“Again, thank you gentlemen,” said Mr. Quinn. “Here is the paperwork with our credentials and all the information you will need. Have a safe trip.”
“Thank you for lunch, it was a pleasure meeting you.”
They all shook hands and parted ways, meeting Weisman in the parking area.
“No news yet!” He told them.
Mickey McGrath, the late Lucian Santana Gerald, had arrived at his Toms River bungalow. He was going through his passports looking for one he hadn’t used before. Thinking his chances of getting out of the country would be easier if he was someone of importance. He studied them for a short time and decided on a retired Dutch Diplomat, Karl Kreslow. He would have to do a little work to look like the picture on the passport. It had been taken almost five years ago. He thought he could do it. A few hours’ sleep and he would get to work.
He had a money belt but with the searches which go on at the airports these days he decided to send a bundle of money to his address in Amsterdam. He hid various amounts in different places. He’d be in Holland in a few days.
Svetty gave some thought to going for the diamonds. It was risky. She decided to go to Atlantic City. She would watch and wait, join Jewel if there was a low risk plan in place; if not disappear.
Jonas called Belle after the meeting. He wanted to tell her he had received the reward.
“Hello.”
“Hi Belle, are you back at the chateau?” He asked.
“I’m on my way now, where are you?”
“I’ll be leaving for Chateau 54 in a couple of hours. I’m looking forward to seeing you and telling you what has transpired these last few days.”
“Can’t wait to hear your story,” Belle said but for the moment she forgot her southern drawl. “I mean, ya’ll should be here by this evening then?” Belle corrected herself, hoping Jonas was excited enough about his reward not to put two and two together.
“See you soon,” said Jonas.
He turned to M&M, “I’m not going crazy. This time I distinctly heard her talk with sort of a New York slang and then correct herself as she went back to a drawl. Something is not right!” he told them.
M&M both gave very little thought to his earlier comments about Belle speaking differently. But this time they were present and chimed in with their thoughts and questions. They all were somewhat mystified. Jonas came up with a possibility. It was out from left field but as he thought what else could it be.
“It’s not Belle,” he blurted out. “She, as far as I know has never talked any other way but with her sweet southern drawl.”
“Way out,” Mother concluded.
Solly on the other said. “It’s a possibility, I’ve heard of cases where people have taken the place of a friend or relative, so they could get an illegal inheritance or weasel their way into someone’s confidence.”
“Aren’t we going out on a limb?” asked Mother.
“What do you think, Jonas?” questioned Muddy.
“I need to sit down for a few minutes so I can try to work this out,” he said. “Let me go back to when she called me at the chateau and put all the facts together.”
“When you think you have an idea, let me know” Solly said.
Jonas put on his thinking cap as Muddy opened his envelope and looked at the amount of the check. “Catch me,” he yelled to Mother. As he put his hand on his chest and tried to catch his breath, “One point five million schamolians! A lot of scratch.”
Mother put his arm around him just as he was about to drop. “Thank you!” Mudd said.
Weisman was thinking out loud. Gerald and Jewel set up an escape when they had no contact with anyone while they were in the Newark jail. He called the office and spoke to everyone who had any contact with them. Nothing unusual came up. Then he got Solly and the gang together. “Let’s go over what’s happened.”
“What do you mean?” Mudd inquired.
“I’m not sure but let’s go over what each of you did or who you came in contact with during the time in question.”
They all tried to think back. One at a time they related what they remembered. Muddy was first. Weisman dismissed all he had done. He never talked to anyone outside the people he was working with. Ditto for Mother. Jonas was about the same until he mentioned the phone conversations with Belle. He admitted telling her what was going on.
“In fact, one conversation with Belle, I remember her asking me specific questions. Such as, when will you be there? and, where are you going next? I just know there is something I’m missing.”
“Jonas,” Weisman asked. “Can you get hold of Belle now?”
“I can call.”
“Do it and let’s see what she says to a few specific questions.”
“Call her now?”
“Hold on,” said Weisman. “Let’s get a list of questions ready. We don’t want to miss anything.”
FortyFour — A Run for the Money
Solly was talking to Weisman, he nodded and went to talk to Jonas.
“Is your phone on?” he asked him.
“Yes.”
“It’s on!” Solly hollered.
“We have the signal.”
“What are they doing,” asked Mudd.
“They’re going to trace the cell signal when Jonas calls.” Solly said. “We’ll try to find her location.”
Weisman walked over to the rest of the group and showed a list of questions to Jonas.
“Make sure you ask where she is or how close to the chateau she is; make sure it sounds natural. Why don’t you start by telling her you won’t be back until late tomorrow morning?
“Maybe I should ask about her friend and how everything is with her husband,” Jonas suggested.
“Good lead in, don’t blurt it out while you’re talking about something else,” Solly added.
We’re ready on this end. You ready Jonas?” Weisman queried.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Make the call.”
Belle’s cell was ringing. She saw it was Jonas, “Let’s see what he wants, maybe I’ll learn something,” she thought.
“Hello,” she drawled.
“Hi, it’s Jonas, I won’t be home until late tomorrow morning. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“All right, “I stopped to eat on my way to the chateau, I’m going to do a little shopping before I go home.”
