Shark and Octopus Page 25
“As always, Sergeant. Thank you.”
“Does he ever listen to you, Ms. Knaack?” the sergeant asked Annie. The question was accompanied by a throwing up of his meaty hands.
“Not always, no,”
“Relax, Sergeant,” Griffin told him. “This might just work.”
“Tell you what,” Sergeant Ahearn said. “I’ll be there. The department’s overtime budget shouldn’t stop me. I’ll bring Officer Fernandez. We’ll be there. Can’t let you have all the fun.”
*
Griffin watched Sergeant Ahearn walk through the sharp afternoon sunlight and get into in the car parked in front of the house. It was an unmarked police vehicle. Griffin appreciated that the cop had driven an unmarked car rather than a police cruiser, which would have left neighbors gossiping.
Only after the man had driven out of sight did Griffin turn around. Saif was already at the dining room table, laptop open.
“Ready to send the email whenever you are,” Saif said. “I crafted language which gives the location and time for the meeting you and the Sergeant agreed on. Should I send to Roberto de Ruiz?”
“Send it.”
Griffin looked at each of them again, starting and ending with Annie. Then he said, “I’m going to need your help.”
THIRTY-FIVE
July 2
8:30 am
“Still no sign of Roberto de Ruiz,” were Grace’s first words when she called Griffin. “Under any of his many aliases. I’ll send you the list, just so you’ll have it. We’ll keep checking passenger manifests. We’ve got someone stationed at 55 airports. He doesn’t know what he’s up against.”
“Yeah, he does,” Griffin said, after hanging up.
*
July 2
12:30 pm
“No word from Roberto de Ruiz,” Saif explained in his call to Griffin. “He has not replied to the email I sent setting out the exact time and location of the meeting. His silence could mean that he’s not going to go through with it. It could mean he’s traveling right now. Could mean a lot of things.”
“It could mean he’s trying to make me anxious. And I have to say it’s working. Saif, will you be able to keep an eye out for de Ruiz’s reply? I know you’re especially busy these days. What with your teaching, your doctoral defense July 5th. And of course now there is the gorgeous Janice to keep you occupied.”
“I’ll check online every hour.”
*
July 2
2:00 pm
“We’ve got an ID on Dude, Mr. Gilmore,” Sergeant Ahearn explained when he called that afternoon. “The guy Timothy Dean got high with at the biker bar in Essex? His name is Cleveland Dumont. He is a Sparrow’s Point native. Your age. You’ve heard of someone with a record as long as your arm? This guy’s record’s as long as both arms and maybe a leg or two. He’s a veritable role model for recidivists.
“Mostly he’s done crimes against property, several burglaries we know about. To that we can probably add the break in at Hans Baeder’s house, though we’ll never get him for that. He’s been arrested for a few bar fights. He’s a car thief. It’s my sense he’d do just about anything for money.
“Cleveland Dumont’s father and grandfather put in their thirty years working on the line at Bethlehem Steel. Honest, hardworking men all their lives. Cleveland has never worked an honest day in his life.”
“How’d you get his name?”
“I leaned on the Belair Road therapist. Remember Timothy Dean said that’s where he met Dude? At court-ordered counseling for his drug addiction. I don’t know that we could use the ID of Cleveland Dumont in court. A defense attorney could keep it out of evidence as coerced. But I knew you’d want to know. And another thing, Mr. Gilmore. Remember the business card we found in the glove compartment car Timothy Dean was driving?”
“What about the card?”
“You may recall that our handwriting expert” – Sergeant Ahearn delivered the last two words with sufficient sarcasm Griffin could just about see quotation marks floating around them – “our expert said she just couldn’t be sure whether the 5722 Gist Avenue written on the back of the card had been written by a man or a woman.”
“My memory is that you weren’t happy with her for that.”
“I’m not quite so angry now. I thought she was just being a bureaucratic weenie, afraid to make a decision. I chatted with her today. There are characteristics of both a man and a woman’s handwriting. It’s such a small sample, and a confusing sample. I can’t fault her reluctance to decide.”
*
July 2
4:45 pm
On the phone Grace told him: “Mr. Gilmore, all the details on the Cayman Islands offshore bank account have now been finalized. If need be, de Ruiz can call, give this password to the contact at the bank, Robert Jordan, and money can be wired into the account that has been set up. The password is PERSEPHONE.”
“Queen of the underworld,” Griffin knew from his reading on mythology. “And all the riches to be found there.”
“Mr. Gilmore, you do understand that you cannot-”
“Keep the money. Yes, I get that.”
After the call Griffin realized he was smiling, slightly. Not at Grace’s attempt at humor – she had all the joke-telling skills of an undertaker. She must have heard the tension in his voice and tried to relax him. He appreciated that. Not that it worked.
*
What did Griffin do all day, between calls?
