CHAPTER 27
Back in Munich, as the bellhop opened the door to the suite for the Spanish couple at the Hotel Haverling, David realized there was only one queen size bed. The entry room was furnished with a large couch and a table with two matching chairs. At least they could sit and be comfortable and have a place for Miriam to put her laptop. However, the sleeping arrangements…what was Levi thinking? After the bellhop left them, Miriam stood staring at the bed. She had a funny look on her face.
“There must be some mistake,” David said before she could respond. “Levi would never get us a room like this. I’ll be right back.” David went down to the front desk to inquire.
“We didn’t have a room with twin beds, Mr. Sanchez, so we upgraded you to a suite, at no extra charge. I hope everything is fine.”
“I have a snoring problem and must have my own bed. Is there a chance the room next door is unoccupied?”
The clerk looked through his records and smiled, “Yes, as a matter of fact it is, but that room is also a suite with living room and queen size bed, identical to the one you have, sir.”
“Let me have it then.”
“Do you want two suites, sir?”
“Yes. Is there a connecting door we might use?”
“Of course, but the price will be doubled, sir.”
“That’s all right; give me the two suites then.”
When he returned and told Miriam of the change, she said the Office was paying for their trip anyway, so do not worry about it. Why was she being so reasonable? Maybe she really was over him completely. Was he the only one with a problem? He had to make sure. Since they had the rest of the evening free, why couldn’t they have a nice dinner and enjoy being friends again, she suggested. David figured that he would look like a fool if he declined, so he agreed. During dinner, in the hotel dining room, they filled each other in on all that had transpired since their separation. David told her he had become proficient at the graphics program, spent too much time on the shooting range and working out to get back in shape and generally vegetating hoping for another assignment. Now he knew who had taken that mysterious photo, the one that only had “Hans” written on the back, which had been mailed from Rome. She had taken the shot the night they were at the Zebra Club, the night he was shot. He told her they could not make out enough details in the picture even though they had tried for quite a while, probably because of the strobe lightning in the club. Servette had later sent a photo he thought might be Hans taken at the Swiss border around the time they had been visiting with Servette and Max in Geneva. That would explain why there had been no more killings in Geneva after that. At the crossing, Hans had auburn hair and freckles and claimed to be a college student. David had worked that picture over, with Malcolm’s help, changing the hair, nose, and mouth to see how he might appear sans disguise. They needed a basic picture that they could depend so they could apply any disguise. That was the reason he had insisted on Miriam putting that picture file into her laptop. They might run into Hans, even though their assignment was only about the Chief and getting his files.
The conversation turned to what they were to achieve while here in Munich. According to Levi, evidently, the police had netted scores of people from the local nightclubs, and one might be Hans. According to one of Max’s sources, close to the Munich police department, that dragnet was to try to capture the killer known as “The Dagger.” Now they were charged with finding out if those suspects had been photographed, and if so, Levi wanted the pictures, names, and addresses of any who could possibly be Hans. The Chief had not shared his information freely, with either Levi or Inspector Servette, thus it would be imperative to get to his files and see what he really knew.
David and Miriam reviewed the strategy they would take with the Chief. As Phillipe and Maria Sanchez, they were searching for their stepson, Julio, the son of Maria’s deceased former husband whom she had raised since age ten. They had not heard from Julio for ten years and decided it was time to see if they could locate him. He had left home after throwing a temper tantrum when he was eighteen. For almost four years, they had tried to find him, but they had not been able to locate him no matter how much they looked. Finally, one of Julio’s friends told them that he might be in Munich. Could the Chief please help them? They wanted to look at mug shots Bruno had on file to see if Julio had ever been picked up.
Phillipe and Maria Sanchez were in their fifties. They were dressed in Spain’s style of the day. Phillipe, in his high-collared embroidered shirt, was getting a little gray. His coat and pants were two sizes too big, making him look weaker and less muscled. Maria’s hair was still jet-black, held in place with colorful combs. She had a mole on her left cheek and thick eyebrows with green thin-rimmed glasses on a chain around her neck, which she would put on or take off depending on how close she was to whomever she was talking with. She wore heavy pancake and had reddened her cheeks, applied green eye shadow, and fake eyelashes. She also sported long scarlet fingernails, big earrings and several gaudy bracelets that she jangled frequently. She had a habit of sighing heavily to flaunt and emphasize her generous padded bosom. Phillipe had a scar on his cheek in front of his left ear going down to his chin. He wore dark glasses because of the detached retina surgery he had just had and he would bore the hell out of anyone who he could get to listen to all the details. He also had a limp from a car accident. Ever since his appendectomy, he had become a health nut, in case anyone wanted to hear about that. Thank God, his sweet Maria was so solicitous and understood him better than other people did. She knew when he was tired or upset and needed to rest a bit so he would not get his high blood pressure up and he would surely need to rest while in the Chief’s office when Maria persuaded him to go out to the car to see her pussycat, Brutus was all right and had enough water. Oh, how he hated to travel with Brutus, but his dear sweet Maria wouldn’t have it any other way. By the way, wasn’t that an interesting coincidence that her pussy’s name was almost the same as the Chief’s? Moreover, with Maria talking incessantly about her kitty, the Chief wouldn’t stand a chance. Then also, strong men really attracted her since her husband was so frail.
As they reviewed the roles they would assume with Chief Beinschmidt, David and Miriam burst into soft laughter. All during dinner, they planned how they would get to his files. Miriam would get the Chief to take her on a tour of the station since, as Maria, she was so fascinated with police work and wanted to learn everything about what he did to stop crime and find missing persons. Then “poor Phillipe” would have one of his attacks and have to go to Bruno’s office to lie down. Since Phillipe’s vision was so poor he could never read anything that happened to be lying around, so he was harmless and he would prove that by demonstrating the great difficulty he had discerning the images in the books of mug shots. He would be very slow going through them anyway, so that maybe he could look at them again while he rested. It was quieter in the chief’s office than out in the visitor’s room where people usually looked through the albums. The Chief’s wonderful, understanding, secretary, Liliane, would stay to help. It should be easy to get her to give him the privacy to nap a bit, also. Moreover, they felt Bruno would probably prefer to spend time with Maria anyway. She would play on his ego bu telling him he must be so brave and charming to get to be the Terrorist Chief and personally direct his men on their dangerous missions. She would tell him must be very intelligent and strong, too. Could she feel his muscles? How would this big hulk of German manhood be able to resist?
By the time they finished dinner and drinks, they were relaxed and now on much more friendly terms. However, when they got back to their suites, the picture changed. David thought they should both use Miriam’s door. He would enter his suite through the connecting door and that way no one would know they had separate quarters. Much to his surprise, Miriam agreed. As soon as they entered, he told her goodnight and went to his room.