“About that. What exactly is their demand?” Kiara asked.
“It’s not a demand, but demands,” Shawn said with great difficulty.
“Demands?” Jake asked with surprise.
“They want ten million dollars and a detailed list of my Italian clients,” Shawn said.
“I don’t understand,” Jake said and looked at Kiara, who was equally confused.
“These people … the Sicilian Mafia … they are known for ‘protection racketeering.’ They take money from rich people and provide protection against anyone, including law enforcement agencies. They want the list of my clients including all the businesses they own and details about their net worth, including their investments outside the businesses, so that they can approach my clients with an offer.”
“What offer?” Jake asked.
“Either my clients hire these guys for protection, or the Mafia will go public with their records. Some of the investments that I do for these people are not legal, and some of them are under fake names too,” Shawn said in a quavering voice.
“So, they want to blackmail these clients of yours into taking their services,” Kiara said thoughtfully.
“Yes, but that is just a start. Their aim is to get close to my clients—get all insider information and then blackmail them further till they go bankrupt.”
A momentary silence ensued as Shawn’s words had given a new twist to the whole case. It was not only Shawn who got a ransom call; it was, in fact, a ransom call for all of Shawn’s clients too. If he conceded to their demands, he would not only lose his license, he may even have his life under threat.
“Did they tell you how and when to deliver the money?” Jake asked.
“They said that I have three days to arrange the money. They will call back with the details about its delivery,” Shawn replied and paused for a moment. “I … I’m not doing that well financially right now. Though, ups and downs are part and parcel of my job, but, with Cynthia’s kidnapping I’m in a tight spot. My dad is willing to help with the money, but giving the client details will be suicidal for my career. I'm ready to sacrifice my career for Cynthia, but I am desperately trying to find an alternative before I concede to their demands. I’ve worked hard to achieve this position in my career, and losing it is giving me nightmares.”
Kiara looked at him. “I hope you haven’t shared this information with anyone else. If it goes public, it will become impossible to ensure Cynthia’s release.”
Shawn nodded. “That’s why I wanted that officer to be here. I had taken him in confidence. Only he knew about the ransom demand. Our families think that the kidnappers have only asked for money. I thought the officer can speak to you and make it easier for me.”
“Mr. Hansen, we understand the gravity of the situation. Don’t worry; your secret will remain safe with us,” Kiara tried to assure him while Shawn looked at her journal. “I haven’t noted down the ransom part. Don’t worry,” she said, understanding Shawn’s dilemma.
“It’s just that I don’t know whom I should trust right now. I’ve already wasted a whole day, but there is no assurance of Cynthia’s safe return,” Shawn said and buried his face in his palms.
Jake looked at Kiara, who murmured something in his ear. Jake looked at her in disbelief, but she insisted.
“Mr. Hansen,” Jake asked reluctantly, bringing Shawn back to the discussion. “We have one last question.”
“Please … go ahead,” Shawn said with great difficulty.
“When we came here, we had some doubts regarding your involvement in this entire matter,” Jake said. He paused for a moment and looked at Kiara. “I … we believe that most of those doubts about your involvement in this kidnap are unfounded, but there is still one question that’s bothering us.”
Kiara shook her head at Jake being so reluctant in asking a simple question. “We wanted to know that how easy was it for Cynthia to become a housewife?” she asked, startling Shawn.
“What do you mean?” he asked sternly.
“She worked as a reporter, even though, her father has shares in the biggest media companies. That clearly means she wanted to be known for her work and not for her family name. Why would a person who goes through such hardships to gain a name for herself agree to be known as Mrs. Hansen?”
Kiara’s explanation made Shawn smile. “You are right. She’s ambitious. But when I met her, I didn’t know who she was. She didn’t even use her last name, lest someone get an idea who she was. She was headstrong and asked tough questions. Maybe I got attracted by that trait of hers. I came to know about her true identity only after our third date, and that made me admire her even more. As far as living under my shadow is concerned, even that happened pretty late. I was doing well in my career, but not as great as I am doing now. When our company was embroiled in insider trading controversy, the whole management was sacked within a week. I was pretty junior, but the company made me the media face. They just wanted someone to bear the brunt and who was better than a new employee. But, in reality, it resulted in the opposite. I handled the situation better than what was anticipated by the board, and once everything became normal, I was elevated to Joint Managing Director position. All this happened while we were dating. Cynthia started dating me when I was just a financial advisor and not a Joint Managing Director. We were just an ordinary couple when we started out. So, there was no question of making her leave her career for me. In fact, I supported her and encouraged her to keep working as a reporter. But, just like me, even her family was not aware of her job. She had to make a sacrifice for our relationship. Her father approved of me in return for her leaving the job.”
Jake gave Kiara an angry look for asking the question. “Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Hansen,” he said while getting up. “We’ll let you know if we need anything from you.”
“And you’re not going to give any list to anyone without our knowledge,” Kiara said firmly. “Don’t try to strike any deal without our knowledge, and keep us updated about your whereabouts.”
