Chapter Three

Chapter Three

11th January 2009.

New York City, USA.

Danny woke up at 4:30am feeling the same way he always since the day John Wayne gave him the case to investigate. He had been rolling from side to side on his bed, almost throughout the night the thoughts of nailing Wolfgang was what filled his mind. 

He had a quick shower and put on his sports gear, he locked his apartment front door and went to the gym. As usual he got to the gym and went to the treadmill, as he exercised he thought of ways he could get incriminating information from Edwin Loans without suspicion from Wolfgang. 

He thought about a break-in to the bank headquarters, bugging their phones, or hacking into their systems to get information. 

But he decided against it as he remembered “never embarrass the bureau”. a popular maxim used at Quantico, attributed to Hoover himself. 

Something made him look up, and he saw Becky, Wolfgang’s secretary, on the exercise bicycle some few meters away from him he was surprised as he has never come across Becky in the gym before, he thought of going over to approach her and squeeze information out of her but he decided against it. 

He finished his exercise, signed out of the gym, and jogged back home.

 

****************************************************

John Summers woke up at 5:45am he usually does not wake up until 6:30 on other days but today he had to wake up early so that he would be able to be at the airport in time for the takeoff of the company’s gulfstream G650 enroute London, which has been slated for 7:30 am. 

He stepped into the bathtub, he wished he could soak in the bathtub for hours like he does on weekends, and on days he has no reasons to go to the office, but today is different, as he would have to travel several kilometers away from his apartment, on an assignment he’s not happy carrying out. 

He finished taking his shower, got dressed, shaved, and combed his hair three times. His thick kinky hair has refused to obey every cream and hair treatments he had used, when upon combing them the third time, the strands of his hair refused to be independent, instead of curling and sticking together, he abandoned the combing altogether. 

His thoughts returned to the bank, and his early days, when he first came in as a fresh graduate of arts from Princeton. He had faced a bit of prejudice from Wolfgang when he first got hired infact Wolfgang had only employed him, because he felt that he was an expert in arts. 

He finished dressing up picked up his briefcase and got out of his apartment. As he stepped out of his apartment, he saw the company limousine already parked by the side of the road, waiting for him.

The driver opened the door for him he got in and they drove off to the airport. Thirty five minutes later, the limousine pulled up in front of a small terminal used only by people who are priviledged to fly in their own aircraft. 

The air hostess served him coffee while he waited, five minutes later another limousine appeared and drove him to the steps of the aircraft.

He got on board and they took off, throughout the flight John’s mind was not settled as he kept thinking about the work ahead of him. 

Anytime Wolfgang sends him on such assignments as this, he always got news that the client has been murdered and the sick thing was that they were all murdered in the same way only that different parts of their bodies was mutilated he was getting scared as he took up this assignment. 

‘Well it might just be a case of co-incidence’ he thought to himself, although he knew that the chances of the murders being a conincidence are extremely low.

Danny got to his office at 26 federal plaza, by 7:45am. Hardly had he settled dowb, when he got a call from one of the field agents keeping surveillance on Edwin Loans staff. 

”Hello goodmorning sir, my name is Jeff and I’m at JFK, standing in front of the private terminal”.

 “And what are you doing there Jeff?” Danny asked.

 “Sir the arts director of Wolfgang’s bank just took off in the company’s private jet, I don’t know his destination”.

 “It would be either London or Lagos” Danny said. 

“What should I do sir? Agent Jeff asked.

 “Go back to Edwin Loans offices and continue your surveillance” Danny said, and ended the call.

Danny called the American embassy in London, and Agent Harden picked up on the other end of the line. 

“Hello” Bob Harden said

“Bob, the arts director at Edwin Loans just took off from JFK, we do not know his destination, but I think it would either be London, or Lagos” Danny said. 

“My main purpose of calling is to find out if I can get some agents from your end, to help out in surveillance of the arts director” Danny continued.

”I would see what I can do we, are still going after Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, so we don’t have enough men on ground” Bob replied 

“Bob I really need to get Summers under surveillance, we cannot afford to lose him, I would be very grateful if you can help me with this, I want agents at Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted airports”. 

“Okay we would do that” Bob replied.

 Danny hung up, then he called Paul Watson at the embassy in Lagos. 

“Hi Paul I’m calling to tell you that the arts director of Edwin Loans just took off from JFK in the company’s Gulfstream we do not know where in the world he’s heading to but we are pretty sure he is on an official assignment”. 

“We think it would either be London or Lagos since the two latest victims are based in those cities, and were murdered there” Danny said.

