“Aah, you have arrived at last. Excellent, excellent! Doctor Bear informed me of your itinerary and schedules. Am I correct that you, sir, are Mister Mauritius Meerkat and these two splendid examples of Canis Lupus are Frau Schuylkill and Colonel Where?”
Before we could acknowledge our identities, he barreled on. “Well, I am delighted you are here. I want to get to the bottom of this terrible tragedy as rapidly as possible. I eagerly await your analysis. But where is my hospitality? We have rooms set aside for you and Joseph (the Camel) will get your luggage brought up. Have you eaten? No? Well, let us deal with that issue immediately. Joseph, ask Ms. Rathbone to lay on lunch. Meanwhile, let us relax a bit. I believe drinks may be in order. A little fortification before embarking on a grisly task.”
We walked through the entrance hall, bedecked with flags, Great Seals (not that kind) and statues and portraits of various and sundry national worthies, heading toward what looked like a conference room cum library. A well-stocked drinks table took up one wall. Pointing toward the refreshments, he said, “Please, help yourselves. I have several appointments this afternoon, so I will just have a soft drink.”
He finally pawsed long enough for me to interject. “Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. We are pleased to be of assistance. However, our briefing by Doctor Bear was exceedingly brief. We have many questions.”
“I’m sure you do! I’m sure you do! Let me apologize for the secrecy but in the world of international diplomacy, confidentiality is all. We are not eager to broadcast the news of Idi’s death. With this air of mystery, I am perhaps engaging in overkill. Oh goodness, what a terrible choice of words. Before we begin, let me call in the Embassy Chief of Security.”
While we were engaged in pouring libations, he took out a specially designed smart phone and with a surprisingly facile use of his hoof made a connection. “Major? Our guests from Doctor Bear’s organization have arrived. Please join us.”
“Major Butho has been with the Embassy for years. He and his three-animal staff are charged with protecting the establishments themselves, our employees, vehicles, communications, records and processes. He has a room here at the Residence and at the DC location. He is also the liaison between local law enforcement and the security offices back home. Ah, here he is,”
A grizzled Rhodesian Ridgeback Dog with a wide studded collar entered the room, nodded to the Ambassador and stared in our direction.
“Major, these are the detectives I have requested from Doctor Octavius Bear. Mr. Mauritius Meerkat, Frau Ilse Schuylkill and Colonel Wyatt Where. I want you to work with them in the investigation of the commercial attaché’s death. I know you believe it was an accident. I am not so sure and I want a second opinion. They will be joined by Doctor Bear tomorrow. He and his spouse will be arriving by helicopter in mid-morning. Meanwhile, stay for drinks and lunch and then let us go and view the body. I have asked our Doctor to also join us. He performed the post mortem.”
The three of us looked quizzically at each other. “He and his spouse?” We knew Octavius was coming but Belinda? I didn’t even know she was stateside. Interesting. Maybe she’s piloting the helicopter. (The Bearoness is an accomplished aviator of fixed wing and rotary aircraft.)
Picking up a crystal bowl of brandy, Colonel Where said, “Mr. Ambassador now that we are here, could you please tell us where ‘here’ is? What country do you represent?”
“My apologies. This is the Embassy of the Sovereign Republic of Gotu on the western coast of Africa. A little-known country and we prefer it that way. We are a medium sized, peaceful nation surrounded by disorderly and potentially hostile states. Keeping a low profile has served us well for the past seventy years. Our commercial attaché was a native of one of those countries until he became a Gotu citizen. His death, if publicized, might incite riots by perennial troublemakers in several countries, including our own. That is why I want to determine that it was indeed an accident as the Major believes. The way to do that is to have disinterested experts such as yourselves exhaust any possibilities of foul play. In short, I want you to energetically pursue every credible lead to prove a killing and FAIL!”
More drinks and a swiftly served meal proceeded apace. Small talk dominated the conversation. Nothing that could enlighten us further. Finally, the Ambassador signaled Joseph and said, “I believe it is time to view the corpse and visit the scene of his death. His body is in a refrigerated locker below. He was found at the foot of the rear staircase with a broken neck.”
Chapter Four
The grey Wolf is from Europe, they say
And the red ones are from USA.
But no matter which kind,
You should keep this in mind.
Stay alert when you hear a wolf bay!
So, that’s it. We experts provide credence to the accident theory by being unable to prove foul play. Not crazy about that! Our reputations will be on the line. Octavius’ credibility and objectivity will be up for grabs, especially since the Ambassador is a prior client of his. I doubt the Great Bear will buy into this.
Meanwhile, we are going on our inspection tour under the guidance of Joseph, the Dromedary Majordomo and the Security Officer. The Ambassador detached himself, pleading the pressure of important duties. First stop. View the corpse. The Doctor, a Greater Red Rock Hare, met us outside the locker.
Major Butho made the introductions. The Doctor is a Gotu native by the name of Mopsi on assignment to the Embassy. He seemed to have a nervous tic, rapidly flicking his ears back and forth.