Shawn nodded and kept looking at them till they got inside the elevator. As soon as they left, he rushed to the conference room.
“What’s your opinion of Shawn now?” Jake asked as they came out of the elevator.
“I need to go through the reports before forming any opinion,” Kiara said and walked past their car. Jake looked at her with confusion. Before he could have asked anything, she had reached the main gate.
“How many guards work here?” she asked while looking at the guards.
“Five,” the tall one replied at once. “We work in twelve hours shift—two per shift. There is always one of us as a backup in case someone falls sick or needs a personal leave.”
“What’s happening?” Jake asked as he joined them. Kiara ignored him for a moment.
“Who was on duty when Cynthia Hansen went missing?”
“Both of us were in the shift that day,” the guard replied. It was as if he had already anticipated the questions, or maybe the same questions were asked earlier. Kiara noticed that. She gave it a thought. She wanted to see their reaction under pressure.
“Is it possible that the gate was left unguarded for some time when she might have been kidnapped?” Kiara asked, making the short one a bit uncomfortable. She noticed that and was about to ask him something when the tall one interrupted.
“Are you saying that we helped the kidnappers?”
“We can check the CCTV footage and confirm if you want us to. Or, you can help us by telling everything,” Jake said this time while looking at the short guy, who was looking at them nervously.
“Everyone has seen the footage, but there is nothing in it,” the tall guard replied firmly.
Jake turned toward the other guard. “There are two parts to this kidnapping. One is how the kidnappers got inside, and the second is how they took her out of the apartment without getting noticed by anyone. Which one is bothering you?”
“What … what do you mean?” the
short guard asked in a trembling voice.
“He doesn’t know anything,” the tall guard tried to intervene, but Jake looked at him angrily, making him step back.
“There … there is a brief window of five minutes during the shift change when no one is near the gate. We go inside our office for getting the shift handover,” the guard said, pointing to a small room near the parking area.
“But, we always keep an eye on the gate from there. No one can enter or leave without getting noticed,” the tall guard added. “Even if someone comes, we’re the ones who open the gate.”
“What time does the shift change?” Jake asked while ignoring him.
“Eight a.m.”
“What about the footage from that time?” Kiara asked while staring at the taller one, refraining him from stopping the other one from answering.
“CCTVs are installed in common areas but not at the main gate,” the guard said in a low voice.
“That’s great,” Kiara said in exasperation. “What about the footage from the elevator?”
“There is nothing in that footage. They might have used the fire escape. That part of the building, again, doesn’t have cameras,” he replied.
“Hmm … you have any questions?” Kiara asked Jake, who shook his head.
Kiara noticed that the compound walls were around ten feet high. There was an excellent chance that the kidnappers had studied the security provisions and used the lapses in security to their advantage.
“Let’s go,” she said and started walking to the parking area. Jake stared at the guards one more time and left.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“Looks like a straightforward kidnapping to me,” she said. “And, as the guard said, they may have used the fire escape.”
“Yeah, looks like that to me too,” Jake said while opening the car door.
Jake knew that Kiara’s mind was already running even though she believed it to be a standard kidnapping case. He also knew it was better to keep quiet and let her do the thinking. With that thought, he got into the car and turned on the ignition.
Kiara kept shuffling through the NYPD report till they reached the division.
“There’s nothing much in the report,” she said as they got out of the car. “Cynthia’s credit card detail shows that she indeed booked the trip to Europe. Her phone records show that the last message she received was from Shawn, requesting her to go to bed and she replied with an ‘I love you.’”
“That’s my point from the beginning - they are indeed in love,” Jake stressed. “Anything else on the report?”
“Shawn’s phone record has calls to the Middle East and Australia on the day of the kidnap.”
“Those must be the clients he mentioned to us,” Jake said thoughtfully.
Kiara nodded. “We have to speak to Carlson about the ransom demand. There’s nothing much that we two can do about it. The Italian local authorities need to be involved in it, and only Carlson can reach out to them. We have only two more days before the deadline given by kidnapper ends. We can’t wait for tomorrow’s meeting with Carlson as he suggested this morning.”
“You’re right,” Jake said and looked at his watch. “There’s a good chance that he hasn’t left for the day. Let’s brief him now itself.”
“Let’s go,” Kiara said. She wanted to see Carlson’s reaction to the ransom demand. Their work ended after briefing him, but his was about to begin.
CHAPTER 3
Carlson was shutting down his computer when he heard a knock at the door. He looked the urgency in their demeanor as gestured both to come inside.
“I thought you were going to brief me tomorrow,” he said, looking at both with confusion.
“We want to discuss the ransom call that Shawn Hansen got this morning. It can’t wait till tomorrow,” Jake said.
“What is there to discuss? They have asked for ten million, and obviously we won’t let him pay them,” Carlson said, “I’ve already initiated a dialogue with our local contacts in Rome.”
