Kitabı oku: «The Lock keeper of Kiev», sayfa 2

Scene 3: The Week after the Disaster

Bob had learned important lessons out of his adventures in China regarding his high blood pressure situations. On top, he took a cocktail of pills now so he could control himself much better. But Jela caused a lot of concern for him; he observed her constantly but did not find any reason to intervene. On Monday the family stayed in Dora’s home.

Early Monday morning, when Bob arrived at the idyllic Gex Police Station he was arrested and hand-cuffed. From his room he had a superb view down from the Jura Mountains across the lake to the chain of the Alps. The day started to become interesting. A Swiss-German colleague had helped his French friends: the last will of Dora was established just a few days after Fritzes death and looked valid. In it everything except a small amount which went to her Sister Brenda was going to her daughter Charlotte. Bob was declared exclusive administrator of all the assets and tutor of the girl until she was eighteen. He was to continue the foundation and could invest the remaining amount of roughly half a billion according to his own best judgment.

This was the second shock after Dora’s death: now he was responsible for this huge amount of money. As a banker he knew too well that this always means a lot of work and some luck if he wanted to show satisfying results for his client. He took two aspirins and was put into harsh interrogations in French by four policemen.

When he was asked for the fourth time why a woman in her early thirties was writing her last will, he exploded: he knew the phenomenon. When his blood pressure was starting to go up he had a hard time to control his temper.

In very bad French he yelled at the policemen: “I do understand that this case is the chance of a lifetime for you to get promoted. Most probably this is the first murder in a hundred years in the county of Gex. But if you continue to get on my nerves I will insist on having a translator and a representative of the U.S. consulate present.” He gasped for air: “So, you guys are nice and call me when you got something concrete. I believe you remember where I live. Et en plus”, his French got better the more excited he got: “I will not stop my work just because it happens to be in Geneva on the other side of the border.”

“Your travel ban for me is consequently only valid if I would leave the Greater Geneva Area.” Bob was taking the risk to stand up and to hold the hand cuffs under the nose of Latour. He learned a lot from the reaction: as soon as he was very assertive - given a solid base for it - French policemen and other administrative people in France pulled back. The inspector opened the hand cuffs and Bob left the friendly police office in Gex.

When he arrived in his office in down town Geneva, his secretary told him that Laura was expecting him ‘at once`. This woman with an almost undefinable age was adored by him. She was the manager of the European Operations of the Mega Bank as they used to call her company half-way full of admiration and also a bit kiddingly. They were among the real big banks of the world and made money with almost anything what was moving in the market. They were extremely prudent and in Europe they had a risk manager called Robert Horner.

Laura, sometimes called ‘Lady in Black` by Bob, was more excited than Jela, Bob saw it at once. She talked a lot and mostly totally incongruent stuff which he had never experienced with her. She held his arm and caressed his cheeks. She demonstrated her worries for her darling by telling him not to move around without bodyguards anymore which the bank would put at his disposal at once. She had thought about potential motives for the murder but did not find any. She gave him one tip, though, to call his ‘friend` John in Hong Kong to ask whether he had some explanations. On top, she gave him the name of a lawyer in Lyons. She finished her tirade with a hint that he and his wife should think about moving back to the U.S. Bob knew that Jela would hardly survive this move.

He took Laura in his arms and tried to calm her down but she started to sob: “Why are they always taking the people away from me that I love most?” and sent him home.

When he left the office, Laura noticed that ‘her` Bobby took the liberty not to be dressed like a Banker. He only put on the uniform black suit with a white shirt and a tie when he had to be present in the Top Management Meeting. Even abroad he was usually wearing his personal standard: dark pants with a light-colored English jacket over an open shirt or a turtle-neck pullover. This made him even younger and underlined his broad shoulders. She sighed again and went back into her work.

