“Placed there by this corporation Liesl and Peter were talking about, or
one of its offshoots?”
“Quite possibly. All of the giant firms have long-standing, cozy
relationships with the important Swiss banks. The complete list of
founders will give us the names of suspects.”
“Did Peter show you the list?”
“No. At first he didn’t even tell me why he wanted to open an account.
All I knew was that the account was monetarily insignificant. What he
was really interested in was the vault that came with it. To keep some
documents, he said. Do you mind if I smoke?”
“It’s your house.”
“Well, you know, you Americans are such fascists about smoking, if
you’ll pardon the expression.”
Ben smiled. “Not everyone.”
Deschner pulled a cigarette from the pack of Rothmans next to his
breakfast plate, lit it with a cheap plastic lighter. “Peter insisted
that the account not be in his name. He was afraid correctly, as it
turned out that his enemies might have contacts in the banks. He wanted
to open it under a false name, but that’s no longer possible. The banks
have tightened up here. A lot of pressure from the outside, mostly
America. Back in the seventies our banks started demanding a passport
when you opened an account. You used to be able to open an account by
mail. No more.”
“So did he have to open it under his real name?”
“No. In my name. I’m the account holder, but Peter was what they call
the ‘beneficial owner.” ” He exhaled a plume of smoke. “We had to go
in together to open the account, but Peter’s name appeared on one form
only, known only to the account adviser. The Establishment of the
Beneficial Owner’s Identity, it’s called. This form is kept locked away
in the files.” In another room a telephone rang.
“Which bank?”
“I chose the Handelsbank Schweiz AG because it’s small and discreet.
I’ve had clients who’ve happily done business with the Handelsbank,
clients whose money is, shall we say, not entirely clean.”
“So does this mean you can get into Peter’s vault for me?”
“I’m afraid not. You’ll have to accompany me. As the specified
beneficiary and heir of the beneficial owner.”
“If it’s at all possible,” Ben said, “I’d like to go to the bank
straightaway.” He remembered Schmid’s icy warnings that he was not to
return warnings that if he violated that agreement, he would be persona
non grata, subject to immediate arrest.
The phone kept ringing. Deschner crushed out his cigarette in a saucer.
“Very well. If you don’t mind, I’d like to answer that phone. Then I
must make a call or two, reschedule my nine-thirty appointment.”
He went into an adjoining room, his study, and returned a few minutes
later. “All right then, no problem. I was able to reschedule.”
“Thank you.”
“Certainly. The account adviser that’s the banker, a senior vice
president of the bank, Bernard Suchet has all the relevant papers. He
has a photocopy of Peter’s passport on file. They believe he has been
dead for four years. So far as anyone knows, the recent… tragedy has
not been reported. Your own identity will be easy to establish.”
“My arrival in this country came through somewhat irregular means,” Ben
said, choosing his words carefully. “My legal presence here cannot be
verified through the normal passport, customs, and immigration systems.
What happens if they alert the authorities?”
“Let’s not think of all that can go wrong. Now, if I may finish
dressing, we’re in business. Then let us go at once.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
Anna whirled around to Captain Bolgorio. “What? The body was cremated?
We had an agreement, dammit…!”
The Paraguayan detective shrugged, hands spread, eyes wide with apparent
concern. “Agent Navarro, please, let us discuss these things later, not
in front of the bereaved–”
Ignoring him, Anna turned back to the widow. “Were you told there would
be an autopsy?” she demanded.
“Don’t raise your voice to me,” Consuela Prosperi snapped. “I’m not a
criminal.”
Anna looked at Bolgorio, livid. “Did you know her husband’s body was
going to be cremated?” Of course he knew, the bastard.
“Agent Navarro, I told you, this is not my department.”
“But did you know this or not?”
“I have heard things. But I am a low man on the totem pole, please
understand.”
“Are we finished here?” Consuela Prosperi asked.
“Not yet,” Anna said. “Were you pressured into a cremation?” she
demanded of the widow.