“That’s great, but you need to call them again,” Kiara said, “This is much bigger than what it looks like.”
Carlson sat down and gestured them to take the chairs opposite to him. “What do you mean?”
“The ransom amount is just a cover-up,” Kiara replied. “The kidnapping was done to blackmail Shawn Hansen to share his Italian client list with them.”
Carlson scratched his forehead trying to understand Kiara’s words. “What would they do with that list?”
“Sir, Shawn helps his clients with some of their illegal investments. The Mafia wants to use that information to blackmail them.”
“You’re right … It’s much deeper than I thought,” Carlson said, and walked across the room to the other end.
After a few moments of contemplation, Carlson turned around and looked at them. “Has he agreed to this demand?”
“Not yet, Sir. He is in a dilemma. His woes will increase further if he gives the list to them. The Mafia will spare Cynthia, but he’ll lose his job and maybe he won’t get another one in the future. Both families will lose their reputation too,” Jake replied.
“However, there is no guarantee that he’ll remain strong after two days when the ransom deadline ends,” Kiara added. “He seems to care a lot about Cynthia.”
“He has to. Otherwise, the Campbell will not let him live in peace,” Carlson said. “You would be surprised to know that Michael Campbell called me directly. I gave him a brief of our investigation, but he got angry when I said that we were doing our best.”
“Oh…” Kiara said.
Carlson looked at the both of them. “We have to find a clue that could lead us to where Cynthia is held hostage. Meanwhile, I’ll keep the pressure on the local Italian authorities. We have to break the chain from both the ends, and we don’t have much time with us to do that. A single mistake could be catastrophic. Also, we need to keep both families engaged. They shouldn’t feel that we’re not doing our bit. Meet them once and brief them on the progress so far. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Sure,” Kiara replied. After a long time, she had seen Carlson under pressure, and Michael Campbell’s stature had something to do with it.
“I hope he hasn’t told anyone about the client list demand?” Carlson asked.
“We aren’t sure about others, but he has definitely not told this to Cynthia’s or his family. As I said, if this news goes public, he will lose everything, including Cynthia,” Jake said.
“I hope he is that smart,” Carlson mused. “You can leave now. I need to make a few calls—some international calls.”
“We’ll keep you posted, sir,” Kiara said.
“He wants us to talk to their families because he’s scared of Michael Campbell,” Jake said with disbelief as they stepped out of Carlson’s office.
“You have to humor highly placed people if you want to advance in your career,” Kiara said with a smile. “I scratch your back; you scratch my back. It works only that way.”
“I am better off with the itch,” Jake said, shaking his head.
“You can say anything to me, but we’ve to follow the orders,” Kiara said and pointed to the report.
Jake nodded. He knew they had to prepare their questions before their meeting with the two families. And, they didn’t even have the luxury of probing them. They had to make them believe that they were working hard on Cynthia’s release.
Meanwhile, Karl Bennett had spent the whole day following Shawn Hansen as per Shirley Campbell’s instructions, and what he had seen had alarmed him. His body was giving up, but it didn’t deter him from losing Shawn’s trail.
By the time he reached his one-room apartment, he was exhausted and felt as if he won’t be able to continue anymore with this job. However, he desperately needed the money. He gathered his composure and looked at the center table. After so many days—maybe months—he was going to have a proper meal. He had even tipped the delivery boy. He l
ooked around the apartment. The wall paint was peeling off, and he could see a couple of springs staring back at him from the old couch. The television looked as if it was the first model ever made in human history. He was going to get another five thousand dollars after completing this assignment. He could, in fact, replace everything in his apartment with that money. He smiled, but not for long as the thought of money brought him back to what he had seen today. He searched his pockets and took out the business card. He glanced at the wall clock that showed half past nine. He wasn’t too sure about calling her that late. He feared it would make her angry and he will lose the rest of the money. Also, he needed some more time in analyzing everything. With that thought, he put the Business card back in his wallet and set up the dinner table.
He poured wine into a glass while switching on the television and as he paused at the news channel, he almost spilled the wine on the floor. A ransom demand had already been made, and that meant he had nothing left to do with the case. Shirley Campbell’s hunch was wrong; there were some other people behind the kidnap. Shawn Hansen was innocent after all. That thought made his heart sink as he could see the remaining five thousand dollars slipping out of his hand. The dream of getting new furniture crumbled in front of his eyes.
He immediately pulled out the Business card and dialed Shirley’s number. With each ring, his heartbeat increased and by the time the phone was picked, a sheen of sweat had coated his forehead.
“Hello,” a voice came from the other end.
“Mrs. Campbell?” he asked with a quavering voice.
“Karl?” she asked. “What did you find?”
Karl was taken off-guard by her question. It was as if she was unaware of the ransom demand.
“Mrs. Campbell, I have some information about Shawn Hansen. But, before telling you that, I want to know if you still be needing my services,” Karl asked in a low voice.
Davenport Mysteries 03-Perfect Crime Page 3