by Peche, Alec
“We have one more piece of information to add to the story. While everyone was assembling for this meeting, we decided we would take in the museums and palace that are close to this building. We then walked to an excellent French pub for food and drink. While Jill and I were in the ladies room, we encountered Chloe Martin and spoke with her.”
“Excusez-moi!” exclaimed Dubois, clearly so surprised by this latest development that he lapsed into French.
There were other murmurs in the room. Privately, Angela loved a little drama, as that was when people’s true personalities often came out of hiding.
“Officer Dubois before you get too excited by this information, we ended up with more questions than answers. Jill and I noticed Chloe in the mirror as we walked into the ladies’ room. We verified her identity with each other and then confronted her.”
“Why didn’t you just call us for assistance?” challenged Willems. “Weren’t you worried that she would harm you?”
Looking abashed, Angela shrugged and replied “We didn’t think of that. We just knew that she had no weapons in plain sight.”
Jill decided to rescue Angela from the conversation and interjected, “We asked her if she was Chloe Martin and she responded affirmatively. We asked her why she had been trying to kidnap us, and she responded that she wanted to ask us questions. We asked her why she didn’t simply ask us questions by walking up to us and she responded that she didn’t know if we had a relationship with the diamond consortium. She then added that since we had a meeting with Interpol in ten minutes, she would make contact with us later, and then she dashed out of the ladies room, exited the pub and disappeared.”
“You have no contact information for her?” probed Nick for the benefit of the others in the room.
“No. She will contact us when she is ready, which will hopefully be soon. We return to the United States in two days.”
“Two days?” asked Willems with a worried look.
“Yes, we have tomorrow and the day after in Belgium, then we leave on a flight that next day,” Marie explained. “So we are down to about our last fifty hours to solve this murder.”
“Are you able to stay longer to assist the Belgian police and Interpol? The U.S. Embassy will assist you with travel and hotel accommodations as well as any fees for changing your flights,” the embassy representative offered.
“We will have to discuss our schedules and get back to you tomorrow. However, a day or so ago, people in this room advised us to cut short our vacation and return to the U.S. as soon as possible,” Jill said. “Officer Dubois and Inspector Willems, have you changed your minds?”
“If you are able to do so, we would appreciate your assistance until this murder is solved,” replied Dubois with evident sincerity.
“Why did you have the change of heart?”
“We had a lengthy discussion with your San Francisco FBI office while you were out of this building. They said many complimentary things about the four of you, and most specifically, ‘that we would be fools to pass up your help.’ They attributed the resolution of a huge ten-year political conspiracy to you, Jill, and your team. You were an asset in solving the case and you didn’t add to their burden or otherwise slow them down. Those are very complimentary words from your FBI. I have dealt with them previously and they usually have nothing good to say about any seemingly helpful U.S. citizens. Their usual response is that they want you sent home to the U.S. We would appreciate your assistance on our team for as long as you have the time.”
“Nice to know we get good recommendations!” exclaimed Angela.
“Yes, okay, let’s move back to this case. Based on Chloe Martin’s comments to you, she seemed fearful of a relationship between you and the consortium. I wonder why she feels that way when it seems that she and her cousin had an ongoing business relationship with them. Was that your impression Jill and Angela?” Dubois asked, clearly pondering Chloe Martin’s words.
“I have been wondering about that too. She went to some real extremes in hiring those men just out of a need to talk to us,” Jill remarked. “She must have the impression that Laura said something or gave us something relevant to her future.”
“Or relevant to the consortium’s future,” Angela added.
There was quiet in the conference room as everyone gave thought to the potential angles of the relationship between Chloe, Laura, and the consortium.
Chapter 12
Jo broke the brief silence. “I spent time earlier in the pub analyzing the financial records of Laura’s charity and what we could learn of her finances. I would like to spend some time with Ms. Bernard and see if we can find any new financial records on Laura, Chloe, or the consortium. I’m not much help otherwise for this portion of the conversation.”
Ms. Barnard stood up and they moved to another room to chat and review financial records. They were two accountants looking for the cause of a murder, and an understanding of the world through numbers.
After they exited the room, the conversation returned to the relationship of the two women and the consortium.
“I think we have to assume from what Chloe said that they did not have the best relationship with the consortium, which is strange given the money and diamonds flowing back and forth,” Jill pointed out.
“Let me see if I can describe the history between these parties. Let’s all start from the same page. Laura Peeters’ first theft was some fifteen years ago and her younger cousin, Chloe Martin, was involved beginning around ten years ago. Laura started by stealing from her employer in one large heist and then managed independently for several years. I’ve put a timeline on the wall that describes the jewelry thefts we think are her work.”
Everyone stared at the wall examining Dubois’s timeline of diamond thefts.
“Which thefts are also attributed to Chloe?” asked Marie.
