“Define stupid, “Williams said to him.
“Running away, trying to kill himself, the usual litany.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be helpful to anyone.”
The form of the training center suddenly loomed in front of them and they pulled into the parking lot. Outside, they could hear the barking of dogs and the admonishment of the trainers. It was a different world in there, but one they needed to examine. Williams wondered to himself how much money the owner of the training center made and how much he paid his staff.
Back in Philly, Doc Stanford was reviewing the information given to him by the crime scene technicians who had gone over the apartment belonging to the old women. Nothing new was found in the way of violence. As they had deduced, it appeared from the report that the old women had opened the door to their killer, suggesting they did know the person or persons.
One item that caught his eye was a letter on the table from the later nineteen forties, which talked about the egg and necklace. The letter was unsigned, but the person who wrote it thanked them both for helping them out of the prison camp. The letter was in German, but the PPD was fortunate to have several people on board who were experts in many languages. It was something they needed to have when the city was home to a whole variety of languages spoken and written.
Somehow it seemed a little bit convenient that the letter existed at all. It just so happened a letter from the 1940’s was left sitting out where a crime scene technician could find it. This was just too much of a coincidence. Stanford sat back in his chair and thought about the link Yuan had told him about, between the death of the two old women and the two safety deposit boxes. This was planned, every step of the way. He’d read the police report on the bank robbery. That bunch had used a master key to get into the safety deposit boxes. If they had a master key and the keys to the boxes, why the big show to get hold of them? Couldn’t they have easily found some reason to get inside the vault and used the keys to get into the boxes they wanted? All that they would have had to do would be to rent a box and pretend to put something in it. If the bank attendant was distracted for a few minutes, the robbers could have had plenty of time to open those boxes and dump the contents. It made no sense to attract so much attention by using the trained attack dogs.
He considered the possibility the robbers wanted people to know they’d held up the bank. What good would it serve? But using subterfuge, they could have bought all kinds of time. If no one noticed the two women missing, they would have had plenty of time to leave town and no one would have been any the wiser. It might have been a long time before anyone realized why the women were tortured to death. Eventually they or some relatives would have made the connection. But it might have been weeks before that happened.
And back to the letter. Someone had left the letter on a desk in the condo the two old women used. Few people knew much about them. They were German, had independent means, and most of the other members of the condominium association thought they were widows who had pooled money together to survive. He had spoken to a visiting nurse who checked on them and she said the old ladies seemed to be in the early stages of senility. At their age, it wasn’t surprising. Most people who lived as long as they had were in an assisted living center or at home with relatives.
But these two old women didn’t have to worry about the money situation because they seemed to have plenty to burn. Stanford was amazed at the decor in the condominium when he entered. He did find out later they had a servant from some temporary company come in to see to their basic needs. He didn’t speak much English, but a Spanish interpreter had told the PPD that the man talked about cooking dinner, doing their laundry and taking out the trash. He did the woodwork and floors once a month; they seemed to be able to handle it themselves the rest of the time. On the day they were killed, he was scheduled off. Sanford speculated on whether or not the killer knew the schedule of the company that came in and took care of the two. He thought it possible and made a mental note to tell Williams or Yuan about his suspicions when they spoke again. In the meantime, there were other cases that warranted his attention.
Williams and Yuan entered the dog-training center out in Exton and asked to speak with Leonard, the man who owned it. Today there was a man behind the counter. He hadn’t been there when the two detectives were around the last time.
“I’m sorry,” he told them, “Leonard won’t be in today. He went home sick with the flu. We have to be very careful around these dogs. Some are very expensive and their owners have invested a lot of money in them. We can’t afford to lose a contract because one of them picked up something at the kennels.”
“I didn’t think dogs could pick up human diseases,” Yuan said to him.
“Oh they can,” he said, “rabies being the most infamous example. But dogs and humans are both carnivores so they share enough genetic similarities to suffer from the same aliments.”
“Is there some way we can get in touch with Leonard?” Yuan asked the young man behind the counter. “By the way, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Louis,” he said, extending a hand, “I’ve worked for the kennel the past three years.”
“Yuan,” the detective said to him flashing a badge, “I’ve worked for the Philadelphia Police Department for the past seven years.”
This caused the mood in the office to change considerably. Louis backed up and held his hands at waist level. “Look, I don’t need any trouble. I am just telling you what I was instructed to say.”
“That’s all good and fine,” Williams said to him as he came around to the other side of the counter, “but are you going to tell us where your boss is or do I have to phone a friend of mine downtown who might be very interested in the finances behind this place.”
“What are you talking about?” Louis said, “The kennel is on sound financial standing. I talked with our accountant last week and nothing was amiss.”
“Then you won’t mind telling us where we can find your boss,” Yuan said to him as he came around the other side. Now both of them had Louis sandwiched between them. There was nowhere for him to go.