Later, in the afternoon Bob stopped Jela when she started to make fun of the French police: “First of all, we don`t know what else they will find and then they are in charge, not us. We better look for a good lawyer and figure out when to return to our house. By-the-way: I find you just fantastic! The way you absorbed the shock is just outstanding!” Jela interrupted him, caressing his cheek: „With five children and a sick husband one needs to have nerves like steel and especially with somebody like this!” Lena made a grouchy face and disappeared. She didn’t go to school that day. Her mother had called the school to excuse her.

Bob only mentioned the parts of his conversation with Laura which concerned the bodyguards and the lawyer. He knew that the two women respected each other but stayed jealous anyhow. Being fully aware how much Jela despised returning to the U.S. he didn`t find it appropriate to convey this specific proposal to her.

On Tuesday morning, the Horners were allowed back into their house which looked like after an earthquake. Everything was on the floor, but the bigger problem was something else. The people of the forensic service had cleaned up the blood superficially in the kitchen and in the corridor but the whole house smelled horribly. Totally exhausted, Jela called the police to ask what she could do.

Since the police intended to search the garages in any case, they were quite nice and promised to send someone with a specific chemical solution. So the house stood open the whole day long and several technicians and Jela`s neighbor lady were mopping up the floors several times. Jela was relieved: not much blood had been carried into the living room.

During the day the neighbor and in the evening Sandrine were helping to put back everything where it belonged. Jela insisted that all clothes, towels, bedding and so on needed to be washed. She felt like raped: strange people had messed around in her underwear, undone her bed and moved the closets. With her headscarf she looked like a maid. She didn’t mind Bob’s kidding. In the evening she introduced Sandrine to child care. To get even, Sandrine taught her a few simple French meals like ´Pot au Feu`.

In the evening, to keep Jela and Bob informed about what the children of Lena’s class – and consequently their parents - knew, Sandrine told what she had done with the children at school. With a lot of support of Lena, she explained her reaction when Lena came late into the class.

Sandrine had asked the children to form a circle with the kids holding each other’s hands and to repeat what she said. They were supposed to transmit all the force they had to Lena so that she could deal with the difficult situation and not to be sad that her aunt Dora was not with her any more. Then she explained that Dora had died and opened the round for questions. Lena was rather proud but had to wipe off some tears. Even Bob was touched, stood up and put his hand on the shoulder of the little teacher.

As the young woman was talking, Bob had a probing look at the nice-looking miniature female. She had small features with a small mouth which she liked to put forward as if she wished to whistle. Her small body was like the one of gymnast. The unusual Afro-Look was probably chosen to make her look a bit taller. Whatever it was, Jela noticed how Bob and the young woman were dealing with each other when the three of them were having their glass of wine on the terrace later in the evening. Jela asked Sandrine to talk about herself and so they learned that being from the Paris area she was muted here against her will. Slowly she got used to life in the `provinces` what the Parisians despised so much.

Sandrine declared that the multi-culture environment of Geneva and for that matter Divonne started to please her more and more even though she disliked the ostentatious wealth of the palaces of the Arabs and Russians because these houses were almost always empty. The way the little teacher looked at Bob created the same thought in Jela as her father had some years ago when he saw Bob`s expression of profound love on his face: “Watch out, this person will never be yours alone. Stay away if you don`t want to get hurt!”

But Jela somehow liked the ball of energy and the practical sense of Sandrine as much as she needed her. The whole clean-up took on the dimension of a full-fledged move and on top the two boys would come during the weekend and she was missing Dora where-ever she looked.

On Wednesday, Bob went into his office in Geneva and worked so hard on his projects all over Europe that he almost forgot to call his lawyer in Lyon. As a specialist in penal law he knew his colleagues of the local police so well that he proposed to come by already next day. He asked Bob to refuse any statements without his presence.

After office hours, Laura came by. Today she was the nice boss who regretted to be forced getting his or her house in order. She heard that Bob had cancelled all business travels for time being and that the important questions needed to be discussed in Geneva or via video conferencing.

