Shark and Octopus Page 24

“Her answer’s kind of a stall. ‘I need to contact my buyer. Do not complete any transaction until then.’”

  “Tell Alexandra: ‘We have made other arrangements.’”

  “But, Griffin? She’s got to be following the website exchange with Roberto de Ruiz same way we are.”

  “I agree.”

  “She’ll know our other arrangements are with him.”

  “So? The only reason we bothered with Alexandra Webb was as a kind of insurance policy, in case Roberto de Ruiz never saw our offer on his own.

  “You know, I had Bobby pretend to be Dr. Vernon Briggs again, in a call to Future-Ride. Without coming out and saying it, Bobby strongly implied to Alexandra Webb that he was part of a consortium of buyers looking to sell the 1742 Guarneri del Gesu. The point of the call was to help convince Alexandra that the del Gesu was now available. I knew she would then tell Roberto Ruiz, in order to get her commission.”

  ”So Ruiz gets the violin on his own. Which means Alexandra Webb doesn’t get her commission. She’s out nine million dollars, more.”

  “That’s also right.”

  “She won’t like it.”

  Griffin picked up Dr. Eckleburg and returned the calico to his thigh.

  “No,” he agreed with Saif. “I don’t think Alexandra Webb will like that at all.”

  *

  Half an hour later, Griffin was on the front porch, sipping orange juice with Kit and Annie. Dr. Eckleburg was there too, sprawled on her back, dog-like, enjoying a shaft of sunlight on her belly.

  Griffin recounted for Annie and Kit what he’d learned about Roberto Ruiz. He explained the emails Saif had been sending to lure Ruiz with the promise of the del Gesu violin. When his phone rang, Griffin grabbed the phone before taking the time to see who was calling.

  “I’d say he’s anxious,” were the first words he heard.

  “Is this Saif? Who’s anxious?”

  “Roberto de Ruiz, of course. He’s already replied. He’s provided a private channel for communication, as you insisted. He did it with passwords and encryption. Very cleverly done, too,” Saif commented, in a respectful tone. “It’s secure. He can communicate with us and we can with him – and no one else will know what we’re telling each other. As soon as he knew the channel was secure, he sent us a message.”

  “Saif, I’m on the porch with Kit and Annie. Give us a quick sec to go into the dining room and fire up the speaker phone.”

  Once that was done, Griffin asked, “What exactly did Senor de Ruiz’s message say?”

  “He wrote, ‘Date acceptable. I need time, location, and payment information immediately.’ I’d say he’s eager. Griffin, do I reply to Mr. de Ruiz? He said we should respond immediately.”

  “Not yet. Why don’t we let him get a bit more anxious.”

  “How long should I wait?”

  Griffin thought a moment. “Five hours. At two o’clock send him a reply on the secure channel he’s set up. Two our time is eight o’clock his. The Spanish dine late. It’d be nice if we interrupted his dinner, keep him off balance a bit.

  “Now, if I’m selling the del Gesu for the money, as we want Ruiz to believe, my first concern would be arranging payment. So, here’s the text: ‘Buyer: Payment is to be made at time of sale on July Fourth. Exact time and location of our meeting to follow.”

  Griffin then asked Saif, “Can you be here at three tomorrow afternoon?”

  Saif agreed he could, “Though I’ll be cutting it close. I’ve got a late lunch scheduled.”

  “Who with?” Griffin asked, assuming the answer would be someone at the university or on his doctoral defense panel.

  “Janice Singh.”

  “The gorgeous Janice! She’s the one who came to my door looking for you. I wouldn’t let you run away from her, as I recall.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  “First date?”

  “Second actually.”

  “Better still.”

  A few moments of pleasurable silence ensued, broken by Saif asking, “Griffin, you need something more from me?”

  “Just this. Did de Ruiz say anything else?”

  “He did. He again insists on inspecting the del Gesu before forking over $45 million. Sounds reasonable. You are aware we don’t”-

  “I know, Saif. I know. We don’t have a del Gesu to sell him.”

