The Heritage Paper

by Derek Ciccone

  But upon further inspection, it was clear that Ellen had beaten the Nazis to the punch once again.

  “You never saw what was in there, did you?” Veronica asked, as she eyed the box in Maggie’s hands.

  “No—Oma put it together and I just buried it.”

  The only thing in the box, besides books and paperweights to give it the impression it was full of goodies, was a note that read: Did you really think I’d make it that easy for you? If you want the book you’re looking for, the only way will be to face me like real men.

  A thin, wry smile escaped from the corner of Maggie’s lips.

  “What is it?” Veronica asked, reading her look.

  “I know what Oma meant when she said facing her to get the book.”

  “Is it something that you can let your mother in on?”

  “I helped her set up a Facebook page so that we could communicate directly for our project, and we could store the scans from her photos.”

  Veronica didn’t know much about Facebook. She gave into the pressure a few years ago and signed up, but as her marriage crumbled, and her husband ended up dying, it became really annoying to look at her “friends” happy lives that they were constantly posting about, so she shut it down.

  “Only Ellen can get into her page, right?” Veronica asked.

  “Unless someone else had her password,” Maggie said with a big smile.

  Chapter 49

  There was no reason to call the police.

  This was not a burglary. At least not the typical kind the police could help with. And while the police in town were very good at certain things—like breaking up high school keg parties—Veronica figured international conspiracies and Nazis weren’t really their thing.

  So they waited for Eddie. At that point they could discuss the next steps, and check out what Ellen was hiding on her Facebook page. In the meantime, Veronica took care of some much-needed business. First of which was to get rid of her mother, along with Uncle Phil and Aunt Val.

  Once that was taken care of, they changed into more comfortable clothes. Maggie put on her pajamas, while Jamie finally shed his police uniform, changing into an oversized, hooded Yankees sweatshirt that Carsten gave him on their last Christmas together.

  Veronica changed into her own comfortable sweats, which she wore with running shoes. She then started a fire in the fireplace.

  Next, they all chipped in and tried to clean up some of the wreckage. Luckily all the broken stuff was just that—stuff. The really important items like photograph albums, DVDs of the kids being born, and the last connections to their father, weren’t touched.

  A knock pounded the door. Veronica expected Eddie, but remembered he would never knock. When she looked through the peephole and realized who it was, she filled with anger. She swung open the door. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I have uncovered new information,” Ben Youkelstein said. “We need to talk.”

  “Yes we do,” Veronica fired back. She sent the kids to their room. No arguments this time.

  “I really need to tell you what I’ve learned,” he eagerly repeated.

  “Is this something you just learned or something you learned a long time ago, like how my husband came to you with Ellen’s letters? Did you think to bring that up when Flavia mentioned he was meeting his contact at Vassar … it was you!?”

  His face went blank. “Veronica, I can explain.”

  “How could I trust anything that ever comes out of your mouth after all your lies? Get out of my house! And for your sake you better hope I don’t find out you had something to do with Carsten’s death, or I will hunt you down like those Nazis you chase.”

  “But Veronica …”

  She didn’t want to hear it. “The police will be here any minute, so I suggest you go … now!”

  When the door slammed shut, it sent the tears rolling down her face. As if she sensed something, Maggie hurried down the stairs and went right to her with a hug, and whispered, “I wish Dad were here,”

  “Me too,” Veronica said, and for the first time in a long time she meant it.

  Fifteen minutes later, Eddie arrived, still in his suit from the security meeting. Veronica brought him up to speed on everything that happened since he left Flavia’s. Which was a lot. As if trying to avoid the reality of the situation, he turned back into carefree Uncle Eddie.

  He tousled Maggie’s hair and asked, “How you doing, Maggot?”

  “I’m okay.”

  He surveyed the room. “Where’s your brother?”

  “Upstairs playing video games. You know him—he’s a vidiot. Good thing they didn’t steal his Xbox or he woulda had a mental breakdown.”

  Eddie thought for a second, once again the serious policeman. “Everybody should stick together right now. Have him come down here.”

  But before anyone could move, the doorbell rang. Eddie pulled a gun from his waistband. Veronica doubted the “bad guys” would ring the bell.

  Eddie moved to the door and whipped it open. He jammed his gun into the temple of the man standing there.

  Zach stood frozen, gripping tightly onto TJ’s hand.

  “Eddie … no!” Veronica screamed out.

  Eddie looked like he wanted to shoot him, but grudgingly accepted Veronica’s plea—sort of. He forcefully pushed Zach to the floor.

  Zach ignored the police brutality, picked himself off the hardwood floor and ran to Veronica. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “If you told me you were coming I would’ve cleaned the place up a little,” she tried to joke. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had this sense that you were in trouble.”

  Veronica just stared at him. Her knight in shining armor … or at least her knight now dressed in sweater and jeans.

  “That’s real convenient,” Eddie shattered the nice moment.

  “What is?” Zach asked.

