I had a question. “The Munich hotel registration of DeLouise was under the name of Peled, but Guttmacher knew him as DeLouise. Had Guttmacher discovered the double identity?”
“Not immediately,” answered Blecher. “Guttmacher knew only DeLouise, not Peled. The suite that DeLouise had rented at the Excelsior consisted of two adjoining rooms with different numbers. He simply registered one room under the name of Peled and the other room under the name of DeLouise. He paid the manager to keep it a secret. DeLouise kept the door between the rooms locked when he was out. When a call was made to Peled, it was forwarded to one room, and calls to DeLouise were forwarded to the adjoining room. However, the reception guest roster listed only Peled, not DeLouise. He simply gave Guttmacher his room number so that he wouldn't ask for Mr. DeLouise when calling him at the hotel. Anyway, Guttmacher was the only person calling DeLouise in Munich. It was simple and ingenious.”
“Why did my father keep the door between the rooms locked?” asked Ariel.
“Your father was a cautious person. Since he was maintaining a double identity in the hotel, he wanted to make sure that if anyone broke into DeLouise's room he'd find only stuff connected to DeLouise and while in Peled's room there were only things connected to Peled.”
“Did it work?” I asked.
“Apparently,” said Blecher, “Guttmacher was really surprised when I told him about the two rooms.”
“So he had two rooms,” I interrupted. “That explains the hefty hotel bill. What was in the room?” I asked, concealing the fact that I already knew this from the list I had “engineered” from the city morgue.
“Copies of airline tickets and a trip itinerary to Kenya, South Africa, and Hong Kong,” smiled Blecher. “DeLouise wanted to create the impression that he had left Germany. But that was to no avail. All these precautions didn't help him much, because he was living in the hotel, and it was when he went out to get a newspaper that he was shot. DeLouise and Peled were both killed by the same bullet.”
“How did you come to suspect Guttmacher?” asked Eric.
“He had been under our watch for some time because of his suspected money-laundering activities,” said Blecher. “The Bundesnachrichtendienst – the federal intelligence service – was also interested in him because of his dealings with the Iranians. But from my perspective as a police officer, the criminal activity in this case was first discovered by following the lead Mr. Dan Gordon gave us.” He smiled, looking at me.
“Oh?”
“Yes, do you remember the telephone number you deciphered from the call the kidnappers made after they received the call from a female Israeli agent to the pay phone impersonating Mina Bernstein?”
“Yes, now I remember,” I said. “It seems like ages ago.”
“The good lady returned unexpectedly to Israel with the ransom note. Since Ariel was free, she didn't realize we needed the note with the pay phone's number for our investigation. Consequently, we didn't have the number the kidnapper dialed from that phone until Dan gave it to us. We tried to get the number from Mrs. Bernstein through the Israeli Consulate, but that took time, and Mr. Gordon gave us the number first. That number led us to an apartment in central Munich rented by a man who told the landlord that his name was Manfred Holst. But the physical description given by the landlord matched Guttmacher's. We showed the landlord several pictures and he immediately identified Guttmacher as the person who had rented the apartment. From that point on everything was fairly easy.”
“Why did Guttmacher confess?” asked Ron.
“He had no choice. I showed him Rodriguez's testimony, which directly incriminated Guttmacher as the man who, together with Ignacio Perez, instructed him to kill DeLouise and kidnap Ariel. We have proof connecting Guttmacher to Perez and to the rented apartment where Ariel was kept, as well as other evidence. But I think, most of all, Guttmacher believes that only a German prison can protect his life. The Colombians are sure he cheated them. In fact, I suspect that the revelation that DeLouise was in fact a former Israeli with a daughter living in Israel helped Guttmacher confess.”
“How did Guttmacher find out?” asked Ariel.
“When you arrived in Munich and called him, you told him that you had just come from Israel.”
“That's right,” confirmed Ariel. “I didn't know that I had to conceal my nationality from my father's banker. Only later did I discover that he was also the Iranians’ banker.”
Blecher continued, “Guttmacher was surprised and alarmed by this news. Ariel became an immediate danger for him – yet another reason to get rid of her and steal her father's fortune. However, the risk posed to Guttmacher if the Iranians discovered Ariel's nationality was minimal in comparison to his horror when we told him that DeLouise was a former Mossad agent.”
“Why?” asked Ariel. “Wasn't my father's Israeli background enough of a risk?”
“Maybe,” said Blecher, “but after Guttmacher heard about DeLouise and his Mossad connection, he confessed immediately. Can you imagine what the Iranians would do to Guttmacher if they discovered that the man to whom he introduced them to work on their secret nuclear program was an Israeli spy? A German prison is Guttmacher's best shelter from the Iranians for the next hundred years.”
Ariel nodded and smiled.
“The Iranians are certain that Guttmacher conspired with DeLouise and DiMarco to betray them; they are also convinced that certain recent nocturnal events at the bank and in Armajani's apartment were directly connected to Guttmacher's betrayal.”
Blecher paused, looked at Benny, Ron, and Eric with half a smile, and said with exaggerated formality, “But of course we have no proof or any suspects in these two recent events, so the investigations of them are now closed.” Benny and Eric nodded lightly; they were professionals, so they didn't smile in return.
“Any questions?”
“Mr. Blecher,” I said, “your timing in arresting Guttmacher and the Iranians was perfect, almost too perfect. Was it a coincidence?”
“No. We received a phone call. Ask Mr. Henderson here, he'll tell you.”
I looked at Eric. So he was the one who sent the police after hearing the direction my meeting with the Iranians was taking. Would it be the one good deed that would open the gates of heaven to him? St. Peter would probably tell him that one isn't enough. Eric turned his head to me, smiling.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Mr. Blecher,” said Ron, “did you ever recover the missing document that incriminates Perez?”
“No. I don't even know if it ever existed. It could have been a ploy by DeLouise; we'll never know. He took that secret to his grave.”
I had another question that had been tormenting me for a while. “Mr. Blecher, there is one open question. If Guttmacher arranged DeLouise's murder, why did he let me continue with my impersonation as DeLouise's partner and let me in on the Iranian documents?”
“Because he couldn't read you. On the one hand he was sure that the ‘partner’ story you told him was a bluff, but he didn't know who you worked for. Guttmacher told me that at the beginning he suspected you were hired by the Iranians to look over his shoulder, so he didn't mind you getting the information. In fact, he used your appearance to show the Iranians that he tried to undo the damage created by DeLouise's disappearance. Then he was sure you were a CIA agent, then a Mossad agent. He hired a local detective who discovered that your hotel reservation was made by the American Consulate for Dan Gordon. On the other hand you introduced yourself as Peter Wooten. Guttmacher was certain that both names were fake. From Guttmacher's perspective, as long as the Iranian operation remained unfinished, he couldn't touch you. When Guttmacher got a whiff of DeLouise's fortune he began looking for ways to get rid of the Iranians, but he didn't know how. Therefore, his plan was to blame you for any failure, hoping they'd direct their wrath at you, leaving him unscathed. He also thought of exposing you as a CIA agent so that the Iranians would take care of you and include you in one of their special early retirement programs.”
I didn't smile.
“He finally told them that he suspected you of killing DeLouise. So to an extent it was convenient for him to have you around.”
“So what stopped him?”
“The fear that you were working for the Iranians after all. But as far as Guttmacher was concerned, you were living on borrowed time. Once he had complete control over DeLouise's money, you were next on his purge list.”