  *

  Still on the speaker phone, Griffin next called Grace. He detailed for her the exchange of emails. As always, she proved a skilled listener, interrupting seldom but inevitably with an insightful question.

  At one point she asked, “Mr. Gilmore, as far as de Ruiz knows, you’re in this for the $45 million, right? You have no other agenda, like helping your government capture an international arms dealer, correct? You understand that he can’t very well put this on the plastic. I don’t think a check that size would clear any bank.” Griffin granted all that was right. “He won’t have that kind of cash to hand you, obviously. How do you expect payment to be made?”

  “Off shore bank account, you think? But as far as details are concerned, I’m way in over my head with that, Grace,” Griffin admitted. “How are these things typically set up?”

  “There is no typical,” Grace responded. “I can set up an account in the Cayman Islands for you. We’ve done that in stings before, most often for money laundering.”

  “It’ll have to be a real account. Routing number, account number, however it works. We can assume he’ll check that out as best he can. If he sniffs anything phony, he won’t leave Europe. He’s very cautious.”

  “It’ll be a real account,” Grace assured him, almost boastfully. “It’ll pass any sniff test. You should also understand that from here on out we’ll be checking the passenger manifests on all international flights arriving at BWI. Newark, LaGuardia, and Dulles as well. Everyone arriving from Europe at an airport in this part of the country will be checked.

  “We’ve got a fairly recent picture of Senor de Ruiz – the one getting in his Bentley outside his Pyrenees villa. The picture will be circulated to every airport in the country. We know that he’s used various aliases and false passports. Those names will be on a watch list. “With any luck at all, we’ll grab him at the airport.” Grace kept on; Griffin could almost see her checking off numbered items on a legal pad. “You will need to set up a meeting with Ruiz, Mr. Gilmore. He must believe he’s getting the del Gesu violin. Even if he manages to avoid us at the airport, we’ll grab him on the way to the meeting. I don’t believe Roberto Ruiz will get within a mile of you. You are doing your country a service, Mr. Gilmore. The violin is the bait with which we bring Roberto de Ruiz to justice.”

  Grace spoke with her usual supreme confidence, which Griffin did not share. He thanked her and was about to hang up when a thought occurred to him.

  “Grace, didn’t you say Interpol has an interest in bringing Mr. de Ruiz to justice?”

  “A very serious interest.”

  “Are they willing to put their money where their mouth is?’

  “How’s that, Mr. Gilmore?”

  “Is there an Interpol reward for assisting in the capture of Roberto Ruiz, wanted international arms dealer?”

  “There is, and has been for some years. He is a very wanted man.”

  “Drawing on that reward, just in case this all works out – can you cut four checks in equal amounts for Robert Lowell, Saif Venkatesan, Covington Carson, and Miss Anne Knaack.”

  “Not five checks? Nothing for you?” Before Griffin could reply Grace answered her own question. “For you, this isn’t about money.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “It’s about payback.”

  “Not going to deny it.”

  He was again about to end the call when another thought occurred to him. The question had been gnawing at the edges of his brain for some time.

  “Grace, what do you know about Hans Baeder’s emigration to this country?”

  “Only the information I sent yo
u in the Fed Ex package.” From memory she recited, “Hans Baeder arrived in the United States from Germany, September 4, 1954.”

  “Did he emigrate directly from Germany?”

  “We can find that out. That would be part of the paperwork in his visa file. It was assumed that nothing happening to Mr. Baeder between Germany and the United States could be of interest. Is that assumption incorrect? Why do you want to know?”

  “Just curious.”

  Grace wasn’t taken in. “I’m not certain I believe you, but I’ll get the information.”

  Griffin thanked her again and ended the call. He looked at Kit and Annie and said, “I’ll call Bobby. I need us all here tomorrow at three. Coffee and donuts. We’re moving into the endgame.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  June 30

  3:01 pm

  When Griffin passed around coffees in the living room, Annie immediately noticed the sixth cup of coffee.

  “Who’s that for?” she wanted to know.

  “He said he’d be late.”

  “Who he?” Annie asked, but the he remained unidentified.