“I don’t have to talk to you,” he insisted. “I know my rights and I have a right to a lawyer.”
“You would,” Yuan responded to him, “if I was making an arrest. But who said anything about an arrest? I just want some information. Is it so hard to tell the police where your employer is at this very moment? If he’s home with the flu, it shouldn’t be a big deal to let us talk to him.”
“Is he sick?” Williams asked. They were moving closer to Louis, not making contact but attempting to intimidate him as much as possible. “Are you sure he’s not at some kind of hospital? I mean, I could understand if he was in an intensive care ward, but you just said he had the flu.”
“It’s a very contagious strain,” Louis said to him, “and I can’t let just anyone see him. He’s very private and doesn’t like people coming around his house. He was very disturbed by your visit the other day.”
“So he talked about me coming by?” Yuan took another step closer. “Sounds like you two are very close. Care to tell us how close you are? Maybe you know a lot more about the way this place runs than you let on?”
“Would you know anything about a man who wanted some big attack dogs trained?” Williams asked.
“He’s behind that door over there,” Louis finally broke, pointing to a door off to one side of the office. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but he’s in there. He’ll know I told you, but I didn’t have a choice.” He put his face in his hands and wept.
“Yuan,” Williams said to his partner, “keep an eye on this punk; I need to see what the game is here.” He walked over to the door and opened it.
Inside the door were hallways that lead to the outside. Williams looked into one hall and saw the form of Leonard, the training center owner. He was down on his face on the floor. His breathing was shallow. Williams slowly went up to him a
nd felt for a pulse. There was a pulse, but it was faint. Williams turned around and walked back to the office.
“Call an ambulance,” he told Yuan, “I’ve found Leonard and he doesn’t look good. I don’t know what’s happened to him, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the flu. I think our friend here knows a whole lot more.” He pulled out his handcuffs and walked up to Louis.
Suddenly, Louis broke away from Yuan and ran to the entrance door of the office. He flung the door open and shot out of it. Williams was right behind him, but Louis had a ten-foot head start.
Louis ran out into the street with Williams after him. He ran down the side of the road trying to avoid traffic and keep out of the path of the vehicles, which thronged Lincoln Highway. Williams followed him close behind. Meanwhile Yuan had phoned for an ambulance and called the local police to let them know his partner was in pursuit of a suspect. He knew this wouldn’t go over too well with the local cops, but he had no choice. The local police out in the counties cooperated with the PPD as much as they could, but they fiercely guarded their territory. Yuan knew there would be questions, which he’d have to deal with after they caught the fleeing suspect, but right now, he wanted the case solved. If they satisfied the captain and found the missing egg, the situation out in the suburbs wouldn’t be a big deal. But if this thing dragged out, the captain would toss both of them to the wolves and politicians. Yuan didn’t know which one was worse.
The mistake Louis made was his assumption that Williams was a fat, out-of-shape old cop. He assumed he was on familiar territory and the cop from Philly was in strange grounds. What he neglected to think about was how often Williams did these kinds of runs. Williams was experienced at chasing after perps who tried to get away. His favorite story concerned a suspect who took off and jumped over a fence. The man ran all the way to the other side of the plant that the fence surrounded. He strolled past another fence line only to have Williams reach over the fence and grab him. Williams held onto the perp until another cop could cuff him from the other side.
Louis stood on the corner of an apartment complex and caught his breath. He looked around and didn’t see the old slob of a cop anywhere. He let out a sigh. No one had seen him flee. The cops would have all his vitals, but he could still clear out in time. Nothing to worry about, it was all down to how he handled it. Louis felt his breathing return to normal and took a step in the other direction. He still had his wallet on him with the bankcard and ID and all he had to do was….
He went down hard when Williams slammed into him. The force of the other man knocked Louis down to the curb and Williams was on top of him in seconds. Before Louis could do anything, Williams had his knee in Louis’ back and had the handcuffs on him.
“Looks like this is my lucky day,” he said to Louis. “I get to make an arrest. You have the right to remain silent….” Louis lay still, unable to believe a man who was half his size had taken him down.
“Did you hear me, Punk?” Williams said to him.
“Yes,” Louis managed to say.
“Good, “Williams continued. “You have the right to an attorney if you want one. Anything you say, can and will be used against you. You follow that, Punk?” Louis nodded again.
“Damn,” Williams said to himself. “I am getting too old for this job. I actually let you get ten paces ahead of me before taking you down.”
Chapter 6
“Please state your name for the record.”
“Ludwig Von Danzig, but you can call me Louis as everyone else has so far. I don’t have an issue with people who can’t pronounce my German name.”
“Your brother is Hans Bernhard who owns the auction house?”
“Yes, that’s him under an assumed last name.”
“Why did you and your brother kill the old women?’
