by Peche, Alec
“Can you think of anything else to add?” asked Jill of Jo and Marie.
“After we fill in the timeline, we should add financial transactions between all of these parties,” Jo replied. “I would also add the chip that Laura dropped into your jacket. Are we sure we got all of the facts off that chip, or were we diverted by the payment to various politicians? Speaking of which, I think we should add their faces up there, too.”
“Good suggestion; I will add their names as they seem to have had the most to lose if Laura had revealed their payments to the world.”
Jill’s cell phone, which Henrik had returned, began ringing. Looking at the phone face, she said to Jo and Marie, “It’s Nick.”
“Hi Nick, what’s up?”
Then there was silence as Jill listened to Nick’s voice.
“Oh no!” Jill covered the mouthpiece and said “our rooms were ransacked.” Speaking back into the phone she said to Nick, “Is anything missing?” She listened a while longer, then ended the call.
“The hotel rooms were ransacked; they got both our suite and Nick’s room. Since Angela and Nick aren’t sure what belongs to whom, and the suite is a mess, they are just going to pack everything up and bring it here. We’ll probably have to do some sorting of stuff so that we can make sure it is back in the appropriate suitcase. He wasn’t even sure about the electronics as he didn’t want to waste time looking for stuff.”
“How about the room safes? Were those broken into?” asked an anxious Marie. “My passport was in our safe, and I’ll need it to leave the country. Let me call him back on your phone, since you have his number.”
She took Jill’s cell from her. “Nick, it’s Marie on Jill’s phone. Are the safes opened? Is my passport there?”
After listening to Nick’s response, she ended the call and handed the phone back to Jill. “He said the safes were opened and he did not see my passport. Once the luggage gets here we’ll have to sort through the stuff. It’s going to be close to two in the morning when they return. At this rate I should just stay awake until it’s time to leave for the airport.”
“Maybe you’ll have to stay and help on the case until you can get a replacement passport,” suggested Jill. “Perhaps that is fate telling you to stay in Germany for two days. Once you sort through your stuff, we can make a call to the embassy to find out what the processing time is. Maybe you’ll still be able to make your flight. You could leave early and swing by the embassy on your way to the airport.”
“It’s not the end of the world if I return two days late; things can be rescheduled, and they might have to be if I don’t have a passport. No one will believe me when I tell them the stories from this vacation – from CPR in the restaurant, to our performance in the red-light district, to Jo’s introduction to a knife, and our kidnapping earlier this evening. As Angela said, it’s been a weird vacation.”
Henrik and Nathan returned to the room. Nathan was very satisfied with the security of the house, the property, and the computers. Henrik stopped and stared at what Jill had put up on the board. He was quiet and thoughtful as he reviewed every piece of information. Finally, he looked over at Jill. “This is helpful, laid out this way. I will learn from you and I am pleased you agreed to work for me.”
“Thank you for the compliment. I find I can think better about a problem when I lay it out like this. My brain doesn’t waste time reassembling the facts every time I think about the case.
Jill changed the subject. “We have a new problem. While we were gone from our hotel suite, it was ransacked. According to Nick, our stuff is scattered everywhere. Marie’s passport may be missing. I told them to pack everything they could in suitcases and bags and bring it here and we’ll sort it out to see what is missing. They should be on their way now.”
“Wow, it seems like the case is far from over,” said Jo. “My passport may also be missing; I’ll have to check my purse, but I think I have everything else in my possession. Fortunately, as this is the end of trip, I wasn’t leaving cash in the room safe. Other than some beloved jeans and a prized hair dryer, there is nothing that I’ll miss.”
“I hope my laptop has not been stolen as it be more difficult to get work done without it,” said Nathan. “Hey, I wonder if Nick had been successful setting up a camera on our suite. After the smoke grenade incident, I thought he was going to rig that.”
“Good idea - let me call and ask.” Jill walked over to the table and grabbed her cell phone to dial Nick.
“Nick, it’s Jill. Are you on your way back? Yes? Good. Say, do you remember you mentioned setting up a camera focused on our suite door after the smoke grenade? You did, awesome. Maybe we’ll learn something from that tape. We’ll see you soon.”
Jill ended the call and faced the others, “They are about one hour away according to your driver,” she said with a nod at Henrik. “Nick did rig a camera on our suite door and he collected the camera and its tape when he left the hotel.”
“Did they report the theft to the police?” asked Jo.
“No, Nick did not think that was a good idea. I wonder why he would say that, given that he’s a former police officer. Maybe the problem was it would have delayed them at the room and by not knowing which stuff belongs to whom, they may not know yet if anything has been stolen. Fortunately whoever went through the room did not damage the furniture; it was just our stuff that was flung everywhere.”
“Well, it seems like we are just waiting for them to return. Nathan, if you and the ladies would like to relax, there is an indoor pool and whirlpool and I have spare suits in the pool area,” offered Henrik.
“That sounds like an excellent idea, although I may fall asleep if I step into warm, swirling water,” said Marie. “Nathan, you’ll watch out for us, and get us out of pool if you see us falling sleep? We know you’re the night owl among us.”
