In the late afternoon, Helen and Sandy sat on the balcony of her apartment, relaxing in the sun and talking over plans for the visit to Orange. The orange cat was off doing cat things. Her phone rang, and she looked at the display before answering. She looked at Sandy.
“Sandy, it´s Dumont. Can we record this?”
Sandy went to the table by the door and retrieved his pocket computer, held it up and nodded, immediately starting to set up the connection. Helen answered the call.
“Helen, this is Paul. Have you got a minute?”
“Yes, Paul. What can I do for you?”
“Helen, I can´t talk long. When will you be in Freiburg again?”
“I´m not sure, Paul. I have a commitment here in the south in a day or two, and I´d planned to come up to Freiburg maybe next week.”
Paul´s voice sounded concerned. “I guess Rummy´s in Freiburg, right?”
“Yes.”
“Helen, I really need to talk with you. I´m really concerned about what´s going on up there, that business with the excavators and the stuff that happened during your visit the other day – the re-bar and the ladder – I can´t go along with this. Is there any chance you can…” His voice changed, became louder, more confident. “Yes, yes, I see. Well, I do feel it would be to your advantage…” He paused.
Helen looked over at Sandy, rolling her eyes, and spoke into the phone, “I gather you´re no longer free to speak plainly, Paul.”
“Right. And what about meeting soon?”
“Tell you what, Paul. I´ll try to get up to Freiburg tomorrow afternoon. If I can get a flight. I´ll let you know if something happens and I can´t get there, all right?”
“Yes,” Paul said, his voice changing again. “He´s gone, I can talk better. Tomorrow afternoon unless I hear from you in the morning. Thanks.” He hung up.
Sandy stopped the recording on his pocket computer and began transferring it into Helen´s machine.
“That´s spooky,” Helen said.
“If not downright scary,” Sandy said. “I gather you´re going to try to get there.”
“Yes,” she said, punching her mobile, “see if you can get me a seat to Strasbourg – there´s an early direct flight from Montpellier – while I call Johannes.”
Sandy turned to the keyboard, calling up Helen´s ticketing site, and Helen listened as the phone rang.
“Hi, it´s Helen… Dumont just called again. Let me play you the recording.” She grabbed Sandy´s little computer and held it to the phone while she played back Dumont´s call.
“Yes,” she said when she had the phone back to her ear, “We´re e-mailing you the audio file, OK?… I´m not sure either… I have no idea if he´s setting a trap or if he wants to do a deal, but do you want to miss the chance? Look, we didn´t say anything to anyone about the ladder. How does he know about it?… Sandy´s trying to book me a flight.” Sandy held up his fingers in the universal OK sign. “He says he´s got me on. Will you be there? Good, I´ll look for you – where? Right, in Strasbourg. We can drive down together.” She took a piece of paper Sandy handed to her. “Here´s the flight number and arrival time…” She chuckled grimly. “Yes, I´ll wear my vest. See you.”
She disconnected and went to where Sandy, having risen from the computer desk was watching her. She put her arms around him, her face pressed against his chest. He folded her in his arms.
“Am I going off the deep end, Sandy? Is this really what I should be doing? Maybe I should leave everything to Johannes and the police.”
Sandy spoke softly into the crown of her head. “Of course you should leave it to the police. I told you, these guys aren´t fooling around. But, you won´t do that, I know. You´ve decided this is something you have to do.”
“Yes, it is. I have to do it – for myself and for Theo, somehow. He was murdered, Sandy.” She leaned back against his arms, her eyes locked to his. “We both know that, now.”
She freed herself from his arms and went to the sideboard to pour herself a glass of wine. With a glance and a gesture, she confirmed that he wanted one as well and poured it.
“He may have been playing fast and loose with the illegals, but I know from his accounts, he wasn´t getting any money for that. Every penny he had came from his job and his – our – investments.
“Theo wanted to help those people. Dumont sort of confirmed that. We used to talk about how the people from the east needed the money they could earn here in the west, and once the Wall went down, he didn´t see any reason why they shouldn´t have a chance at it.”