“Okay, so what do you want me to do?” Agent Watson asked.

 “Can you help us out by putting agents at the Murtala Mohammed airport”?  Danny asked.

“Yes I can do that” Agent Watson said.

“Alright please do that, and please give me updates of what’s going on every now and then” Danny said.

“Okay I’d do that” Agent Watson said.

“Thank you very much Paul, I’d talk to you later” Danny said, before ending the call.

********************************************************

London, England.

Summers woke up to the feeling of someone tapping his shoulder, he cracked his eyes open, and saw that it was the air hostess who was tapping him on the shoulder.

 “I don’t want any more coffee” he said. 

“Well sir I want to tell you that we would be landing in Heathrow in the next ten minutes, and you have to fasten your seat belt in preparation for the landing, the local time in London is 1:30 pm, if you want to alter your watch” the hostess said.  

Summers nodded and sat up, he fastened his seatbelt, and altered his watch, setting it to the local time. He stared out the window as the aircraft began its descent down to the runway at Heathrow airport, the aircraft taxied on the runway for a few more minutes after landing, before it finally stopped.

 After disembarking from the aircraft, and clearing customs, another Limousine drove him to the hotel his bank had booked him into, in West London. After checking into the hotel, he had a quick shower, and changed into a blue designer suit. 

He phoned Mclean’s office to see if he could meet briefly with him, before he began his inspection. The call didn’t go through, he dialed McLean’s mobile phone number, which was switched off. 

He decided to go to Mclean’s office, he thought McLean might not be picking up because he felt the bank is about to rid him of his prized possession. 

He picked up his briefcase, and left his hotel room. As he got downstairs the chauffeur ran forward, and collected his briefcase which he deposited in the car, before opening the back door of the limousine for him. 

He settled into the backseat of the car.

 “Where are we going to sir?” Jack, the chauffeur asked.

 “Take me to Mclean’s real estate office in central London” Summers said. 

The driver nodded, and turning the key in the ignition, they drove off to Central London. 

Thirty minutes later, the limousine pulled up outside the building that serves as the headquarters of Owen’s company. 

Summers got out of the car, and walked towards the office building, he was stopped at the entrance, by the security guard.

“Good morning sir, how can I help you?” the guard asked 

“I’m John Summers, and I’m the arts director at Edwin Loans a bank based in New York, I want to see the chairman” Summers said. 

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, because we are closed for now” the guard said.

 “Closed?, Why?” Summers asked 

“Well I don’t really know what happened, but I think there was a terrible occurrence at the chairman’s house” the guard said.

 “Okay I’d pay him a visit in his home then, thank you” Summers said.

As he walked out of the premises of McLean’s office, Summers’s suspicion increased, he knew for sure that Mclean was trying to hide, so that the bank would not take ownership of the works of art in his possession.

 He would have to go to McLean’s residence, and speak to him. 

He got back into the car and opened his briefcase to look for McLean’s profile. 

He found McLean’s home address, and showed the chauffeur, who nodded and told him they would be there in twenty minutes. 

As he started the car, the chauffeur noticed the look of worry on Summers’s face.

“is anything the matter sir?” the chauffeur asked.

 “Nothing really, I’m just a bit tensed” Summers replied. 

They pulled up in front of McLean’s posh home in Kensington, the driver opened the door for Summers and he got out. 

He walked up to the front door of the beautiful white stone house, and pressed the doorbell.

“Good morning sir, how may I help you?” the maid asked. 

“I’m John Summers from Edwin Loans in New York, and I’m here to see Mr. McLean” Summers said. 

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible sir, but I would see if madam would be able to attend to you sir” the maid said and closed the door. 

Summers was getting more confused now, he wondered what the maid meant by, “I’m afraid that won’t be possible”.

 ‘Is Owen trying to play hide and seek games by shutting down his offie, and travelling out of England?’ or has something terrible happened to him?  Summers wondered. 

He was still thinking, when the maid reappeared at the door, and ushered him into the house. 

He was led into a small room that looked like a private sitting room, and was served a glass of orange juice. He had to wait for five minutes, before a beautiful woman dressed in black from head to toe joined him. 

Startled, Summers looked up and was wondering why the woman was dressed in all black. 

“Good morning sir, my name is Matilda Mclean, Owen McLean’s widow”. 

“McLean’s widow?” Summers repeated.

 “What happened to him? I mean how did he die? when did he die?” Summers asked, visibly shocked and confused.

 “I woke up yesterday to find Owen dead in his study, his throat was slit open, and his left thumb was cut off”. 