“Welcome, detectives. Doctor Mopsi at your service. Shall we go inside? I’m afraid, Mr. Meerkat, you’ll find it a bit chilly. I do. That shouldn’t be a problem for you two Wolves.”
We entered a room that was probably used as a cold-storage locker. It was now occupied by a gurney upon which the body was laying. He removed the sheet covering the cadaver. “You can see that he was a fairly large animal. Still rather young. His neck is shattered and several bones are protruding. Clearly, he crashed head first. There are minor bruises on his right foreleg.”
The Colonel asked, “Impalas are some of the surest footed animals in existence. Did you test the contents of his stomach? Any signs of intoxicants or poisoning that might have induced a fall?”
“I did. He did have alcohol in his blood but at a very low level. Probably some wine or aperitif with dinner. I found no traces of common poisons.”
“What was the time of death?”
Major Butho spoke up. “We estimate somewhere between ten and one o’clock. His body was found by one of the maids. Isn’t that right, Joseph?”
The Camel nodded. “It was Drusilla. Her screams could be heard all through the house. That staircase isn’t used all that much. He could have lain there for quite a while before he was discovered.”
The Frau shook her head. “I would like to interview this Drusilla after we visit the staircase. May we inspect the body more closely, Doctor?”
The Hare nodded, flopping his ears several times in the process.
Both Wolves ran their paws over the hooves, legs and flanks of the antelope. Then they tested for broken ribs and bruises. Nothing apparent. The victim’s face was surprisingly free of any discoloration and only a small amount of blood stained the break points of the neck. Part of his right antler was broken away.
The Colonel asked. “Any idea where the broken piece of his horn is?”
The Dromedary replied, “We searched for it. No luck.”
I spoke up, “We understand you want to ship the body back to Gotu to his next of kin.”
The Security Officer scratched his ear. “We haven’t been able to locate any relatives yet. He was a bachelor. Lived by himself. Traveled a lot. Seemed to like the ladies but had never established any kind of a permanent relationship here or at home. Rather unusual among Impalas.”
“In any event,” I
said, “we’d like to have the cadaver still available for Octavius Bear when he arrives tomorrow. Any problem with that?”
Joseph rumbled, “I know the Ambassador wants the body out of here as soon as possible but since he hired you people, I doubt if he’d object to holding it a bit longer for your employer’s inspection, especially since we can’t settle on a destination.”
“Great! We might also want to make a second inspection, ourselves. Will the body still hold up, Doctor?”
“If we keep it in here, the deterioration will be slowed down by the cold but I can’t guarantee it. At some point, shortly, he should be embalmed.”
As Octavius would say, “Hmmm!”
We thanked the Doctor and left him outside the locker. On to the staircase!
Chapter Five
It can now, without question, be said,
The Impala is certainly dead.
It’s not easy to tell
Why he suddenly fell,
Landing fatally hard on his head.
As we navigated our way from the locker to the first floor and then to the rear staircase, I looked at Joseph and said, “Tell us about Idi. The Ambassador was not very enlightening.”
The Dromedary squinched up his lips momentarily, sighed and looked over at the Security Officer. “There is not much to say. He worked primarily at the Embassy downtown and had a small apartment close by. We might see him once a week here at the Residence. He used one of the transient rooms when he stayed over. His car is in the Residence parking lot. As we told you, he was a bachelor. He seldom brought anyone here besides potential clients who wanted to meet, greet and eat with the Ambassador. As far as I can tell, he was quite successful as our commercial attaché.”
“Gotu’s principal exports are agricultural and minerals. We also have a small automotive industry and clothing trade. We import finished goods, some food and some military equipment. Our army is very small and we have a rudimentary air force. We do have a coastal support service whose primary mission is rescue. We supply the industrial world with rare earths for use in super high technology. They are extremely profitable
“What are rare earths?” I asked.
“Do you want the long answer or the short one?”
“How about something in the middle!”
The Dromedary took in a breath “All right! Just the way I learned it from our embassy sales brochures. Rare earths are chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are vital to many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, health care, environmental mitigation, national defense, and many others.
Rare earth-enabled products and technologies help fuel global economic growth, maintain high standards of living, and even save lives. Collectively, they contribute to vital technologies we rely on today for safety, health and comfort. All of the rare earth elements contribute to the advancement of modern technologies and to promising discoveries yet to come. Because of their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, these elements help make many technologies perform with reduced weight, reduced emissions, and energy consumption; or give them greater efficiency, performance, miniaturization, speed, durability, and thermal stability.” He took another deep breath.
“There are seventeen in all: Scandium, Yttrium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium.”
The Colonel and I applauded. The camel bowed slightly.
The Frau growled: “You left out Terbium.”
The three of us gaped at her. She blushed.
“Why, so I did. Thank you, Frau Schuylkill. Anyway, Idi facilitated both our exports and non-military imports. He had been at it for at least five years. He was very outgoing, as you might expect. You probably noticed he was quite good-looking and he dressed well. Educated in England but hardly a scholar. Travelled pretty extensively to meet the demands of his job.”
The Colonel asked, “Did you notice any changes in his recent behavior?”