“She doesn’t have a signature style that we are aware of; we are tracking back again to jewelry store owners to see if Chloe is caught on camera for any of those thefts. As to the private residences, I don’t think we will ever know unless Chloe confesses to those thefts as there is no evidence that she was involved. There may also be additional thefts, but the owner is still not aware that cubic zirconia has been substituted. We don’t even know if all of the private residences with the chocolate calling card have been discovered. Just because you discover a piece of chocolate in your home, doesn’t mean you immediately notice the CZ sparkling in your chandelier instead of your diamonds.”
“True enough,” affirmed Angela. “How about the relationship with the consortium? Did she sell the diamonds she stole from private residences to the consortium or did she sell them through her own network?”
“Interesting question,” Dubois considered. “I’ll ask Mademoiselles Pringle and Bernard to trace that for us since you discovered that financial arrangement.”
The conference room door opened, and an officer stepped in and passed a note to Willems. After reading it, he muttered, “Damn”.
“Bad news, Inspector Willems?” asked Angela.
“Unfortunately I have received word that Chloe Martin was found dead thirty minutes ago. She had ligature marks around her neck. Her body was leaning against a trash container in a small alley close to the Church of Notre Dame. Whoever killed her wanted her body found quickly since she was placed in such a public area. Our investigators are on the scene and gathering evidence.”
“That is indeed bad news,” murmured Angela. “I wish we would've stopped her from leaving the ladies’ room; perhaps she would still be alive.”
“We started with a triangle of players - Laura Peeters, Chloe Martin, and the diamond consortium. We're down to just one player. It sure points this investigation toward the consortium,” Jill concluded.
“Actually, we have seven players whose roles are still not understood – the six individual members and the consortium as an entity. We should check in with Jo and Ms. Bernard to see if they've uncovered anything in th
e financial data,” Marie suggested.
“Good idea,” replied Dubois. “Why don't I check to see if they are ready to rejoin us? After their report, we may want to end this meeting pending new information from the crime scene and additional information that we can uncover on the consortium members. I will have my data experts work on this overnight.”
After checking in with the two accountants, the pair agreed to rejoin the bigger group and share some new information with them.
Jo and Ms. Bernard re-entered the room and took their original places at the table. They had been briefed on Chloe’s death on the way back to the conference room.
Jo had chills running up her arms thinking about her own experience of being held at knife point, and now to know that Chloe had been murdered by strangulation made the world feel dark. Of the four women, she was the most inclined to shrug things off and go with the flow, but she had never been this close to the criminal world before. She had not even been inside a police station prior to this vacation. She took a deep breath searching for that quiet place in her mind. Then she opened her eyes and smiled.
“We found a couple of unusual circumstances to investigate further within the documents we examined. Ms. Bernard is able to navigate European databases much like I can do with U.S. databases. It seems to be very clear that funds flowed from the consortium to both Laura’s bank account and to her charitable foundation. We think there is enough evidence to have your attorneys evaluate criminal charges as co-conspirators in the thefts. There were additional payments as well to Laura that look potentially like extortion. We think she was blackmailing the consortium with the knowledge that she had been paid to steal from the jewelry shop owners. Those payments were going to her charitable foundation and had been increasing every year for the past several years by one million each year,” said Jo.
“How do you know it was blackmail rather than just a straight donation to the charity?” Willems asked.
“It was the code used to describe the payment,” Ms. Bernard replied. “Remember those six sets of initials? Nathan identified them as belonging to the first letter of the company name and the first letter of the CEO’s last name. As idiotic as this sounds, the initials spell out f-a-i-r-e-c-h-a-n-t-e-r which is a French word that translates to blackmail in English. She had an interesting sense of humor and we didn’t see the initials forming the word at first, or maybe it is pure coincidence. Laura must have worked hard to come up with the right set of initials to get the letters. Trouble is I don’t know how you use something like that in court. I would think a judge or jury would laugh at you for that weak proof.”
“Ms. Bernard and I wondered if you could find her personal residence and tap into her computer. There has to be some documentation somewhere given the regularity of payments. Maybe she had a Swiss bank safe deposit box that contains her important documents.”
“We have asked Swiss authorities for their assistance in locating her bank records and boxes,” Dubois said. “I’ll need to contact them now for Chloe Martin’s account since I would suspect that she also had an account and box. Have you seen any transfer of money from Laura to Chloe in these accounts?”
“It is hard to say. There are no checks or ledger adjustments with Chloe’s name or initials,” suggested Ms. Bernard. “She could have paid her in cash, or again one or both of them could have used an alias or a business name.”
“I think we need to look at the Swiss documents,” Dubois asserted. “Hopefully, there will be something that is relevant to this case. I also think it is time to arrange to interview these consortium CEOs. Given the large flows of money, I don’t see how they could not know.”
“Ms. Bernard and I need to review the financial statements for the consortium members so we can determine how they were accounting for these payments to Laura. I assume that Laura’s charity would just appear as a corporate contribution to a worthy cause. Do you have jurisdiction to get the private financial statements of the CEOs?”
“We will have to explore that as I don’t know each CEO’s country of residence, or the laws of those countries. Interpol’s legal department will have to do some research for me tonight so I can determine our options.”