  “Here’s where I think we are,” Griffin began. “Grace has promised that if this works out, there is a share of the Interpol reward for each of you. For aiding in the apprehension of an international arms dealer. Roberto de Ruiz. Assuming our sting succeeds.”

  Griffin summarized de Ruiz’s career, mostly for Bobby, who knew none of the details.

  “Roberto de Ruiz believes he is about to purchase a 1742 Guarneri del Gesu. For him, the violin is the ultimate prize in his long journey to escape his humiliating past.”

  Saif started to object.

  “Yes, professor, I know we don’t actually have the violin,” Griffin recognized. “But what we do have,” he turned to Kit, “is the kind of box a violin would be kept in. The box is sealed and filled with whatever is in there to match the weight of a violin.”

  Kit explained, with some pride. “The weight is precisely the weight of the 1742 del Gesu.”

  Griffin pressed on. “Grace is in the process of setting up an offshore bank account. Roberto de Ruiz has agreed to pay $45 million into that account for the del Gesu. He will wire the money into the account at the time of our transaction.”

  “What about Alexandra Webb?” Annie asked. “She’s been after the del Gesu too.”

  “For many years, she’s been pursuing the del Gesu,” Griffin agreed. “But she’s out of the picture now.”

  “She’s out of a commission as well,” Kit reminded everyone. “I can’t imagine she’s all that happy about losing out on what we figured was her nine million dollar commission.”

  “We don’t all that much care about Alexandra Webb,” Griffin replied. “We do care about Roberto de Ruiz. He is a criminal our government and a number of other governments want. We’ll help them capture de Ruiz and each of you will enjoy your reward when we do.

  “Over the last couple days Saif has sent a series of emails to de Ruiz. We’ve told Senor de Ruiz the price – $45 million – and date – July Fourth – of the sale of the del Gesu. We have not, however, specified the exact time or location where the transaction will take place. We’ll take care of that today.”

  There was a knock at the door and Griffin stopped speaking.

  *

  Griffin heard the knock quite clearly; he realized he must have been anticipating it. Grabbing the sixth cup of coffee from a window sill, he walked to the front door. He opened the door and said to the man on the porch, “Coffee, cream and sugar okay?”

  “That’d be just fine,” Sergeant Ahearn said, accepting the cup. Before taking a sip he approached Annie.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Ms. Knaack.”

  Griffin was delighted the man remembered the proper pronunciation of her last name, with two syllables.

  “Mr. Covington, Mr. Lowell,” Sergeant Ahearn said, shaking hands with Kit and Bobby.

  “And, Sergeant, this is Saif Venkatesan, another former high school classmate.”

  Sergeant Ahearn stood in the middle of the living room, looking around.

  “This is the house you got in exchange for our activities last December?” Griffin and Annie agreed it was. “You certainly deserve it.”

  He peeled back a chunk of the plastic lid and sipped.

  “I have information from Grace,” the Sergeant began. “Then I know you wanted me here to ask me something.

  “Mr. Gilmore, an offshore bank account is being set up in the Cayman Islands,” he explained. “Once that’s done, Grace will call later today or tomorrow. She’ll give you the phone number and contact person at the bank. Someone will be standing by from midnight July Fourth on, in the event you and de Ruiz have your meeting. De Ruiz can call that number in the Caymans and ask for a Mr. Robert Jordan. With Mr. Jordan’s assistance and the password Grace will give you, de Ruiz can actually transfer the forty five million into your account. For deposits that large a password is necessary.

  “Sorry, Mr. Gilmore – and Grace asked me to stress this – you won’t be able to keep any of it. That money belongs to the American taxpayer.”

  “Grace made a joke?”

  “Never intentionally,” Sergeant Ahearn replied.

  “Long before any of that happens, however, I’m confident the feds will grab de Ruiz. Likely at an airport. As it has been explained to me, an enormous amount of federal resources are being devoted to this. Personnel are stationed at every airport east of the Mississippi handling international flights. The list of passengers for every flight coming into this country from abroad is being checked. You’re dealing with a very wanted man, Mr. Gilmore. Extraordinary precautions are being taken. Now what do you want to ask me?”

