Foreign Deceit dw-1

by Jeff Carson

  Vlad paused. “I was home last night. Why do you ask?”

  Rossi held up an index finger. “I’d like to see a list of shipments you have been overseeing for the last 24 hours.”

  Vlad looked at Rossi. “Why would you want to see that?”

  “Let me see them. Now. Pull them up on your computer screen there.”

  Vlad pushed a few buttons. A jumbled mass of numbers filled the screen in different colored columns.

  Vlad held his hands towards the screen and pushed his chair back.

  Rossi gripped the back of the chair and slammed him into the desk with a crash. Papers dropped to the floor and the can of Coke Lite tipped on its side, spilling its remaining ounce onto the desk. “Show us the shipments for the last 24 hours. Now.”

  Vlad pulled his hand from below the desk and grabbed the mouse. Lia and Wolf approached to look close.

  Wolf pointed at the screen. “Click on that shipment there.”

  The shipment had an address from Merate, Italy to Cluj Napoca, Romania. There were blue links lined up underneath the shipment title and description.

  “Click on the Commercial Invoice and Bill of Lading.”

  Vlad clicked and an official looking invoice sheet displayed on the screen. The list of contents included official sounding components with numbers, dashes, and letters.

  “And the Bill of Lading?”

  The document took a while to build from top to bottom on the screen, a scanned copy of an original document. As it appeared slowly in front of them, Wolf tried to read the pertinent information, written in Italian. Two words materialized on the screen.

  “Albastru Shipping,” Wolf said. “The same name as the Albastru Pub.”

  “Yes,” Vlad looked at Wolf. “The owner of the shipping company also owns that pub.”

  “You guys have some serious ties to the Albastru brand it looks like,” Wolf said. “Beers after work and now the shipping company?”

  “Well, that is how I learned about the pub. I was approached by the Romanian shipping company, and the owner told me about his pub as well. We were both Romanian…” Vlad finished his sentence with a shrug.

  “You Romanians all stick together, huh?” Rossi glared.

  Vlad was silent.

  “All right. I’m going to need the truck information for this shipment here.” Rossi tapped the screen.

  Vlad looked at him with wide eyes.

  “Now!”

  “All right, all right.” Vlad pressed some buttons and a printer whirred in the corner.

  A piece of paper shot out of the laser printer into a collection tray. Rossi picked it up and studied the page, pulling it close to his face with a squint.

  “Ah,” he said, pointing to the page. “Thank you, Mr. Vlad. We will find this truck en route and search its contents. We have come across some anonymous information that you may be helping with the smuggling of stolen electronics. And drugs. Obviously if we find anything suspicious in any truck you are involved with, you’ll be spending some hard time in San Vittore.”

  Vlad sat still without any expression.

  Rossi turned. “Have a nice day.” He looked to Wolf. “Are you good?”

  Wolf looked at Vlad and narrowed his eyes. “I guess.”

  Wolf and Lia followed Rossi out to the rear of the building.

  “I’ll call this in right now. It shouldn’t be any trouble to find this truck and search its contents at any of the few eastern borders. You said you saw it here last night,” he said, pointing to the skid marks in the lawn. “If it left in the middle of the night, then it could be out of the country by now. According to this manifest, shipment delivery date is Monday in Cluj Napoca. Today seems a better day to leave for that delivery date. Two days travel time.” Rossi looked seriously at Wolf. “Wolf, you are sure you saw what you saw last night? I’m putting myself on the line here making this call.”

  “I swear on my life. There were stolen computers and boxes packed with kilos of cocaine in the truck that made these marks,” he said, pointing at the lawn. “The owner of the Albastru pub was driving the truck, the side of the truck said ‘Albastru International Shipping Co’ and Vlad was with him.”

  “And you just happened to be on a night time walk last night seeing all this?” Rossi smirked, sweeping his arm to the surrounding land.

  “Yeah, I took a wrong turn on a scooter ride.”