Laura gave him an overview how the bodyguards would function and that the two men used crypted phones so that he needed to get one, too. She provided him with the necessary details and he confirmed that he would have a look at the lawyer she had proposed. She appreciated his openness to consider her proposal: “He is a very shrewd type. You will see!”

Bob learned also that she had reported the incident to her management who was extremely nervous because of the China deal with Sybil and the trouble they had with the U.S. Embassy in Geneva. “They don`t want negative publicity”, she said several times. “We are lucky that the local French have no real press in the area and Geneva is not interested in what is happening in small towns like Divonne. In case of indictment that could change probably. I believe it is only fair that I warn you. In case of that I will get pressure to lay you off, for sure.”

When she had said that she became aware of the cruelty of her sentence, stopped dead and whispered: “Close the door with the key, Bobby, and hug me! I am so afraid for you.” He did as told and repeated his standard joke to relax her: “Chef, we urgently need a weekend together in Monte Carlo to bring these business issues to a satisfying end.” She smiled and got out of his arms.

Later in the evening, Bob called John `Long-Nose` in Hong Kong. He thanked him for the babushka with the little presents inside and especially for the antic parchment with its picture of a battlefield. He almost had the feeling that John was touched a bit o hear from him again. A strange reaction of the owner and ruler of endless restaurants and bordellos! After the usual questions regarding the family and the health of everyone, Bob told his tragic story and asked whether John would have an explanation for it. The tough guy was really sorry and promised to call back in a few days. He was going to have his huge network doing intelligence work.

It was a piece of luck that the lawyer came to see Bob early Thursday morning because inspector Latour showed up with three colleagues when they just finished to agree upon the details of their contract. Before that, Bob had reported the sequence of events. “Ah, I see you asked for reinforcement with big names, Monsieur Horner. You will certainly need that.” Before he could install himself comfortably Maître Angel blocked him right away: “Latour, you need to clarify what your accusations are and in which role you would like to question Mr. Horner. In any case you talk to me first because I represent Mr. Horner who from now on who refuses any personal statement. We request to receive minutes of all meetings to be signed by us.”

With that, Latour knew that life would be complicated for him during the next few months. Via Bob’s lawyer he requested clarifications regarding the huge amounts of money that Dora had at her disposal. He stated that he did his interrogations with Bob as ‘témoin assisté`, a French invention of controlled witness. Since Bob was the one who had managed the heritage issues for Fritz, he could provide the necessary details quite easily.

Then Latour wanted to know whether a last will of Fritz was done. When Bob said that he did not know, he asked for the reasons why no post-mortem was done. Maître Angel wanted to block that question, but Bob did not see any reason to explain that Dora had refused that. When asked whether he planned to be paid for the wealth management activities, he informed the police about his Swiss salary – something his lawyer didn’t find a good idea either.

After the police had left, he told Bob: “You’re just creating jealousy with the people here, Mr. Horner! In France, state employees cannot become rich. You should let me talk.” The lawyer was also angry because of Bob`s reaction regarding the autopsy: “The next time they will ask you whether you slept with Dora. You better coordinate your answer with me.”

To take away the pressure from Jela to prepare a meal for all of them Bob invited Maître Angel to have lunch with him at the Indian restaurant in town. His lawyer wanted to gather more background information and was a bit curious to hear more about the multiple deaths during the last year. “You are playing big hands in world-wide circles, dear Bob! That will make it tough for a little inspector in the ‘province` to understand clearly what games are being played.”

The lawyer made his dry analysis: “As I see the whole affair now, it was your wife who was the real target. That is why the bodyguards are really a good idea. Since the killer obviously did not know your wife, an emotional motive is totally out of question. I don`t see any connection with the death of Jela`s father either - at least for the moment. The only potential killer - her father’s girl-friend - knew Jela also well enough to identify her from behind. And for her, the risk of paying a professional killer is far too high.”

“For time being, do you control projects in Europe in which the people interested would lose big in case you stopped the project?” Bob was thinking back and forth and promised to look closer into that question. His project list contained several hundred names, among them many from Russia, the Ukraine, and the Baltic States.