  “Is that the same ‘sense’ that told you to stowaway on the trip to Rhinebeck?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Eddie eyed Zach up and down with suspicious eyes. “I just think it’s interesting how you keep showing up. At the school this morning with a coffee … pushed your way into the principal’s office … and here you are again. And what a coincidence that while Veronica’s house was being broken into, you took her out for dinner and tried to convince her that there was no danger.”

  “You think I’m … that’s crazy!”

  “Who else would have knowledge of this time-capsule buried in the backyard, or the information on Maggie’s computer?”

  “Why would I do such a thing?”

  “A down-on-his-luck reporter who sees his opportunity to get back to the top. How much did they pay you?”

  “C’mon, Eddie, we’re all tired here,” Veronica tried to play peacemaker. “You’re making wild accusations.”

  “I don’t think they’re so wild. His kid just happens to end up in the same class as Ellen’s granddaughter, and his wife happens to be in the same jail as Rose Shepherd?”

  Zach turned to Veronica. “You don’t believe this, do you?”

  Veronica stood paralyzed. She didn’t know what or who to trust anymore. She asked her gut, but it didn’t have time to answer her.

  Because all the lights in the house went off.

  She heard footsteps upstairs. Too heavy to be Jamie’s.

  And there was more than one set of them.

  The Nazis were back.

  Chapter 50

  Veronica reached into a drawer of an end-table and pulled out a flashlight. Just where Carsten left it back when the table resided in their New York apartment, in case of an “emergency.” She assumed this would qualify.

  She clicked it on, surprised the batteries still worked, and a stream of light sliced through the room. It reflected off Eddie’s bald head like a spotlight. His gun was drawn and eyes were on-point. He grabbed the flashlight away and shut it off with a look of disgust.
/>
  The footsteps got louder.

  Veronica needed to get up there. She didn’t care if she had to take on the 82nd Airborne to save him, and would gladly trade her own life. She began to race for the stairs, but Eddie grabbed her by the back of the shirt and pulled her back, kicking. There would have been screaming, but she couldn’t afford to make any noise.

  “You’re going to get yourself killed,” he whispered.

  To quote her daughter—woopdy-do

  “And you’re going to get Jamie killed,” he added.

  That one did the trick.

  Eddie moved the herd behind a turned-over couch. He took Veronica’s half-finished coffee and tossed it on the fire, extinguishing the remaining light in the room with a crackle. The darkness grew thick.

  More footsteps upstairs.

  Eddie joined them behind the couch. He was the leader—they all appeared ready to follow, no questions asked, even Maggie. He reached under the pant leg of his suit and pulled out second gun. He glared at Zach. “Can you be trusted?”

  “He can be trusted,” Veronica answered for him.

  Her word was good enough for Eddie, and he handed Zach the gun. Wasting no time, Eddie moved to the stairwell with weapon outstretched. He stopped at the bottom, contemplating his next move. Veronica looked on helplessly.

  More footsteps.

  This time quick movements. Like mice scrambling across the kitchen counter in the middle of the night.

  Then Jamie screamed.

  Veronica’s heart dropped to the floor and Eddie rushed up the stairs. “Freeze—police!”

  A gunshot rang out.

  Veronica couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed the flashlight and ran as fast as she could. She bounded up the stairs, almost tripping over Eddie, who was sprawled across the floor at the top of the stairwell. She pointed the flashlight at him, realizing he’d been shot in the shoulder.

  He pointed with his non-wounded arm. “They went that way—they have Jamie.”

  Veronica followed his point—Maggie’s room!

  She bolted into the room, and noticed the open window. Veronica ran toward the cold air that was seeping into the house. The motion-light illuminated the backyard and she saw two men with ski masks and semi-automatic weapons dashing across the yard like a prison break. They’d shimmied down the gutter, just as Maggie often did.

  They were also carrying something else.

  Jamie!

  Veronica knew her only chance was to cut them off at the pass. She ran back toward the stairs. That’s when she heard the crashing noise coming from downstairs. And she realized something.

  They weren’t running away after escaping out Maggie’s room—they were coming back for what they’d left behind.

  Maggie!

  Veronica moved past Eddie, who handed her his gun as she went by. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he cautioned while grimacing in pain.

  To a mother trying to save her kids, there was no such thing. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the sight in front of her was every horror movie rolled into one. A shadowy figure in a ski mask held Jamie in one hand and a gun pointed at the head of Zach, who was trying to protect Maggie.

  “Let the girl go and you might live,” one of the intruders commanded Zach.

  “She’s not going anywhere,” he countered. Very brave—but also very stupid. TJ already lacked a mother; he shouldn’t have to grow up without a father. This wasn’t his fight. Not to mention, his bravery might be putting Maggie and Jamie in further peril.

  Veronica was stealth for a split second. They didn’t know she was there, and she was plotting a way to whisk away her kids and make a run for the Tahoe. But Jamie blew her cover.

  “Mom,” he exclaimed, pointing at her. “Help!”

  All guns were now pointed at Veronica. She directed Eddie’s gun back at them. It was comical—a group of professionals against a woman who didn’t even know how to work Jamie’s Super Soaker squirt gun. She couldn’t even blame them for laughing at her.