The Major replied, “As Joseph told you, we saw very little of him here and when we did, he was usually with the Ambassador. You might want to question some of the staff at the Embassy, itself. Of course, unlike Joseph, I spend most of my time at the Embassy but I seldom came in contact with Idi.”
I asked, “Why he was here the night he died?”
The Dromedary said, “That was the day of the weekly staff meeting. The Ambassador likes to hold it here rather than at the Embassy. The meeting ends with dinner. Idi was alone with the Ambassador for a few minutes early in the evening before the dinner. Some of the other staff also had private moments with His Excellency. That is common. After that, I didn’t see Idi again-alive, that is. How about you, Major?
“I arrived after dinner. I needed to brief the Ambassador on several attempts to hack our computer systems. They failed. Our IT specialists are quite competent in that regard. I didn’t see Idi at all.”
“Does all the staff stay over after the dinner?”
“No, most of them go home to their families. As Joseph mentioned, Idi is, was, a bachelor. He lives, lived, in an apartment downtown and was always complaining about not being able to park there. I think once he’d found a parking space, he would walk or take a cab to the Embassy. If he stayed here, he could take the morning shuttle directly to the Embassy compound and pick up his car later on the return trip.”
The Colonel growled “We’d like a list of everyone at the dinner. Can you also tell us who else stayed over?”
“I’ll have to check with housekeeping. They will have a bed tally.”
By that time, we had reached the foot of the rear staircase. Dimly lit, running straight down along one wall with a sturdy looking bannister hemming it in. A large decorative urn sat in the upstairs corner. A picture or two on the walls. Clearly, a utility passage. The floor to ceiling vertical distance was about twelve feet. The staircase itself ran about 22 feet - not too steep. An Impala could cover the span in two leaps. The Colonel asked, “Is this the only available light?”
“No,” replied Joseph as he hit a switch on the lower wall filling the stairwell with brightness. “There’s another switch on the upstairs wall. Turn it on up there. Turn it off down here or vice versa.”
Rubberized pads were nailed to each step. The Colonel went down on his front paws and tested each of the pads. None were loose or torn. He tested the bannister. Solid.
I skittered up to the top and looked down. “From the position we believe the body was in and the location of the wounds, it seems most likely he was coming down. If he was going up, he should have fallen over backwards. It’s hard to believe that a nimble animal like Idi would have just fallen forward unless he was impaired.”
“Or pushed!” growled the Frau. “And there’s still another possibility, He was already dead or unconscious and was thrown down to make it look like an accident.”
Deadly silence after that one.
“Would he normally use this staircase?”
“It is a bit of a shortcut from the offices and bedrooms upstairs to the exits and you can bypass the formal rooms on the first floor.”
The Frau looked at Joseph. “I think I’d like to see the maid Drusilla now. Can you bring her here?”
“You may have to calm her down. She hasn’t come near this area since she found the body.”
I had come back down the stairs and said to the Wolves. “I think it’s time I called Octavius while you question Drusilla. Joseph, do you think she’d be more comfortable talking alone to another female, especially one who is an outstanding chef like Frau Schuylkill?’
“Probably! I’ll bring her here. Major, would you mind guiding Mr. Meerkat and the Colonel up to their rooms. All of you please
come down later for dinner and a nightcap.”
The Colonel wanted to explore Idi’s car. “Where can I find the keys to his auto? I assume it’s locked if it was parked outside.”
“We insist on having a duplicate set of keys for all the staff’s automobiles if they are going to park here. Idi left his vehicle here whenever he traveled, which was frequently. I’ll get them for you.”
“Joseph, before you go. Can you explain something for me?”
“I will try, Mr. Meerkat.”
“How does a diplomatic pouch work?”
“It’s really rather simple. The diplomatic pouch can be any kind of container for confidential material transmitted or received by an embassy or other diplomatic entity. Some can be quite large. Properly marked, it is guaranteed carriage without inspection or opening by the host country or any other state involved in its passage. It can be a secure substitute for non-priority e-mail. It is supposed to be restricted to embassy business but some staff members use it for personal material. The Ambassador frowns on that but he really doesn’t monitor it.”
“Does it run on a schedule?”
“It can be used any time but we do have a weekly pouch that arrives on Tuesdays. That’s when we have our staff meeting and any of the documents in the pouch may be up for discussion. We send one back out to the capital on Friday.”
“Interesting! Thank you!”
Several minutes later, Joseph returned with a diminutive Goat in tow - Drusilla. We left her with the Frau while the Colonel and I followed Joseph first to get the car keys and then up to our rooms.
“Good afternoon, Drusilla. I am Frau Ilse Schuylkill. I am a private detective as well as a few other things like housekeeper and cook for our team. Do you like to cook?”
The Goat was clearly uncomfortable standing where she had found the Impala’s body and was looking for some way to get away from the stairs. She also wasn’t crazy about being face-to-face with a She-Wolf. “Yes ma’am. I like to cook. For my family, that is. I’m married with two kids. I sometimes make breakfast here for some of the staff. But the Chef would never trust me with any of the formal meals.”
The Attaché Case Page 2