He created a number of fake real estate companies and sold houses at cheap rates all across the country. When the news spread and the demand increased, he behaved as if the orders were more than he could fulfill and started advance bookings. The first customers were given houses on time, and it acted as a free marketing ploy. Influenced by them, a large number of advance orders were placed, and once Jannik had made a substantial amount of money, he vanished.
The partners had to face the heat and when the trouble increased and there were protests, some of them succumbed to pressure and committed suicide.
Finally, the government sprang into action - Jannik who was hiding in France was brought back to Germany amid a lot of media bashing. A trial began the moment he reached Germany, but no one had an idea that he had anticiapted it. The contracts signed between him and his partners were drafted in such a way that the whole liability fell on the shoulders of his partners. Legally, there was no ground to prosecute him. There was media backlash; the customers who had placed orders held protests, but the trial kept spiraling due to the legal loopholes.
Finally, after two years, Jannik realized that the long running case had taken a toll on the petitioners finances and they were getting restless by each passing day. He made an out of court settlement offer of 50 million Euros. The offer was much lower than the amount of 200 million that he had siphoned off from them. The buyers’ willpower was already weak and with no sight of justice, they agreed to it. Despite the advice of their lawyers, they went ahead, and the case was withdrawn. Jannik got out of it scot- free.”
“And, he made 150 million Euro in the bargain too,” Bob said with surprise. “The guy is an evil genius.”
“You haven’t heard half of it, yet,” Kiara said.
‘Though he made a substantial sum, he had to endure the stress of a trial for two years – two years that he would’ve utilized in conning someone else. So, he devised another way to do his illegal activities more efficiently. Everyone thought that he had learned his lesson, as they didn’t hear much about him for seven years. However, in the last seven years, he has steadily grown the empire of Berkel Holdings by investing in legal businesses across the globe. He has bought a hotel in London; he is a major stakeholder in one of the cosmetics company in South America; he has even invested in one of the music labels in Malaysia. He has been one of the sponsors of the soccer world cup and has a minor investment in a few soccer clubs across Europe. In short, he has invested in a number of legitimate businesses through Berkel Holdings.”
“But, he is still a person of interest. Why?” Bob asked with a raised brow.
Kiara looked at Jason, who was intrigued even though he knew where the story was headed. It was his first case, and even though he hated to admit it, he had found it really interesting.
“This is where the deal with Niklas comes into the picture. As I said before, all of his businesses had failed. The funding of his restaurant chain by Jannik surprised everyone. Since, it was done legally; everyone went silent after a few months of scrutiny. But, when Niklas announced that he was opening two restaurants here in New York, we were advised to keep an eye on him.
There are two suspicious things about this whole business– first, the restaurants in Germany aren’t doing well; still they’re expanding the business and second, the contract between Niklas and Berkel Holdings has put all liability on Niklas; meaning Jannik won’t bear the brunt of any wrong-doings. It sounds exactly like what he did with the Ponzi scheme.
We studied the copies of contracts provided by the German government and found that he has contracts on similar lines for all of his other businesses too. It made us think why he would do that, and we came to one conclusion.”
“When he ran his earlier Ponzi scheme, he got in a legal tangle because he had no influence on the lawmakers or the other influential people in Germany. To overcome that, he has invested hugely in businesses that attract those people. For example, he has invested in five-star hotels that have patronage from the most influential people from that country. Once they visit his hotels, he befriends them. He provides them everything they want and in return, they promise to help him whenever needed. In other cases, like sponsoring a soccer team – he gets to meet the celebrities; he invites them to party with him; media makes the pictures available everywhere making him look like one of the influential people himself.
We believe he is doing this so that the next time he does anything illegal, it will be easier for him to escape the legal mess. He has even made some of these people the honorary board members of Berkel Holdings. They don’t even know what they are getting into.”
“That’s some elaborate plan,” Bob said, “This guy is a genius.”
“Yes, we heard it the first time,” Kiara replied, “So, that was the background of the case. Now, we’ll tell you where we need your help.”
‘We have been following Niklas for the last two weeks. He is here under the guise of setting up his restaurants. Initially, we thought that just like other partners of Jannik, even he is unaware of the bigger picture and thinks that the restaurant business is legitimate. But, his actions have attracted us.”
“What actions?” Bob interjected.
“I know you’re excited, but let me finish first,” Kiara said irately. “He goes to his restaurant only twice a week. The rest of the time, he stays at his apartment. He stays alone and only occasionally, some of the people who are working in the restaurant visit him.
However, since the last weekend, his routine has changed. We saw him coming out of his house carrying a bag many a time. And, we believe they’re filled with money. He takes the bag to the Park Plaza hotel and stays there for a couple of hour. When he comes back, the bag is empty. And, every time after coming out of the hotel, he goes back straight to his apartment. The same thing happened yesterday, but instead of going back to his apartment, he went somewhere else. We followed the car thinking that he was inside, but he gave us a slip.