Sandy sipped from his glass. “That´s pretty much what Johannes and I think,” he said. “It´s hard to argue with helping people in need, even when – especially when – helping needy people is against the law. Trouble is, when you play outside the sandbox, you can get eaten. Theo got eaten. He wasn´t in their league and they just chewed him up and spit him out.”
Helen shuddered. “You sure have a way of putting it.” She squared her shoulders. “But you´re right. Now, I wonder about Dumont. Is he another tool, or is he one of the mob?”
“I guess you´re going to find out, aren´t you?” Sandy put his arm around her waist, pulling her to his side.
Walking from the gate, Helen met Johannes, hugging him tight.
“Glad you´ve got your vest on,” he said with a smile.
“You too. But they aren´t that comfortable for flying.”
“Well, we´re going directly to the job site. I told Rummy to be careful too, when I called him this morning. He said Doris made him promise to wear his vest until this thing is cleared up. He´s getting impatient.”
“That Doris!”
Johannes had rented a car and they drove off toward Freiburg, but not before stopping to pick up a couple of sandwiches and bottles of water for lunch, then heading directly for the site of the future Wald Sauna.
They talked and ate as Johannes drove, mainly about little things. But finally, Helen asked, “How did you get into this, anyway?”
Johannes glanced across at her. “I´ve been in the Swiss Federal Police all my career. The Interpol assignment just came my way a year or so ago, and I like the work. It´s more interesting.”
“Don´t you go and tell me Swiss criminals are boring. I won´t believe it.”
“No, there´s nothing funny about criminals of any origin. I just enjoy the challenge of working across borders and with people from other forces.”
“It has occurred to me to wonder how you realized I was involved with this. I´m glad, of course. I feel so much… what? Safer? Well, more confident, now that you´re working with us.”
Johannes reached over and pressed her thigh; Helen felt his pleasure. “Well, first tell me what you did about that appointment you mentioned to Dumont.”
Helen grinned, “You don´t miss much. Guess that´s why you´re good at what you do. I have to be in Orange later this week. I just pushed it as late as I could; I should be back home for the weekend, and Sandy´s going with me, Johannes. He told me about your deal.”
“Good. I just don´t want to take chances if we don´t have to. I´m working on the assumption that with two attempts on your life you need protection. I may be wrong, but I´d rather be wrong than lose you.”
“Bless you, Johannes, but back to my question. How did you know about me?”
“I´ve told you I missed you, Helen. And you know that´s true. Well, a few months before this all started, I was sort of fiddling around in some slack time looking through old, unresolved cases the way we do in my business, and Theo´s case came up. Of course, your name was in the file, as well. Then I noticed no one had put the serial number of the gun in the record, and a few other little things, so I put it on my list of things to re-visit. As simple as that. Then, all of a sudden, the KP in Baden-Württemburg contacted us with the serial number and the other information, I jumped right on it. Nothing very surprising about that. Of course, if I hadn´t noticed Theo´s file earlier I might have missed it.”
“No, Johannes, just very sweet. Loving, I´d say. Thank you.”
They were very quiet for quite a while. When they stopped to use the toilet, Helen got back to the car first and took over the driver´s seat. Before long, the car again moved swiftly south along the A-5.
Helen drove into the job site, heading for the Hoch und Tiefbau office, where they knew Rummy would be waiting. When Helen drove into the car park, Rummy came out of the container-office and walked over to them. He hugged Helen, shook hands with Johannes before guiding them into the office.
“Dumont´s been here about an hour,” he said, “and he´s jumpy as hell.”
Johannes said, “Well, I would be, too, no matter what he´s up to. From what you´ve said, he doesn´t strike me as a professional. And, we don´t have any record on him.”
Helen looked across Rummy´s chest at Johannes, a look that showed her growing awareness of the man´s professionalism.
Inside, Dumont rose from behind a desk where he had obviously been waiting. He came forward quickly to greet Helen.
“I´m so glad you could come. I have some important things to tell you.” Belatedly, he noticed Johannes, standing to one side of Rummy. “Ah?” he said, inquiringly.
Helen did the honors, “This is Johannes Selig, another associate of mine. You can speak frankly with him.”
