Chapter 2
June 10th, 2009
Buenos Aires
The call from Mayer, Konrad von Lintorff's CEO for Latin America, shocked the forty something years old Argentinean lawyer. The news were disturbing indeed. Once more he left his desk to pace around his office and look from the crystal skyscraper down to the river and the newly built in just a few years neighbourhood; a direct result of the large foreign investments and commodities rise over the past decade.
Pedro Antonio Lanusse had never forgotten Guntram. He remembered the youth, coming from his same school and living next to his friend George. Pedro had fall for him hard, but Guntram had showed no interest in him. 'As if the love of your life would be also gay and willing to start something with you,' he sighed.
Many years after their first meeting, he couldn't forget him and he was still in shock, unable to believe that such a sweet creature could have been crushed in such a brutal way. 'Maybe he was kidnapped. The Duke has a lot to money and that's the more logical thing to assume. We have to wait, but this is very strange. Why someone would go after him? Lintorff made many investments and a generous contribution to the campaign.'
His secretary announced the arrival of Dr. Juan MartÃn Verón. Pedro remembered him from his time in the University when he was just a student and he a professor. Pedro rose to meet him and shook hands with the very old man, who left his cane next to his chair.
“My assistant was already speaking with the prosecutor. The police is baffled as we had never seen anything like this before. This looks more from Colombia or Mexico than here. So much viciousness!”
“We must keep this out of the press.”
“It will be impossible, Pedro. The police officers who were there asked for a whole week leave after seeing the crime scene. The judge has already called the anthropological forensic team. The morgue is full with the domestic service and the parts that were still recognisable. Tell me, who are these people?”
“The lands owner is a very rich banker. I legally represent him here since 2000. He owns several hedge funds, industries and insurance companies. All clean, if that's your question. Very old money from Germany and Switzerland.”
“Could it be something political?”
“I don't think so. He paid his share and is slowly leaving the country. He prefers Brazil and has several billions invested there. Lintorff only bought lands in Argentina.”
“What about the victims? According to one of the gardeners, the Duke's “friend” was there with four foreign bodyguards.”
“I know him from my school time. He is a good person: An artist and the house belongs to him. They have been together since 2002 and Guntram is his children's tutor and guardian of estate. I would put my hands in the fire for Guntram.”
“Very strange indeed. Do you also say that the boy's tutor is MartÃnez Estrada?”
“Yes, that's true.”
“Bad news, Pedro, those are very bad news. MartÃnez Estrada has been involved in every mess this country suffered for the past thirty years. I know him well and he's not good. Lots of political connections as well with the low spheres. A former guerilla member recycled into a law abiding citizen.”
“Like many in this government, sir.”
“Pedro, this is going to be a headache for all of us. Resign now that you can. MartÃnez Estrada's people are not good and he was already pressing the prosecutor into investigating our client's way of life. He wants to get Interpol in the middle! At this point of the investigation! He is accusing this banker of money laundering and saying that this is a payback like the case of those idiots trying to cheat the Mexicans with the ephedrine; the ones who were executed two months ago, if you remember it.”
“I'll go higher than MartÃnez Estrada, Juan MartÃn. These lefties can believe they are in power but this is just temporary. Many people I know are losing their patience with them. Can you counterbalance him?”
“Officially yes, unofficially he controls part of the police and you know it. Was the boy his ward?”
“Yes, a very strange coincidence indeed.”
* * *
The Duke had preferred to stay in a hotel downtown, the Alvear with a very strong security net around him. The three upper floors were rented under his name and Juan MartÃn Verón wondered how much it could have costed to do it with such short notice. After he and Pedro were double checked, a very stern foreigner man took them to the living room where the Duke had another four men with him.
“I'm deeply sorry for your loss, your Grace.” Pedro started the talk after the introductions. “Professor Verón is one of most respected criminologists in Latin America and he has agreed to take over the case.”
“Thank you,” Konrad said curtly. “Your results?”
“Officially we have no results because of judicial secrecy. My people has spoken with the prosecution employees, off the record of course and obtained copies of some documents. I have also people to control the leaks to the press, but it will be almost impossible to prevent people from speaking. The authorities are working diligently but the lack of resources makes things very slow. They have identified the bodies of all the servants and four of the security personnel. The others remains might take more time as the divers are recollecting evidence and the anthropologists have not much hope. We will have to run DNA tests on each one of them and that can take up to six months.”