“Do you have far to go?” asked Jonas.
“Naw, a couple of miles,” she told him.
Weisman gave Jonas the signal to cut the call when you want, they had the information signal.
“Great, maybe I’ll see you in the morning,” Jonas said.
“All right then, see you tomorrow.”
Jonas had a look of frustration as he turned and said, “What does naw, mean”
“It means, no,” said Mudd.
“As far as I can remember Belle has never used the word, ever. She always said, no. Oh, and she also said, all right then. Never heard her say that either. I get more confused every time I talk to her.”
“You and Belle were separated for years. She may have picked up different slang expressions from her friends,” suggested, Mother.
“You’re right in assuming that,” Jonas said. “I’ve given some thought to the possibility of her trying her best to please me by talking as she did when we communicated. I just can’t get my head around the whole mess. Oh, what the hey, I may be completely wrong.”
“The cell tower which picked up her signal places her in the vicinity of Absecon.” Weisman said. “The first town you get to as you leave AC, using the White Horse Pike.”
“She told me she was a couple of miles from Chateau 54,” Jonas told him.
“We’ll double check,” Weisman said.
Jonas was now completely mystified. M&M couldn’t help. They only knew Belle for a short time.
Wait a minute Mother said. “Muddy, you and Belle hung arou
nd, went to dinner and other stuff. You didn’t notice anything about the way she talked?”
“She sounded normal to me,” Mudd quipped. “We joked around. She thought I talked funny so she would mimic me at times. She said she acted on Broadway for two seasons doing back up rolls and small parts in off Broadway shows.”
“She did what,” asked Jonas.
“She acted on Broadway,” Mudd repeated. “She told me being able to have different accents from foreign countries and able to sound southern, mid-western, New York and South Philly was part of her job.”
“Muddy, would you come with me?” Weisman said.
“Am I under arrest? Should I run?”
“If you run I’ll have to shoot you,” Solly interjected.
“You’re just kidding, aren’t you? Please say you’re not serious.”
“I’m not serious,” Solly said. “But Agent Weisman would like your learned assistance.”
“Mother keep an eye on me, I want to come back and spend some of my money.”
“You’ll be all right Muddy,” Solly assured him.
Weisman, Solly and the Muddman went to the far corner of the lobby and talked. Mother wondered what was up. Jonas just shook his head. The two agents stood motionless and watched the area. They waited for a good fifteen minutes when Muddy screamed. “Get outta my face.”
Solly took control of Muddy’s right arm and Weisman held on to his left. They picked his body up so his legs were dangling about six inches above the ground. Swiftly bringing him over to where Mother and Jonas were waiting. They gently put him down.
“Here you take him,” said Weisman. “He’s a babbling idiot.”
Weisman and Solly walked away.
“I fooled them, didn’t I?” said the Muddman. “I didn’t tell them anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell them anything,” asked Jonas.
“I didn’t know anything.”
“They should have asked me,” said Mother. “I already knew you didn’t know anything.”
“Thanks!”
Jonas had a good laugh. He said he felt better knowing he was not the only person who didn’t know anything.
Svetleva left her phone at the gas station while filling up. She removed the memory card and put the phone on top of the air pump as she was leaving. The secondary phone, the one she used to call Mickey, Jewel and other associates came into play. She was approaching Iowa Avenue in Atlantic City. There was a parking spot at the corner of Atlantic so she eased the car into the space and walked down Iowa toward the Boardwalk.
Svetleva walked through the covered walkway which went from Pacific to the cobblestone throughway where the FBI cars were parked. She noticed the car Jewel was driving. She looked around but couldn’t see Jewel. The area was quiet. She made her way to the back driveway. This gave her a direct line of site to Jewel’s car. She would wait to see what came her way.
Jewel had stationed herself at a secondary entrance near the front door. She was watching the FBI, Jonas, M&M, as they were standing outside the front door of the casino. Jewel could see them from the door of the lady’s room where she was keeping out of sight. She noticed Weisman had been holding the case. He had put it down next to Jonas and walked away.
She wondered if Svetleva had decided to come for the diamonds or if she chickened out as usual. Well not as usual, she was pretty good when it came to making plans and getting the job done with the least effort. Jewel hated her for that but hoped she would show, she could use the help. Jewel would go for the diamonds even if Svetty didn’t show.
Weisman was still juggling things with the help of the Newark office. There had been some results as to the whereabouts of Jewel and Gerald. They still hadn’t made the ID of the second female or the three men working with her. They had an eyewitness who saw three people, a male and two females get into a car at the scene of the incident. A man who was mowing his lawn about a quarter mile east had seen most of what happened when he was turning his mower around. He stopped and watched. He came to the site when the Police arrived to give them the information.
Later an officer on duty at the Shore Mall noticed a man and a woman get out of a car which fit the description of the vehicle. A woman drove the car away as the other two got into a gray vehicle and drove out the backway. He was too far away to tell the make of the vehicle. It could have been a Ford or a Toyota, maybe a Nissan, the officer couldn’t say for sure. He had called it in as soon as he spotted the incident. For now, that was all the information they had.
