Buzzard Bay (41 page)

“You speak as though he’s still alive,” July asked him.

“We think he is dead,” Novak told her, “but we are not sure.”

Their meeting, at July’s request, was held at Bob’s bedside. There was no sign of improvement; in fact, Novak thought he looked very much like a dead man.

Novak picked July up that night to take her to Chamberlain’s. “How’s my July?” Sir Harry asked her in his lilting English accent that always seemed to cheer her up. He asked her if there was any change in Bob. “I’m sorry,” he explained, “that I haven’t been able to visit you. I’ve been out of the country.” Then he winked at her.

“I hear this party is your idea, July. You never fail to amaze me.”

“At least, I have two friends here tonight,” she thought, “the odds are getting better.”

The people at Chamberlain’s were basically the same people that were at the first meeting, with the exception of Chamberlain himself and the young CIA man who was now accompanied by an older gentleman whom no one seemed to know. This time, each man introduced himself and the police force or organization he represented. After this was accomplished, Chamberlain asked July to tell her story, going back to day one.

It seemed so long ago to July as she remembered how excited they were to be leaving Canada to start a new life on the farm complex in the Bahamas, and then gradually how they learned the truth as to why they were really on the farm at Andros.

July started, “No one ever thought we could actually make a go of it after Tom Newton disappeared, and the cartel cut off our funding. We were too naive to know the power and money that was involved in the drug trade. We had had no idea how ruthless these people could be.”

he told them how everyone but herself was extradited out of the country. “A man by the name of Waddell seemed to do what he wanted in these islands.”

he looked at the Bahamian, “Waddell took me basically for his own pleasure. I was fortunate to get away and get to Mr. Chamberlain for help. Bob and the others were not so fortunate. Someone decided they knew too much and sent some people to get rid of him and the two other couples who had run the farm, but Bob managed to get away. This is where Constable Novak came in. He can tell you more about what happened than I can because he was there. However, Bob told me he wounded one and killed another of the men who were after him. There were at least seven people all told killed in Canada. The police suspected Bob, but he knew Waddell had me, so rather than staying and clearing himself, he managed to slip away trying to come to my rescue. He also ended up here at Chamberlain’s. It was here that we were, let us say, persuaded into working with the CIA, in a plot to get a man we all know as El Presidente.”

July went on, “My husband masqueraded as a notorious drug lord by the name of Bertrand who was trying to run El Presidente’s cartel out of the Bahamas. The CIA told us that Bertrand’s ship had been taken somewhere in the Mediterranean and Bertrand himself killed. This had all been done secretly so that no one knew Bertrand was actually dead. Everything seemed to be going according to plan until the night a ship attacked Ansly and his crew. I guess we all know the ship was sunk. As we were not on board, I do not know how or why, maybe you people know more than I do about what happened. I’m sure Captain Horatio told you how he and Bob went on board a ship that seemed to be responsible for the attack on Ansly. That’s a brief history of all I know. Since then, I have been isolated with my husband, who is lying unconscious in the hospital. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to try my best to answer them.”

Just then, Captain Norton and his wife came into the room. July gave them both a big hug. The Bahamian representative came over and shook Horatio’s hand.

“I know you are very skeptical of our government’s actions in the past, Mrs. Green. I think you will agree we are cleaning up our police department by putting Mr. Norton in charge. As you can well imagine, he is a very busy man, which is why he is late tonight.”

July congratulated Horatio on his promotion but was still skeptical of the Bahamian government’s actions. Then it was back to business. The German representative asked her the first question.

“Do you know a man by the name of Grundman?”

“Yes, I know who he is, although I have never met the man personally,” July answered. “I saw him on a surveillance camera when Bob was masquerading as Bertrand. He had several dealings with Grundman. In fact, Grundman was the agent that made the deal for Bertrand to buy the farm on Andros.”

