Jeff Carson - Foreign Deceit

“What?”

“That was forensics at the station. They have the fingerprints match.”

“Let me guess. A Romanian national.”

“No David,” he said with a deep breath. “They are your brother’s fingerprints.”

“What?” Wolf exhaled.

“They are your brother’s fingerprints.” Rossi folded his arms and looked to his feet.

Lia put her hand on his shoulder.

Wolf and Lia walked to Rossi, looked back at the evidence tents strewn about, then ducked underneath the crime tape.

Wolf walked slowly to the observatory gate, turning his head to look at the skid marks as he passed. He continued on through the gate and out onto the dirt road, turning back towards the lake.

Wolf reached the groove in the mud where the pipe was found and swiveled around. “This is too perfect.”

Rossi and Lia stopped and looked at him with neutral expressions. Silence hung for thirty seconds as Wolf studied the impression in the mud.

“He’s getting framed for the murder.”

Rossi blinked and looked to the ground at his feet. Lia shifted uncomfortably.

“Let me get this straight. He beats his friend to death, then drags him down here along the road, leaving the copper pipe right here, for anyone to find. Why not throw it out in the corn field at least? Or a better idea? Toss it in the lake. The same lake he’s about to dump the body at.”

Lia pointed towards the lake, “David…”

“Nah, I’m not buying it,” he said, shaking his head. “Why lug the body all the way down there? Why…why does he dump the body and then go kill himself at home?” Wolf looked up to the sky, “Here’s a good question… How did my brother get home? If he killed Rosenwald, then how did he get home? There’s no way he walked. His girlfriend said she heard the crash at 1:15 am. There’s no way he went home on foot. So how did he get home? His body was removed from this lawn, by someone else, and taken to his apartment to be strung up on a chandelier, that’s how.”

“He could have taken Rosenwald’s car,” Lia offered.

Rossi stared at Wolf.

“Okay, yeah. We need to account for his car.” Wolf turned his back and kicked a small rock into the corn stalks. He turned back to them. “We need to go talk to Vlad in the observatory. He said he was working that night. He said the reason he wasn’t at the bar with them that night was because he was at work. So, let’s ask him what he saw. If he was here, then he can tell us what happened. You don’t just miss a blow out argument between two guys that ends in a murder in the back yard, do you? It’s beyond suspicious.”

Rossi raised an eyebrow and nodded his head, looking to Lia.

“And you don’t know everything yet, Rossi,” he said pushing past him. “This guy, Ferka Vlad, is involved in cocaine and electronics smuggling with the owner of a Romanian pub in Lecco named Cezar.”

“What?” Rossi turned.

“I was here last night. I saw the truck they were packing with stolen computers and drugs. I actually looked in the back of the truck and saw at least a hundred stolen computers. I ripped open a white cardboard box and saw what looked to be cocaine. There were at least ten of those boxes. It was dark, there could have been many more.”

“When were you going to tell me this?” Rossi held out his hands.

Wolf blinked and shrugged. “There hasn’t exactly been a good time this morning for me to tell you.”

Rossi shot Lia a questioning look.

She shrugged her shoulders. “What?”

“I was shot at and chased by this guy, Cezar, last night. So to me this whole situation looks very different.” Wolf stopped and looked to them. “The way I see it is, my brother and Rosenwald had a few drinks at the Albastru Pub and headed to the observatory. I have no clue why they did, but we saw the tweets and the pictures online. They didn’t look under duress or in danger when they took those pictures. It looked like they were probably just coming here to look through the telescope.

“So things obviously went sour at some point in the night. Maybe my brother and Rosenwald saw Vlad and Cezar packing the stolen stuff, or the drugs. Whatever the exact situation, they somehow see something they shouldn’t have, and Vlad and Cezar know they can’t un-see it. So they are now a liability. Cezar deals with my brother and Rosenwald the best way he knows how.

“They are taken out back and forced to kneel down, probably by Cezar and his gun. But obviously gun shots could raise some alarm from the neighbors, so they get a pipe. Some words are said, and Cezar flies off the handle, beating Rosenwald’s head in.

“Maybe Vlad injects some calm, scientific reasoning in the situation. They know getting rid of the two bodies is going to be hard, so they leverage a little deception. They decide to frame my brother for the murder. My brother is hit on the head with the same pipe, and then strangled with one of their belts. It wouldn’t have been Cezar’s belt, he’s too skinny. Ferka Vlad,” he said pointing towards the dome with a steeled expression. “Ferka Vlad is a man with an ample belly.”

“Okay. Then they take your brother back to his apartment and string him up?” Rossi asked with a tilted head. “How do they bring the dead body in the apartment building?”

“On a Friday night? They carry him in,” Wolf shrugged. “Anyone who sees thinks he’s drunk and his buddies are bringing him in. They could have pulled right up to the gate in a car, brought him in, and strung him up. Then they make sure Rosenwald’s body can be found in due time, and the weapon is left here in plain sight, flush with my brother’s fingerprints. They probably figured my brother would be out of the country in a box before too long anyway, making the case even more complicated to figure out for you guys.”

“How did they get your brother back to his apartment?” asked Lia. “That would have been a tough situation. How do they know where he lives?”

Wolf continued walking in front of them. “Maybe Vlad knew my brother better than we thought. Maybe he’d been there before.” Wolf thought of Cristina, John’s girl friend. A Romanian too. Was there a connection?

“It seems to fit pretty well, but there really is no evidence at all against these guys,” Rossi said. “We have to have something solid.”

“Well, then let’s go talk to Vlad and get something.”

Vlad sagged at his desk, sipping at a Coke Lite can when he saw them approach the office doorway. A puzzled, horrified expression contorted his face for a split second and he coughed out a mist of Coke into the air.

“Vlad, how are you doing today?” Wolf entered fast.

“David, please. Let me handle this.” Rossi put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him aside, a wild look on his face. “Let’s keep this official.”

Rossi reached out, gently and took the Coke Lite can from Vlad’s shaking hand, placed it on the desk, swiveled the chair to face him, then placed his palm on his chest.

Vlad looked into Rossi’s eyes with horrid fascination, then shot a glance to Wolf and Lia.

Rossi twisted his shirt, pulled him up with the sound of ripping fabric, and pushed him against the window. The aluminum blinds clanged, letting in bright rays of morning sun.

“You were here on Friday night. And yet you told these two that you did not see anything at all.”

Vlad looked confused, then nodded his head quickly. “Y-y-yes sir. I didn’t see anything! I was working all night Friday in my office — ”

“I don’t believe you!” He wadded the shirt underneath Vlad’s chin, exposing his jiggling belly.

“You didn’t hear them come into the building? They didn’t simply come down the hall and see you working here with the light on? They didn’t say hi to you? What is that, twenty feet away?” He jerked his head towards the observatory room down the hall.