Summers was petrified, this was way beyond his imagination he remembered the words of the maid and the guard at the office, he blurted her words out unconsciously.

 “I’m afraid that won’t be possible sir” he said. 

“What’s that?” Matilda asked, startled.

 “Nothing really, I was just remembering, what the guard at Owen’s office, and the maid said to me” Summers said. 

“I’m really sorry for all that happened” he added. 

“You don’t need to be” Matilda said.

 “Maybe after I tell you what my mission here is, you would be able to decide if I should be sorry or not” Summers said. 

“Your husband owes a considerable amount of money to the bank I work for, I don’t know if you are aware, but he owes the bank about fifty million dollars and he has not been able to pay back the loan yet” Summers said. 

”The bank has therefore sent me to inspect the arts he used as collateral, in preparation for a takeover as soon as the loan duration ends” he added. He didn’t like the fact that he was saying all these to a grieving widow, but he had to do his job no matter what has happened. 

“Okay do you want me to accompany you to the office, one of the paintings is hung in our bedroom, and the other two are hanging in Owen’s office if you don’t mind you can follow me to our bedroom, to check the one painting hanging there” Matilda said.

 Summers followed her out of the room, up the stairs and into the bedroom, he was taken aback by the size of the bedroom which was more than half the size of his apartment back in New York. 

He was also surprised at the beauty of the Van Gogh sunflowers that was hung on the wall opposite the king sized bed, he had seen the paintings in catalogues before, but has not been able to see it up close until now. 

After he had inspected it and ascertained that it was original, he turned to Matilda.

 “This painting is more beautiful than I thought it was, I’m very sorry that the bank would have to take over ownership of the painting”. 

“It’s fine” Matilda said.

 “Let’s go check out the painting in 0wen’s office, I would call my driver now” she added. 

” I had a chauffeur bring me down here, you can join me, instead of us having to take two vehicles” Summers said. 

“Okay please wait for me downstairs, while I change into something else” she said.

 Summers went back downstairs; he still could not fathom the situation. 

He could not understand why Mrs. Mclean was still nice despite her grief , and the fact that she was also about to lose their prized assets and she’s so cool about it. 

Matilda joined him in the sitting room she was now wearing a flowered gown, Summers could not help but notice how beautiful she looked. She led the way, out of the house. 

The chauffeur had a quizical look on his face he obviously was surprised at the fact that Summers came out of the house, with a very beautiful woman. He opened the door for them.

 “Take us back to the office in central London” Summers said. 

“Okay sir” the chauffeur said, nodding his head.

During the twenty minutes drive back to Mclean’s office, John had a really good conversation with Mrs. Mclean, he got to know a bit about her, how she had been a model before marrying Owen, and the way Owen had adored her and treated her like a princess. 

They got to the office and John inspected the paintings in Owen’s office he could not help but admire the works of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. He finished up with the inspection and evaluation and went to dinner with Mrs. McLean on her invitation.

**********************************************************

New York City, USA.

Danny’s desk intercom was ringing, Danny picked it up.

“Who’s calling this time around Betty?” he asked.

“Sir our embassy in London is on line two” Betty answered.

 “Okay put me right through” Danny said. 

“Hello Bob any updates?” Danny asked.

 “Mr. Summers landed in London about five hours ago and went straight to a hotel in West London to lodge, an hour after checking in, he went to Mclean’s office in central London which was closed”. 

“He then went to Mclean’s home in Kensington and disappeared inside for about an hour and fifteen minutes before reappearing with Matilda Mclean’s wife together they went back to Mclean’s office and entered in together, they were gone for another forty-five minutes before they reappeared again and went to have dinner in a restaurant on Fulham road. 

There was a pause on the other end, which Danny interpreted to be an end to the narrative.

”We don’t know the exact purpose of Summers’s visit to London but I think he is going there to inspect the artworks Mclean used as collateral to obtain the loan from Edwin Loans, which means that the bank is preparing to take the artworks from him”. 

“I believe his next stop would be Lagos where the other victim is, please make sure your boys don’t lose Summers, we’d also maintain our surveillance” Danny said and hung up.

*******************************************************

London, England.

John got back to his hotel room at a few minutes past ten pm, he was exhausted, as the day had been very busy as he had envisaged. 

He dropped his briefcase on the armchair, and sank on the bed. The death of Owen McLean was still a source of worry for him, and all through the meal he had with Owen’s wife, he couldn’t take his mind off Owen’s death.

 Owen is the fifth person that has been murdered in the same fashion, all of them debtors to the bank. 

He decided to call his friend, Carl Whitefield, the loans director at the bank. He picked up the phone on the bedside table, and dialed his friend’s home number.