The German put on his glasses and scanned a sheet in front of him. “Up until a few weeks ago, we knew him as a perverted small-time con artist. His name was mentioned a few times on our Interpol list but only as a possible go-between and a bungling one at that. In fact, our information is that he screwed up so badly that certain people would have liked to see him dead, so he ran off to the Bahamas taking with him an Austrian immigrant by the name of Lena, who went by so many last names that we won’t bother to go through them. She was a courtesan to some very high-ranking people in the German government. There was eventually a scandal, and there were people who would have liked to see her put away too. So we figured Lena had paid Grundman to get her out of the country. This did not bother the German police too much. After all, the country was rid of two problems without much fuss. Let someone else worry about them.”

“However,” he continued, “Interpol become very interested in these two characters after the German police picked up a young woman in a drug raid in Munich. It was a very serious charge which would result in a long-jail sentence. Realizing she was in a lot of trouble, she began offering information in return for a lighter sentence. On hearing some of this information, the German police turned her over to us at Interpol. It seems her mother was Grundman’s live-in secretary. This girl figures Grundman killed her mother because she knew too much. From what she told us, we were able to identify an unknown body pulled from a river. This verified that she was telling the truth, and we began listening to what she had to say. Grundman apparently let the young woman stay in his house in return for sexual favors. Her mother did all of Grundman’s books and ran errands for him. Grundman kept an office in Switzerland, which enabled him to move large amounts of money for the Colombian drug people. We now believe he supplied the money to Waddell, who in turn supplied a company here in the Bahamas by the name of APCO with funding. We have reason to believe he supplied Tom Newton with funding to start the farm on Andros through an intermediary in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by the name of Ken Holmes. It was becoming very obvious that we were onto something very big, but by the time we got to Grundman, he had fallen fourteen stories off his apartment balcony.”

“Astonishingly,” he continued, “Our informant also told us another story of how Grundman was the contact man for an assassin we had been looking for, for some time. This assassin did all of the drug cartel’s work for them around the world. Grundman, the little weasel, believe it or not, had this assassin working for him. All the money the cartel paid for these contracts went to Grundman, and he paid the assassin. We also believe that with the help of Mr. Novak and the Canadian police, it was this assassin who went after your husband and your friends up in Canada, Mrs. Green. From the remains given to us by the Canadian RCMP, we thought we had identified this assassin, but from what we have learned since, this assassin is still out there and had something to do with the sinking of Bertrand’s ship. Another thing we do not understand, Mrs. Green, is how your husband got away from him. This man was a mastermind who had fooled most of the police forces around the world.”

July had not had a lot of time to spend with Bob since he’d gotten back to the Bahamas. She guessed that with what little time they had had, he had not wanted to bother her with all he’d been through. Besides, she’d had enough problems of her own that she had had no time to think that Bob too had come through hell to get back to her.

The German began talking again, tearing her mind away from Bob. “When the Canadian police sent us a picture of a necklace to keep a lookout for, we did not really pay much attention. Like all of Interpol, we in Germany had no reason to think that a necklace would show up here. However, a thread of evidence found clasped tight in a dead policeman’s hand alerted the authorities. Somehow, before he died, he had gotten hold of a medallion that had hung from this necklace.”

The German pointed to Novak. “Mr. Novak stayed like a bloodhound on the trail of this necklace. The Canadian Mounties loaned him to their Interpol division, sending him on the trail of Mr. Green, which led him to the Bahamas. Sure enough, both Mr. Green and the necklace showed up here, not together of course. Mr. Green showed up at this very spot, Mr. Chamberlain’s house. The necklace showed up around the neck of our courtesan, Lena, in the company of a Mr. Waddell. Mr. Novak told us about the necklace and where he had seen it. By this time, we were heavily into the investigation of Mr. Grundman, so we too wondered where they could have gotten this necklace. Luckily—and there is always a little luck involved in these things—we found a jeweler, whom we knew fenced items for people from time to time. He was able to identify the necklace from the picture as one Grundman had brought him to appraise. He remembered telling Grundman that it was worth far less because of one missing medallion. Still it was worth enough to get Grundman excited. We still do not know how Grundman got it or why he gave it to Lena. Of course, we assume the assassin took it from one of his victims and gave it to Grundman, but why he would do this, we have no idea. I think Novak may have more to add to this.”