  “Madonna. You looked like a zombie after last night’s dinner. You are crazy.”

  “I got a second wind,” Wolf said.

  “A second…wind?” Rossi looked puzzled.

  “Nevermind. Just make the calls. I swear I saw what I saw.”

  Rossi pulled out his phone and began dialing.

  Dr. Rosenwald’s body had been removed by the time they returned. They continued past the taped scene to the wider pathway surrounding the lake, which was still devoid of civilians.

  Rossi put his phone back in his pocket. “Okay, I have every border crossing into Slovenia and Austria looking for the truck. It will be stopped, I will be notified, and it will be searched thoroughly. I’ve also sent out a, how do you say in English, notification for all law enforcement agencies for the entire northeast of Italy to look out for this truck.”

  “We call that an APB in the United States.”

  “Yes, now I remember that from the television shows,” he said. “If our friend Vlad decides to call the driver and turn him around before he gets to the border, it is going to be difficult to find.”

  Wolf nodded his head. “I get it. Don’t get my hopes up.”

  Chapter 33

  Wolf’s stomach digested itself with a loud growl as they approached the car. So loud that Lia heard it.

  She looked up at him and leaned back. “I guess you are hungry?”

  “I thought you’d never ask. I would kill for another pizza.”

  “I know just the place.” She turned to Rossi. “You coming?”

  Rossi was concentrating with a pensive expression. “What?”

  “Do you want to go have pizza with us for lunch?”

  “Uh, no thanks. I have to go take care of some things at the station. I’ll catch up with you guys afterwards.”

  “See you then. Keep Marino happy for me please. I’m supposed to talk to him this afternoon.”

  “I promise nothing!”

  The uncut pizza overhung the plate’s edge by two inches. Steam moistened his face as the waiter pushed it under his nose, edging aside two cans of coke, ordered just for Wolf.

  Half a pizza and a full Coke later, he asked, “What does Colonnello Marino need to talk to you about this afternoon?”

  Lia shifted in her chair and wiped her mouth. “I have a…deadline.”

  “A deadline?”

  She looked at her plate. “To wrap everything up with your brother’s case. To make you happy and want to bring your brother home.”

  “I have a plane ticket on Sunday,” he said. “My brother is already on the way home.”

  “I know.”

  They ate in silence for a few bites.

  “It’s my job to make sure you are on that plane on Sunday.”

  “Believe me, it’s in my best interest to be on that plane. It’s in a lot of people’s best interest for me to be on that plane.” He looked at her without moving.

  “I am sorry. I know it must be so difficult. I…I also know that I have no idea how difficult it must be.” She forked a piece of pizza. “I think you have convinced Valerio about your brother’s death — about him being murdered.”

  “Yeah? And what about you?”

  “I believe the evidence is looking like your brother was murdered. But you don’t need me to be convinced.” She leaned forward. “I’m just saying, if you have to go home without this situation being resolved, it would be good to have Valerio on your side. There are a lot of unseen forces at work here. Your brother’s situation has come at an interesting time in our station.”

  Wolf furrowed his brow.
“What does that mean?”

  She dropped her fork with a huff, wiped her mouth, and looked to the ceiling. “Colonnello Marino is looking to be promoted out of the current position he is in. The Generali above him are choosing their next…successors, and he is well known to be on the top of that list. Only the top Colonnelli will be considered, and those top Colonnelli won’t have Americans coming in to question their investigations. If this gets out that you are here and somehow contributing to change the outcome of an already closed investigation, then that wouldn’t be good for him.”

  “This case was going to be complicated anyways with the discovery of Rosenwald’s body.”

  She nodded her head quickly and took another bite.

  “I know, I know. I’m just saying everything is even more complicated now. The evidence points directly to your brother being responsible. The fact that Valerio has just stuck his neck out for you, as you Americans say, is very big. He is risking a lot by searching for this truck you saw last night.” She raised her eyebrows. “Because he is next in line for the position of Colonnello.”

