As they sat down to breakfast, Cutler had the look of a man who had seen the light. He waded through the meal with gusto.
“Cheryl, it’s obvious no one cares. Even in my position, where I have access to different investigative authorities, I am clueless on where to go and who to see within the present system,” Cutler said with resignation.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying!” interjected Cheryl.
“Well, when one meets a wall, one must find a way to get around that wall, even if that means building a new bypass,” Cutler said.
“In English please, Max,” Cheryl said.
“Everyone calls me Cutler, Cheryl. I’m kind of used to it now,” Cutler said gently. “In plain language, we need to set up our own investigation team, set up a company that investigates across borders and across police forces. If the police don't investigate, we will do the investigations. If they don't act on our findings, we will take out advertisements; go to the local television stations, etc.” Cutler went on.
“That is all well and good, but that takes money. I’m barely hanging onto my house after paying for my own trip to Egypt after the loss of my job,” Cheryl said dejectedly.
“I have money, easily enough money to set this up, and to bankroll investigations for several years to come. Plus, we could take donations,” Cutler said.
“You have money? You never said,” Cheryl inquired more excitedly.
“Well, let’s say I have access to a fund. The less you know about it, the better. But it is nothing illegal,” Cutler explained, half-heartedly believing it.
Cutler had fought his conscience. He felt he was betraying everything he stood for by using the money. He listed down on one side of a piece of paper all the reasons not to do this; on the other hand he wrote down all the reasons he should follow this course of action. He had four reasons not to move forward, and twenty-five reasons why he should. His mind was settled; he knew he had no option.
Chapter Fifteen
Attorney Seppi Von-Baer was the legal brains of the outfit; Delegate Frau Uebering had corrupted him when he was still at school in Dresden. Von-Baer was their one and only attorney. Von-Baer knew the set-up; he knew their secrets. And, above all, they owned him, lock, stock, and barrel.
He was the delegate’s lover. Before that he was her son’s friend, and then foster son. He had been besotted with her, even as a young boy of twelve. Delegate Frau Uebering had ushered him to her bed a year later, and he had become her constant plaything, her boy toy, their relationship a carefully guarded secret.
Delegate Frau Uebering had need of sexual release. It was not the normal man-woman relationship, as she dominated every man she had ever met. But he satisfied her in a way she had not experienced before. She would show him how she wanted pleasuring, and he would obey. She knew the Kama Sutra inside out.
Von-Baer’s mother had grown up with Delegate Frau Uebering, and they had been at school together. It was not long before she had pieced together the change in her son’s attitude and the way he talked and looked at the delegate. Out of friendship, she approached the delegate and told her to stop enchanting her son, or she would destroy her career by exposing her underage sex to the media.
Two days later, and without her adolescent lover’s knowledge, Frau Uebering had her friend killed. The task was easy enough for Werner; a phone call and order to a minion, and then the next day a minibus hit her side-on outside the school as she waited for Von-Baer. He saw the aftermath; his mother’s body contorted and bloodied, her brain oozing out of the crushed forehead.
Von-Baer became an orphan at fourteen. It was not difficult, nor did it raise any eyebrows when Frau Uebering fostered her son’s friend. In fact, it was reported in the Bild newspaper how magnanimous she had been to accept this responsibility. Three weeks after he moved in, she moved Raphe, her son from a previous marriage, to a boarding school outside of Frankfurt; her husband had been discarded years before. She now had a foster child and a lover, all to herself, and she did not want Raphe getting in the way.
When Von-Baer graduated from school, she put him in the best law school that money could buy, in Berlin, and close to her. He went to university on the condition he came home each evening.
University was a lonely place for him. Forbidden to mix with other students by the delegate, he cut an isolated figure. The other students would harass and mock him at first. Once he had broken down and wept in front of the delegate, and admitted he was being bullied because of her insistence on isolation. This behaviour stopped immediately when the delegate sent a couple of Werner’s men around to pick him up outside the university. One of the minders walked up to Jon, the main antagonist, and a punch later Jon was sprawled out on the ground and his nose would never go back to its original shape.
Power was everything to Von-Baer and he had none of it. He adored the thought of a powerful woman dominating, both in and out of bed, and the delegate certainly did this with aplomb.
To the outside world, the delegate was a doting, caring, and loving mother and stepmother. No one apart from Werner knew the depths of their relationship. He was not blind and had a fair idea of her need for unconventional sex. This knowledge was acquired through first-hand experience. Indeed he had once shared her bed—only once, as Werner was a missionary sort of person, and this did not raise