We need information about two people – one is the hotel owner, Charles Miller. Get us everything that you can find about him. He is under the radar not only for collaborating with Niklas but also because he holds a dual citizenship of US and Britain as his mother is British and Father is an American. He has lived in Europe for a few years too. There is an excellent chance that he met Jannik during that time. Second is Edward Connelly, who has collaborated with Niklas for setting up his restaurants in New York. They have collaborated, as it’s easier to get a license if you have a partner who is a U.S. citizen. We want you to find the whole life story of Edward because he had a brush with the law in the past too.”
“That’s a lot of work. I wish I had asked for more time,” Bob said shaking his head.
“You can’t back out now,” Kiara reminded him of his promise.
“Yeah… I know that,” he said and looked at them. “Why are you still standing here?”
Kiara looked at Jason, who was looking angrily at Bob. She patted him on the shoulder and left for her desk. He looked one more time at Bob in disbelief and followed her.
CHAPTER 3
By the time Jake reached the division, Kiara had left for the day. Jake thought of calling her but he knew that she was already under stress, and it was better not to disturb her.
He looked around the office floor. Jason was using Kiara’s desk while Ryan was standing near the printer with Bob, who was arranging some printouts in the folder while instructing Ryan.
Jake opened a browser window and looked at it for a moment. He looked up for the news related to the alleged alien abductions. As he scrolled down and read all the tales, he realized how Donald’s words were influencing his behavior. He closed the browser window at once.
“That’s a big folder,” he commented as he saw Ryan and Bob walking to his desk.
“That’s because I don’t do superficial work,” Bob smirked. “Don’t worry; I’ve created a five-page summary for you. I know you have a short attention span.”
&nbs
p; “Did you say something?” Jake smirked. “I blanked out for a moment.”
“Very funny,” Bob said and looked at Ryan, “You understood everything? I’m going to work on another case now. Don’t come back to me.”
“I guess,” Ryan replied.
Bob looked at Jake, who ignored him and kept looking at the file.
“You know, not only Kiara is interesting, even her cases are more fun than yours,” Bob sneered and left.
“Let’s get to the work,” Jake said. “Did Bob give any pointers?”
“He said that he has noted down everything on the summary sheet and it’s not his job to explain the written words,” Ryan said.
“Wow!” Jake exclaimed, “This guy is beyond reasoning. Anyhow, let’s see what’s there in the summary sheet first. We can go over the details later.”
While Jake was trying to find the connections between the victims, Kiara was fighting a different battle altogether.
She knew the chances of her cover being exposed were high, but the stubbornness in her nature did not agree to it. She was going against Carlson’s orders and knew it was bound to have serious ramifications.
She had a choice, though. Either she could wait one more night for Carlson’s orders or she could go out and confront the people at the hotel to find it out herself.
She kept walking across her bedroom while trying to find a middle path. She knew there was none. Finally, she decided to visit the hotel without making any noise. She planned to play it cool and behave as an ordinary customer. She thought of getting information from the security guard about the change in Niklas’s plan the other day. If there was a genuine reason that made him give his car to that lady; then it would be clear that her cover was not blown; but if he changed his plan without any reason, then that would mean she is done with this case.
“You are just going there to get a small information. Don’t create a scene,” she said to herself while looking in the mirror.
While driving to the Park Plaza hotel, she kept thinking how not working on the case for a day was giving her the chills. She knew there was some link between the hotel and Niklas, and she just hoped that Bob and Jason were going to find that link for her before she is fired from the case.
She slowed down as she entered the hotel street. Everything looked routine like and to her delight, she saw the same guard on duty. She heaved a sigh of relief as she parked her car.
She gave a courteous smile to the guard who responded with equal zest while opening the door for her.
Kiara got inside and as she glanced across the hall and then at the bar, her feet froze. She gave a muffled grunt and turned around at once while covering her face with her left hand.
She stepped out hurriedly. The guard didn’t smile this time. Instead, he looked with confusion. She ran to her car and left the hotel premises immediately.
She came out of the main street and parked the car at the side of the road.
“That was a close call,” she said to herself and looked at her watch. Her plan at the hotel had failed, and she hoped her other plan hadn’t failed similarly. It was almost seven, and she hadn’t heard from Jason. She didn’t have much confidence in his abilities and was not sure if he had worked with Bob or left without getting the information from him.
She dialed his number while still thinking of her next move.
“Hey,” Jason said with disappointment. “I was about to call you.”
“I’m sure, you were,” Kiara replied, “Where are we on the background check of the suspects?”
“Bob is still working on that,” he said. “My whole evening got ruined because of him. He wants everything perfect, and perfection needs time – his words not mine. And, to top it off, he is saying that he hasn’t found anything alarming yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“So far, he has checked everything about Berkel Holding’s businesses and hasn’t found any irregularities or anything that could raise suspicion. In addition, Jannik Fisher has been low-key since his last brush with the law. So, there isn’t much about him available either. We were right about him building relationships with the influential people from various countries, but he hasn’t had any direct business linkages with any of them.”
