Wearing their meeting-the-client clothes, Helen and Rummy entered Schellen´s office at the appointed time. Helen was dressed conservatively but her short skirt showed her legs. Paul Dumont was not present.
Schellen shook their hands. After the polite preliminaries he said, “I understand you ordered my brother-in-law to leave the work site two weeks ago, Mme Wallace.”
Helen looked him in the eye. “That is correct, M Schellen.”
“Why did you do that?” Schellen asked, his eyes angry.
“M Schellen, he had no business at that job site. The site belongs to you, M Schellen, and access to the site is my responsibility. I have not been informed of any exceptions. My standing instructions are that no visitors are allowed unless they have business with me or my staff, with the general contractor or one of the subcontractors. I do not believe he had legitimate business there, so I told Herr Siegmann to ask him to leave. Can you tell me what he was doing there?”
Schellen´s face grew red. “I do not explain myself to you. You had no business to act in such a way.”
Helen looked at Schellen. “M Schellen? I believe our contract makes me responsible for safety and security on the site, is that not so?”
Schellen´s eyes flicked toward the papers on his desk. “That is so, Mme Wallace.” He paused, reconsidering his position and perhaps regretting his words. “I realize you are correct. Perhaps in future, he should contact you in advance if he wants to visit the site?” Again, more directly to Helen, “Would that be agreeable?”
“Certainly, M Schellen, if you authorize it and if M Sauter will tell me the purpose of his visits, at least in general terms.”
“Let us leave it at that, then. I´m sorry if you were inconvenienced.”
Schellen seemed to shake himself and began the ritual coffee and meeting noises. Helen and Rummy went through the motions until Helen finally brought things to the point.
“Have you read my site visit report that I sent you yesterday?” she asked.
“No, Mme Wallace, that is the responsibility of M Dumont. If there is anything that requires my attention, he will let me know.”
“Then you don´t know that M. Harms and I were murderously attacked yesterday?”
Schellen jerked to attention. “What do you mean? Attacked?”
“M Harms and I went to look at an unauthorized excavation that was under way. The operators of the excavators attempted to strike us with the shovel buckets. We barely escaped, but the operators of the machines escaped easily. We notified the police, of course.”
“I am at a loss, Mme Wallace. What can have caused this? Do you know who did this?”
“Apparently, two men impersonating maintenance workers from Liebherr took the machines and dug a trench in a place where we would notice it. When M Harms and I went to investigate, we were attacked.
“You were not injured, I hope?” Schellen looked her over carefully.
“No sir, fortunately M Harms noticed the attack before we were hit by the shovels and we were able to escape by rolling under the machines. Our clothing was ruined, of course, but we were unhurt.”
“I am very glad to hear that. What do you want me to do?”
“Well, the Freiburg police may contact you, but that should be no problem. They´ll just ask routine questions. But this underscores the importance of our control of access to the site. I trust you will agree.”
“Of course, Mme Wallace. Please take any necessary measures. I will inform everyone of the importance of your rules.”
“I would appreciate that. And how may we help you today, M Schellen?” she asked.
Schellen moved somewhat uncomfortably in his chair, paused for a moment and looked at Helen. He appeared to have considered, then made a decision. “I have been reading your reports, Mme Wallace – until the most recent one – and I am generally pleased with progress so far. I have showed your reports to my associates, and they suggested you and I should meet to discuss a proposal they have in mind to help you complete the project ahead of schedule.”
Rummy made as if to respond, but Helen spoke first. “Well, M Schellen, what is it you propose?”
“Mme Wallace, now that excavation is well advanced, you may need additional assistance with the form-building, foundation work and poured structures. We would be glad to provide such assistance. As you may not know, my company has associates with considerable experience in that area who could act as sub-contractors at what I think would be a most attractive price.”
Helen looked directly at him. “M Schellen, I think we´ve discussed this before, and you know my views. What is more, at least one of my subcontractors told me yesterday that someone was making similar proposals to subcontractors at the site. I consider that interference in the performance of the work in contravention of our contract. If someone wants to make such a proposal, they must come to me.”
Schellen´s face tightened. “I can assure you that the company I am talking about is fully qualified to be considered.” His tone was carefully controlled.
