by Irving Munro
~
It was the night before Thanksgiving and Bill had the Thanksgiving turkey all prepared, ready to be smoked in the Green Egg the following day. He had it in a brine mixture ready for its overnight soaking. He would dry it off in the morning and give it a dry rub of spice mixture before smoking it with pecan chips. He had tried different types of wood for smoking the turkey over the years, cherry, apple, mesquite and oak—but he had settled on pecan as the sweetness of the pecan gave the turkey such a great flavor.
With everything prepared, he sat at his home office desk, which was covered with the paperwork from his research on the BMW. He had determined that there were fourteen car rental companies that served the needs of the travelers coming into George Bush International Airport. He had talked with all of them, including Sindhur at Hertz, and had come up empty. Maybe his hunch was wrong and Mike Muguara aka Raul Hernandez had not flown into George Bush and had not rented a BMW from there.
The last rental company he spoke with was SIXT. SIXT is a huge rental car company headquartered in Germany and has been in business since 1911. It’s not that well known in the U.S. and expanded into the U.S. market fairly recently, in 2011 to be exact. Their operation in the U.S. is conducted through regional franchises, so when Bill spoke with the management at the George Bush airport location they said they would have to get back to the corporate office in Germany before they could release specific rental contract details.
~
Bill’s cell phone rang at seven-thirty on Thanksgiving morning.
“Hello?” said Bill, trying focus and clear his mind from a deep sleep. Who could this possibly be this early?
“Am I speaking with Bill Ross of the Travis County Police Department?” said the man on the line.
Bill detected immediately from the heavily accented but impeccable English that the caller was German, and he put two-and-two together.
“Yes, this is Special Officer Bill Ross.”
“Yes, good morning, Officer Ross. Sorry for not addressing you in the proper manner, my error. I am Wolfgang Meier, director in charge of U.S. operations for SIXT Car Rental Company. I am calling you today from our Pullach headquarters in Munich. Is this a good time to talk? I hope it’s not too early for you.”
Bill wanted to strangle Herr Meier for calling so early on a holiday and also for the little dig at the end I hope it’s not too early for you. This German knew exactly what time it was. He respected German efficiency, but sometimes they could be a right pain in the ass!
“This is a perfect time, Herr Meier, I am already well into my work for the day. Even if it is a holiday here police work must still get done!” Bill lied for effect and wanted to gain some kind of control of the conversation.
“Great, but do please call me Wolfgang, and may I call you Bill? I find it much easier to dispense with these types of formalities and get to the subject at hand.”
“That would be fine, Wolfgang. I take it that your employees at the George Bush Airport briefed you on our investigation?”
“They are not our employees, Bill, they are employees of the franchise there. They did brief me, yes, but unfortunately, due to our corporate governance procedure, I need your request in writing and on Travis County Police Department letterhead. In the written document you must have the following information:
1. Your name and rank.
2. The name and rank of your immediate superior.
3. The nature of your investigation, including relevant case number identifiers.
4. The level of urgency of your request.
5. The name of the person you believed rented our vehicle.
6. The date you believe that the rental was made - the date of pickup.
7. You must sign the document.
8. Your superior must countersign the document.
“You can fax this to my attention. I will give you my contact details at the end of the call. Or you can send the document as an email attachment. Either way you must mail the original to me and I will countersign and send it back to you for your records and I will retain a copy for our records. I will provide you with a written response that will detail the results of our search. I will be happy to email that as an attachment, but we must exchange originals in the same manner as we have just discussed. Is this satisfactory to you, Bill?”
Bill could see a mental picture of Wolfgang Meier sitting back in his chair with a smile, fully expecting that Bill was impressed by his efficiency. It was efficient and Bill was impressed but he was always frustrated by the lack of flexibility in process when dealing with the Germans. They always got the job done and it was always done well, it just took so long.
“Yes, that’s satisfactory, Wolfgang, I will get right on it and get you the document you need. Thanks so much for your help!”
They exchanged contact details and the conversation ended.
~
Well, that was an interesting wake-up call, thought Bill as he brewed a fresh pot of coffee and looked out his kitchen window over the greenbelt.
He sat down at the breakfast table and started to surf the web to see what was going on in the world. The CNN, Fox News and USA Today websites were still dominated by the immigration discussion. The battle lines were now clearly drawn between the president and the legislature on the topic. There was complete polarization in opinion on both sides, and from Bill’s point of view both sides of the political divide were making good arguments. Bill likened the situation to the war on drugs. To really change what was happening, the demand side had to be dealt with. If employers continued to hire illegal immigrants, then they would continue to come over the border in great numbers. Yes, we needed to secure our borders—he agreed with the argument on that—but human beings are very creative and if the attraction of a better life for their family is there and employers continue to hire, the illegals will find a way to get here.
He wasn’t going to solve the immigration problem on Thanksgiving morning; there were more important issues to be dealt with. He needed to get the charcoal fired up in the Green Egg and he needed to rinse the turkey after its overnight bath in the brine mixture and get the dry rub massaged into the bird. It was a beautiful crisp morning in Austin as he walked out onto his deck.