“Six months?” Konrad asked dismayed.
“That's the normal processing time for such samples. They have to be organised, sent to Virginia to be processed and then, the documents must be officially translated. A minimum of six months, sir,”
“Can it not be done in Europe?”
“Before I could act, Dr. MartÃnez Estrada, Mr. de Lisle's former legal tutor presented himself for the private prosecution, requesting the judge to authorize the FBI participation in the investigation. He also got support in his plea from the Buenos Aires Security Minister. They are pressuring the coroners to have them ready in two weeks. I have decided not to represent Mr. de Lisle because Dr. MartÃnez Estrada refuses to cooperate with me. I will represent therefore Mr. Heindrik Holgersen with his family's authorization.”
“Can you tell us what happened?”
“The reconstruction of the facts is still not clear. We believe by the time of death of the bodies, that the attack took place around 3 a.m of Sunday. It was swift and brutal. Only in the living room there were about 176 caps of 76,2 x 51 NATO.”
“Assault rifle?” Goran said from his corner.
“We think it was FAL. There had been several robberies to military installations in the past months. We believe that the servants were killed on their beds with a 33 and dragged out of the house. As for your men, it's impossible to tell anything yet.”
“What about the master bedroom?” Konrad asked very softly.
“There are no signs of struggle there. Nothing at all sir. The bed was used, but no blood traces at all. My client's room, I mean Mr. Holgersen's was quite different and according to one of the techs, he might have been hurt and still presented battle. They found two other different blood types there and enough blood and brain mass as to think they were mortally wounded.”
“Could he have escaped?” Ferdinand asked.
“I don't know, it's a possibility or he could have been taken too. A kidnapping but no one has asked for a ransom. Someone landed a Cessna 500 metres from the house. The police is raking the area,” Verón explained the bewildered men. “Officially we know nothing and the police investigates this as a robbery followed by death, not even murder.”
“The bodies identification will take a long time, sir and this is the most important thing to do in the moment. The bone samples are no larger than three or four centimetres long. So far, all the local guards had been accounted for by their fingerprints. We believe that the attackers started by your people and continued with the others, in a clear working order. The bodies were mutilated and frozen before “processing” them with the wood-chopper. The police found the tools and the plastics used to contain the blood loss. It looks like the work of a professional task force, nothing from common criminals. I've seen the work of many of our local gangsters and we have nothing of the sort. On top there is a lot of pressure from the local politicians -and Mr. de Lisle's lawyer is the worst- to sweep all this under the carpet. A few months ago, three managers of a chemical company were kidnapped and shot in the head. Their bodies were left in a very notorious place. During the murder investigation, the prosecutor found links to the Sinaloa Cartel as the victims were only exporting ephedrine to Mexico and the products were adulterated. One of the victims was one of the main funders of the presidential campaign in 2007. You can imagine that our politicians and government don't want another scandal like this. MartÃnez Estrada is already telling many people that you, my Duke, are somehow involved in money laundering.”
“When can we make an inspection of the place?” Goran asked, breaking the dense silence in the room.
“When the judicial secrecy is lifted. In two or three weeks, not before. The families will recover the bodies after the autopsy reports are finished, in three days.”
“See that the families have everything they need, including legal representation from your firm,” Konrad said.
“It will be done. Thank you, sir. I will have more information in a few days more, but I will suggest that we hire some intelligence people for this. The local government is doing its best to muddy the investigation.”
“I have spoken with some of my old contacts in the secret service and they are willing to assist us, sire.” Pedro said. “I believe the authorities will not cooperate with us and we might need to use our own resources.”
“Why do you believe so?” Ferdinand asked, his blue eyes piercing the lawyer's brown ones.
“This person, MartÃnez Estrada was a former guerilla member involved in the kidnapping of many well known industrials. He was accused of participating in the bombing of a military base in the north of the country. He was arrested and questioned by the Army, but he managed to escape to France where he lived as a political refugee. He returned to the country in 1985 and worked for the Peronist Party, entering in the Judiciary system because of his many political contacts. He was appointed judge in a very irregular process and has helped many politicians to avoid prosecution. Now that the former Montoneros are in power, he's very close to the Security Minister in Buenos Aires and the Defence Minister and I can tell you that both of them were together in the same subversive organization. He has been undermining Professor Verón's work since we arrived,” Pedro told very heatedly.