“Yes, Marie, I’ll watch out for you. We could discuss motives in this case and that might keep your brains running.”
The three women frowned at him as Henrik led them to the pool area. A few minutes later, they were all relaxing in a beautiful whirlpool. They had bathrobes that they could throw on once Angela and Nick arrived, or their skin became prunes - whichever came first.
A little bit later, Angela and Nick were shown into the pool space.
“I can see you guys worked up quite a sweat while we were in Brussels,” quipped Angela. “Sadly, it’s a sweat from hot, swirling water rather than applying your considerable brainpower to solve this case.”
“Actually, we have quite a layout in the conference room. Even Henrik was impressed with it,” said Jill. “We needed to know if you had a new clue on the tape from the camera aimed at our suite door. We’ll get out and adjourn to our room, so we can sort through and organize all the stuff. First order of business is to find our passports and then our electronics.”
They all returned to one of their bedrooms and sorted their belongings into five piles. Since Nick’s room had also been ransacked, although his possessions were in disarray, they were luckily all in his own hotel room. While they sorted out the stuff, Nick took the hallway camera to the conference room and worked on reviewing the film. Within fifteen minutes, they had returned every garment, bag, and suitcase to its rightful owner. Marie and Angela’s passports were not located. Jo and Jill carried their passports in their purses at all times, so they had them. Marie would call the embassy in a few moments to find out how soon they could obtain replacements.
They also discovered that Nathan’s and Nick’s laptops were missing, as was Jill’s iPad. Marie had her iPad with her all day. They each carted their stuff to their respective bedrooms, and then headed back to the conference room. It was way past Jill’s bedtime, and as soon as she had the answer as to who broke into their hotel room, she would be heading for bed. She was feeling woozy. Although she was participating in conversations, her brain was so tired, she wasn’t exactly sure what was real and she doubted she’d remember any of it tomorrow.”<
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They arrived at the conference room to find Nick blinking rapidly as the tape moved forward at a fast speed. Jill then recognized that it wasn’t just her that was exhausted -they all were. “Nick, let’s call it quits. I really wanted to see who went into our rooms, but you’re trying so hard to stay awake while you are looking at that tape that you must be missing sections. We can start fresh in the morning.” With that comment she headed toward her bedroom, dragging Nathan with her.
Jill wanted everyone to take a break. It had been a hard day, starting with the early meeting at Interpol, the three museums, the evening visit to the Interpol building, the abduction, and the drive from Brussels. Nick and Angela had done even more in making that round-trip drive and packing up everyone’s belongings. They all had to be wiped.
Jo and Marie followed after a minute’s hesitation.
Angela said to Nick, “She is right it’s been a long day and you are struggling to watch the tape. Let’s get back to this in the morning.” She tugged his hand and he stood up and began following her out of the room.
Henrik saw the exhaustion in the Americans, but he wanted answers. He would have a couple staff stare at the boring tape to see if they found anything while everyone was sleeping. They would get a faster start in the morning if something was located. He was still seething with anger to find out that Laura had made it alive to the hospital, where a second person had ended her life when no one was watching. Posing as a distant relative, he had retrieved her body from the Antwerp hospital and buried her on the grounds of the estate in a private ceremony with just Chloe in attendance.
His business friends and associates had rarely interacted with Laura. They were considered a commuting couple, each running their interests in a different country with rare time spent together. Laura had spent most of her time alone, but she passed at least four nights a week with Henrik when they were both in town. She had refused to stop stealing – it wasn’t about the money; rather, it was supporting the miners that continued to be taken advantage of by the mine owners. She had resented the retail shops that had continued to buy diamonds for resale, knowing that the miners who had mined the stones lived in very poor conditions.
With a heavy sigh, Henrik left instructions to his men to review the tape to see if there were any unauthorized room entries recorded on it. Once the staff were briefed, he proceeded to his own lonely bed.
Chapter 16
As usual, Jill was awake first the next morning, followed by Marie. They both had headed out seeking coffee, hoping to find the kitchen in this very large house. They found a woman working in the kitchen. She spoke only German, so between gestures and words like café, they managed to get a great cup of coffee and proceeded toward the conference room.
Jill said, “I forgot to ask you last night how do you and Angela go about getting replacement passports? Will you make your flight on time today?”
“There is a decent chance I could make the flight, but I would rather not stress about it so I called the office and left word that I had been robbed and it would take me an additional two days to return. It just seemed easier than sweating it out at the airport. I’ll return with Angela and Jo. I believe there is a closer consulate for us to get new passport at in Dusseldorf. I’ll have to ask Henrik which is closer to this house.”
They entered the conference room and Jill walked to where Nick had been reviewing the tape the previous night. She looked at the set-up but had no idea how to operate it. She would just have to wait for him. She didn’t know if he was an early riser, but she was sure she would not see Angela, Jo, or Nathan for at least another two hours. Henrik had graciously given Nathan a loaner laptop to take to his meetings with clients.