“Jill was exhausted and noticed that her friends were also fading. Therefore, she announced, “I think we’re ready to return to our hotel. Given Chloe’s murder, would it be possible for a policeman to accompany us to our hotel just to make sure there are no surprises awaiting us?”
Willems nodded his agreement and the six friends stood up to exit the room. They agreed they would meet in the same place at nine in the morning. Depending on what was discovered overnight, the women would either be spending their day being tourists or continuing the conversation with law enforcement.
The Belgian police provided two officers and a paddy wagon to transport the group back to their hotel. It was the most unique transportation that they had been in worldwide. Nick noticed no one appearing suspicious in the lobby. Their rooms appeared safe, quiet, and untouched. Nick had wished he had thought of placing a temporary camera in the hotel hallway to catch any suspicious activity.
They grabbed a beer from the hotel bar so they could unwind, reviewing the events of the day. Jo had her Brussels tourist book out and they planned their next day of sightseeing. Whether they would have the opportunity to fulfill their itinerary remained to be seen. They would know more in the morning. Again they shared a suite with bedrooms surrounding a common lounge. Nick joined them for the conversation before retiring to his own room in a different area of the hotel - he did not need a large suite, which was all that was available on their hotel floor.
They each also needed to review whether they could extend their stay in Belgium. Angela had a photo shoot that she had to return for, much to Nick’s disappointment. Marie sent a note to her assistant back in the States to determine her availability, but she didn't think she could alter her stay. Jill was available for at least a week. Jo would normally not sacrifice critical meetings at work for a delayed return from her vacation, but this was a unique situation. She was beginning to believe that a return to the U.S. without the case being solved would endanger her life back in Wisconsin. She was also convinced that her financial acumen was critical to solving this case. They would see what happened overnight, but it looked like Jill, Nathan, Nick, and Jo would be extending their vacation in Brussels. All of them were exhausted, both physically and emotionally, from the day’s adventures. Sleep came quickly.
Angela was dreaming of her favorite chocolate store. In the dream, the confectioner was trying to get Angela to try his smoky chocolate-covered cherry, which sounded disgusting to her. She tossed and turned and awoke with a start, - wondering why anyone would make a smoky chocolate-covered cherry? Suddenly, she realized there was real smoke in her bedroom! She leapt off the bed and ran to the door. She was trying to remember how you were supposed to handle fires. She felt the door and it was not hot. She took a scarf, soaked it in bottled water and got down on her belly near the door.
Reaching up, she slowly opened the door. The suite lounge was filled with smoke, but Angela could not see any flames. Moving quickly on her hands and knees she banged on the other bedroom doors to wake everyone up. The smoke alarm began sounding, but the old hotel did not have a sprinkler system.
“Wake up! There is smoke in our suite, but I haven't found the source of the fire. Go find something to cover your face; and I have a bottle of water to wet it.”
Her friends were unable to hear her words at this point as the fire alarm was so loud. So she motioned grabbing something to put over their faces to help prevent smoke inhalation. While the smoke was thick, they could not see nor feel the heat of the fire. Just then someone banged on the suite door.
“This is hotel security! We have a report of a fire alarm. We are entering this suite!” The statement was repeated in French.
While Nathan approached the door, the women turned on every light switch they could find in the dark sm
oky suite. It was then that they noticed a device on the carpet.
“What is that?” asked Marie.
“It appears to be a smoke grenade”, revealed hotel security. “The police use it to smoke out suspects. It should be harmless once the smoke dissipates.”
The Brussels Fire Brigade appeared in the doorway, axes and fire extinguishers in hand. Behind them stood a disheveled Nick, who must have run up the stairs from his room.
"I don't believe that anything is on fire. It appears that the smoke has come from that grenade,” hotel security proclaimed, pointing to the object lying on the carpet.
Members of the fire brigade checked the hotel suite and returned a few minutes later with the same conclusion as hotel security. Occupants from other suites on the floor had begun to gather around the entrance to the Americans’ suite.
The grenade had nearly run out of smoke. The air was beginning to clear and the smell of phosphorus was dissipating. The fire brigade gave them a look as if they were wondering whether the crazy Americans had set off the grenade.
Nick quickly took over and explained the circumstances. He called Willems to advise him of the situation. Hotel security comforted the occupants of the other suites, and the fire brigade prepared to leave. One fireman reached for the grenade to dispose of it, but Nick stopped him.
“There may be fingerprints on that grenade. We need to leave it here for the police to take as evidence.”
The firemen and hotel security departed. The friends changed out of their night clothes while waiting for Willems’ officers to arrive on the scene. The smell had completely dissipated, so there was no need to find a new room.
“This is just weird”, declared Marie, saying out loud what they were all thinking. “Clearly the grenade was not intended to harm us. Whoever broke into the room could have thrown a real grenade if that was the case. Were we supposed to evacuate and then we would have been taken hostage? Was it just a threat trying to warn us off this case?”