~
As is the custom every year, on Thanksgiving there was a full schedule of football. Bill was looking forward to putting his feet up later in the day with Tommy and drinking a few beers while enjoying the games. He had found Belhaven beer at World Market in Austin and bought a six-pack. Tommy would drink Corona and probably bring over a bottle of the Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal that he had developed a taste for. There would be no concern about Tommy driving home under the influence, which he never did anyway; Tommy had decided that he and Claire would spend the night. It would be a great day.
When Tommy and Claire arrived, the Bears/Detroit game was already underway and the house smelled of the smoke from the pecan wood combined with the scent of sweet potato roasting in the oven. Elaine had already set the table in readiness for the feast and was busy preparing the sticky toffee pudding that she planned to serve for dessert.
Bill pulled Tommy aside as Claire ran to Elaine to give Mimi a hug.
“I got an interesting wake-up call this morning. The corporate guy from SIXT car rental called me from Germany, and I have to get him the information we need in writing before he will make a search in their database to see if Raul Hernandez rented a BMW from them. As my immediate boss, you need to sign the document, Tommy, and I thought that while Mom sat with Claire after dinner today we might go into my office and get the document completed and emailed to SIXT.”
“We can do that, Dad, but we better get it done before we settle down with a few beers!” laughed Tommy.
~
The day turned out as planned. The turkey was fabulous. The fixings included—sweet potatoes, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts and carrots—were delicious. It was a meal fit for a king. Sticky toffee pudding with ice cream foll
owed, and after they had eaten their fill and the dirty dishes were cleared and loaded into the dishwasher, everyone collapsed on the couch.
While Elaine sat with Claire, showing her how to make little miniature candy canes using red and white beads and wire to hang on the Christmas tree, Tommy and Bill went off to the office to get the document prepared and sent to Wolfgang Meier at SIXT.
With mission accomplished and the document on its way, the Ross family enjoyed the remainder of the day.
While Claire slept, Tommy talked about his plans for Christmas. It was tough being a single parent balancing work demands and the needs of a four-year-old. Elaine helped out, of course, picking Claire up from daycare in the evening and feeding her dinner if Tommy was delayed at the office. Without the help from his mother it would have been impossible for Tommy to have a job with such long hours.
“I plan to order all of the Christmas presents for Claire online from Amazon,” said Tommy. “Can I have them delivered here? I can wrap them and get them hidden in our house for her to open on Christmas morning.”
“Of course you can,” said Elaine. “I can help you with the wrapping; you can just pick the Christmas paper you want and I can help you get it done.”
Elaine and Bill planned to be at Tommy’s house on Christmas Eve and to bring all of the wrapped presents. In the Ross family tradition, they planned to open one present each before Santa arrived. It was a good plan and everyone in the family needed to play their part. This year was to see a change in the process, however.
“Dad has probably told you by now, Mom, that I have been taking Claire to church. I decided to do that a few months ago as I needed to get out and meet new people, and I thought church would be a good place to start and that Claire might enjoy the experience. We are attending the Cedar Park Methodist Church that is just a few blocks from where we live. They are great people. I plan to take Claire to church on Christmas Eve and then be home and let her open one present before she goes to bed. I know it is a little change in the family Christmas routine.”
“I think this is great, Tommy. It will be good for you and for Claire. Dad and I will bring the presents over to your place while you’re at church, hide them and then wait for you and Claire to come back from church.”
“Thanks, Mom, that sounds like a great plan.”
Later that night as he lay in bed, Bill Ross, reflected that life couldn’t get much better, and sleep came fast, as did the Glenmorangie fuelled dreams.
He was there in the Iraqi desert riding in a dune buggy looking for scud missile sites. He had on his blue and white Kilmarnock FC soccer shirt. Mike Muguara and Raul Hernandez walked over to him and said, “Glad to have you on our team Bill.” He was part of the Spirit Riders, and they drove off into the desert as the sun sank over the horizon.
Chapter 17: Geist Reiter GmbH
Marie Mason called Latisha Williams on Monday morning as agreed. Latisha suggested that they meet at Oil Can Harry’s, a bar on 4th Street in Austin, on Monday night after work. The bar is known by locals to be friendly to those with an alternative lifestyle, and Marie was a little concerned that Tommy might be less than comfortable in this setting; however, she agreed to the meeting location that Latisha suggested.
Wolfgang Meier of SIXT sent an email to Bill, acknowledging receipt of the document and that it was satisfactory to allow him to instruct his team to carry out the search on the rental records. He hoped that he could have the results of the search emailed to Bill by end of the business day on Monday.
Germany is seven hours ahead of U.S. Central Time. On Monday morning, as if on cue, an email with a pdf attachment popped up on the screen of Bill’s laptop at precisely 10 a.m. Central. It was the end of the business day in Germany.
