Sibley's Secret

by Frank Perry

empty.

  “How do you know I drink vodka?”

  The man answered, “You are part Russian. That is all the explanation needed.”

  The drink came quickly, and Evan took a long gulp, hoping the warming effect would calm his nerves.

  “So, you wanted to see me. What’s this about?” He realized after saying it that he sounded impolite and hadn’t thanked him for the drink.

  The man smiled weakly, “Good! You like to be to the point. I too like to be to the point also.”

  “So, tell me.”

  “I am told that you have a Russian family but are an American professor. You are here for holiday to study our revolution period. Is that correct?”

  Evan took another gulp before answering, “More or less.”

  “Do you get paid for your studies?”

  “Again, more or less, my school is paying part of my salary.”

  “You are a professor, I know this. You are very conscientious, is that the word?”

  “It is.” He studied the man. He was obviously leading to something and knew the answers to his questions before asking them.

  “You know a researcher named Karina Chuikov, I believe.”

  He struck a nerve in Evan, “Look pal, if you’re here to threaten her, then you and I have a big problem!”

  “No problem, I am just confirming.”

  “Then get to the bottom line. You know all about me, so let’s stop the interrogation and get to the point.”

  “I am sorry if I offend you, old habits are hard to break.”

  Evan’s blood pressure dropped a notch, “So, what can I do for you?”

  “I want to retain you.”

  “I already have a job.”

  The man dismissed the remark, “Dr. Evanoff, I work for a man, a man who is important and has many important friends who would like to have your services to find something that is quite valuable.”

  Evan snickered, “Oh, great, treasure hunters. Look, I do academic research. I’m not interested in scavenger hunts.” The man probably didn’t know what that meant, but understood the context.

  “You have been helping Miss Chuikov do that exactly, am I right?”

  Evan couldn’t deny it, “That’s really personal business.”

  “Exactly, she is beautiful woman. But let me go on. The people I represent are interested only in seeing the so-called treasure is used to help the people of Russia.”

  “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

  “I do not expect you to believe it, but there is something we can do for you more than just pay you, if you agree to help.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite?”

  “We can offer you protection from her employer and provide to you the information she is giving to him.”

  “I don’t need protection, and, maybe, I don’t need to know what she tells her client.” He still remembered their discussions about her non-disclosure. This man could get Karina killed.

  “Let me, for a moment, assume you are worried also about Miss Chuikov’s safety. Am I right?”

  Without waiting for Evan’s answer, the man continued. “I can also guarantee her safety and complete knowledge that she will not be compromised in her work. Actually, we want her to continue working. My sponsor wants you also to work; to work with her.”

  Both men were leaning intently on the table with only two feet separating their faces, speaking in low tones. Finally, Evan said, “What do you want me to do?”

  The man sat back, “I will now tell you.”

  Visit

  “Hi, want some company?” Kiki called Jim Olander on impulse. She had checked the airline schedule minutes before, then just called. Ever since his last call after talking to the old men, she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

  “Sure, when?”

  “Well, this is gonna sound kinda screwy, but how ‘bout tomorrow? I get two days off each week, during the week when things are slowest. I’m off tomorrow and I can stretch it ‘til Thursday by going into the office for a couple hours before going to the airport.”

  “Ah, great. I gotta work, technically, but nothing’s happening, so I can play hooky most of the time. I can pick you up at the airport; I imagine you’re coming to Detroit?”

  “Yes, if I fly Southwest, I get in around three o’clock going through Baltimore.”

  “Okay, I can clock in and out early so it won’t even be personal time. Where are you staying?”

  “Don’t know, I haven’t gotten that far yet.” She had an idea what he would suggest.

  “Hey, if you want to; if it would be all right, I gotta extra bedroom and a bathroom next to it that I don’t use. You could stay with me and save some money.” He hoped that she didn’t recoil.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Great! So, why the trip?”

  “I was thinking about what you said and then talked to Chad. He didn’t see much of the orchard area, or anything else that wasn’t covered in weeds. He didn’t look around the way I thought. Anyway, I want to look for the grave, if there is one.”

