“Was,” replied Benny.
“Past tense?”
“Yes. We got you out of it somehow. We promised that in the future the German police would not be the last to know when representatives of foreign countries play cops and robbers on their soil.”
“Thanks,” I said in relief. “Who else will be at the meeting today?”
“Blecher didn't say, but Eric told me today that he and Ron Lovejoy will be there too.”
Benny shot a pointed look in my direction. “Aren't you going to ask if Ariel will be there?”
“Will she?” I admitted in defeat, realizing that my interest in her had become public knowledge.
“I think so.”
It had been two long weeks since I'd last seen her; two long and aching weeks somewhat eased by a seven-day vacation in Vermont with my children. Eric and his staff had been very busy analyzing the material found at the bank and in Armajani's apartment while I'd been feeding on the trail that led to DeLouise's money.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot concerning DeLouise's assets. I suspected that most of it had been left behind in Guttmacher's vault, and I wondered why. The documents that had been retrieved from the vault were nevertheless valuable, since they gave me a good many leads to Swiss bank accounts. But there was a missing link: the proof that these bank accounts and various trusts were in fact DeLouise's. It could still be done, I thought, but I expected a long legal battle. However, the days weren't as tense as before the operation. A carnivore dissecting and devouring his prey is somewhat calmer than when he is stalking.
I wanted to finish it all and move on, and this sudden meeting could be the last phase of the entire operation.
When I entered the briefing room with Benny, I saw Ron Lovejoy, Eric Henderson, Mina Bernstein – and Ariel.
A minute later Blecher came in. Without much ado, he said, “It's all over. Guttmacher has confessed.”
Sitting or standing, we all leaned closer, waiting for Blecher to continue.
“I have a written statement from Hans Guttmacher in which he confesses to all charges. Therefore, I don't think we'll need the testimony of any of you at a trial.”
“Tell us what Guttmacher said,” said Ariel. “I want to know how he thought he could get away with everything he's done.”
“I think you have a right to know,” agreed Blecher. “According to Guttmacher's confession, approximately three or four months ago DeLouise sought his advice about how to move his money from Switzerland to Germany without revealing his whereabouts. At the beginning of their relationship, DeLouise told him that the amount was only one million dollars. But when Guttmacher was able to transfer it without letting the Swiss bank know where the money finally landed, he gained DeLouise's confidence. Guttmacher said that DeLouise wanted to move his substantial assets from Switzerland to another location but didn't know how to do it without leaving any trace. He feared the movement would reveal his new location to his pursuers: two divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice, one of which he was sure had called in INTERPOL, and the Colombians.
“So after the first million was successfully transferred, DeLouise became convinced that Guttmacher could help him; Guttmacher started moving DeLouise's money in relatively small amounts through third parties until it ended up in Germany. Although Guttmacher's bank commissions for the transfers were hefty, DeLouise was pleased.
“Then Guttmacher suggested that DeLouise participate in the financial package of the Iranian purchase of nuclear equipment and materials. It was more a matter of disguising the true identity of the buyer and the final destination of the goods than financing the transaction. The Iranians had the money available, but they wanted the transactions to look like commercial contracts between individuals and companies for peacetime use rather than purchases by a government already on the U.S. list of pariah countries.”
“Did Guttmacher know about my father's Israeli Mossad background?” asked Ariel.
“I don't think so; he never said anything,” said Blecher. “I don't believe your father would have told him that, knowing how deeply Guttmacher was involved with the Iranians.”
“Guttmacher said that when DeLouise agreed to participate, DeLouise even suggested bringing in his own contacts in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, and the Iranians agreed. So instead of being simply a ‘front name’ for the Iranian nuclear purchasing mission, DeLouise had become a recruited agent as well.”
“What the Iranians didn't know, though, was that my father had his own agenda, and had never intended to deliver what he had promised,” said Ariel.
Blecher nodded and continued. “DeLouise brought a sample of trace nuclear material and the Iranians became enthusiastic. They gave him two million through Guttmacher's bank as an advance payment and the bank guaranteed their advance. As collateral DeLouise gave the bank an assignment of a $2.05 million deposit his company kept in a Swiss bank. Guttmacher said that the whole advance matter was nothing but an elaborate money-laundering scheme to free up some of DeLouise's money that was still stuck in Switzerland. So Guttmacher received two million from the Iranians and gave it to DeLouise, but DeLouise never returned the advance or delivered the goods. Then Guttmacher withdrew the $2.05 million collateral deposit from the Swiss bank, returned two million to the Iranians, and kept his fifty-thousand-dollar commission. Everybody was happy.”
“Why was my father happy?” asked Ariel.
“Well, for one thing, he'd laundered two million dollars at a cost of fifty thousand dollars. That's cheap in this trade,” volunteered Eric. “However, Guttmacher's bank collected the collateral DeLouise gave Credit Suisse only after DeLouise was murdered. In short, the operation was successful, but the patient died.”
“So DeLouise was planning to work for free if he ended up with his own money less the commission Guttmacher collected?” asked Ron.
“No. The plan was that the Iranians would pay him five million dollars, half when they'd receive proof that the materials were ready for shipment and the other half when the goods arrived. But that time never came. And DeLouise never ordered U.S. computers for the Iranians or nuclear materials from the Soviet Union. The whole thing was a hoax he perpetrated.”