“Yes, I do, as a matter of fact. Mrs. Green probably does not know it yet, but Manly Waddell was found dead strangled by a rope hanging from Lena’s apartment balcony. Captain Norton and I went to question her a few days ago. She, of course, claims she was not home when this took place and knows nothing about what happened to Waddell. We know the CIA had two men in the apartment across from hers and that they had her apartment under surveillance but they say that they heard nothing until there was the unmistakable sound of gunshots. The power had gone out, leaving the whole building in darkness. They knocked on her door but got no answer.

Having no communication with their superiors because the phones were also out, they decided to watch for anyone coming out and waited for the police to arrive not wanting to blow their cover. I told Lena this, saying that as far as they were concerned, she was still in the apartment when the shots were fired. Lena still denied that she was in the apartment, so Captain Norton took a different tact.

He told Lena they knew that El Presidente had spent the night with her when the ships were sunk. El Presidente had not been seen since. There were rumors that El Presidente’s family was looking for her. It would be easy to spread more rumors that she was responsible for his death. This threat seemed to bring Lena around. She asked what we wanted, so we showed her the pictures of what we now call Reich’s necklace. She asked what was so important about the necklace, so we told her how it had been obtained in Canada with connection to a murder and that we wanted to know how it had come into her possession. She explained how she had a fascination with beautiful jewelry. When Grundman had first showed it to her, she knew that she must have it. Grundman knew he had a hold on her with the necklace and promised it to her in return for sexual favors that she had never granted him before. She claims she obtained it the night Grundman was killed. I won’t elaborate on the circumstances.”

Norton went on to ask her if she knew where Grundman had gotten the necklace. He explained to her that Mr. Green was in the hospital here, and that it was the only way of proving he did not commit the murders back in Canada. She told us that she wished she could help, but Grundman had never told her where he had obtained the necklace. Until we can find this missing link, I am afraid the thread is still broken.

“Additionally, I have something to add to this,” said Norton. “I offered Lena protection but she refused, telling us that she would never be dependent on men to protect her ever again. We found this strange coming from a woman who has lived off men almost all of her life. We know the building she lives in is owned by El Presidente, and if he is dead, it now belongs to his family. We confiscated El Presidente’s yacht in the harbor, but his family is fighting hard for its release. We believe Lena is working for the family now. In fact, we have reason to believe she has taken Waddell’s place as the cartel’s person in charge here. We must not underestimate this woman. She is smart and can manipulate people if she so chooses. We have heard rumors coming out of Colombia. Maybe our Colombian colleague can give us an update as to what is going on there.”

The Colombian Interpol agent was basically a CIA man put there to watch the comings and goings of the drug trade. He looked nervous as he cleared his throat. “You all appear to be very well-informed,” he told them.

“We in Colombia also believe El Presidente to be dead. There is a power struggle to take over his territory, however, his wife and two sons are fighting back. They are desperately working to keep intact the international organization their father built, but these are different times, whether they succeed or not remains to be seen. One thing we can be sure about, they will be ruthless in hunting out anyone responsible for their father’s death. Right now the CIA is being blamed, and El Presidente’s family has declared war on them. I guess the CIA and DEA people are the only ones left to help us fill in the pieces.”

He turned to the two American agents. “Maybe you can start with why the Argentina freighter was not stopped and searched even though we warned you she had suspicious cargo on board.”

The young agent looked at the older man beside him. “The man beside me is a lawyer on the CIA staff. He is an expert on international law.”

“My name is Ted Heath and I’ve taken over this area after agent Ansly’s demise.” He then went on to explain that they had indeed kept track of the freighter out of Argentina. In fact, they had checked her cargo when she stopped to refuel in San Salvador.