“I’ve been out of the office, sir.”
“No kidding.”
“Like I said before, the Greek police are proving to be less than helpful. Did you ever try to adjust a claim with a dead body on the floor? It’s not so easy doing the paperwork.”
“I get that. It’s an awkward situation right enough. Naturally we feel bad having landed you in this situation. But sometimes that’s how it is. Adjusting a claim can be a tricky process. A claims man has to expect the unexpected. That’s what this business is all about. And sometimes the unexpected is a little more unpredictable than can reasonably be expected, especially when there’s a lot of money involved.”
“Did you find Max Merten?”
“No. I didn’t.” Dietrich sighed. “Look here, Ganz, the word from on high is that you’re to drop this whole thing. Right now. I’ve retained those lawyers in Piraeus on your behalf and told them to deal with the police through the usual channels. We will assist you in any way we can. Bail money, fines, legal fees, none of that is a problem. We’ll bring you home, right enough. You’ve just got to be patient and let the lawyers handle it now. But this whole line of inquiry needs to end. Siegfried Witzel’s claim for the Doris has been disallowed and that’s the end of it as far as MRE is concerned.”
“Is that what Mr. Alzheimer says?”
“Mr. Alzheimer, me, and God almighty. In that order, see? You’re not a cop anymore, you’re a goddamned insurance man. It’s time you started acting like one.”
“What’s the idea?”
“There isn’t any idea. There’s just orders. From upstairs. You’re to drop this inquiry like it was red-hot toilet paper. When you’re back home we’ll go out somewhere like the Hofbräuhaus and I’ll buy you a cheap dinner to celebrate.”
“An invitation like that I can hardly refuse.”
“Good.” Dietrich was oblivious to my sarcasm.
“Sure, boss. Anything you say.” It wasn’t what I felt like saying to Dumbo but it sounded a lot better than Go and fuck yourself. Working for MRE was still a good job for a man like me, with a car and expenses and what I most craved, which was a quiet life with a little respectability. I was determined to keep the job, in spite of what the big mouth in my square head felt like doing. My father would have been proud of me; he always did want me to go into something respectable like insurance. I picked up my glass and then drained it, a second time. “Was there anything else, sir?”
“No, that’s it, Ganz. Take care now. See you soon.”
I handed Garlopis the receiver and he dropped it on the cradle and shrugged. “Dale Carnegie he is not.”
“Dumbo’s usually all right. For an office man. But it sounds to me like someone’s been shaking his pram.”
“Perhaps it was Mr. Alzheimer.”
“Could be. In which case maybe someone leaned on Mr. Alzheimer.”
“Like who?”
“Frankly I’d rather not know. But I do know that in pride of place in Alzheimer’s office is a framed photograph of him looking very cozy with our own dear Konrad Adenauer. If, as Lieutenant Leventis says, Alois Brunner does have good connections in the current German government, then maybe Adenauer asked his old friend Alzheimer to have me lay off the case.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so, sir, none of that fits with Brunner being involved in selling arms illegally to the Egyptians. I mean why would the West German government, a NATO member for only a couple of years, risk upsetting its new allies by doing something like that? It doesn’t make sense. Unless anti-Semitism is still the policy of the German government.”
“Leventis said he thought maybe Brunner had been working for the German Federal Intelligence Service, the BND. So maybe he still is. Maybe this was an undercover operation. I don’t know. The minute you get the peekers involved, then the screen ripples in front of you like a mirage and before you know it Red Riding Hood turns out to be the wolf.” I lit a cigarette. “It’s beginning to look as though I’ll need to bribe that cop after all. Did you speak to your cousin at the Alpha Bank? About cashing that certified check?”
“Yes. And he tells me that he can make this happen quite easily. Now all we have to do is bribe someone at the Ministry of Public Order with a much smaller sum to provide you with a fake identity card in the name of Siegfried Witzel.”
“Will this do?”
I handed over the identity card that the Ermioni harbormaster had found floating in the sea at the spot where the Doris had gone down. The card was in poor condition but all the pertinent details were more or less legible.
“Oh, this will do very well,” said Garlopis. “Where did you find it?”
I explained where it had come from.
“The picture is so faded that it actually looks a bit like you.”
“That’s hardly a surprise. I’m a bit faded myself. Or more accurately, worn away like the relief on some ancient temple.”
“He suggests cashing the check at the bank in Corinth where he has a good friend who owes him a favor. That’s less than an hour’s drive north of here. It’s perfect for us. Nothing ever happens in Corinth. At least not since the earthquake of 1928 and the great fire of 1933.”
“Sounds like a poor choice of place to build a bank.”
Garlopis smiled. “We could go there the day after you visit Arthur Meissner in Averoff Prison, perhaps. On Saturday. Banks are always quiet on a Saturday.”
“Yes, that should help us focus on what we’re doing very nicely. There’s nothing like planning a serious crime to give an extra thrill to a prison visit.”
THIRTY-SIX
–
A warm afternoon in Athens and Garlopis was spent behind the wheel of the Rover, which