Dumont waved his hand dismissively, “It doesn´t matter, really. If I had needed confidentiality, I wouldn´t have met you here, or with Rummy.”
He picked up a thick, letter-size envelope. “One thing, Helen, is this. Schellen told you when you met with him that he would make a proposal for labor and such. This is it, and I´ve given a copy to Werner Siegmann, too.”
“Where is Werner?” Helen asked. She took the envelope and wrote on it, returning it unopened to Dumont.
Rummy responded, “He had an appointment, Helen – should be back in an hour or two.”
Dumont grimaced. “A convenient appointment, I think. Werner didn´t want to get any further into this than he is already.”
Helen went to one of the desks and perched on it. “All right, Paul, let´s cut the crap. What is ‘this´ and what is your role in it? Werner is only ‘in it´ because I asked him to string you along.” Johannes stood to one side of the entrance door – not quite blocking it, and Rummy sat down on a chair in front of another desk, not far from Dumont. Dumont noted Johannes´s position, but made no comment.
“First, the proposal is from Sauter. No matter what it says about Schellen, the proposal is Sauter´s, not Schellen´s. I don´t know why Schellen is in this at all. You may already know that Sauter´s company, though not Sauter himself, has now been charged with criminal fraud. For that reason alone I know you won´t even consider this, but I was told to deliver it to you and to Werner. The proposal offers labor at rates about 30 percent below union scale.”
“Using illegal immigrants for labor – probably Turks,” Helen stated flatly. “With the assurance there will be no interference from the Man from Bau.”
“Yes. Well, the assurances are rather cloudy, as I´m sure you would expect.”
Helen leaned forward as far as her stiff vest allowed. “Paul, you didn´t get me up here on a distress call for this. Level with me. Now!”
Paul leaned back against the closest desk, planting one haunch on it, looking very tense. Rummy was on the edge of his chair.
“Yes. Well, Helen, the reason is the accidents that occurred the last two times you were here. I won´t have anything more to do with that.”
“What did you have to do with that? We´ve assumed that the crane accident was just that, an accident. Just not quite a deadly accident. But, the ladder thing could have broken bones, at least. Were you responsible? We didn´t make any noises about the ladder. How did you even know about it if you weren´t involved?” Helen´s demeanor held Dumont´s attention firmly.
Dumont nodded. “Yes. I did know about the ladder. I think the re-bar was an accident, but I´m not sure. I didn´t sabotage the ladder, Helen. I only heard about it after the whole thing happened. I was in Geneva that day, you know.” Helen nodded. “Well, I´m pretty sure… I know I was there so I wouldn´t be here when the trouble occurred. Sauter made a point of asking me to a meeting at his offices that had no purpose and no result.”
“A meeting like the one we had with Schellen,” Helen noted.
“Yes. Well, that was meant to get you to buy into this labor deal, Helen.” He indicated the envelope on the desk. “He really thinks he can get you to go along. But, Sauter´s pretty angry about getting thrown off the job site.”
“We´ll get back to that. Go on about the accidents.”
“When I was in Geneva that day, Sauter said he´d warned you that you might have labor problems and…”
“ ‘Disputes and misunderstandings´ were his words. But it was Schellen who said them.”
“Yes. Well, Sauter told me he had arranged a demonstration of what he meant. It was to take place while I was off site. He told me he wanted me to have ‘clean hands´. Someone mentioned the ladder during a break, and I overheard it.”
“Huh. Now tell me about the Bagger incident. You got my message about that the day before we came to meet Schellen. What do you know about that?
Dumont swallowed hard and looked down before responding. “Nothing. I was astonished. I don´t know how that happened. I really don´t know anything about it.” He looked at her, then at Rummy. “I´m so glad you weren´t hurt.
“I´m not going to go any further with this, Helen. I´m going to tell Schellen I´m quitting my job. I want you to know that I think one of them is out for you and I don´t want anything to do with it. That´s why I got you up here. I couldn´t discuss this with you on the phone from the office, of course, and I didn´t want to just go away – disappear – without telling you what I know.”
Johannes spoke from his position by the door. “I think you know more than you´ve told Helen, Dumont.”
“Who are you?” Dumont demanded, jolted out of his focus on Helen.
