Jeff Carson - Foreign Deceit

“No, they didn’t. I–I-I-…I heard them down the hall, and I shut my door to block out the sound. I had a lot of work to do. I was talking on the phone and had important conversations. They didn’t speak to me. Th-th-th-then they just left. I didn’t see them at all. It was only a couple minutes!”

“Why did you lie to us?” Wolf asked. “You said you didn’t see them Friday night.”

“You asked if I went out to have beers with them! I did not.”

Wolf said nothing.

“I did not ever see them. When they showed up here on Friday night, I heard them from here. I was on the phone, and I could hear… someone . But I never saw them,” Vlad’s expression steeled. “I’m sorry. I was in here working.”

Rossi let him go and stepped back, still looking at him hard. Vlad pulled his shirt down and breathed hard.

“What were you doing last night, Vlad?” Wolf asked.

Vlad paused. “I was home last night. Why do you ask?”

Rossi held up an index finger. “I’d like to see a list of shipments you have been overseeing for the last 24 hours.”

Vlad looked at Rossi. “Why would you want to see that?”

“Let me see them. Now. Pull them up on your computer screen there.”

Vlad pushed a few buttons. A jumbled mass of numbers filled the screen in different colored columns.

Vlad held his hands towards the screen and pushed his chair back.

Rossi gripped the back of the chair and slammed him into the desk with a crash. Papers dropped to the floor and the can of Coke Lite tipped on its side, spilling its remaining ounce onto the desk. “Show us the shipments for the last 24 hours. Now. ”

Vlad pulled his hand from below the desk and grabbed the mouse. Lia and Wolf approached to look close.

Wolf pointed at the screen. “Click on that shipment there.”

The shipment had an address from Merate, Italy to Cluj Napoca, Romania. There were blue links lined up underneath the shipment title and description.

“Click on the Commercial Invoice and Bill of Lading.”

Vlad clicked and an official looking invoice sheet displayed on the screen. The list of contents included official sounding components with numbers, dashes, and letters.

“And the Bill of Lading?”

The document took a while to build from top to bottom on the screen, a scanned copy of an original document. As it appeared slowly in front of them, Wolf tried to read the pertinent information, written in Italian. Two words materialized on the screen.

“Albastru Shipping,” Wolf said. “The same name as the Albastru Pub.”

“Yes,” Vlad looked at Wolf. “The owner of the shipping company also owns that pub.”

“You guys have some serious ties to the Albastru brand it looks like,” Wolf said. “Beers after work and now the shipping company?”

“Well, that is how I learned about the pub. I was approached by the Romanian shipping company, and the owner told me about his pub as well. We were both Romanian…” Vlad finished his sentence with a shrug.

“You Romanians all stick together, huh?” Rossi glared.

Vlad was silent.

“All right. I’m going to need the truck information for this shipment here.” Rossi tapped the screen.

Vlad looked at him with wide eyes.

“Now!”

“All right, all right.” Vlad pressed some buttons and a printer whirred in the corner.

A piece of paper shot out of the laser printer into a collection tray. Rossi picked it up and studied the page, pulling it close to his face with a squint.

“Ah,” he said, pointing to the page. “Thank you, Mr. Vlad. We will find this truck en route and search its contents. We have come across some anonymous information that you may be helping with the smuggling of stolen electronics. And drugs. Obviously if we find anything suspicious in any truck you are involved with, you’ll be spending some hard time in San Vittore.”

Vlad sat still without any expression.

Rossi turned. “Have a nice day.” He looked to Wolf. “Are you good?”

Wolf looked at Vlad and narrowed his eyes. “I guess.”

Wolf and Lia followed Rossi out to the rear of the building.

“I’ll call this in right now. It shouldn’t be any trouble to find this truck and search its contents at any of the few eastern borders. You said you saw it here last night,” he said, pointing to the skid marks in the lawn. “If it left in the middle of the night, then it could be out of the country by now. According to this manifest, shipment delivery date is Monday in Cluj Napoca. Today seems a better day to leave for that delivery date. Two days travel time.” Rossi looked seriously at Wolf. “Wolf, you are sure you saw what you saw last night? I’m putting myself on the line here making this call.”

“I swear on my life. There were stolen computers and boxes packed with kilos of cocaine in the truck that made these marks,” he said, pointing at the lawn. “The owner of the Albastru pub was driving the truck, the side of the truck said ‘Albastru International Shipping Co’ and Vlad was with him.”

“And you just happened to be on a night time walk last night seeing all this?” Rossi smirked, sweeping his arm to the surrounding land.

“Yeah, I took a wrong turn on a scooter ride.”

“Madonna. You looked like a zombie after last night’s dinner. You are crazy.”

“I got a second wind,” Wolf said.

“A second…wind?” Rossi looked puzzled.

“Nevermind. Just make the calls. I swear I saw what I saw.”

Rossi pulled out his phone and began dialing.

Dr. Rosenwald’s body had been removed by the time they returned. They continued past the taped scene to the wider pathway surrounding the lake, which was still devoid of civilians.

Rossi put his phone back in his pocket. “Okay, I have every border crossing into Slovenia and Austria looking for the truck. It will be stopped, I will be notified, and it will be searched thoroughly. I’ve also sent out a, how do you say in English, notification for all law enforcement agencies for the entire northeast of Italy to look out for this truck.”

“We call that an APB in the United States.”

“Yes, now I remember that from the television shows,” he said. “If our friend Vlad decides to call the driver and turn him around before he gets to the border, it is going to be difficult to find.”

Wolf nodded his head. “I get it. Don’t get my hopes up.”

Wolf’s stomach digested itself with a loud growl as they approached the car. So loud that Lia heard it.

She looked up at him and leaned back. “I guess you are hungry?”

“I thought you’d never ask. I would kill for another pizza.”

“I know just the place.” She turned to Rossi. “You coming?”

Rossi was concentrating with a pensive expression. “What?”

“Do you want to go have pizza with us for lunch?”

“Uh, no thanks. I have to go take care of some things at the station. I’ll catch up with you guys afterwards.”

“See you then. Keep Marino happy for me please. I’m supposed to talk to him this afternoon.”

“I promise nothing!”

The uncut pizza overhung the plate’s edge by two inches. Steam moistened his face as the waiter pushed it under his nose, edging aside two cans of coke, ordered just for Wolf.

Half a pizza and a full Coke later, he asked, “What does Colonnello Marino need to talk to you about this afternoon?”

Lia shifted in her chair and wiped her mouth. “I have a…deadline.”

“A deadline?”

She looked at her plate. “To wrap everything up with your brother’s case. To make you happy and want to bring your brother home.”

“I have a plane ticket on Sunday,” he said. “My brother is already on the way home.”