He went into the basement armed with a wire brush and putty knife Annie had picked up for him on a trip to the mall. The basement walls were stunning in their clashing ugliness. Two walls were painted the faded green of bronze statutes exposed for years to rain and snow. Two walls were painted a shade of red Griffin knew was Kermes, which first appeared in Persian carpets 2500 years ago. That anyone could paint that terminally clashing combination on the walls of the same room baffled Griffin.
He began scraping the paint. There were several coats of paint to scrape away, which required Griffin to work long stretches in the same spot. A shower of the dull green and deep red paint chips began covering the basement floor. The slow progress was fine with him. It gave him time to think.
*
July 2
9:35 pm
“Sorry to call so late,” Sergeant Ahearn apologized. “Hope I didn’t wake you. Only now did I learn that our tech guys had finished their work.”
“You didn’t wake me, Sergeant,” Griffin replied, doubting sleep would be an issue at all. “What work did your tech people finish?”
“I’ll be by tomorrow to give you a tracking beeper. It’s only slightly larger than the size of a pinhead. It is to be taped in your armpit. The technology is amazing. The beeper is warmed by your blood. There is no need for a power source. The beeper will allow us to track your whereabouts at all times in the meeting with Roberto de Ruiz – a meeting I remain convinced will never occur.”
*
July 3
9:15 am
“Still no word from Roberto de Ruiz, Griffin,” Saif said, calling the next morning. As Griffin listened, he picked a thumb-sized red paint chip from his hair. “Maybe the man is bailing. Maybe he senses he’s being set up.”
“He probably does know he’s being set up,” Griffin answered. “But for the del Gesu? He’ll come anyway.”
Something inside Griffin’s left ear itched. With his index finger he scooped out a green paint chip.
“How is it possible to get a paint chip in your ear?” he wondered aloud.
“I have no idea.”
“And you call yourself a professor.”
*
July 3
11:05 am
It was Annie who called next.
“I’m at the mall, Griffin,” she told him. “Is there anything here you need?”
“Is Miss P there?”
“She is, why?”
“Is the mall open on July Fourth?”
“It is, why?
”
“Can you ask Miss Paulette if she’d mind if we met her there at the mall? You, me, Kit, Bobby, Saif? Say eight in the morning July Fourth?”
Annie said she would and asked why Griffin wanted to speak to Miss P.
“Annie, I’ve been thinking about those notes on Hans Baeder’s wall. The notes that stutter and the notes that are a bit off, remember? I want to ask her about those. Would she be around, you think?”
“I can ask her. Anything else?”
“Hurry home as fast as you can.”
*
July 3
12:12 pm
Grace called.
“Mr. Gilmore, I had hoped to tell you we know Roberto de Ruiz is on his way to us, but I can’t. Not yet I can’t. I called because I have some information you asked for earlier.”
Griffin looked at his hands. The palms of both hands were blistering from the scraping. “Which is?”
“You asked about the travel of Hans Baeder when he left Germany for the United States, summer 1954.”
“Yes, I want to know if Hans stopped anywhere between Germany and the US. He sailed here, I assume. I cannot imagine Hans had the money for a plane ticket, which must have cost a good bit in those days.”
“As you figured, he sailed, on a cargo ship. He worked as part of the ship’s crew in exchange for passage. That was sometimes done in those days, for those who lacked the money for the ticket.”
“Sailed from where?” Griffin scratched his eyebrows. A snowfall of tiny green and red paint chips descended. “What was Hans’ point of departure for the US? Germany?”
“No, France. Mr. Baeder left from Le Havre. In the Fifties, Le Havre was the point of departure for most folks sailing from France for the United States.”
“Can you tell, Grace? Can you tell if Hans went through Paris on his way to Le Havre?”
“That cannot be determined. The record doesn’t reveal travel within European countries. However...”
“However what?”
“However he almost certainly had to go through Paris. He’d have no choice. All the train lines to almost every city of any size in France in those days ran through Paris. Hans almost certainly could not have afforded a car to drive straight through to Le Havre from Germany. I doubt he even had the money for gas, let alone rent or own a car.”
“He never got a driver’s license in this country. He didn’t drive. He had to go to Le Havre by train,” Griffin answered. “I’m confident he must have gone through Paris on his way to America.”
“Why is that important? Whether he went to Paris?”
“I’ll let you know.”
*
July 3
1:48 pm
“Let’s see if it works, Mr. Gilmore,” Sergeant Ahearn said. “Tape the tracking beeper into your armpit the way I showed you. We put it in the armpit so the beeper won’t be noticed in an ordinary frisk. Once the beeper is in place, walk around the house.”
As he promised the day before, Sergeant Ahearn arrived at Griffin’s house with the beeper. The Sergeant was now calling on a phone from his unmarked car parked out front.
Griffin did as ordered. He taped the very small beeper under his left armpit and walked from the upstairs bathroom, down the steps, through the dining room and kitchen, out the back door, onto the back porch, and into the yard.