  “Kiki, that’s over a hundred acres of bushy orchard now, that’s a lotta ground to cover. I’ll help you. Besides if anyone asks why you’re there, I can show my badge and say it’s police business, and, who knows, it might be, if there’s an undocumented grave on the property.” He was mentally calculating how he’d clean his townhouse and stock it for her company.

  “I don’t want to be a burden, Jim; you’ve been a great help.” She was hoping they would be together.

  “Okay, then it’s a date. Not really, it’s an arrangement.” He felt awkward.

  She replied, “It’s like a date to me.”

  Caught

  “I don’t know what you mean Sheriff?” John had said the first lame thing that came to mind.

  Cass took a step closer on the compressed dirt drive, keeping his hand resting on his revolver grip; it wasn’t drawn, but the implication was clear enough. “I mean, where were you yesterday morning when you shoulda been heading for work?”

  John stammered, “I had a breakdown with my truck. I had to walk back to the farm; it took more than an hour hiking that far. By the time I fixed the magneto, it was late in the day and I didn’t go to the paper in Lansing. You can ask my boss, he’ll tell you that I called him.”

  Cass showed a wry grin, “Well sir, I’ll surely do that when I get back into the office. Now, you come along with me.” Cass gestured toward his car but John didn’t move. Sarah was standing part way up the drive, behind Cass.

  Cass changed his expression, becoming more insistent. “I said you gotta come to the police station with me.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to do that unless you accuse me of a crime.” Sarah had her hands covering her mouth. She knew, as John did, this could only mean one thing.

  Yesterday, John was irrational after shooting Hicks. Sarah knew it, Carter new it, and John knew it. When she tried to console him, he got mad and started screaming orders. He never did that, never. She knew he was scared, they all were. No one had any idea what to do, but John was giving orders.

  He made Carter follow him in the truck to the Granary. For some irrational reason, it made sense to John to park Hicks’ car where he worked, with a blood-stained rear seat. Once there, he broke the lock on the old barn to move the car inside. He didn’t swear as a rule, but he was swearing then, looking at all the boxes of war material Hicks had hidden inside. He wasn’t thinking clearly then any more than before, possibly even more confused.

  “Carter, let’s get this stuff out of here.” He didn’t know what to do with it: for some reason, it just made sense for him to take it away. He could decide what to do with it later, but something told him he needed to move the stash somewhere out of the granary barn. It took most of the rest of the day to move everything. Many of the crates were too large or heavy to be moved in the tiny pickup, so Carter drove the hay wagon and horses for the bigge
r crates. While Carter drove the team back and forth, John found an A-frame truck with chain hoist to lift the heaviest crates, easily over a thousand pounds each, on to the wagon. He couldn’t read the stencils on many of them, they’d suffered out in the weather in Europe, but that didn’t concern him. For now, they just needed to clear it all out.

  As the Sheriff stood opposite John, with Sarah crying behind, he ordered one more time, “Albrecht, you will come with me, or I will have to use force (tapping his gun in the holster). It’s your choice.” He hadn’t actually drawn the gun yet, but his grip was firm around the pistol. Finally, John waved his hands in the air and walked past the bigger man toward the car. Cass never noticed that the barn was stuffed with green wooden crates, with more in the hay loft.

  Sarah ran after John, hysterical, “John, what does this mean? What’s going to happen?” She cried uncontrollably.

  He stopped, looking into her eyes, “Sarah, you have to be strong, you and Carter. Do you understand me?” As Cass strolled up to push John toward the car, John said, “I’ll be back soon, as soon as I can.”

  With that, he was thrust into the back of the sheriff’s car, seeing the farm for the last time.

  Justice was swift. John was charged with murdering Brucston Hicks. During the short trial, there were few witnesses, only the statements from nurses and doctors who tended to Hicks’ wound as he was dying. They all claimed he was lucid at first, claiming that Albrecht had accosted him on the road with a gun and shot him in cold blood out of pent up rage.

  Also presented in evidence were the articles Albrecht had written and depositions from two former soldiers