“What reasons could he have to attack Guntram?” Ferdinand asked puzzled. “He was his legal tutor.”
“I don't know, but don't trust him.”
* * *
Very late at night, Ferdinand knew instinctively that now it was the time to stay with his friend. Konrad had been like absent since they had spoken with the lawyers while Goran was on a warpath, investigating all the members of the team that had been with Guntram. 'It's an inside job and I will kill the one who did it.” The Serb had disappeared with the locals and Mayer, and no one knew where he could be.
Ferdinand walked toward the sofa where Konrad had been sitting for more than two hours with his gaze fixed on a corner of the room.
“You should eat something. You had nothing since Zurich, Konrad.”
“I'm not hungry, Ferdinand. I can't believe it. He was fine, came here for a wedding and now he is gone.”
“We don't know that for certain. Remember, no struggle signs in his room. Most of the bodyguards were killed on their spots or beds. The security recordings have disappeared. Maybe they took him and will demand something big from us.”
“I only asked God to let me die at his side, but he didn't grant my wish. I wanted to look after him but I pushed him away! Don't you understand Ferdinand? He could be at his flat painting or reading if I would have been less bossy or jealous. I took the boys from him away and he left the country heartbroken! I never meant to hurt him so much! I only wanted him to think about it and come home!”
“Konrad, what happened is not your fault.”
“I will not even have a body to bury in our vault. Nothing at all. They tore them into pieces and dumped into the water!” Konrad couldn't refrain the tears any longer and Ferdinand bent his head and clutched his friend's hand strongly, letting him cry as much as he want.
“We have to think what to tell your boys, Konrad,” Ferdinand said when the sobs quieted and his friend dried his eyes with a handkerchief. “The truth is out of the question.”
“We don't even know the truth. Maybe he's alive as you say.”
“Maybe.”
“Perhaps they want something from me.”
“Konrad, Guntram's heart couldn't have resisted the stress of such an attack.” Ferdinand said even softer than before. “The doctor was against him flying to Argentina.”
“I only hope that it was fast and painless death for him,” Konrad said but Ferdinand couldn't support it as the nightmarish images kept replaying in his mind.
“I was thinking that we should give the kidnappers a week time and then tell the children that he had a car accident. Of course we will continue to look for him, but you have to give them a closure, Konrad.”
“I can not tell my boys that he's dead because I don't believe it myself!”
“What do you want to do? Tell nothing and say he will come back one day? To hope they will forget him?”
“I don't know.” Konrad said dejectedly. “The main bedroom was fine.”
“Maybe he wasn't sleeping there, Konrad,” Ferdinand said with evident pain in his voice. “You know him, he never considered the house as his.”
“They should analyse all the blood stains in the house.”
“I doubt they will.”
“Our teams, our labs and our experts. Tell the lawyer to press for the police to vacate the house. We have to enter now.”
“Konrad, it will not be so easily. The stains fade.”
“Speak with Strauss at the Krimminal Polizei. He should be in charge of the investigation. Goran trusts and works well with him. Tell him to have a team ready in ten days and they should come here. Give him everything he wants. Unlimited funding, Ferdinand.”
“Very well, Konrad. I'll speak with Alrick Wallenberg too. Heindrik's father is coming here, too.”
“Poor man. No one should bury a son. God gave Guntram to me and took him away for my sins.”
Ferdinand didn't know what to answer or how to comfort Konrad, so he stayed next to him, also lost in his memories of the young boy he saw in a Venetian museum, dressed like a punk and cross to have Konrad stuck to him like glue to a stone. 'Of all people I know, he didn't deserve it. Not him.'
“Last time we were in Buenos Aires, I was staying in this room also and the children sleeping in the adjoining bedroom. We were at odds. That day I had meetings and he took them to the zoo. When I returned, I saw him and the boys building something but they didn't realise I was here. I just stayed there, looking at them and praying God for a second chance. He gave it to me and I ruined it because of my own jealousies and insecurities. Therefore He took him away. Angels don't last long in this Earth, my friend.”
Ferdinand could only nod, bracing himself for a very long night.
