David, jotting down the address, responded, “There may be nothing to connect these killings to the murders in Germany and Switzerland, but we still would like to explore that possibility. Would you mind if we went to the murder house and looked around? And, by the way, why do you think they were from Israel?”
“Why in hell would you be here to investigate two dead Germans? We aren’t dumb. And just so we understand each other, I don’t know what you can find that my people haven’t found out already.”
“We will try not to get in your way.” David and Miriam rose from their chairs, and started for the door. Miriam turned and asked, “By the way Chief, did Marvin and Herzog have slash marks on their bodies?”
“Get out of my office,” Bruno snarled. The phone rang. He grabbed the telephone and growled, “Ja, Bruno hier,” Then shouted, “Shut the door.”
“I guess our fact-finding mission is over,” Miriam said as the pair left the office.
“I don’t think he has much use for women in law enforcement.”
Miriam laughed as they exited the station.
Just outside the police station, David found a pay phone, figured out how to use the German instrument, and called Levi.
After David hung up the receiver, he turned to Miriam, “Seems the safe house where the murders took place had also been sanitized by Simon. Levi said they were going to work within the police department to gather intelligence on that group called the GRS or German Retirement Society. Rumors were it was a Nazi skinhead group plotting to overthrow German city governments. Members could have been involved in the killings of Jewish businessmen throughout Germany. Marvin had indicated just before they were killed, they were about to discover the identity of the group’s leader. He told Levi that many of these skin-heads seem to hang out at a club in the where- house district called the Cobra Club. Levi swears Simon can be trusted, and he thinks the Dagger may be connected to these Munich murders, somehow.”
“That information doesn’t help much. Now what?” she asked.
“Let’s rent a car and look around, get the layout of this city. It’s been a while since I was in Munich,” David remarked, then tonight I suggest you and I have a date at the Cobra Club.”
Miriam laughed and looked at David, “A date, David, a real date?”
“Sure, why not? Didn’t you say you have been to Munich before?”
“I knew the city fairly well a few years ago,” Miriam responded, “I came with my father on several of his business trips. With her head in a city map she continued, “If I’m not mistaken, there was a car rental office in Hotel Jedermann, about five minutes from the central train station, not too far from here.” After a few minute walk through the business district they found the hotel stuffed between two larger buildings on Landsbergerstrasse. Half an hour later they drove the new Volkswagen out of the hotel parking lot and headed along Welschlagstrasse, to get their bearings in the city.
Miriam’s cell phone tweaked and when she answered it and mouthed the word “Malcolm” to David. David found a parking space, pulled over and parked.
After listening for a few minutes Miriam said, “Yes Malcolm, Josephine Kratz in the Department of Eastern Europe of the Bavarian State Library on Ludwigstrasse. I’ve got it, and thanks. We’ll check it out right away.”
Miriam shut her cell phone and turned to David who gave her a questioning look.
“Malcolm thinks that one of our sayan’s here in Munich might be able to give us some information on the background of this Hans Huber, if he’s the one we’re looking for. She works at…”
“Yes I heard,” David started the car and as he pulled out on to Welschlagstrasse.
“get your head out of that map and check the GPS on you cell and give me directions to the Library.”
“Ok, take the next right and which should lead you to Ludwigstrasse and the library will be shortly on our right.”
Before them rose a three story Romanesque Revival building of granite and yellow brick. Three rows of arched windows broke the straight facade from one corner to the next. Its red tile roof tiles stood out in sharp contrast to the blue Bavarian sky.
“Holy smoke, look at the size of that building! If that’s the library, It’s the largest one I’ve ever seen. It must take up the whole city block.”
Enquiring at the front reception desk for the Department of Eastern Europe they we given directions and walked up a very wide stairway to the second floor and through a cavernous reading room filled with rows of tables illuminated by lengths of light shaded by green shades. Only a few people were at work in the room and the silence of study filled the huge space. Shafts of sunlight filtered into the room from a row of arched windows near the ceiling. At the other end of the room a door opened and a tall slender woman completely dressed in black, her white hair tied in a bun, walked toward them.
“You must be Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. I am Josephine Kratz. The front desk called and said you were looking for me. If you follow me I will see what I can do for you.”
The two from Israel followed Ms. Kratz as she left the reading room and seemed to flow down another corridor and enter a door half way down the hall on their right. She motioned for them to sit on one side if a long, low table covered with books of all sizes and shapes.
“I understand from Malcolm that you are looking for some information about the family of one Hans Huber. Is that correct?”
“Yes. We think it’s possible that he has been murdering Jews in Europe for a number of years and we would like to know why?”
“I understand, and after Malcolm’s call to me I did a little digging in our stacks. What I have here,” picking up a large leather-bound book, “Is the personal diary of one Hartmut Huber, who I believe is the Grandfather of this man you are looking for. Well, in fact it is much more than one man’s personal diary, for it contains quite a bit of his knowledge of his family even before he was born. I had a chance to read it this morning before you arrived and let me briefly give you some of the Huber family history.’
After several minutes of family history, Miriam whistled and said, “So what you are saying is that “our” Hans’ father, the SS maniac, was disinherited by his father when he joined the SS back in the thirties. Hartmut’s diary clearly indicates that the family was fractured by his son’s involvement with Hitler.”
David joined into the conversation, “And this Hartmut person was very wealthy and the family goes all the way back into the court of King Ludwig in the 19th century.”
“Yes and his diary indicates, the most valuable artifact in the Huber family estate was a extremely large emerald, purchased at one time, from the Bavarian National Treasury when their government was in financial trouble. Not only that,” Josephine continued, “The ruling family at that time was part of the Wittlesbach dynasty.” This very library was started in the 16th century and known as the Wittlesbach Court Library until the name was changed in 1919.”
“This may be too much of a stretch, but I remember that there is some jewel named Wittlesbach or something being auctioned in Geneva in a couple of weeks.”
“Yes, I’m aware of this auction because Christies International in Geneva asked this Library if we could do some verification of the provenance of this emerald.”
“You have been most helpful, Josephine. I’m not sure how all these bits and pieces fit together, especially as a motive for all these killings, but we will take this information with us back to Geneva and see if we can fit the pieces of the puzzle together.