Beyond The Window: A Fast Paced Crime Thriller (Private Detective Heinrich Muller Crime Thriller Book 2)
Page 15
“OK, I remember now,” Heinrich said. “They thought they’d found the tunnel a couple of years back and there was a big deal in the media. They didn’t find a thing. The train is a myth.”
“The train is not a myth. They were digging in the wrong place.”
“Of course they were, but you know where it really is because you have a treasure map.”
“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the scoundrel, young man.”
“I thought that was patriotism.”
“Patriotism may have become a bad word to your generation, but in earlier times it was the noblest trait someone could have.”
“Yeah, worked out well for the Germans.”
The widow clucked her tongue and looked away. To her credit, she had held up well to this relentless abuse. Try as he might, Heinrich couldn’t really get a rise from her.
There was a pause. Heinrich broke it.
“Look, I used to love stories of buried treasure when I was a kid. But that’s all they are, stories. That treasure map is a fake. Probably a good fake if it fooled you and your husband, but there’s no treasure.”
“It’s not a treasure map,” Amethyst Briggs said, looking at him again.
“What is it, then?”
“An official top secret field report from the general responsible for the train.”
“Historical documents can be faked too.”
“This isn’t a fake. My husband and I are experts.”
Why does she keep referring to her husband in the present tense? It’s freaking me out.
“Even experts can be fooled.”
“They can. We could take the Metro North line into New York City right now and I could point out half a dozen forgeries hanging in the Met. But this document wasn’t faked.”
“And how do you know that?”
“The document is written in code, and not the regular codes used by the SS, but a more obscure, local code devised in Breslau late in the war. The only surviving code book was captured by the Soviets when they took Breslau and was kept in the Kremlin archives until those archives were opened to the public after the fall of the Soviet Union.”
Heinrich shrugged. “So some historian who went to Moscow faked it.”
“No. My husband purchased the communique back in 1986, well before the public had access to the Kremlin archives. He didn’t even know it had anything to do with the treasure train. The Purity League sent agents several times to buy it from him, and he refused. His curiosity was piqued. Aaron was an avid researcher, and it intrigued him that the neo-Nazis were so eager to buy an unreadable document. Only after the Kremlin archives were opened, and he went there himself did he unlock the secret.”
“So why didn’t he find the treasure himself?”
“He planned to. He only came back from his research trip to Moscow on March 15 and was killed a little over a month ago on March 26. They stole the document from him.”
“So why haven’t the murderers grabbed the treasure?” Heinrich asked. At this point he wasn’t sure if he was humoring the old bag or if he was believing in this stuff himself.
“Because they only got the original coded message. My husband was taking it to a safety deposit box when he was attacked. He did not have the photocopies of the code book he had made in Moscow.”
“Do you have those?”
“No. I burned them so that if they came after me they wouldn’t find the secret. But these people know what they’re doing. They found out somehow what my husband had and its significance.”
“How could they have known the document revealed the location of the treasure train if it had never been decoded before?”
The widow sighed and stared at a painting of a column of Hitler Youth marching through a verdant Bavarian countryside.
“I don’t know, but I am sure they are researching all the known code books from the Third Reich. It is only a matter of time before they think to look in Moscow.”
Heinrich was still standing at the doorway. He hesitated between leaving and sitting down. The Purity League had ties to far right parties all over Europe. With the way some elections hung in the balance these days if they got their hands on that money they could tip the scales.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“Young man, I do not abide profanity!”
Heinrich patted the bust of Adolph Hitler. “Don’t talk to me about profanity, bitch.”
Amethyst Briggs rose from her armchair and pointed a shaky finger at him.
“Get out of my house this instant! I’ll find another private detective.”
“No you won’t. I know why you called me and not someone else. And yeah, I’ll take the job. My fee is two hundred dollars a day plus expenses, and no complaining about how I spend it. And I’ll take two percent, not one. That’s got to go in writing. And I will get out of this house this instant. I feel like punching something and if I don’t get out of here quick, it will be you.”
Heinrich strolled out the front door as the old woman sputtered behind him in incoherent rage.
Heinrich grimaced. If she only knew that she wasn’t as angry with him as he was with himself.
The train back to Manhattan took an hour, and he cursed himself the entire way.
If you enjoyed this free bonus click here to read more!
Other Books by Robert Brown
Deadly Illusions
Deadly Illusions is the debut book from Robert Brown. A thrilling ride through the streets of London in a crime thriller that’s simply magic! Follow the suspense as it twists and turns in this highly rated debut book from an up and coming crime author
Cael Adler is a private detective with an eye for detail and a steady knack for solving complex cases. But when his dinner date with the stunning Kelly is interrupted, by the discovery of part of a murdered woman’s torso, he doesn’t at first realize that his skills will be tested to their limits.
Called to remote corner of Epping Forest by his friend and Metropolitan Police veteran Tyler Easton, Cael is shocked at what he finds. But worse follows, when it becomes apparent that the murder is just the beginning of something much bigger and that a pitiless serial killer is at large.
As the two men begin to unravel the horrific crimes they close in on the predator and his ruthless agenda. But all is not as it seems, and the case soon becomes more personal for Tyler, when his wife becomes the next target of the madman.
Lured to a theater on the pretext of attending a show, Samantha Easton comes face to face with the killer and it’s up to Cael and Tyler to stop him. But will they solve the clues fast enough to save her from a horrific end?
Click here to purchase Deadly Illusions
Purity Pursuit
Heinrich Muller is a private detective with a past he’d rather forget. When he is asked to investigate the murder of an antiques dealer with a history of dealing Nazi memorabilia it opens a case that is as personal as it is professional.
Muller’s investigations soon take him to Europe, where he chases down dealers in Nazi memorabilia and comes up against Europe’s far-right parties. He soon uncovers a plot to find the missing gold train. Teaming up with him is a beautiful Polish civil rights campaigner and a troubled teen boy Muller tries to pull away from the influence of a neo-Nazi militia.
Can Heinrich get to the bottom of this case or will he succumb to the overwhelming pressure?
Robert Browns second book is a master class in thrilling suspense that will sure to excite the fans of his first novel Deadly Illusions. If you love fast paced thrillers, then Purity Pursuit will not disappoint.
Click here to read more of Purity Pursuit
kit-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share