Schellen was obviously interested that they consider the proposal, so Helen smiled with a bare semblance of courtesy. “In that case, M Schellen, please have one of your people contact me or M Harms with a proposal. As it is, I believe we have adequate capacity to complete the job on schedule and even to qualify for a completion bonus. But I´m more than willing to see what you have to offer.”
Schellen returned her smile in like manner. “Thank you, Mme Wallace. You never know when conditions may change. There are often disputes or misunderstandings, and it can happen that circumstances could make it worthwhile to have additional resources.”
Helen darted a quelling glance at Rummy, whose discomfort was evident.
There was more talk, more discussion of the project. It appeared that Paul Dumont had done a good job of keeping Hans Schellen in the picture on progress of the project, though there did seem to be considerable emphasis on the potential for labor shortages. And the report of the Bagger attack had obviously not reached him. Schellen expressed unreserved support for Dumont.
After they had left Schellen´s building and turned a corner, Rummy grabbed Helen´s arm and said, “We´ve got to talk.” He steered her into a café further down the street.
“Easy, Rummy,” Helen said as they settled at a table in the shade. “And keep quiet while I try to see if we´re being watched.” They ordered coffee and Helen quizzed Rummy about Doris´s health and happiness until the man began to fume visibly.
“Okay, Rummy, what´s on your mind?” she asked, never doubting what it was.
“You need to ask, after yesterday? And today, that miserable prick threatened us, Helen. You know we´re well ahead of schedule already, and I know that our subs have planned for all the manpower they´ll need. That was a blatant threat. And someone attacked us yesterday. And, you know damn well that guy Sauter´s in litigation? Isn´t that who he was talking about?”
“I know, Rummy. I think he was talking about Sauter, too. That civil case Sauter was facing has been set aside and is going to be replaced with another based on a charge of criminal fraud instead. Our lawyer in Stuttgart told me about that: he´s very sharp. But it´s true that, as of this day and hour, Sauter isn´t facing a legal charge. And Schellen tried to make us believe he wasn´t talking about Sauter, anyway.”
“How come you didn´t hit him with that stuff about Sauter?”
“Well, he never said it was Sauter he was proposing, though I think it was. And we have no reason – at the moment – to think Sauter was behind that attack on us yesterday. Rummy, I want to see what Schellen´s game is. I want him to put his cards on the table where we can see them and be ready when he pulls one out of his sleeve.”
“Well, I take your point, but it´s the threat that worries me. I don´t want our subs to have trouble. It´s bad for our reputation. And I´m beginning to think it´s bad for our health, too.”
“Guys like Werner Siegmann don´t scare easily. You can´t kid me, Rummy Harms, you´re not scared, either. You´re pissed off. Big time.”
Rummy looked in her eyes. “Bloody right I am. And I think it won´t stop here. But I´m game for your idea; we´ll wait to see what´s on.”
“Good. Now here´s what I want you to do. No, wait. Let´s move away from here.”
Helen paid the bill and they walked along the lakefront to a brasserie where they took a table in the back. It was toward the end of the lunch hour, and there were few patrons left .
They ordered lunch and Helen kept the conversation general until they had been served.
When she finally brought up the subject of the job and opened her laptop to make notes, Rummy, who had maintained a grudging silence, grinned at her. “Taking no chances, right?”
“No point in it. It pays to be careful. Now, here´s what I want you to do.” She began a list. “Get to all our subs and ask them to give us copies of their contact logs from day one. I want to know who comes to see them and from where. Especially, I want to know about visits from the Man from Bau. I can´t see how whoever´s in this can pull anything without some kind of a deal with the union. In this case, that´s IG Bau.” Helen´s eyes lost focus for a moment as she thought. ‘I may still know someone from there, myself.´
She went on aloud. “Talk to the people at Liebherr and get to the bottom of that, if there is one. See if you can set up some kind of verification for their visits and arrange with our people so they don´t get hoodwinked again. And… Oh, yes, get whatever proposal Schellen wants to put forward. I want to see it no later than thirty seconds after you do.”
“No problem, Helen. I´ll talk to all the subs and let them know we want the latest before it happens and ‘slit your throat before talking about it. ´”
“And while you´re at it, tell them no outsider is to set foot on the site without my expressed authorization.”