“That’s implicit, Isn’t it? These deals are not done in open.”
“Yeah, but as per Bob, he can only help with the information that’s out in the open,” Jason replied, “Anyhow, he also looked into this guy Charles Miller, the Park Plaza owner. That’s a dead end too. There is no link between him and Jannik. Maybe, Niklas just visits the hotel because he likes its ambiance.”
“Yeah, right… this whole exercise seems futile, then,” Kiara mused. “What about Jannik’s restaurant business partner, Edward Connelly?”
“That part is making my day longer than usual,” Jason sighed. “Bob still needs some time on that.”
Kiara thought about any other idea that could help them.
“When is Carlson going to tell us about our fate?” Jason asked bringing Kiara out of her thoughts.
“Probably tomorrow first half,” she said in a low voice. “He has put two of his agents on Niklas’s trail.”
“Oh... they must be scouting his restaurant, then,” Jason said casually, but Kiara was shocked to hear that.
“What did you say?” she asked at once before realizing the urgency in her voice. “You’re right. Niklas is in his restaurant during Thursdays. Then what were they doing at Park Plaza?”
“Who?” Jason asked.
“Nothing,” she replied at once. “You are showing great improvement in your work. Keep up the good work and inform me if Bob finds anything. Got to go. Bye.”
“But…” Kiara disconnected before Jason could’ve finished his sentence.
“How could have I missed that?” she asked herself while negotiating the evening traffic. “They were at Park Plaza meaning Niklas is also there. But, why? He is supposed to be in his restaurant. There’s only one way to find that out.” With that, she signaled and took a right turn.
It took Kiara another half an hour to reach Niklas’s restaurant. She parked her car at a distance from the restaurant and got down. She looked around the street as she walked towards the restaurant. The restaurant was in the middle of the street covering almost one-third of it, and the signboard was big enough to attract anyone’s attention from half a mile.
She knew she had missed her chance to speak to the guard of the Park Plaza, but if she could find any clue about why Niklas was not in the restaurant tonight, even that would be of some help. She cursed her luck as she noticed that there was no one manning the main entrance. She thought of speaking to someone working in the restaurant.
As an old couple entered, she also got inside with her head down and walked to the extreme corner table from where she could keep an eye on every movement inside the restaurant.
She had seen the restaurant from outside while following Niklas, but it was the first time she had seen it from inside, and she was impressed with what she saw.
The restaurant was as big from inside as it looked from outside. Beautiful paintings depicting old European traditions of cooking adorned the wall on her right while the wall on her left had a large wallpaper filled with trivia of the various food cultures. Looking at all those paintings, an idea came to her mind – maybe all the paintings had been brought by Niklas and hopefully he would have even brought the staff from Germany. That way the staff may know more about him than she had hoped.
“Good Evening,” a waiter said with a broad smile, but his American accent made the happiness vanish from Kiara’s face.
“Good Evening,” she tersely said while browsing the menu. “How is the… Sauerbraten?”
“It’s our specialty,” the waiter beamed, “But, it takes half an hour to cook.”
“I can wait,” she replied while looking at her watch. She wasn’t that hungry plus she had to scout the restaurant for some clue. “And, some red wine.”
“Sure,”
“Thank you.”
As the waiter left, Kiara looked around the dining area one more time. The restaurant was filling up with each passing minute, and the staff was rushing from one table to other. Just like the waiter who attended her, the whole staff looked local too.
She was still glancing around when she happened to notice a man entering the restaurant. Instead of coming to the tables, he went directly to the manager. The manager greeted him as if he knew him personally. However, the man looked enraged with what the manager told him. The manager tried to explain something to him, but he didn’t pay heed to it and left at once, burning with anger. As he was about to leave, Kiara got a good look at his face.
By the time her food came, the whole restaurant was bustling with life. The Sauerbraten was juicier than what she had expected and the wine added to her delight further.
‘Mom was right. A good meal solves half of the problems’ she said to herself as she paid the check and walked to the manager. The manager was a young man, in his mid-twenties. He had dark wavy hair that accentuated his green eyes. The excitement with which he was speaking to the customers meant he was new and was trying to create an impression.
“Good Evening,” he greeted her enthusiastically. “I hope you enjoyed your dinner.”
“Yes, and I wanted to compliment you for that…. Nathan Williams,” Kiara said with equal interest looking at his name tag. Again, a local, she thought. “I live nearby and have visited almost all the restaurants in the neighborhood, but I didn’t have any idea about this place. Did you open recently?”
“Oh... yes. We opened a couple of weeks back,” Nathan replied.
Davenport Mysteries 04-Loose Ends Page 5