Roughly sixty projects were bigger than a billion: mostly acquisitions in Western Europe by Eastern Companies or individuals. All were in the stage of clearance; a final ok was lacking practically in all of them.

In the afternoon Bob went into the office leaving Jela and the neighbor alone who wanted to clean anything again that could have come in contact with blood. The smell was strongly reduced but non-the-less still present. The cleaning solution of the police had caused an allergic reaction with Bob so that Jela proposed that he should sleep in Dora`s house for a few nights. He refused as long as the protection of his family had not started.

While he was on the phone with the notary of Dora and the police regarding the original of the last will, Sandrine called. She asked him whether he was aware that his wife was working her behind off to get their house back to a livable standard and that a big bouquet of flowers would be a minimum compensation.

When he came home in the evening with two bouquets of flowers, Jela turned suspicious. Never before, Bob had made a present of that sort. During dinner he had the good idea to thank Sandrine and to hand her the smaller bouquet. All of a sudden, Jela found the whole set-up very funny.

Before going to bed she came up with something Bob was afraid of: “You know, somehow I own my life a hundred percent to my beloved Dora.”

Then it just poured out of Jela. With tears in her eyes she whispered: “Somehow I should feel guilty but facing the children it doesn`t make sense to think about suicide or similar actions. I would not only punish myself but also you and each child individually.” Bob didn’t say anything and much later he made love to her in a very sensible way.

On Friday morning the two employees of the security company provided by the bank finally showed up. They agreed that one of them would constantly live in one of the garages so that one of them could always be present next to the house. This person would also accompany Lena to school and get her in the afternoon. At night they would patrol around the house roughly every two hours.

Bob helped to clean up the garage and introduced the two guards to the neighbor lady. They were called Pierre and Samy. Then he drove to the school where it was just time for the ‘récé`. So he could signal Sandrine to the fence and explained the procedure with the guards. In front of Lena he did as if the ‘dear uncles` were there more to play with her than to provide security. When he finished Lena asked whether she could see the guns of the uncles. Sandrine had a hard time to stay serious and told the story in the evening with her lovely French accent. She imitated big Bob when he introduced the two uncles to naive little Lena. The two women were amused a lot on Bobby`s account. It didn’t matter for him. He was enjoying the presence of Sandrine.

In bed, Bob wanted to coordinate with Jela which position they should take relative to their individual relations with Dora when questioned by the police. They couldn’t agree on what to say since they would certainly incriminate themselves. They postponed a decision for later. They also needed to prepare for the two boys who didn’t know that they had lost their favorite aunt.

Bob and Lena drove up earlier than usual into the Bernese Alps to fetch the two boys in their boarding school. They had permission to see their families every fortnight. Bob had insisted with Lena that he was the one to tell the boys about the death of their aunt Dora. She had agreed. He quickly visited the head master to inform him of the upcoming funeral and that he wanted the boys to participate like all other members of the family. The good man was concerned that all his pupils could be in danger, too, and started to consider letting the Horner boys go. Bob had to calm him down with the promise of another donation for the sports club of the school.

When he came back to the car he perceived Jaim crying on the backseat, Lena running around wringing her hands and Ahmed sitting on a bench next to the parking lot with the shoulders hanging down. He chopped Lena who looked so guilty that he could not yell at her as he intended to.

Lena started to cry also and sobbed: “Papa, je voulais seulement expliquer ce qui c`est passé à l`école… ” (I only wanted to tell them what happened at school.) Ahmed tried to be a grownup but started to cry also when Bob took him in his arms.

Driving back was a like a funeral service. Bob didn’t manage to get the kids off their mourning. No attempt to distract them worked out. They arrived for lunch and everything started from the beginning. Bob was relieved to find Sandrine in the house. So, all the Horners had to pull themselves together. After lunch Bob took the three big kids down to the lake to play soccer with them to get some silence in the house for Jela. When they came back, both women had fallen asleep on the terrace.

