by Dan Kelly
“I’m sure you told me, but I don’t remember.”
“Well, at the back of the store there’s a long display case that contains nothing but the most beautiful and intricately carved gold and silver bracelets I have ever laid my eyes on, some with precious stones imbedded in them, some without any gems at all. While I was looking at them, these three men came through a door behind the display case, smiled at me and then went to the front of the store to greet a man who had just entered. They talked briefly and then the four of them left the store. I remember thinking at the time that for some reason they reminded me of the Pep Boys’ Curly, Moe and Jack even though none of them had a moustache.”
“Cheryl, if these are the guys I’m after, even if I have to max out every credit card in my wallet, I’ll buy you a bracelet that’ll be the envy of everyone in the DA’s office.”
“Careful what you promise me bro. You know I have very expensive tastes.”
“Okay then, how about I fix you up with Giuseppe?”
As a coy smile spreads across her face she asks, “What makes you think you could pull that off? He only knows us as customers.”
“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem. I’ve noticed that he always manages to wait on us when we come in. I think he likes what he sees when you come in, but figures you’re out of his league, him being a waiter and you being a hot shot ADA, and doesn’t want to make a fool of himself.”
“But he’s only working as a waiter to put himself through college to get his degree in finance.”
“Now how do you know that?”
“Luigi told me when I asked about him.”
“You know, Cheryl, if you really like this guy you could take the first step and ask him out. Women’s lib and all that.”
“Yeah, I know, but I haven’t because I think he’d find an excuse to turn me down because of what you just said about him and me.”
“Well, I’ll give you a choice, a date with the waiter or the bracelet. It’s up to you.”
“You’re enjoying my little dilemma aren’t you.”
Smiling mischievously he simply says, “Yeah.”
There’s nothing much he can do with this latest piece of news until tomorrow, so he leans back, calls Giuseppe over, orders two more glasses of wine and silently laughs to himself as he watches the two trying to act nonchalant when it’s so obvious they’re attracted to each other.
Chapter 44
Around ten the next morning, Mickey and another detective in his department, Ben Schroeder, drive over to check The Paragon out, half-heartedly hoping to find the other two there thinking no one knows what they’ve been up to so why not continue to do business as usual.
The Paragon is located in the high rent district of the city where the folks with the big bucks like to shop. Mickey knows that they have cop written all over them and the unmarked is the clincher, so they park a block away and walk back to avoid spooking their quarry.
They needn’t have bothered. There are no lights on in the store, the display cases are empty, the merchandise is probably in a safe in the back of the store, and there’s a sign on the door.
CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. WILL POST REOPENING DATE WHEN THE CONTRACTORS GIVES US THE COMPLETION DATE.
There’s no sign of any renovation being done and shaking his head Mickey says, “The way this investigation has been going from day one I should have known that it wasn’t going to end with an easy collar. Let’s talk with some of the employees of the surrounding stores, show them the picture we have of these guys. Maybe we can at least get the real names of these people.”
They hit pay dirt at the first stored they enter. The manager of the men’s store knows who the owners are and gives them their names, Felix Feldman, Amos Kadden and Jacob Kessner. “Bingo!” Mickey said this like he has just become the big winner at one of those Indian Casinos in Southern California. He once won five hundred bucks playing Bingo at one of them on a vacation there. “These are the first names I heard at Antonelli’s.
Mickey asks the manager, “How long has the jewelry store been closed?”
“A couple of weeks, maybe a few days more. Why are you asking about them? Have they done something wrong?”
“We need their help with something we’re working on. Thanks for the information. We appreciate it.”
Heading back to the office, Mickey’s thinking, “Now maybe I can find out where they live and talk with their neighbors to find out more about them. Wouldn’t it be nice to find them at home? Yeah, Morretti, it would be nice to be a Publishers Clearing House winner too, but that isn’t going to happen either.”
Back in his cubicle his luck continues to hold as the three men are listed in the phone books, home addresses et. al.
Mickey and Ben head back out of the office to see what they can see. No one’s home at any of the houses, more like mansions, in the wealthy Upper East Side section of Manhattan and due to the exclusivity of the area it seems unlikely that it’s the kind of neighborhood where neighbors get together for backyard barbecues. There probably won’t be much to learn from them, but they elect to knock on some doors anyway. As expected, none of the neighbors know anything about the men they are looking for, but a gardener at Felix’s residence breaks their losing streak by telling them that he had seen Mr. Feldman about a week ago hauling some suitcases out of his house to his car. They didn’t talk. He just remembers seeing him and envying him having the wherewithal to go anywhere he pleased whenever the mood struck him.
