In corroboration of Grimm’s earlier statement, there were orders from retail stores all over the country for the entire stock on hand, and there was return correspondence from Grimm promising delivery on or about August 12. There was also a new batch of correspondence with Gülzow, ordering another 400,000 of the animals, at a further slightly reduced price, and several letters from Grimm instructing that the shipment should be delivered first to a packing firm in Bremerhaven, since a portion of the previous shipment had arrived partially damaged and he wished to make certain this did not happen again. (Grimm was quick to assure Gülzow that he was in no way holding Gülzow Aussenhandel responsible for the damage en route, but that since precautionary packing measures would be costing him 6,000 marks, could not Gülzow adjust the price on the new shipment to take into account this additional expense? Gülzow promptly replied that his firm “packed quite well the animals,” and that any additional packing Grimm felt necessary would have to be undertaken at his own expense. It was agreed that the animals would be sent to Bachmann Speditionsfirma, a packing house in Bremerhaven, on or about July 15, and that Bachmann would in turn ship them to the United States. Gülzow asked for the customary 10-percent check before sending the goods to Bachmann. There was a canceled check in the files, indicating that Grimm had complied with the request on July 9.
There was also a sheaf of correspondence with Erhard Bachmann, the Bremerhaven packer, chronologically overlapping the letters to and from Gülzow. The first letter in the Bachmann file outlined the method of packing he proposed to use; the carvings would first be individually wrapped in straw-filled brown paper, and then packed in wooden crates stuffed with excelsior. A condition of the contract with Bachmann (dated July 3) was that he would be held financially responsible for any portion of the shipment that arrived in anything less than perfect condition. Grimm’s letter in reply agreed to the method of packing. The next letter from Bachmann advised Grimm that he had received the 400,000 animals from Hamburg on July 17, and was proceeding to pack them as per instructions. The last letter was dated July 26, and advised Grimm that the animals had been packed and would be shipped aboard the cargo vessel Lottchen leaving Bremerhaven on August 21 and arriving in America on August 28. It further mentioned that Bachmann had been advised through Gülzow that a certified check in the amount of 1,336,320 marks was expected to be turned over to his company representative at the port of entry before delivery of the cargo was made. There was only one puzzling paragraph in Bachmann’s letter. The paragraph said:
We have today received your payment for packing as per our contract of July 3, for which thank you. Please be assured the cargo will reach you in excellent order.
Carella searched through the canceled checks again. He could find no check made out to Bachmann Speditionsfirma. He glanced up at Grimm, who was sitting at his desk and watching Carella in silence.
“This payment Bachmann mentions,” Carella said. “When was it made?”
“Sometime at the end of last month,” Grimm said.
“I don’t see a canceled check for it.”
“It sometimes takes time for checks to clear,” Grimm said. “Payment was made in marks. Where foreign exchange is involved...”
“Well, this is the sixteenth of August,” Carella said. “It should have cleared by now, don’t you think?”
“It should have, but it hasn’t. I’m not in charge of international banking,” Grimm said with some irritation.
“Mind if I see the stub for the check you wrote?” Carella asked.
“The checkbook is in the top drawer of the filing cabinet on your left,” Grimm said.
Carella opened the file drawer and took out the company checkbook. “July when, did you say?”
“I’m not sure of the exact date.”
Carella had already opened the checkbook and was leafing through the stubs. “Is this it,” he asked. “Six thousand marks made payable to Bachmann Speditionsfirma on July twenty-fourth?”
“Yes, that’s the check.”
“He sure got it fast enough,” Carella said.
“What do you mean?” Grimm said.
“You sent the check on July twenty-fourth. He acknowledges receipt of it in his letter of July twenty-sixth.”
“That’s not unusual,” Grimm said. “The mails between here and Europe are very fast.”
“Are you saying it normally takes only two days for a letter to get from here to Germany?”
“Two days, three days,” Grimm said, and shrugged.
“I thought it was more like five days, six days.”
“Well, I don’t keep track of how long it takes a letter to get there. Sometimes it’s faster, sometimes it’s slower.”
“This time it was faster,” Carella said.
“That’s what it looks like. Unless Bachmann made a mistake in dating his letter. That’s possible, too. These Germans pride themselves on their efficiency, but sometimes they make incredibly stupid mistakes.”
“Like mistakenly dating a letter acknowledging a check, right?”
“You’d be surprised at the mistakes they make,” Grimm said.
Carella said nothing. He turned back to the ledger and the file of correspondence. The next sheaf consisted of carbons of Grimm’s letters to the Allied Insurance Company of America and originals of their letters to him. He had apparently begun doing business with them in June, when he had requested a schedule of rates for insuring 200,000 carved wooden animals, worth half a million dollars, while they were awaiting shipment from his warehouse. Allied had written back to ask for verification of the value of the stock, which he had supplied by sending them Xerox copies of the orders he had on hand. They had then informed him that $500,000 was a rather large risk for one company to take, and that they would be willing to share the risk with Mutual Assurance of Connecticut if Grimm was amenable to this arrangement. There then followed several letters in a similar vein between Grimm and Mutual Assurance, and the whole thing was finally settled by the end of June, with Grimm getting his insurance shortly before the second shipment arrived from Germany. There was no record in the files of Grimm having insured the first shipment. It almost seemed he was expecting a fire the second time around.
“I notice you didn’t insure that first shipment,” Carella said. “The one in January.”
“Couldn’t afford it,” Grimm said. “I had to take my chances.”
“Lucky you insured the second batch,” Carella said dryly.
“Yeah,” Grimm said. “If they pay me. If they don’t, I’m not so sure how lucky I was.”
“Oh, they’ll pay you sooner or later,” Carella said. He closed the ledger and began copying the addresses, telephone numbers, cable addresses, and Telex numbers of both German firms into his notebook.
“Later isn’t soon enough,” Grimm said.