On Sunday, John called from Hong Kong; after the standard polite small talk hey discussed the issue. John confirmed that his clan and the groups were adhering to the peace treaty which they had concluded with Bob’s help. He didn’t not know anybody who would dare to stand up against him. Everybody in China would be aware that John and Bob were friends. When Bob told Jela about it, she was even more upset: “There is somebody out there to kill me and I do not even know who it might be! Besides your perfect German bride I don’t see anybody being after my scalp.” If this was meant to relax the tension, it only produced the opposite for Bob. After some speculations who the villain might be, Bob mentioned that he had gone through his high risk projects and that he didn’t find anything suspicious either.

Jela started to prepare the funeral. She didn’t even know where Dora‘s sister was living in Geneva. There were numerous problems to be solved like the one whether to invite the family of Fritz and where to bury him.

It was the first time that Bob took some time to play with the babies. He observed that they had distinctly different reactions which he qualified as `male` and `female`. Reporting his findings to Jela, she just laughed at him. He played grouchy and asked Ahmed to play chess with him.

Afterwards the young man was explaining the rules to Lena but they all were relieved when the girl quickly lost interest and wanted to play soccer with both boys. She was sure to be better at it than at chess. When they finished Bob brought the boys back to their boarding school.

After dinner Jela proposed to Bob to apply one of his own standard tricks: when you didn`t know any more what to do: make a balance sheet. But the result turned out to be frustrating: they didn`t find out anything new. When Bob started to become nervous that Jela could become depressive because of that, she came up with a surprise proposal: “Let’s have a walk around the block and then I want to have healthy sex with my husband as it is the custom in Central Europe on Sunday evenings.” Bob laughed because he was quite relieved.

A few days later, Dora’s funeral took place which had been prepared by Jela and Sandrine. Since Fritzes family wouldn’t participate when they heard of the last will, it was planned only for the family. Consequently they didn’t expect anybody but Dora’s sister Brenda to come. Bob felt so badly that day that Jela almost proposed that he should stay home with the babies who finally ended up with the neighbor lady. They had promised Lena to do a small ceremony with the boys during the vacations. Bob had his head full of problems and feared for the life of his next to kin. On the way up to Archamps the mayor’s office called and asked whether they were expecting a demonstration of some kind. Several busses with young folks had arrived on the parking next to the graveyard.

Like always that early springtime, the weather was beautiful. It turned out that several classes of the international school wanted to participate in the ceremony. The young people brought tons of flowers and photos of Dora which were breaking the heart of Jela. She and Brenda, Dora’s sister cried without interruption and Bob feared that they would collapse. He asked the two bodyguards to take care of Brenda and firmly took Jela’s arm. However, when the students started to sing a sad song, he was forced to leave the graveyard with Jela. She was half unconscious. He put her into the car, excused themselves at the priest and asked Samy to drive them back to Divonne. Pierre was to bring Brenda back to Geneva.

The alarm bells went on in Bob’s head: if Jela was to dive back into depression, this event could be a likely trigger.

Arrived at their house, Jela went to the neighbor’s house to get the kids. She fed the babies and only from-time-to time she was shaken by a crying fit. Bob put his wife on the big couch in the living room, turned on some easy piano music and prepared his famous omelet. When Jela ate a bit of it, he was relieved: for the moment, the danger was gone!

Later, together with Pierre, Bob went to get his daughter from school and brought her home with her teacher. Lena put on her broadest smile: in the middle between her beloved daddy and her fantastic teacher, she felt like being a princess. In addition, there was someone who had to watch out that nothing happened to her. This was too cool! But soon all that started to become too boring and she danced quickly to the house.

In the evening, Maître Angel called to leave a phone number with Bob. It was the one of a specialist lawyer who already had done some miracles in adoptation cases. Bob explained that he had a third case on his hands with little Carla and was not surprised that the man asked him whether he was going to open an orphanage.