Other than that little tidbit, they learn nothing else. “Ben, it looks like these guys have taken off for safer digs. They’ve got the funds to be hiding just about anywhere.”
“Well, Mickey, you now have their real names, you know what they look like and you know that one of them was in New York as late as a week ago and you know one of them is dead. You’re a lot further ahead than when their crime spree first started. Just keep dogging their heels. They’ve got to stumble sooner or later. They’re human just like the rest of us.”
“Thanks for the words of encouragement, Ben, but these guys seem to have a corner on the good luck market and they’re far from dumb or careless. Something has to break in our favor or we’re going to look as incompetent as the Keystone cops.”
“Keystone cops? Who the hell are they?”
“You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve never heard of them? Didn’t your grandparents ever tell you about them? They were some silent movie misfits who couldn’t find their ass without help, but their antics were hilarious. I saw one of their movies once on TV. Anyway, we’re getting crucified in the media over our lack of progress in catching these people and if we wind up empty handed after working on this case for over five months, we’re really going to get hammered.”
“Mickey, you’re doing everything that can be done to put these animals in a cage. Don’t let the critics get to you. Stay determined. Stay focused. From what you’ve told me, these guys are full of themselves and that’s the kind of attitude that will lead to their undoing. Trust me. I’ve been there and done that.”
“I sure hope you’re right.”
Chapter 45
When Felix and Amos arrive in Montreal, they find an out of the way motel to crash in until they can get themselves together and reassess their situation. The stress of acting normal during their flight from Zurich despite the emotional upheaval they were going through because of their failure and loss of a friend has taken its toll. The first day they are there they don’t do much more than pace their room and wring their hands trying to figure out how things got so fouled up. Eating and sleeping are relegated to snacks and brief naps.
During the second day, they settle down and get to thinking about what their next step should be. Amos says, “I’m going to miss Jacob, temper and all. He had a lot of good points, but that temper of his was his Achilles heel. We knew that someday it would be his undoing. I think I know why he lost it and went berserk like he did instead of following us into Pierre’s wareho
use. Jacob never liked losing at anything and the reality of losing the fortune we managed to steal from the bank was just too much for him. We were damn lucky to dodge that cop’s bullets and get away.”
Felix says, “That was some haul though. If another opportunity to get my hands on such a take were to present itself, I think I’d be tempted to grab the brass ring.”
“Are you out of your skull? We’re lucky to still be free and breathing. We’ve got enough now to live a life of luxury and with Jacob gone we can split his portion of our past takes and those lives will be even better. As of this moment, I’m retired. The only thing I want to do now is to get back to my house, pack up what I want to take with me to wherever I decide to go and sell all of my assets in the States. I want to move on with my life and never push my luck again.”
“You say that now, but I think if the right opportunity were to present itself you’d quickly change your tune.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“Okay, I’ll let it go for now. We’ll wait and see. Besides, we have more important things to discuss right now. Even though we have no reason to think our true identities are known, I think it would be prudent to assume the authorities know or soon might know who we are and what we’ve been up to. I suggest we keep using our current aliases and rent separate cars to drive us across the border and home. I agree with what you said you wanted to do when you got home and the sooner we do that the better. Now where should we go?”
“I’ve been thinking about Central or South America, but I haven’t had the time to research the pros and cons of the countries there. With what we’ve done in Europe, I don’t think that’s the right place for us to go. Maybe we should find some place in the States to stay until things die down some and we have a better idea of what the countries in the Southern Hemisphere have to offer.”
“Okay, that makes sense to me. Where?”
“How about Plattsburgh, NY. It’s about an hour’s drive from here. We could rent a house there on a month to month basis and we’d have access to the American media to keep abreast of the investigations surrounding the robberies. Manhattan is about 300 miles from Plattsburgh and we could drive there in about five hours to do what we have to do to split for good and leave no trace as to where we’ve gone.”