Jewel waited and waited for a chance to grab the case. Not knowing the diamonds had been removed. There had been ample opportunity to take the case but she also needed time to escape. Jewel had paid the attendant fifty dollars to park her car next to the FBI vehicle.
Weisman got another call. The phone had been chirping regularly for the last half hour.
“Hello, Weisman here.”
“A phone has been found in Absecon, at a gas station. It was left on top of the air pump but has been cleared of all its data,” the policewoman on the phone told him.
“Can anyone there get into the phone and find out what its number is?”
“We have the make of the phone. There is a store less then a mile away, they should be able to get the number.”
“Thanks, let me know as soon as you know,” Weisman said to the officer on the other end of the call, “and thanks for your help.”
“What up boss?” asked Solly.
“Please don’t call me boss, I’m a fellow agent.”
“Yes sir, Agent Weisman.”
“We have some information. Not enough to act on yet…soon, I think we will.”
Gerald aka Mickey McGrath was a busy little beaver. He had taken care of the money. Breaking it into small piles and wrapping it in watertight packages. He would hide them in various places. Maybe one or two could be found but it would be very difficult to think like him. He had a marvelous mind, better, he thought, then just about any mind on the planet. He would be up early in the morning readying himself to become the retired Dutch diplomat, Karl Kreslow. He laughed himself to sleep.
Weisman called Solly over again. He relayed some new information.
“Don’t look over at Jonas,” he said. “The phone found at the gas station in Absecon belonged to Belle.
“What do you think it means?” asked Solly.
“Belle was not in the area of the chateau, but in Absecon.”
“What’s our next step?
“We need to put some questions to rest before we return to Newark. This is as good a place as any.”
“There’s no need to bother Jonas, is there?”
“No,” said Weisman, “none at all.”
“Do you want me to put the case in the car?”
“Good idea,” Weisman replied, “I’d like to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
Solly went to get the case. Jewel was watching; this was her chance. Everyone was busy looking somewhere else; she ran for the case before Solly could get at it. She pushed Muddy out of the way and ran across the cobblestone driveway to her car. When she arrived at her car she was surprised no one had followed her. She pulled her gun and told all concerned to stay put. Solly tried to tell her the case was empty but before he could get the words out of his mouth she screamed. “Shut your mouth!”
As she opened the door to get in the car an arm came out with a gun pointing at her head.
“Don’t move Jewel, if you want to see the light of day again!”
By this time Weisman had moved to the area where Solly and the rest of the stunned crew were. “What’s going on?” he asked. “I thought you were going to put the case in the car.”
“I’m not sure, but Jewel grabbed the case and ran to her car. When she opened the door to get in, an arm with a gun pointing at her head reached out from the car.”
“Who is the arm person?” Weisman asked.
“We don’t know”
FortyFive — Flying Bullets
After a quick visit to the men’s facility, Mother witnesses what’s happening. He could quickly see if he walked around the back and came in via the cobblestone driveway from the Iowa avenue entrance he may be able to prevent the needless violence. Slowly he made his way to the passenger side of the car. He was on all fours, crawling along as if he were an army ranger. He felt exhilarated.
Solly spotted him but said nothing. He would ready himself to help when the time was right. Everyone else was so fixated on the situation they never noticed Mother making his way to Jewel’s car.
Jewel was speechless, how could she not have foreseen this; her sister, Svetleva, pointing a gun at her. “Svetty, you miserable no good…”
“Shut your mouth you low life.” Svetleva said as she started to exit the car, “drop your gun and the case!”
“And if I don’t,” she asked.
“Three seconds and you’ll find out.”
Jewel put the case and the gun on the ground. Svetleva stepped out of the car, as she did she knocked Jewel to the ground.
There was shock amongst all concerned. Jonas couldn’t believe his eyes. He was unable to rationalize what was going on. Was this his granddaughter? He had no idea.
Muddy was puzzled. Is she the woman I dated or someone else. He too had no idea.
Solly and Weisman now knew who the phone belonged to; Svetleva and Belle, at least the Belle they knew, were one in the same.
Then in one sweeping motion Belle threw the case into the car but as she tried to jump into the driver’s seat a body came hurdling through the air, landing on her just as she got a shot off.
“Look its Mother?” Muddy says, “Is he crazy?”
As Muddy screams, Solly pulls his gun and pushes Muddy aside. He noticed Mother had managed to jump on Belle. Solly had seen the shot.
Mother was hit in the left upper arm, in the meaty flesh which once was muscle. He jumped up thinking he had grabbed her gun; but the gun he picked up was Jewel’s. She had put the gun on the ground at Belle’s request. As Svetleva, got herself together she looked at Mother, and fired another shot hitting him in his left upper leg near the family jewels. He fell backwards, managing to keep upright as he fell against the wall. Another shot rang out as Jewel shoved Belle. The shot hit Mother’s ear lobe, ricocheted off the wall and hit Jewel in her chest. Belle was almost in tears but didn’t let it show. Jewel was still moving as she went for her gun. Mother had dropped it when Belle shot him in the leg. Jewel was unable to reach the gun as Belle kicked it away.