Martini reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Don’t be too hard on him. I do have a warrant.”
She turned on Martini. “For what reason?” Taking the paper from him, she started reading the warrant.
“The Interpol polizei liaison was murdered this evening,” Martini said.
Jake asked, “What does that have to do with Anna?”
“Anna…Fraulein Schult made many calls to the man’s cell phone.”
Jake looked at her, but she was still reading the warrant. “So? I call the Chinese restaurant once a week for delivery. Doesn’t mean I killed Chairman Mao.”
“I heard you liked Chinese, Jake.” Martini had a smirk on his face. “But now I see you also like the native cuisine as well.”
“Fuck you!”
“Now, I didn’t think you played for that team,” Martini said.
Anna handed the warrant to Jake, who threw it back at Martini. “Stefan was murdered? How?” She slumped down onto the sofa.
“We don’t know for sure. We had discovered a transfer of information to various outside sources and were on our way there to…discuss it with him. When Donicht and I got there, he was dead. Freshly so.”
“What kind of information transfer?” Jake asked Martini. Something sure as hell wasn’t adding up here. The polizei man was far too cryptic.
“I can’t say at this time,” Martini said. He folded the warrant and put it back inside his pocket.
“But why look into Anna? Of course she would be calling the man. He was her link from other law enforcement agencies. Am I right?”
“Technically.”
Anna was quiet, her eyes glazed forward looking at nothing at all.
Martini continued, “But there was also data transferred under Fraulein Schult’s access code.”
“You’re crazy,” Anna yelled.
“Maybe. I’ve already checked over your apartment, including your computer.”
“And?” she said, her jaw tight.
He didn’t say a word, which meant he had found nothing. Jake said, “Listen, let’s cut to the chase here. This liaison worked for the state polizei, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “So you had a mole working in your organization and you want to blame it on Interpol. That’s great.”
Rising to his feet and straightening out his pants, Martini said, “We don’t want to blame anyone. We just want the truth.” The polizei man went to the living room window and pulled the Rolladens, his gaze onto the street below.
Maybe, Jake thought, but this guy wasn’t being totally honest with him. And with their history, that was bothersome. Jake went to the cop’s side and said, “Franz. We’ve known each other for years. You really think I could be mixed up in some nefarious shit.”
Martini turned to Jake and said, “I’ve known Anna longer.” He left it at that and went out the door.
When he was gone, Jake asked Anna, “What in the hell was that all about?”
She wouldn’t look at him.
He took a seat on the sofa next to her. “How do you know Martini?”
Finally, she raised her eyes to his. “He’s a cop. I’m a cop. In a city like Vienna you get to know all the players.”
That was true, but it still didn’t explain Martini’s reaction. “You don’t trust me,” he said to her.
“Yes, I do.”
Then it came to him in a rush. “He’s from Tirol. You’re from Tirol. You know him from there.”
She didn’t answer.
“So once he took over here, you naturally started sharing information. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Still no words came from her mouth, but she bit her lower lip.
Jake continued. “The call you made from the hotel in Budapest was to Martini, not the office. You suspected a mole.”
Anna got up and went to the liquor cabinet. “I need a drink. How ‘bout some sherry? No. Something stronger than that.” She shuffled a few bottles and came up with one that satisfied her. “Here we go. Single malt scotch.” She poured two small glasses, came back to the sofa, and handed one to Jake. “Prosit.” She sipped the scotch.
Jake did the same and waited for her to say something. When she simply sat there looking at her glass, Jake said, “You’ve been feeding the mole misinformation.”
She finally said, “It has nothing to do with this current case. The man was using the information he collected for others for monetary gain. It was sensitive information. We had to stop him.”
“But something got the guy killed.”
“That’s why I’m worried,” she said. “Why would they kill him? He was their source.”
“Who’s they?”
She took another sip of scotch.
“I think his death has everything to do with this current case,” Jake said. “He could see every bit of information you looked into on the computer. But here’s what I don’t get. Martini seemed to just find out about the mole today. You didn’t tell him. Why?”
“I was ordered not to let it out of Interpol. Franz had no reason to know.”
“When did you first suspect there was a mole?”
“Six months ago.”
Jake thought about that. “That’s when Martini took over his current job.”
She downed the last of her scotch and said, “Martini wasn’t involved. I’ve known him since I was a little girl. He and my father served together in the army. He used to come and stay with us in Zell am See.”
“But still, you wondered.”
“No, I didn’t wonder.” Her disposition became much more determined as she got up and filled herself another glass of scotch and sat down again.
“So it was just a coincidence that information started leaking and your old friend shows up?”
“Yes. Franz Martini recommended me for this job. I owe him so much.”
Jake was starting to understand her relationship with Martini. An uncle, perhaps. She would protect him as best she could. And he knew Martini well enough to know he was not a bad cop. They had worked together before. No, Jake had a feeling their cryptic display moments ago was due to the fact that neither one wanted to admit they were close. It was better if the Vienna law enforcement community didn’t know that fact.
Jake finished his scotch and said, “So, what was that warrant? Martini’s grocery list?”
Anna finally smiled. “A department purchase order for office equipment.”
“Well,” Jake said, “the two of you won’t make the Burgtheater, but maybe the Volkstheater.”
Anna got up and went to her bedroom door before turning back to Jake. “I believe you promised me dinner tonight. Let me shower and put on some of my clothes.” With that she closed the door behind her.
Jake got another glass of scotch and sat down again. He had almost forgotten she was wearing no underwear and his T-shirt. He reached inside his coat and pulled out his cell phone. It was still off. He normally kept it on, but had turned it off the day before when he and Anna had been chased in Budapest. Sure as hell didn’t want it going off and giving away his position. He checked to see who had tried calling his number. Damn it. He had missed a number of calls from Kurt Lamar. And then he saw it. One from Toni Contardo. All within the past six hours. Something was up, but he didn’t want to bother with it now. He was hungry. As a compromise, he turned the phone back on.
Across Vienna at that moment, Hermann Conrad sat with Alexandra at the Maestro Restaurant on Lothringerstrasse, a concert hall with some of the best cuisine in Austria. They were eating early before the opera at the Staatsoper, where it was the first night for Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Alexandra got so horny after Puccini. Like she needed encouragement. Conrad poured her another glass of Chianti, finishing the bottle.
“Are you trying to get me drunk,” Alexandra asked him, her eyes sparkling. She was wearing a tight black dress with a slit up the leg. The V-neck provided everyone a view of her substantial cleavage, accented nicely with a string of pearls.