  “Get the kids and let’s get out of here,” the leader said, not even acknowledging her.

  Veronica wasn’t letting them go without a fight. She fired the gun at the leader. She wasn’t sure where the shot went, but sounded like it headed into one of the walls. It barely got her a second glance.

  In one swift movement, one of the intruders cracked Zach over the head with his gun handle and grabbed Maggie.

  She was kicking …

  And screaming!

  Veronica screamed, too, “Noooo!”

  But like a flash, they were out the door and barreling down the driveway in a SUV that had been hidden in the woods. How long had they been waiting there? They probably left the vehicle when they had broken in earlier, knowing they would need to return.

  Eddie ran out behind her. He’d done a homemade bandage job on his shoulder. “Which way did they go?” he called out.

  Veronica just pointed randomly down the driveway, tears streaming down her face.

  “The kids will be safe, I promise you,” he said as jumped into his police car and rushed down the driveway, lights flashing.

  Suddenly Veronica’s tears dried up in the cold air. Her motherly instincts took over again. She had to get her children back. She got in the Tahoe and raced after them.

  Chapter 51

  Youkelstein lay still under a blanket.

  When Veronica banished him from her home, he’d remained hidden on the property. But after Eddie Peterson arrived, he moved his hiding spot to the back of his squad car. From there, he witnessed the whole thing unfold.

  The children appeared to be in imminent danger, but Youkelstein knew they wouldn’t hurt them.

  They couldn’t.

  When Eddie ran out of the house, Youkelstein scrambled under the blanket and lay on the floor of the backseat. The car burst out of the driveway, jarring his old bones. He was in great pain, but gritted his teeth, knowing this might be his last Nazi hunt, and his most important. Ever since he spotted the man coming out of the prison tonight, he knew they were on a collision course. And as Eddie powered his vehicle after the kidnappers, Youkelstein got the feeling this chase would lead him to the confrontation he sought.

  He could hear Eddie talking into a phone. Youkelstein knew that Veronica needed to hear this with her own ears, since she’d understandably lost trust in him. So he twisted and contorted his body the best he could in the tight crevice between the seat and floorboards, and struggled to release his phone from his front pocket. It was like trying to dance in an air conditioning duct.

  He somehow removed the phone without alerting Eddie to his presence, and made the call. He used the option that allowed those on the other end to hear what was being said, but muted any response. It was a one-way conversation.

  “Do you have them?” Eddie barked into the phone. He briefly waited for a response, before adding, “I better not see a scratch on them—handle them like they’re priceless jewels.”

  Eddie listened to another response, then said, “I’m sure they are scared—just tell them to be calm and their Uncle Eddie will be there soon.”

  When he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he grew irritated. “Maggie can be such a baby!” He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. “Listen, make something up. Tell her that Veronica is on her way. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Eddie instructed the caller to meet him at Underhill School. And minutes later, they pulled into the dark parking lot of the deserted school. It was quite a different atmosphere from this morning when it was buzzing with parents and children.

  He showed off his shoulder-wound to his fellow swine, who had removed their masks. “It hurt like a bitch—but it had to be done to make things look good,” he said.

  Maggie was demanding to see her mother as she was put in the back of the police car. Jamie went more willingly—the car was as seductive as ice cream for him.

  The scene reminded Youkelstein of his friends being forced on t
hose eastbound trains. He couldn’t allow Eddie to take the children away. If he didn’t act now, they might be lost forever.

  After being in such a cramped space, his legs were completely numb. He got about halfway to the captors and collapsed onto the blacktop.

  Once Eddie realized who it was, he began laughing like a bully. He approached and gave him a kick in the ribs. Youkelstein curled into the fetal position. It was like he was back at Terezin when the Nazi guards used to beat them. Not just to inflict physical pain, but to humiliate them.

  “Did you come to harm the children?” Eddie asked.

  Youkelstein remained quiet. He learned at a young age that you couldn’t argue with a monster.

  Another kick to the ribs.

  He felt the blood fill inside his throat. He doubted he was getting out of this alive. He began hallucinating and swore he was looking at Siegfried Seidl, the brutal dictator of Terezin.

  “I will protect these children at any cost—and nobody will ever harm them … do you understand?” Eddie exclaimed.

  After all these years, Ben Youkelstein finally understood everything.

  Chapter 52

  Veronica drove as fast as she could, but her children just kept getting further away.

  Her lone saving grace was that Eddie was on the heels of the SUV as it sped down Bedford Ave. And he was likely doing police things she would’ve never thought about—make and model, calling for backup.

  She wasn’t sure why she even kept driving—she would never catch them. And what would she do, anyway? But she’d keep going until her last breath. It was get to Maggie and Jamie or die trying.

  Her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number—probably one of the local politicians bugging her again with the election nearing. She had no plans to answer, but then she got the crazy idea that Eddie might be using a different phone. Or maybe it was the kidnappers demanding a ransom. She changed her mind.