Helen recaptured his attention. “Never mind that now, Paul. You told us that you worked for Sauter a few months on secondment. Johannes is right; you´ve got to know more about this than you´re telling me.”
“Yes, I do. Sauter´s people showed me the whole thing, at least as far as getting illegals and placing them here in the EU is concerned. They did not let me know about any of the… I don´t know what you call this except violence. There have got to be Mafia connections, or something, here.”
“And what are you going to do about that?” Helen asked.
“About what?”
“About Sauter´s illegal operations with immigrants and his use of violence to enforce his deals?”
“I guess you mean, am I going to go to the police?”
“That is what I mean.”
“Yes, I want to, but I´m not sure how.”
Johannes spoke up again. “I think Helen has taken care of that for you, M Dumont. I am Major Johannes Selig, of the Swiss Federal Police.” He stepped forward with his identification folder, showed it to Dumont. “We have known about these operations for some time. You can be helpful to us if you wish. If not, we will have to take a different approach with you.”
Dumont slumped, looked at Helen. “I guess I´m not too smart. I´ve told you all this without even making sure who he was. Well, that´s all right. I´ll do what I can. I´ve been miserable about all of this.”
“Thank you.” Helen said.
Johannes said, “You mentioned the name of Theo Brechstein to Rummy when you first met him. What do you know about Brechstein?”
“Brechstein? Nothing. Sauter told me to mention that name – in that way – to Rummy when Schellen was having the design review meeting with Helen. I had no idea at the time who he was. Why?”
Johannes continued. “You are acquainted with the use of a representative from IG Bau who would ignore the use of illegals on these jobs?”
“I told Helen about that the first time I called her. Sauter´s people told me ‘arrangements´ had been made with Bau to do that, and I told her. I assumed there were payoffs involved. That was the first thing that got to me about this.”
“Did anyone tell you anything more about Brechstein other than that he was a sympathetic person?” Johannes continued.
“Only that someone – I don´t recall who – said he used to be the Man from Bau for them.”
“When did you hear about his role? Before or after you mentioned him to Rummy?”
“Afterwards. Up to that point, I hadn´t had any real understanding of that aspect of their operation. When Rummy didn´t seem to know who Brechstein was, I got curious and asked one of the people I was working with. They told me Brechstein was their guy for a while and that he did it for nothing – out of sympathy – but that he quit and now they have to pay someone to let the illegals sneak in.”
Helen spoke, her voice low and full of emotion. “Paul, Theo didn´t quit. He was murdered because he wanted to quit. Theo Brechstein was my husband.”
Dumont´s face went pale. He sank into a chair across from Rummy. “My god! I had no idea.” He stared at the wall. After some time, he turned to Helen. “I can only say ‘I´m sorry´.” He turned back to Johannes. “All right. Am I under arrest?”
Johannes´s smile was not cheerful. “We don´t often arrest people just for being stupid or mildly venal. It doesn´t appear at this time that you´ve had any direct involvement in these very real crimes. But, if you wish to cooperate with our investigation, we will be glad to provide you with any security you may require. And, of course, our sincere thanks.” His smile became somewhat more cheerful.
“My family, too?”
“Of course.”
Dumont relaxed slightly. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Johannes gestured vaguely. “I´ll need you back in Geneva to meet with our investigators and the magistrate. Tomorrow will do. Right now, it´s getting late, and I imagine Herr Siegmann wants his office back. I´d suggest we go back to Freiburg for the night, and you come with me in the morning. Helen and Rummy can go home, I think, for the time being.”
Rummy called the Hotel Am Rathaus and made reservations for Johannes and Helen; he and Dumont already had rooms. In near silence, they gathered their things and went outside.
Werner Siegmann came across the yard, smiling. “You finished with my office? Can I have it back?”
Helen spoke for them all. “Thanks, Werner. When are you going to need us back again?”
“Well, I´ll let you know if anything comes up, but you´re scheduled for next week, and that should do. I think we´re still ahead of schedule, by the way.”
“Well, I´d keep that information to yourself, Werner. There´s money involved in that, and I don´t want anyone getting greedy.”