~
For a few seconds Bill just stared at the email.
“Please let this be the breakthrough we need,” he said to himself, and then he clicked on the pdf file attachment and it popped open on his screen. He read the first few sentences and his mouth fell open in total amazement. This was not just a breakthrough; this was a megalithic explosion. The information contained in the email could blow the case wide open!
Dear Bill,
My team has determined the following information from our database and I hope that it will be helpful to you in your investigations.
A Raul Hernandez did rent a BMW 3 Series from our location at George Bush International Airport at three-thirty pm on the afternoon of October 22nd 2013. It was a black vehicle with black interior and representatives of our franchise recovered it January 21st 2014, after an alert was received from the Travis County Police Department’s office that it had been abandoned in a parking lot at 6047 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas.
According to our records Raul Hernandez rented a BMW from this location three times in the previous twelve months, this being the third time, and that on the two previous occasions he had the vehicle for a three-week rental period. Also in the most recent rental, prior to the car being discovered abandoned, the odometer indicated that the car had been driven an average of 164 miles per day for a total of 3444 miles, somewhat excessive for our typical rentals.
We chose to ignore this excessive mileage in this case as the renter is employed by a corporate client and the average of all rentals over the four years that the SIXT company has supplied this client with cars is well within the average miles per day we contracted for.
The name of the corporate client is Geist Reiter GmbH, PO Box 1274, Ladenburger Strasse 17, 69116 Heidelberg, Germany. There are five registered employees who can rent vehicles under the contract:
Mike Muguara, President and CEO
Raul Hernandez
James Martinelli
Joe Nichol
Claudette Weiss
I trust that this is the information you need and as we discussed please sign and send back to my attention, formal acknowledgement of receipt.
If I can help further, I am at your service.
Sincerely,
Wolfgang F Meier
Senior Vice President North America Operations
SIXT Car Rental
“Tommy, Marie, we need to meet in the conference room right now!” Bill yelled across the room like someone who had just won the Texas Lottery.
~
Bill raced ahead of them, a copy of the pdf attachment in his hand. He threw open the conference room door and stood at the end of the table as Marie and Tommy sat down and stared up at him.
“Okay, Dad, tell us what you have!” said Tommy.
“Geist Reiter!” said Bill Ross, hardly able to contain himself and shaking the copy of the pdf in his hand.
“Geist Reiter is German for Spirit Rider! Raul Hernandez rented the BMW from SIXT Car Rental and, not only that, Geist Reiter GmbH, the company that paid for the rental, employs him.
“And there’s more. SIXT has five approved drivers as part of their contract with Geist Reiter. One is an unknown woman by the name of Claudette Weiss, and then they list Joe Nichol, another member of the Spirit Riders, who, according to Martin Peters, is ‘busting heads in Boston’!
“We need to track down Joe Nichol and we need to get the information from Special Forces Command to help us do that. Tommy, can you speak with the chief, bring him up to speed on what we now know and have him brief Governor Shaw on the need for us to get this information as soon as possible?
“We also need to get over to Heidelberg and, of course, we need to get the chief to approve that. My guess is that if we can get access to the Geist Reiter offices or, even better, to Mike Muguara’s residence, wherever that is, we may find additional valuable information. We can now work on the hypothesis that Mike Muguara used the Raul Hernandez name to rent the car and he has been to the U.S. three times in the last year. Why? Also, Jimmy Martinelli is listed as an employee. Why?”
Tommy jumped in, “Okay, Dad. This is the breakthrough we have been looking for, but we need to slow down. The chief will have a tough time appro
ving a trip to Germany, I know that for sure. So we need to step him through the evidence we now have and let him conclude for himself that a trip is necessary. You and I will work these lines of inquiry while Marie continues with her research into the funding behind the construction going on around Whispering Hollow. She and I are scheduled to meet with Latisha Williams tonight, and we need to keep her under control. I will go and brief the chief now. I will also ask that he follows up with the governor regarding the information we need from Special Forces Command. This is fabulous dad; I’ll get back ASAP after I speak with the chief.”
Tommy left to go off and speak with Bill Dunwoody.
~
“Wolfgang, Bill Ross here!”
“Good day, Bill, I trust that the information I sent was helpful,” said Wolfgang.
He knew full well that the probability was that the information was indeed helpful. He was asking the question in this way so that he might enjoy accolades from the recipient, and he was not disappointed.
“It was incredibly helpful, Wolfgang, please thank your team from me for their diligent efforts—most efficient!” said Bill, knowing that Wolfgang would be positively glowing at this endorsement.
“Would it be possible to get some additional information regarding the rental history for the employees of Geist Reiter?” asked Bill.
“Of course, Bill, it was Horst Fleischer who did the research and he happens to be in the conference room next to my office here with some other colleagues. Let me ask him to join us and to bring his laptop.”
Wolfgang went off to get Horst.
“Bill, I have my colleague Horst Fleischer with me here in my room, please ask what you need and we will do our best to answer.”