  *

  Griffin knew what he had to say, but couldn’t say it, not immediately. He knew that once he spoke to Sergeant Ahearn there was no turning back. No one else in the room – not even the sergeant, with all his years on the streets – quite grasped the danger Griffin was about to place himself in.

  They had not met Roberto de Ruiz. Griffin had, and understood how lethal the man could be. Griffin had no doubt that de Ruiz, despite his cultured polish, would have shot him in the museum if he needed to. If Griffin’s death had been the price for obtaining the key which de Ruiz thought would be bring him the 1742 del Gesu – then Griffin would be dead. Griffin knew that at the time. Standing in his living room, that realization crashed back to him with full force. He feared for a moment he might vomit up the coffee.

  He kept the coffee down and spoke to Sergeant Ahearn:

  “Sergeant, we need to propose a place where I meet Roberto de Ruiz. A meeting needs to be set up by email, as though I am arranging to sell him the del Gesu. Otherwise, he’ll never leave Europe. He’ll know he’s being set up. This guy is very thorough and very smart.”

  “I agree with all that. A meeting needs to be scheduled with Ruiz to persuade him you really are going to sell him the violin. It’s part of convincing him of your bona fides. If he’s not convinced, as you say, he never leaves Europe. Every meeting needs a time and place. What time would you prefer to meet? Have you considered that?”

  “I was thinking 5:30 in the morning of July Fourth.”

  “Why so early and why the Fourth of July?”

  “The Fourth of July is a holiday. Most folks will be sleeping late. We don’t need anyone else around if at all possible.

  “I want to go with 5:30 because I’ll be carrying a good sized box. I don’t want some concerned citizen spotting me with the box thinking I just burglarized some nearby house. We don’t need that complication. There will Fourth of July parades all day and cookouts and people about and fireworks at night. Best to get this done before any of that. That’s why the early meeting.”

  “Next question of course is place. Where do you think the meet should happen?”

  “I was hoping you could help with that.”

  Sergeant Ahearn thought a good while, weighing, then rejecting, poss
ible locations for the meeting. “All right,” he said finally. “This place worked once before for a sting. Should work again.

  “You know Rodgers Forge? Row house neighborhood by York Road and Stevenson Lane, south of Towson?” Griffin did. “On Dumbarton Road in Rodgers Forge are an elementary and middle school. The schools are side by side. They share a playing area for Little League, soccer, softball, lacrosse. You know those fields?’

  “Sure. Annie played softball there.”

  “Why don’t you arrange to meet Ruiz there on the Rodgers Forge fields? We can have cops in a couple of the row houses lining the fields on Dumbarton. You’ll be under surveillance the entire time. With the Baltimore County PD all over the place for your meet in the Rodgers Forge fields, he’ll be walking right into a trap. We’ll be there for you.”

  “Will you be there, Sergeant?” Annie asked.

  “Unfortunately not, Ms. Knaack. The county PD has budgetary concerns about overtime and I have maxed out mine. I won’t be working for the rest of the week. Truth be told, I can use the time off. But, chances are – and I cannot stress this enough – he never gets anywhere near you.

  “Mr. Gilmore?” The sergeant’s voice was suddenly softer, barely audible. “You don’t have to show up for the meeting. That’s something else Grace insisted I tell you. I’m saying it to you too. If you have any doubts, any fears at all? Just bail. You don’t have to be there. You hear me, Griffin?”

  “I hear you, Sergeant, but I am going to do this.” He was stating a simple fact, a fact as unquestionable to him as the atomic weight of some element in the periodic table. “I have to be there, and be there holding a box which Ruiz will think has the violin he wants inside. Ruiz is too smart and too cautious. He won’t walk into a trap without the violin box – which means me, carrying the box – in the middle of it.”

  The sergeant’s soft, kindly voice vanished. “Dammit!” he shouted at Griffin. “You don’t have to do this. You hear me, Griffin?”