“I understand, Helen. Don´t worry.” He went inside.
“Well, let´s meet back at the hotel,” Helen said. “I´ll buy a drink.”
Dumont said, “If you don´t mind, Helen, I´ll pass. Under the circumstances, I´m not celebrating anything.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and headed for his Swiss-registered BMW, pressing the remote lock button.
The BMW´s horn sounded and the lights flashed, then, with a roar, the car exploded, sending flames and metal into the air. The roof flew straight upward, falling back on the flaming wreck. A door slammed into the trunk of the old beech tree next to it, while the blast, flames and metal smashed into the car on the other side.
Dumont staggered back, throwing his hand up before his face, then fell to the ground. Rummy dropped too, as did Helen, both covering their heads. Johannes rolled his body over Helen´s, remaining still until the worst of the debris had landed around them. Fortunately, nothing seemed to have hit them.
Werner came running out of the office, shouting into his mobile, obviously calling in emergency services. Rummy got up and went to help him check the area for anyone who might have been injured.
Helen, half-deafened by the roar and the subsequent fire, yelled at Johannes, “Get up, damnit! You´re crushing me. I´m all right.” Reluctantly, Johannes moved to the side, then rose and went to where Dumont lay. He reached down and touched the man´s shoulder.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Dumont turned his head, straining to look at Johannes. “Yes, just barely. They meant to kill me, too.”
“Yes, well, get up, now. It´s over for the moment.” He helped Dumont to his feet, the man still shaky. “I think you´d better come back with me.”
“Not much choice there, but thanks.” He began running his hands over his body, looking at once for injuries as well as to brush the dirt of the car park and debris from his demolished car off his clothes.
Helen, too, had risen and was brushing her clothes off. She went to where Werner and Rummy were still talking, already organizing the clean up, though the BMW was still burning fiercely. A moment later, a construction truck drove in to the car park and men piled out with chemical fire extinguishers and began putting out the flames.
A few minutes later, a green and white police car swept into the park, its lights flashing and Martinshorn belatedly turned off. The driver and his partner sprang out.
Johannes went forward, showed his ID and talked with them as fire trucks appeared from somewhere and the professionals took over from the construction crew.
It was nearly dark before Johannes completed his discussions with the police and those who followed. While he conferred with them, Helen and Rummy went back to the office and sat close beside each other. Dumont, when not needed by the police, slumped in a chair, his face in his hands, his trembling only barely concealed.
Once, when they had stepped outside, Rummy said to Helen, “How are you feeling? What´s on your mind?”
“I won´t say I´m not scared, Rummy. I´m glad Paul wasn´t killed, but you´ve got to know I believe he was in bed with them, and if he´d died, I wouldn´t have cared a bit.”
Rummy took her hand and held it for quite a while.
Finally, Johannes came to collect them. “I´ve had our cars checked, and they´re all right. Yours too, Herr Siegmann. We´ve checked the lot of them.”
“They knew which one was mine.” Dumont stated flatly.
“Yes,” Johannes said. “Let´s get going. Dumont, come with me. Helen, you go with Rummy, please.”
They went out to their cars and drove off past the crowd of police and fire people, the dazzling lights finally fading behind them.
The site´s car park opened onto a 500-meter dirt road linking the site and the nearby Landstrasse. They drove along it, passing one or two cars parked on the side of the road, most likely those of workers at the site. In one car, two men were sitting, the glow of cigarettes marking their presence. In only a few moments, they came to the main road and turned on to it.
The road was a two-lane secondary road with narrow shoulders and lined with plane trees. Rummy, following Johannes at a safe distance, sighed deeply.
“That was too close, Helen. Thank god we´ve got Johannes on this.”
As he spoke, an overtaking car shot past them, slipping in front of them to let on-coming traffic pass. Rummy hit the brakes and growled, “Damn fool. He´ll get himself killed.”
As soon as the on-coming carriageway was clear, the car ahead sped up to pass Johannes´s car. As it came alongside Johannes, it swerved sharply, smashing into the side of the car and forcing Johannes onto the shoulder of the narrow road. A wheel caught in a depression, and the car flipped sharply to the right, landing on its side. The other car sped off.
