There were two items wrapped in newspaper. Cliff took hold of one and began to unwrap it. David took hold of the other one. In a short time they were staring at a silver cup, and a dagger with a beautifully carved handle.
“You think this is that silver chalice, Alex?”
“Probably, unless you guys found something else at the house.”
“Nothing that someone would offer several grand for. I wonder if he was trying to sell the knife as well.”
Teren spoke up. “I doubt it. He loved collecting weapons. You probably saw the box under his bed?”
“The one filled with swords? Yeah, we found it.”
“He would have kept the dagger to add to his collection. I’m just not sure why he would put it here instead of keeping it at home.”
Alex took the dagger from David and unbuttoned the strap that held it in its sheath. Slowly she edged the blade out.
“Look at this.” She pointed to a swastika that was etched into the blade. “If I had to guess, I’d say this dagger is from the second World War.” She looked closer at the etching. “I’m no expert, but I think this might be an original blade from an SS officer.”
“How can you tell all that from a swastika, Alex?” Teren sounded skeptical.
Alex looked up. “Because I’ve seen them before. Plus, we have pictures of Mallory Gerlach receiving one, as a gift from Ernst Remer.”
“Who is Ernst Remer?”
“Remer was a body guard for Adolph Hitler. He survived the war, and actually became the leader of the neo-Nazi movement in West Germany. It is believed he was a large part of the ODESSA network, though nobody could ever prove that. He came to speak at a convention here in the states, proclaiming that the holocaust never happened. While he was there, he met Mallory Gerlach. He gave Gerlach a dagger like this. Gerlach had it insured for over one-hundred thousand dollars.”
David took the dagger from Alex and held it up in the light. “Are you sure its the same, Alex?”
“No, I’m not positive. Like I said, I’m not an expert. But it shouldn’t be hard to verify its date, and the date of the etching.”
Cliff nodded. “If Alex is right, then at least one of our crispy critters had contact with someone high up in the Nazi movement. You don’t find those kinds of things just lying around.”
Teren looked at Cliff in surprise. “What did you call them?”
David laughed. “That’s the nickname Cliff gave to Mather and Wilford. Crispy critters, because they were both fried to a crisp.”
Teren’s eyebrow rose. “You have a morbid sense of humor, Mr. Jackson.” He shrugged at her, and she smiled. “I think you and I are going to like each other.”
This time it was Alex who raised her eyebrows.
*******************************************************
Besides the chalice and the dagger, the group discovered a number of gold coins in a bag stuffed inside the silver cup. The coins were from Germany, and all carried a date in the nineteen-thirties. They also had the profile of Adolph Hitler.
While Teren and Cliff left for lunch, Alex and David returned to the office, stopping at the SubStore to eat first. After dropping off their latest discoveries at the lab, they returned to the control center, where they found Ben and Mark huddled over several computer printouts.
“Hey, guys.”
Ben looked up and grinned at Alex. “For once, I get to toot my own horn, so to speak. I think we got somethin’, Alex.”
“What is it, Ben?”
He motioned her to sit down, and then slid the papers in front of her.
“You know those trips White took? Well, this,” he pointed to a column on the sheet, “shows the dates and times he was there. This ‘un,” he flipped to another sheet and pointed again, “this ‘un shows the same dates and places for Martin Richmond.”
Alex compared the two. When Derek White was in New York, Richmond was there as well, which wasn’t really a surprise since he lived there. But Alex wondered what he was doing in Colordao Springs at the same time as Derek White.
Mark came over with still another sheet. “And this one shows the same time period for our newest pal, Treville. Notice anything?”
Not only had Treville been home in Philadelphia at the right time, he had also been in Colorado Springs, and Williams Beach, Virginia.
“Let’s start with Colorado. Do we know where White went, who he visited?”
“Well, surveillance records say he went sight-seeing in the mountains, and he visited the headquarters of this group called RFA, Religious Family Association.”
“I’ve heard of them,” David said. “They put out some national newsletter, don’t they?”
“Yeah, and lots of books, and several radio programs. Their director, Jacob Dawkins, even has his own column in about a dozen newspapers.”
“Okay, Mark, so who did he visit at RFA?”
“Couldn’t tell you. But I can tell you that Richmond was in the building at the same time.”
“No shit?”
“One of the papers in Colorado had an article about him meeting the director of RFA. I checked the date and it matched.”
“And Treville?”
“Well, I don’t know for certain, but the papers did mention that Richmond was accompanied by another member of the Board of Directors for CMF.”
Alex looked at the papers once again. “Okay, what about White in New York? Do we know his activities?”
Ben shook his head. “Not really. Seems he slipped his surveillance up there — they lost him for a full day.”
“Do we know where Richmond was on that day?”
“Nope. Can’t say anything for certain.”
David pulled a sheet of paper off the wall, and put up a fresh one. Alex watched him out of the corner of her eye, while she continued looking at the travel itineraries for the three men.
“Okay, let’s look at Philadelphia. Do we know what Derek was doing there?”
“He visited his cousin’s house.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. As a matter of fact, there were several people at the house that night. We don’t know who, though.”
“Did Richmond ever go to Philly?”
“Once, nearly nine months ago. Curiously, White was visiting his cousin at that time, too. And there were several men there.”
Alex raised her head and looked at Mark. “Think Mr. Brogan hosts dinner parties often?” She noticed David had continued writing and drawing lines on the paper.
“I don’t know, but I’d really like to know who the other guests were.”
“Me, too.” Alex looked back down at the sheets. “Okay, somebody tell me about Williams Beach, Virginia.”
“Headquarters for Christians Unite. And before you ask, yes, Derek White was there. He went to church services — on the same day that the papers said Richmond was supposed to meet Steve Radcliff, who is the head of the political group Christians Unite.”
“Hot damn. I think we’re getting somewhere.”
“Oh, but we ain’t told ya the interestin’ part yet.”
She looked at Ben, who had a huge grin on his face. “Okay, Ben, what’s the interesting part?”
Mark sat down across from his partner. “All the aforementioned individuals, and several that were not mentioned, are either shareholders in Kittredge, or they sit on the Board of Directors for The Talcott Companies.”
David even turned around at that. He was just in time to see Alex do a very good impression of a fish, as she opened and closed her mouth.
“Uh, that means, um —” Alex swallowed. “Are we saying that the heads of three of the most important religious right organizations in the country are involved in a conspiracy to kill left wing leaders?”
“No.” Ben said. “Like ya said yesterday. We’re just makin’ the connections.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Damn good connections, guys.”
David was waiting patiently by his new sheet of paper. Alex glanced at him, and he waved her over. Ben and Mark followed.
” What do you have for us, David?”
“Well, I just decided things were getting a little complicated, so I wanted to draw it out. Kinda like you were going to do yesterday.”