  “And right now it’s all tied up in a nice bow.”

  “Exactly. Everything makes perfect sense. Your brother’s fingerprints are on the pipe, and it will look like a perfect explanation to Marino.” She swiped her hands against each other, another done and dusted gesture.

  “Yeah, I know that. Only, it’s at the expense of my brother,” he said, shaking his head. “And my mother. I frankly don’t give a shit about Marino’s career.”

  “Yes. I know. I don’t agree with it, I am just telling you what I know he is going to talk to me about this afternoon. Marino has been very angry and uptight the last month, and it gets worse with every passing day.” She forked another piece of pizza. “I know that he will not like our progress.”

  They ate in silence for a minute

  “What is it, election time or something for you guys?”

  “Something like that, yes. Everyone is trying to keep their positions, or move up in the coming weeks and months. I do not know the exact time everything will happen, but change is in the air and everyone is well aware of it. It happens like this every year or two. Men and their power struggles…”

  “Yeah,” he said. “And how about you?”

  “Me?”

  “How’s this big shake up going to play out for you?”

  She scoffed and put her head down, forking another chunk of pizza into her mouth.

  “What? You aren’t expecting to be moved up?” he asked. “You don’t have your sights set higher?”

  She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “I do. We’ll see how things play out.”

  “What position does Valerio hold?”

  She pointed her fork at Wolf, then touched her nose with her index finger. “He is a Maggiore. How do you say?”

  “A major?”

  “Yes, a major. If Valerio moves up to Colonnello, it will likely shift a lot of others up in rank, opening a spot for an officer. I am young, and I am a woman. I don’t think I have a realistic chance.” She glared unfocused at the table. “But I am by far the best candidate in the entire station.”

  “Good luck,” he said. “I hope you can beat out Tito.”

  She paused mid-fork and glared hard.

  They ate in comfortable silence for the rest of the meal, and he thought of home — thought about how he had to get the Sheriff on the phone. Not being there immediately after the incident with Connell was proving a PR nightmare.

  Entrusting his future to the Derek-Connell-influenced-minds of others was killing him, especially since he’d lived his entire life not caring what others thought about him. Not that he treated people with disrespect; he just didn’t give a shit what they thought about him. Now he was on the other side of the world, unable to defend himself, desperately wondering what they thought of him.

  “Thinking about home? Seems like you have much the same situation going on,” Lia asked him.

  He sat back in the chair and wiped his mouth. “Yeah, it’s a bit more complicated, but essentially the same.”

  “More complicated? I don’t believe it. Nothing is more complicated than Italian bureaucracy. Nothing.”

  He plopped his napkin on the plate and sat forward, putting his elbows on the table. She matched the move, leaning forward conspiratorially.

  “Let’s say you and Tito were up for the same job promotion.”

  She shrugged. “That’s not a stretch. He probably is up for the same promotion. His father is a very powerful man.”

  “Okay, okay. But how about if you knew a secret about him.”

  “A secret?” She scrunched her face. “Like, what?”

  “A secret that only you knew. That you can’t prove, but you know it to be true.” He scratched his chin and looked to the ceiling. “A secret that would make it very bad if he were promoted.”

  “I do know a secret about Tito. He is an idiot. It would be very bad for him to be promoted.”

  He leaned back and squiggled his right hand in the air to the waiter.

  “Okay, okay. Sorry. What do you mean? A secret? I don’t get it.”

  He leaned forward to his elbows again. “What if you knew he was a murderer?”

  “A murderer?” she leaned back and laughed out loud at the ceiling — a high pitched natural lilt that drew the longing eye of every single man in the room.

  She looked again at Wolf, who sat with serious expression unchanged.

  “Okay,” she said. “And how would I know that?”

  “What if he tried to kill you? What if he attacked you, and tried with all his might to kill you, but you got away?”