The widow said to Bolgorio. “Captain, please remove her from my house.”
“My apologies, madame,” Bolgorio said. “Agent Navarro, we must go now.”
“We’re not finished here,” Anna said calmly. “You were pressured,
weren’t you?” She addressed Senora Prosperi. “What were you told-that
your assets would be frozen, locked up, made inaccessible to you, unless
you went along with this? Something like that?”
“Remove her from my house, Captain!” the widow commanded, raising her
voice.
“Please, Agent Navarro–”
“Senora,” Anna said, “let me tell you something. I happen to know that
a significant portion of your assets is invested in hedge funds and
other investment partnerships and equities in the U.S. and abroad. The
U.S. government has the power to seize those assets if it suspects you
of being part of an international criminal conspiracy.” She stood and
walked toward the door. “I’m getting on the phone to Washington right
now, and that’s precisely what I’m going to order.”
From behind her, she heard the widow cry out, “She can’t do this, can
she? You assured me my money was safe if I–”
“Keep quiet!” the homicide detective barked suddenly. Startled, Anna
turned back, and saw Bolgorio standing face to face with the widow. His
obsequiousness had vanished. “I’ll handle this.”
He strode toward Anna and grabbed her arm.
Outside the front gates of the Prosperi estate, Anna demanded, “What are
you covering up?”
“You’d be wise to leave things alone here,” Bolgorio said. There was
malevolence in his voice now, a gleaming assured ness she hadn’t seen
before. “You’re a visitor here. You are not in your own country.”
“How was it done? Were morgue orders ‘lost’ or ‘misfiled’? Did someone
pay you off, is that how it happened?”
“What do you know of the way things work in Paraguay?” Bolgorio said,
moving uncomfortably close to her. She could feel his hot breath, the
spray of spittle. “There are many things you don’t understand.”
“You knew the body had been destroyed. From the moment I called you, I
had a feeling. You knew there was no body waiting for me in the morgue.
Just tell me this: were you ordered, or were you paid? Where did the
request come from–from outside the government, or from above?”
Bolgorio, unfazed, said nothing.
“Who ordered the body destroyed?”
“I like you, Agent Navarro. You’re an attractive woman. I do not want
anything to happen to you.”
He intended to frighten her, and unfortunately it was working. But she
gave him only a blank look. “That’s not a very subtle threat.”
“This is not a threat. I truly don’t want anything to happen to you.
You need to listen to me, and then leave the country at once. There are
people high up in our government who protect the Prosperis and others
like them. Money changes hands, a great deal of it. You’ll accomplish
nothing by putting your own life in peril.”
Oh, she thought, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Threatening me
that way is like waving a red flag at a bull.
“Did you order the cremation personally?”
“It happened, that’s all I know. I told you, I’m not a powerful man.”
“Then someone must know that Prosperi’s death wasn’t natural. Why else
would they destroy the evidence?”
“You are asking me questions I don’t know the answer to,” he said
calmly. “Please, Agent Navarro. Please take care of your own safety.
There are people here who prefer to keep things quiet.”
“Do you think they these ‘people who prefer to keep things quiet’ had
Prosperi killed and didn’t want that revealed?”
Bolgorio looked away, as if in contemplation. “I’ll deny I ever told
you this. I called the nursing agency before you got here. When I knew
you were investigating Prosperi’s death. That seemed to me the obvious
place to ask questions.”
“And?”
“The substitute nurse the one who was with Prosperi the night he died
she has vanished.”
She felt her stomach plummet. I knew it was too easy, she thought.
“How did this nurse come to the agency?”
“She came with excellent credentials, they said. Her references checked
out. She said she lived within walking distance of here, and if they
had any assignments nearby… She did three different assignments, all
in this area, and all very well. Suddenly, the regular night nurse
assigned to Prosperi fell ill, and the substitute was available, and
…”
“They have no way to reach her?”
“As I said, she disappeared.”