Blecher continued, “But let's go back again. DeLouise's confidence in Guttmacher grew. He was lonely in a strange city and felt that he had painted himself into a corner. Guttmacher became his friend and listened to his gripes and stories. He entrusted him with his important documents. Herr Guttmacher understood that this man DeLouise had a huge fortune; this only fueled his greed. He realized that DeLouise was also disillusioned with his American wife and son because they never came to visit him in Europe. He felt they had given up on him. Guttmacher heard about Ariel, the daughter DeLouise deeply loved and said he was going to take care of.”
I looked at Ariel. Tears had come to her eyes.
“Then one day DeLouise told Guttmacher he was being followed. He was sure the Colombians had found him again. Guttmacher calmed him down and sent an ex-policeman to check it out. The ex-cop discovered that the people trailing DeLouise were Iranian agents who probably wanted to make sure DeLouise wasn't an agent of a foreign-intelligence service. They posed no imminent danger, but Guttmacher never told this to DeLouise.”
“Why didn't he tell him?” asked Mina.
“Because the fear made DeLouise even more dependent on Guttmacher. Remember, this businessman couldn't go to the police, and with his fortune, he was isolated and fearful in a foreign city. His only stable channel to the outside world was Guttmacher.
“The incident gave Guttmacher an idea, though. Since he kept all of DeLouise's banking documents and knew about the extortion attempt from the Colombians, he called Ignacio Perez, the Colombian, and offered an exchange: in return for DeLouise's head, Guttmacher would hand over the documents incriminating Perez for money laundering and bribery of judges and politicians in the U.S.”
“What was Guttmacher's plan?” asked Benny.
“Guttmacher thought that if all the documents and the keys to the money were under his custody, his new friend would be expendable, and he could keep millions of dollars of DeLouise's money. Because only DeLouise and Guttmacher knew where the money they secretly transferred from Switzerland was hidden.
“Perez agreed and sent three of his men to Munich. Two of them followed DeLouise and killed him in the street in broad daylight.
“Guttmacher delivered the incriminating documents, but when Perez received them he saw that a crucial document was missing, the one showing contributions to politicians and judges. He called Guttmacher to complain, but Guttmacher couldn't give him that document – he'd simply never had it. Perez threatened Guttmacher, who didn't know what to do, and there was no one he could ask about that document. DeLouise was already dead. Guttmacher knew what Perez was capable of.
“Next, Ariel entered the picture. Unbeknownst to Guttmacher, DeLouise, who felt threatened by the fact that he was being followed, had asked Ariel to come from Israel. Fearing that he would be hurt or killed before Ariel arrived, he did two things. First he reserved Ariel a room at a small pension; he didn't want her to be seen at the hotel with him. Ariel is an Israeli carrying an Israeli passport, so her presence next to DeLouise posed a danger to them both. Then he left letters for her with the pension's manager. By that time, DeLouise probably distrusted Guttmacher. Then Ariel arrived and called Guttmacher.”
“Yes,” said Ariel, “when I realized that I couldn't find my father, I called the one person whose name was mentioned in the letter my father had left me at the pension: Guttmacher. He said he didn't know where my father was, but asked me to leave the name of my hotel in case he heard from him.”
Blecher continued. “By then Guttmacher understood that by bringing his daughter to Munich, DeLouise had also brought her into the conspiracy. He had to get rid of her. He told Perez that DeLouise had given the missing document to his daughter. Therefore, the only way to get it back would be to kidnap her, and after she surrendered the document, to kill her. Perez's men followed Ariel from her pension and kidnapped her.”
Ariel picked up the story from there. “I didn't know what they wanted. I had no such document. But I had to gain time, so I told them it was in a safe-deposit box and that only my mother and I had access to. So they made me call my mother, and I asked her to come. I tried to hint that I was in danger and that she shouldn't come, but she misinterpreted what I said to mean that because I was in trouble I needed her. Then I was able to escape and told the guys at the consulate to call my mother to stop her from coming. But she'd already been here. They said they'd taken her back to Israel, and I decided to go to Moscow on my own.”
“You were either very brave or very reckless,” said Eric. “These people are ruthless. You were a target for a bullet in the back of your neck.”
Ariel smiled in embarrassment. I looked at her. She was more beautiful than ever. Her copper hair was braided the way I was growing to like, and very light eye makeup highlighted her deep blue eyes. She was again wearing a stunning business suit and looked beyond my reach.
“The kidnappers were afraid to tell their boss in Colombia that Ariel had escaped, so they frantically started to look for her. They contacted Guttmacher and squeezed him, wanting to know who DeLouise's contacts were in Munich. They hoped to trace Ariel through them. Guttmacher was frightened enough to give them Dan Gordon's name. Actually, he also gave them Peter Wooten's name.”
“Guttmacher gave them my name? The son of a bitch. He would sell his own father if he only knew who he was. Problem is, even Guttmacher's mother doesn't know his identity,” I said in contempt.
“Yes. He did, and they got hot on your trail.”
“Wait,” I said. “I'm confused. I thought you said the Iranians followed me.”
“Correct,” said Blecher. “But at any given time you were being followed by both the Colombians and the Iranians. The Colombians saw you enter the Mielke Bank. Guttmacher told them you were DeLouise's partner, so they assumed you may have retrieved something from the bank that was connected to DeLouise, perhaps the missing document. Therefore, when you left the bank, one of them attacked you.”