“Had you the whole way,” Sergeant Ahearn said. “It’s almost a shame to waste this technology, since this meeting’s not much likely to happen.”
*
July 3
2:17 pm
“I know I sound like a broken record, Griffin, but no word from Roberto de Ruiz.”
“Keep checking, Saif. I‘m not in the habit of disagreeing with Sergeant Ahearn –who is convinced the meeting will never happen – but I believe de Ruiz is on his way for the del Gesu.”
“Hey, Griffin?”
Griffin was looking at his bare feet. He’d been working in the basement without shoes or socks. The feet were filthy and decorated with paint chips and dust.
“What is it, Saif?”
“I’ve been wondering. Is it possible Roberto de Ruiz knows it’s you offering the violin?”
“I’ve been wondering that as well. I suspect he does know it’s me.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Shouldn’t be. If he knows who I am – and he addressed me as Mr. Gilmore in the museum – then he knows I was arrested as a thief and very nearly did time. That a thief would somehow get a hold of a violin and be willing to sell it for the biggest score of a lifetime? That fits my profile.”
“Does he know about your link to Grace? If he knows about her, he may know you’re linked to the federal government. That might scare him off.”
“No,” Griffin answered firmly. “I don’t think he knows about Grace. All the Duke and I talked about were the logistics of recovering the key and his family’s honor. That and endless lectures on grapes and wine. Whichever blonde the Duke was with then? Who was getting paid off by Roberto de Ruiz for information on my plans? She wouldn’t know anything about Grace. I never told the Duke about Grace.
“And, Saif? I’m convinced that even knowing about Grace wouldn’t discourage Ruiz. He’s after the del Gesu. It matters too much to him. He’s coming here, no matter what.”
*
July 3
2:31 pm
Grace was nearly shouting in her excitement.
“Guess who bought a ticket for a flight arriving BWI tonight?” She sounds like a child unwrapping a present Christmas morning, Griffin thought. “A gentleman by the name of Salvador Caballero. Recognize the name?”
“Isn’t that one of the names on the list you sent me of aliases used by Roberto de Ruiz?”
“It is indeed. Senor Caballero bought a ticket at the very last minute. And the ticket was not purchased under his own name but through a travel agent. He was attempting to avoid detection. He likely would have succeeded except the Spanish government is working with us on this. They would love to take out the man supplying explosives to the Basque separatists. The Spanish contacted us.”
“What time does the flight arrive at the Baltimore airport?” Griffin asked. He was studying his blisters, which had started to bleed.
“Due at BWI at 7:11 this evening.”
“You’ll have some people there?” Griffin wondered.
“Some people and me.” Griffin studied his bloody blisters in silence. “Mr. Gilmore?”
“Let me know how it goes, Grace. I’ve got to get back to my scraping.”
*
As he scraped, Griffin thought about the notes on Hans Baeder’s wall. Why did he change the composition of his beloved Mozart? Why add notes Miss Paulette described as a little off and stuttering? While he was dying? Griffin scraped and considered the questions.
*
July 3
3:47 pm
“Griffin?”
By Saif’s tone Griffin knew why he had called.
“He responded, didn’t he? Roberto Ruiz replied.”
“Yes. He has emailed that he’ll be at the time and place of the meeting you propose. He has the money. He expects you to have the 1742 Guarneri del Gesu. That’ a problem, isn’t it?”
“I’m trying to finesse that.”
“There’s one other thing.” Griffin asked what that was. “De Ruiz is somewhere in the United States. Unlike email sent from Europe, with email sent in this country it is not possible to tell where the message originated. I know he’s here in the US. More precise than that, I can’t say. You want me to forward the email to Grace? The feds have the technology to trace the point of origin.”
“Don’t bother. Ruiz is very good at moving quickly. He’d be long gone by the time anyone showed there.”
“All we know is that de Ruiz could be anywhere from Maine to California.”
“Or Baltimore. He could be in Baltimore right now getting ready for our meeting.”
*
July 3
/> 7:27 pm
“He never showed, Mr. Gilmore,” Sergeant Ahearn explained. “Grace asked me to be here for the arrival of the flight here at BWI. I volunteered to make this call, since I wanted to give you the bad news myself. Roberto Ruiz never showed. The seat on the plane was empty. The ticket went unused. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Sergeant. I knew de Ruiz wasn’t on that flight. He’s already in this country. Maybe already in Baltimore. It’s my belief he is.”
Somehow, by the silence, Griffin could tell that Sergeant Ahearn, a man not easily surprised, was startled by that news.
“I guess it would be futile, Mr. Gilmore, to remind you that you do not have to do this. We can set the trap without you.”
“You’re right, Sergeant. It would be futile. I’ll be there tomorrow morning at 5:30.”
“You know I’ll be there as well.”
“Actually, Sergeant? I’d like to see you before then. Here at my house? It’s kind of important.”