“Those harpies were responsible for the death of my grandmother, Hilda Von Danzig. She was a proud Prussian who lost everything when that damned housepainter and his thugs took over our family’s estate. They first had the servants rounded up and then they went after my grandmother’s peasants. They accused her of helping out the Poles and anyone who knew my family would have told them it was the most absurd thing ever spoken. Grandfather fought against those pretenders when they tried to kick us out of East Prussia.”
“Why is this issue of Prussia so important to you?’
“You have no idea what my ancestors had to do to carve out their estate in the Baltic. Some of them joined the Teutonic Knights and fought against the pagans. When the pagans were subdued, the church thought it could turn the whole area over to the Letts and Poles. We weren’t about to give up what we’d worked so hard to win and build. My people fought with every Prussian king who defended his people up there. We were not going to roll over for the Russians either. We’d beat them several times before and would beat them again. And then some obscure corporal decides he’s one of the master race? Every year on Hitler’s death we would drink a toast to him in hell and hope he roasted for another ten thousand years.”
“Back to your grandmother. We have a letter written, signed and dated by her, which describes how the necklace was given to the women in return for their help in getting her out of the prison camp. What do you have to say to that?”
“It was written with a gun to her head. She wanted out of that circle of hell and the only thing she had hidden on her was a diamond necklace. She saw those two bitches stripping other women of their rings and jewelry and knew she had to use the necklace to bribe them. When she showed them the necklace, they promised her freedom. Everyone else in the family had escaped by then but her. She was the head of the family and made sure everyone else got out in time before the security police arrived. They took her and destroyed our castle. The castle my ancestors built on a marsh to fight the Russians they turned into whorehouse for their Black Guard.”
“Did your grandmother eventually escape?”
“No, they merely transferred her to another camp so she couldn’t tell the commander of the original camp how those two took the necklace from her. He would have wanted a cut out of it. She nearly starved to death in the new camp. My father didn’t know what happened to her until after the war. He didn’t even recognize her when they were reunited! He had not seen her in years. By then the prison guards who took the necklace from her had fled the country. We’ve spent years looking for those two. My only regret it that they died before I could start cutting off their fingers. We had plans and tools. It wasn’t just the eyes we wanted to put out, no, we were going to strip the flesh off…”
“That’s quite alright Herr Danzig,” Yuan told Louis, “You don’t have to go into the details if you don’t want to.” Louis’ lawyer was sitting in the interrogation room next to his client shaking his head. Try as he might, he couldn’t make the man shut his goddamn mouth.
“There were two of you,” Williams said to him. It was his turn to ask questions. The interrogation room, built to only hold a few people, was filled with cops. After Louis was brought in by Williams, Yuan had done his best to explain to the Exton cops about why they were chasing after a perp in their town. It was agreed that the ‘Odd Couple’ should be the ones allowed to ask the questions. The captain and a lawyer with the PPD were in the room next door watching through a two-way mirror. With them was a man from the State Department who had a vital interest in getting the Fabergé Egg back safe and sound. Several other policemen were with them.
“The other man was my brother,” Louis told them. “Hans Von Danzig. We’d grown up hearing about the way my grandmother was treated in that prison camp and what she’d endured. Both of us decided at an early age that we would avenge her. After she passed on twenty years ago, when we were eight years old, we both swore a pact to find the two prison guards who sent her into hell. We planned to perform the tortures of the damned on them. We wanted them to endure everything she did. We had a very precise agenda as both of us had been to medical school and knew how t
o make it last. We planned to finish by cutting out….”
“Hold the details,” Williams said. “I’m sure your lawyer will agree with me on that one too. How did you find out about the safety deposit boxes?”
“It was easy. Once we had them bound and told them what we were going to do, they offered the boxes and keys up in exchange for their lives. We promised them a quick death. However, we lied. Neither Hans nor I saw the point of making deals with devils. They told us where to find the keys, the numbers of the boxes and which bank we could find them in. We knew they had the necklace hidden and we suspected which bank vault. But never did we believe the master key to the vault would be hidden in their own condominium. God was with us that day as we took out the knives and began to cut….”
“Details none of us need to hear,” Yuan said to him. “You just said you didn’t know which bank they hid it, but you walked into that bank as if everything was rehearsed. How could you have pulled it off not knowing the bank location?”
“We’d been to several of the banks in the area. We felt it was an older bank where they had it stored. Most of them were built at the same time and have similar layouts. Once you’ve had a chance to walk through them, you start noticing things. Therefore, when they told us which bank the necklace was stored; we were thrilled, as we had researched the designs already. We looked at ten other banks in town and this was one of the top five by our estimation where they’d hidden it. Turns out we were right again.”
“But the Fabergé Egg,” Williams spoke up after sipping his coffee. “You had no knowledge they had it in their possession?”
“Never. When we opened the second box, we found it with the necklace. We realized what it was right away. Of course, we didn’t try to pawn it as the attention of the police was on us and we needed time to get it out of the county.”
The Untimely Death Box Set Page 33