“Rummy!” Helen screamed. Rummy was already standing on the brakes, and brought the car to a controlled stop close to where Johannes´s vehicle had careened, the wheels spinning idly. Helen was out before Rummy, who stopped to set the hand brake and turn on the flashers. Then, he was out and fumbling for his mobile. Hastily, he informed the police of the new emergency.
Helen, meanwhile, ran to the wrecked car, clambering recklessly up onto the side of the vehicle to peer into the closed window. Fortunately, the vehicle seemed stable, not threatening to roll further.
She turned and called to Rummy, “He´s alive! Rummy, come help me.”
She stood, her heavy boots on the back door, and pulled on the driver´s door handle, managing to get it open a few inches. In moments, Rummy was there, helping her lift the door open. Helen stretched to hold the door – scratched and crumpled, but still functional – as wide as she could manage.
“Damn it, Rummy! Help me. See if he´s all right.”
Johannes´s voice rumbled out of the depths of the car. “Helen, for god´s sake get down. I´m all right, just hung up in my seat belt. Close the door and wait until the fire people get here. I don´t want you hurting yourself!” He waved his police radio. “I´ve already called back to the site for help.”
Carefully, Helen eased the door shut again. Johannes managed to lower the window, and she kneeled on the side of the car.
“What about Dumont?” she asked.
“He´s unconscious. Hit his head, I think. But, he´s breathing and his pulse is regular. I think he´s all right, too. You need to get down, under cover. They may come back.”
“They do, and I´ll kill them!”
“With what? A hairpin? You don´t even wear any. Get down from there and stick with Rummy.”
Rummy leaned up to the window. “Johannes, I think I have a partial license number on that car.”
“Tell me.”
“It was a Mercedes C-class. Light color. Basel license plate. All I got was 964.”
Johannes lifted his radio. “Thanks. I´ll see what we can do.”
Reluctantly, Helen let Rummy help her down off the side of the car and huddled with Rummy behind his car on the side of the road, shaking uncontrollably for a time. Rummy tried to calm her, and then went to set out the warning triangle down the road from their location. It seemed forever until the flashing lights of the police car and a fire truck from the job site came rushing down the road. But, the firemen soon had the car upright and Johannes out of the harness. When an ambulance arrived, Dumont, still unconscious, was brought out and put on a stretcher. The medic told them, “He´s had a bad knock on the head, but he should be all right. May have a concussion.”
With Rummy driving, it was late when they reached the hotel. Rummy accompanied Helen to her room to check against intruders, but it was clear. They went into the hotel´s café and had a quiet, monosyllabic vesper of wurst, cheese and bread washed down with beer. Johannes made arrangements for the morning; they agreed to meet for breakfast.
Helen took a very long, very hot shower. Her breasts were sore from the compression of the vest and from having Johannes´ body covering her after the explosion. When she was dry and in bed, she reached to turn out the light, then reconsidered. She picked up her mobile and punched Sandy´s number.
“Helen? What´s up? Are you all right?”
“Just barely, Sandy. I really need to talk to you.” The shakes had begun again, and it was with a tremulous voice she told Sandy all that had happened. By the time, she was finished, the spell had passed.
“I just needed to talk to you. Tell you about it,” she told him.
“How´s Johannes?” Sandy asked. “And Rummy?”
“I told you. He´s okay. And, Rummy´s probably talking to Doris, just like me.” A thought struck her, and she gasped. “I just realized! They thought it was me! I was the one driving when we got to the job site. Oh, god.” Her attention returned to the conversation.
“No, but you mean, how come I didn´t turn to Johannes or Rummy to talk about this. Why I´m waking you up. Sandy, they were there and they know. But, that´s not it either. I need you, Sandy. I can´t wait to get home and have you hold me.”
“I´ll be here. I wish I were there. I´m proud of you, Helen, you´re wonderful and tough and…” He paused for a long time.
Helen listened to his breathing over the telephone connection, knowing he was listening to hers.
“I think I love you, Sandy.”
“Yeah. What I was thinking, too. I love you, Helen.”
She wasn´t sure who broke the connection, though she might have been asleep when it happened.