Henrik entered the conference room and said, “Good morning ladies. I see you have coffee. Would you rather have breakfast served in this room or the dining room?”
“I’d like to start work as soon as possible, so this room is fine. Angela, Jo, and Nathan won’t likely appear for at least another two hours. I don’t know if Nick is an early riser. I hope so, as I would like to start viewing the tape this morning.”
“Ah, yes, the tape. I had my man who works security here at night view the tape. Let me see if he found anything,” said Henrik as he walked over to a house phone and dialed. After a short conversation in German, he returned to them.
“My security guy watched the tape and gave me two different times on the tape to look at,” said Henrik as he walked over to the set-up that Nick had been using to look at the tape.
“Two areas? Were there two separate incidents of someone going into our rooms that looked suspicious, or was it the entry and exit of the same person?”
“I don’t know. Let’s watch the tape and see what my man has seen,” Henrik leaned in as he began to move the video forward to the first time-stamp mentioned by his man.
The three of them crowded closer and watched. It was a maid dressed in the hotel’s uniform with a housekeeping cart. She spent about twenty minutes in the suite, and at first Jill didn’t register anything as wrong, but then she saw what Henrik’s man saw – the maid had not touched anything on the cart the entire twenty minutes she was in the room. How do you clean a room with no linens, vacuum, or cleaning supplies? She exited, carrying a plastic garbage bag with something inside of it that she dumped into the trash hamper on her cart. She moved the cart to the service elevator and left, cleaning no other rooms on that floor.”
“No wonder Nick didn’t see this as a problem last night,” remarked Marie. “It is a good act until you think about what she’s supposed to be doing as a maid. It also points to how tired he was after that very long day.”
“Let’s go to the second part of the tape,” Jill suggested. “Your security guy is good. I might have skipped over this section since she behaved so like a maid.”
Henrik moved the tape forward by six hours to see two gentlemen, not in any hotel uniform, enter the room.
“Marie, isn’t that Inspector Graaf from the Netherlands branch of Interpol?” asked Jill.
“Yes, it is. And I think the second man looks like our fake hotel security guard who stole Angela’s camera during the smoke grenade farce.”
“Interpol has an internal problem in this case,” Jill explained to Henrik, “There was a Russian member of the Interpol office that was caught on film in one of Angela’s pictures. These two must be the rogue agents in the Antwerp office. No wonder Inspector Graaf was so unfriendly when we met with him. What possible reason could he have to search our room? To be fair to him, we don’t know if the woman or Inspector Graaf made the mess. The camera shows the woman carrying a bag out of the room, but the inspector could have put small stuff like our passports in his jacket pockets.”
Jill frowned. “This really irks me. Who are the honest souls in law enforcement in this case? I would like to say something to Dubois, but I can’t trust his agency. Perhaps Willems is safe to trust,” she mused. “What do you think Marie?”
Henrik spoke up, “My experience is that there are good and bad cops in any agency. So you have to decide based on who their superiors are, and your gut feel as to whether they are crooked.”
Nick had been leaning in and listening at the door, and now he proceeded into the room. “As a former Dutch police officer, I would have to agree with Henrik’s comments. There is no real pattern to determine who is honest and who is not. I also agree with your assessment that of all the people we have met on this case, Willems seems like the most reliable.”
“Let me call him then,” responded Jill. “I feel good about Dubois, but I worry about his superiors, as Henrik so wisely stated. There seem to be holes in Interpol in regards to this case and there is no saying who is on the take.” She picked up her phone and dialed Willems’ number.
“Officer Willems, this is Jill Quint. Is this a convenient time to talk? Good. Are you by yourself at the moment?” She paused and then continued. ”After the smoke bomb grenade, Nick put a camera on our suite
door. When we got back to the suite last night, it had been ransacked. We captured on camera several persons that did not have a reason to enter our room. One of those persons was Inspector Graaf from Interpol’s Antwerp office, so I have not notified Officer Dubois of last night’s activity. The other person is the fake security guard at the hotel.”
Jill listened to Willems for a while and then replied, “We have changed our plans and are staying with a friend in Germany at the moment. We have delayed our departure by two days.”
There was another pause on Jill’s side of the conversation. Then Jill said, “Please hold for a moment,” and put her phone on mute.
She looked over at Henrik and asked, “Henrik, do you mind if I give the Belgian police this location? I think we can avoid revealing who you are in relation to Laura Peeters.”
He nodded his okay, so Jill un-muted the phone and said to Willems, “We’re outside of Dusseldorf, and this is the address. It is about a ninety-minute drive from Brussels.”
Another pause occurred in Jill’s conversation and then she ended the call. “Willems is going to drive here just as soon as he notifies his superior, which he has to do since he is leaving Belgium.
“Now we need to think of a plausible explanation for being at Henrik’s house. I think the real answer would be a considerable distraction to solving this case. So Henrik, you’re going to be a distant cousin to Jo. We had tried to meet you for dinner our first night in Antwerp, but you were called away from home for a work issue. Last night, we finally connected. After dinner we moved the conversation to our suite only to discover it was ransacked, and so you invited us back to your home.”