“Okay, that works for me I’ll call Abe Elliott and have him arrange the sale of our houses and other real estate we want to unload. I have some art work and other assets of value that I’ll put in storage under an assumed name until I know what I want to do with them. I’m sure you have things you’d like to keep for a while as well.
“We can store these items in separate locations under assumed names to keep them safe from seizure by anyone with a lawful warrant if things should go bad for us.”
Amos, nodding his head in agreement as Felix is reciting his ideas of how to proceed, grabs a pad and pen from the nightstand and begins to list all of the items he should place in storage. As he starts to do this he says “We can include the furniture and other household items in the sales price of the houses. That will save us the trouble of getting rid of it ourselves and generating unwanted attention as well. Using Abe to act as our representative in the sale of our assets is a good idea since he’s an attorney and client attorney privilege insulates us from any inquiries that might come his way d own the road.”
“Okay, it looks like we have a plan. You know, all of a sudden I’m starving. Hand me that phone book under the nightstand and I‘ll look to see what kinds of restaurants are round here. What kind of food are you in the mood for?”
“How about Chinese, Mandarin or Sichuan. I like them both. I haven’t had Chinese food in months.”
“Chinese it is.”
As quickly as this, in less than 48 hours they had shucked the despair, and sadness of losing their friend and partner and the frustration of botching the Zurich bank theft and were back to their old self- indulging selves.
Resilience, it’s an amazing trait of mankind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a preference when it comes to the good over the bad of us.
Chapter 46
At three-thirty Wednesday afternoon, Mickey, Chuck, Vicki and Captain Clancy are sitting in a small conference room at police headquarters going over the preparations for what they are planning in Montreal. The trade show will run for the three days prior to Thanksgiving and the plan is to have the replica of Lawrence Graff’s ruby on display the entire last day.
Mickey’s covering the pertinent items one by one. “Vicki, have you received the ruby replica yet?”
“I have and I also have pictures of the real deal for use on the poster outside the display area and have forwarded them to my friend at her ad agency. She’s been working her butt off to get the publicity lined up and ready to go and all we have to do now is give her the go ahead and stay out of her way.”
“How about the actual display area? Has that been selected and is it in a good spot for out of sight observation?”
“Yes and yes. Mr. Girard has been most cooperative although he’s still very nervous over the possibility of violence erupting when the thieves are confronted. Fortunately, his desire for justice outweighs his concern over being sued for damages to property and person. He’s a good guy and when this is all over I plan on hiring him to promote some of my future projects. There’s also another good reason for him to go along with us and I made sure I pointed that out to him. He’ll be getting a lot of free publicity for his shindig.”
“Great. I’ll call the Montreal police and inform them that we are ready to set our little trap and they can scope out the trade show location to determine the best places to post their personnel.”
Captain Clancy asks, “What contingency plans are in place if people get hurt during the encounter with these men? I know you don’t think this is likely to happen, Mickey, but you still should have a plan to address the situation if it occurs.”
“I haven’t any, but I can arrange for paramedics to be on the scene. It wouldn’t be unusual to see them where a large crowd is assembled and Mr. Girard is expecting people in large numbers to show up even without our added attraction.”
“Do it, Mickey, just to be on the safe side.”
“Okay, will do. Now, Chuck, Vicki, I’d like to discuss where you two will be while everyone is waiting for our trap to be sprung. The both of you have played key roles and exposed yourselves to great danger in our investigation and if it weren’t for the two of you I’d probably be back at square one, so I know you’ll want to be there when and if these people take the bait. However, your safety is my responsibility. Therefore, I’m going to allow you to be part of this takedown operation, but only as observers and under the condition that you do exactly as I say when I say it. Is that clear?”
They both nod their head in agreement and Chuck says, “I think there’s something that you’re overlooking.”
“What’s that?”
“The security camera in the display area. These people have sophisticated equipment to freeze those cameras and render them useless. What’s to prevent them from using their equipment to disable the camera in the display area?”
“I was about to get to that. The security camera that will be mounted in the display area is going to have a special feature, an electronic shielding feature that will prevent any electronic assault on its functions. I learned about this feature during my search for sellers of safecracking and other security equipment earlier in my investigation and arranged for one of the companies I talked with to lend us the use of one. It will be shipped to Mr. Girard upon a phone call from me.”
Vicki asks, “When are we going to Montreal? Will we be there for the entire three days of the trade show or just on the last day?”