 “Hello Carl” Summers said, as soon as the line was picked up on the other end. 

“Hello John how are you doing?” Whitefield said.

“I’m doing good, and you?” Summers said.

 “”I’m good too, how’s the weather in London?” Whitefield asked.

“Cold, but not as cold as New York, where are you at the moment?” Summers asked.

 “I’m on my way to dinner, with my wife and daughter, is anything the matter?” Whitefield asked.

 “Well yeah, Mclean was murdered yesterday, his wife told me today when I went to inspect the paintings, and the sick thing is that he was murdered in the same fashion as the other victims, Carl I’m becoming more scared and worried”.

”You don’t need to be worried since you are not the murderer, everything would be fine John, don’t panic´Whitefield said. 

“But don’t you think that law enforcement would be on to us very soon?, because I know for sure that all these are not coincidences” Summers said. 

“I don’t think so John, I feel like you’re just being unnecessarily paranoid, don’t fret it would be fine dude” Whitefield said.

“Alright if you say so” Summers said, exhaling deeply.

“When will you be back in the States?“ Whitefield asked.

“I should be back in three days at most, I’d be travelling to Lagos tomorrow, I should be done there by the day after tomorrow, I’d be flying back home immediately after” Summers said.

“Alright I’d see you then, do try to get in touch with me, whenever you encounter any problems” Whitefield said.

“I’d do that, thank you very much” Summers said, and hung up. 

He put the telephone receiver back on the table, and sank down onto the bed. as he remembered the sadness in Matilda’s eyes and the loneliness he knew she must be feeling. 

He lay on the very soft mattress and thought about his trip, the following day. He would have to fly to a city in another continent, and he did not know what to expect as he was already wondering what might have happened in Lagos and the kind of reception he would receive.

******************************************************

New York City, USA.

Wolfgang walked out of the seminar room, elated that his speech went well. 

He had articulately delivered his speech, and was successful in pitching his ideas and philosophies to his colleagues, now he has been able to prove to them that he also was a force to reckon with in the banking industry, he smiled broadly at the thought of this.

As he approached his waiting car, the driver hurried to open the door for him. 

“Thanks Mark” Wolfgang said with a broad smile on his face.

 The driver was surprised because the chairman had never called him by his first name. Most of the time, the chairman either calls him by his surname, or doesn’t call him by his name at all, instead he just dished out orders. The sudden change looks quite astounding, it must be because his meeting had gone well, the driver concluded.

“Where are we heading to next sir?” the driver asked.

 “Take me to the club downtown” Wolfgang said, reclining on his seat. 

His iPhone rang, and he fumbled into his jacket pocket for it. He brought the phone out, and looked at the caller ID on the screen. 

It was his personal assistant.

 “Hello Steve” Wolfgang said. 

“Sir I think Summers, and Whitefield are already suspicious of the deaths of our customers” Cummins said, ignoring his boss’s salutation.

 “Why do you think so?” Wolfgang asked.

 “Carl Whitefield called me to tell me that Summers said Mclean was murdered two days ago, and that the death of our customers is no longer looking like mere coincidences” Cummins said. 

“They don’t know anything Steve they are just talking out of concern, don’t pay attention to their words” Wolfgang said. 

“They might be talking out of concern sir, but I still think we should be wary of those two men, we may think they don’t know anything and it might not turn out to be that they have been spying on us all along” Cummins said. 

“Don’t let them bother you Steve, we’d pull the plug on them if they ever try that shit” Wolfgang said. 

“Okay sir, but I still think I would start paying attention to them from now, on I would start by bugging the phone in both apartments, so that I can listen in on their conversations” Cummins said. 

“Okay you can go ahead with that Steve, I have no objections to that” Wolfgang said as his driver pulled up in front of the club.

“I’m about to go clubbing Steve, I’d talk to you some other time” Wolfgang said, and ended the call.

“Hi I’m here to drop a package for Mr. Aubrey who lives on the fifteenth floor” Cummins said, smiling into the security camera.

Mr. Aubrey was one of Summers’s neighbours, who lives on the same floor as Summers, and works at an insurance company in wall street. 

He was wearing a baseball cap pulled down to cover most part of his face he climbed up the staircase to the fifteenth floor where Summers’s apartment was, and in twenty minutes he had gained entrance into the flat bugged all four phones, was back on the road. 

He had earlier bugged the phones at Whitefield’s residence, and had wire-tapped the phones in their offices.

 “Now I would be able to see if they are ratting on us” Cummins said to himself, he flagged down a taxi, and rode it back home.