”
“I see,” said Latisha, leaning back in her chair, feeling rather proud of her plan. She had let them tell her perhaps more than they wanted to tell her at this stage.
This could be something big! she thought to herself. She needed to decide if she wanted to go all in with these detectives, tell them what she knew and then continue to work with them as they had suggested, and see if this did lead to something big. She decided to go all in.
~
“I wrote an editorial piece a couple of months ago around the plan for a new marina in the Whispering Hollow area. The marina is actually planned in the Venture Point neighborhood that is adjacent to Whispering Hollow. The reason I wrote the piece was not about the marina per se; it was about the rapid transit rail link extension that’s planned as part of the marina development. What was planned did not make a lot of sense to me and the proposal was that it would be a private development not funded by issuing a bond that taxpayers would have to fund. That made me even more suspicious.”
“Austin is exploding as the place to be in the U.S. There has always been a great music scene here and the South by Southwest annual music and film event is now huge and has been expanded to include a Technology Summit with VCs with deep pockets coming in to town looking for the next big thing.
Then there is the Circuit of the Americas. This world-class racing circuit is now the home of the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix. A once-a-year event that attracts some of the richest people in the world to flock to the city.
“As you can imagine, in the years ahead the entire infrastructure of the city and the surrounding area will be stretched to breaking point by this explosion of activity. There are major opportunities for private companies to invest and the profit potential is off the charts. Where there is money to be made in this type of scale there is always the opportunity for corruption. I smelled a rat with the proposal for a private rail line to a new marina out in the middle of nowhere. That was the starting point for my editorial piece.”
There was more she could share with them on the work she had done but she chose to hold that back until she understood what “working together” meant.
~
“So how do you propose that we work together, Tommy?”
“I propose that you and Marie work on building on what you have uncovered about the rail link and the marina. Marie can share with you what she has done in trying to get to the bottom of the funding for all of this development work, including the marina and the rail link. We can then see where all of this might lead,” replied Tommy.
Working closely with Marie, now that sounds good, thought Latisha. Not sure that Shelly will be thrilled about that!
“Marie, why don’t you bring Latisha up to speed on the work you have done on this to date.”
“I have enlisted the help of an investment banker from Houston. No need to go into why he is assisting us right now—I can share that with you later. But suffice to say he has been a great help.”
“All of the land in the area of Whispering Hollow and Venture Point plus the surrounding area to Cedar Park in the south and to Lago Vista to the north was originally part of the huge McMullen ranch. Garrison McMullen started selling off pieces for residential and commercial development some years ago, but he still owns the majority of what was the original ranch land and he also retains mineral rights for the pieces he sold off.
“Venture Point Holdings (VPH) was formed in 2008. VPH consists of several components: The Venture Point Investment Fund, Deng Tang Corporation, Robertson Richards LLC and Rodriguez Holdings. The chairman and largest stockholder of VPH is Garrison McMullen, and the vice-chairman and second largest stockholder is Enrique Escobar Rodriguez, owner of the third largest ranch in Texas, the Colinas Verde ranch on the Mexican border just north of Laredo.
“We have discovered in our research that VPH operates like a closed cartel. VPH owns smaller so-called independent contracting companies. These companies provide products and services for all of the construction and development work being undertaken by VPH. These products and services include electrical trades, plumbing trades, timber supplies, cement, roofing materials, and everything needed for internal finishing, including appliances, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, lighting and all painting and decorating trades. These firms “compete” for contract awards with other firms not owned by VPH, but eighty percent of the time the winning bid is a VPH-owned company.
“Rodriguez Trucking pro
vides all transportation in the U.S. International shipping of appliances and other products from China is provided by Deng Tang Shipping Lines. Deng Tang is a huge conglomerate in China; they not only own ocean freight operations, they also manufacture the products they ship to the U.S., and they own and operate residential complexes, casinos and golf courses to cater to the needs of a rapidly growing middle class in Asia.”
“So you can see, Latisha, there could be a huge story here, and my guess is that we haven’t even scratched the surface yet,” said Tommy. “Our interest is finding the killer or killers. You can have the story to take in whatever direction you see fit. You and Marie working together could get to the bottom of this, I feel sure! “Do we have a deal?” said Tommy, making sure that he kept solid eye contact with Latisha till she gave her answer.
“Deal!” said Latisha.
Chapter 19: Heidelberg
Without hesitation, Julian Hernandez agreed to pay for Bill’s trip to Germany. “Call my assistant and tell her what you need. She can help make your travel arrangements and charge it to my personal account.”
Before any travel arrangements could be made, they needed to reach out to the relevant German law enforcement agencies and brief them on the case and the need to be on their turf to further the investigation.
Located in the southwest of Germany, east of the Upper Rhine, Baden-Württemberg is Germany’s third largest state with 10.7 million inhabitants. Most of the major cities of Baden-Württemberg straddle the banks of the Neckar River, which runs through the state. These cities include Stuttgart (the capital), Heilbronn, Heidelberg, Mannheim and Karlsruhe.
The Baden-Württemberg Police is the state law enforcement agency with approximately 25,000 officers and 7,000 civilian employees. The responsibility for law enforcement in Heidelberg falls under the regional command located in Karlsruhe.
To get permission to pursue the case and to interview German citizens, proper permissions had to be received via the office of Herr Gunter Fassbinder, the Regional Police Commissioner in Karlsruhe.