  “Then, yes, that would be very bad,” she said confused.

  She looked at the plate in front of her, then lifted her chin and looked wide-eyed at Wolf, mouth agape with realization.

  Chapter 34

  “Can we have a look at that report now?” Wolf leaned back, letting the waiter clear the plates.

  Lia pulled it from her bag. It was a thick red paper folder with a half inch of neatly stacked papers inside. She exhaled, swiped a smattering of crumbs on the floor and opened it up. The top of the first page had an ornate swords and shield letterhead. Underneath the logo was a series of cells with check boxes, some checked.

  The police report was foreign in every aspect to Wolf, who was familiar with Rocky Points, Colorado police reports. He recognized his brother’s name, Johnathan Dennis Wolf. Apart from that, he may have been looking at a schematic for a nuclear bomb.

  She turned the first page over and looked at the second, then turned back to the first page again. “I will translate.”

  “Who wrote this? Was this Rossi?”

  “No, this is written by Maresciallo Capo D’Angelo.”

  They spent the next twenty minutes going through the written report sentence by sentence. It was mundane, and it was biased. Biased, Wolf thought, because it was written from the point of view of a group of cops called in to investigate a suicide of an unknown foreigner.

  The report was written with conviction and little skepticism to the cause of death. An American was found on the ground, strangled by hanging. The superintendent had called it in on Sunday at the advice of the woman who lived above him, who was concerned.

  She was self-described as dating the man, and was concerned he didn’t return her calls or show up for a date on Saturday night. She reported hearing a crash on Friday night, which was most likely the chandelier dropping to the floor. She then knocked and tried to enter the apartment, there was no answer and it was locked from the inside. This, coupled with observations by the coroner on scene, determined time of death to be early Saturday morning around one o’clock. The woman didn’t report hearing or seeing anyone else in the apartment with him that early morning. Drugs were found on the scene, and close examination of the nostrils indicated drugs were used by the victim.

  And that was that.

  Nothing jumped out at Wolf as any dif
ferent from what he had heard from Rossi, Lia, the superintendent, or Cristina.

  Wolf spent another ten minutes clarifying the wording Lia used, not wanting anything lost in translation. The clarification process didn’t tell him anything. Nonetheless, something was nagging at his subconscious mind. A subliminal whisper was telling him he was missing something.

  Lia looked at her watch and got up.

  “We have to go. Marino awaits.”

  They went out to the street and got in the Alfa Romeo.

  “I’ll need to be in on that conversation,” he looked at his watch. Two o’clock. “I’m at the end of my rope.”

  Chapter 35

  Marino’s office was bright and hot. He sat in his leather throne, shouting loudly, with a roiling mass of cigarette smoke engulfing his shadowed form. The humid stench of sweat and tobacco was itchy to Wolf’s skin and throat.

  Marino twisted in his chair, raised an eyebrow and a finger, motioned to the two chairs against the wall, then finished his conversation. He gently lowered the phone and dropped it from his fingers in place for the last inch. Sighing, he sat rocking back deeply in his chair.

  “Mr. Wolf, officer Parente,” he said, extinguishing his cigarette. Almost. It sat smoldering in a wobbling stream. “I am sorry to hear about all of the developments of your brother’s case Mr. Wolf.”

  He tented his fingers against the bottom of his nose. “I was shocked to say the least. I,” he said, “I do not know how to, uh…what to say. I know it must be difficult to hear these things about your brother. Especially being a police officer yourself.” He gestured to Wolf.

  Wolf shifted forward, tilting his head, and took a breath to speak.

  “But I don’t like what you did this morning, Officer Wolf.” Marino’s voice raised in volume. “You put one of my best policemen in a a bad situation. He trusted you.” He stood up and walked halfway around his desk, sitting one buttock on top.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about, sir.”

  “You don’t?” Marino folded his hands on his leg and stared motionless for five seconds.