Chapter 9

Mouth-watering scents of garlic and oregano greeted Paolo as he entered the kitchen at his sister Angela's house. Sofia and Serena ran in excitedly to show off their jewelry.

"Hey, there you guys are!" said Angela. She handed Vittoria plates to set the table. His mother and sisters-in-law bustled around in the kitchen. "Did you have fun?"

"Oh, yes!" chirped the girls.

"We had ice cream and met Uncle Paolo's girlfriend," exclaimed Serena.

"She's really, really pretty," added Sofia. The twins erupted into giggles and ran into the adjoining family room. Paolo's father, brothers, and brothers-in-law looked up from the big-screen television. The women in the kitchen looked expectantly at Paolo. Even Roscoe, the black lab lying in front of the refrigerator, seemed to be waiting for a response.

Kids. Can't live with them, can't muzzle them, thought Paolo.

"Natalie Jernigan is the wife of a major suspect, who happens to be missing."

"And?" prompted Angela, sensing more to the story.

Paolo jammed his hands in his pockets. "And I knew her in high school, but it was only coincidence that she was at the mall."

Angela and Vittoria exchanged a look. "Right. High school."

"Don't make more of this than it is," warned Paolo. "I need to go back to the office. See you later." He snagged a piece of homemade pizza and turned toward the door.

Paolo's eighty-seven-year-old grandmother Maria looked up from her knitting and pointed. "You always running away to work. Next time bring this Natalie. She probably skinny like stick and need a good meal." Roscoe barked once as if that settled the matter and Maria resumed her knitting. When the family matriarch spoke it was akin to a papal edict.

Paolo shook his head and sent his sisters a threatening look.

**

Paolo drove to headquarters and was greeted by Evelina, the ample Hispanic woman who presided over the reception desk. "There's some big news," she confided with a wink. "Everybody's in the conference room."

He nodded absently as he stabbed the elevator button. Evelina was a true crime junkie and regarded a suspect's hangnail as "big news."

He exited on the seventh floor and proceeded to the conference room. The buzz of conversation from the task force members reached his ears.

"Take a seat, Paolo," urged his boss. "We need to get started." The lights dimmed and an image of a woman's bloody body flashed up on the screen. "Interpol sent this within the hour. Monika Sterne. Cleaning crew at Tempelhof found her in a dumpster. Shot once in the chest at close range. Ordinarily, a petty thief and golddigger like this would not concern us. However, witnesses recall seeing her in tense conversation with this man." An image of a man in a grey suit with a moustache and wire-rim glasses appeared.

"Take away the costume store disguise and it could be Jernigan," said Paolo.

"Who is this woman and why would he be with her?" asked another agent.

"Monika Caroline Sterne, German national, age thirty. Ran away from home at fifteen, lived with an aunt in Munich for a time. Arrested for shoplifting a couple of times, prostitution once. Married a wealthy, older guy at nineteen. Husband killed in auto accident a year later. Monika inherited a sizable chunk of money and a taste for the high life. Dropped off the grid for several years. Probably living with some other rich guy."

Another image jumped up on the screen. "Then two years ago there's a record of her entering the states with this man, Gerhard Baum, age thirty-seven, and going to Las Vegas."

"Wait a minute. Jernigan attended a banking conference in Vegas two years ago. They could have met there," said Paolo. "Where's Baum now?"

"Nobody knows for sure. However, police in Zurich recovered the body of a man from the Limmat river approximately twelve hours ago. His wallet is in the name of Gerhard Benker, but they're thinking it might be an alias. We're awaiting further information."

"White-collar crime and now possibly murder. Jernigan's panicking," mused Paolo. "Did he screw up in Vegas and have gambling debts?"

"Anything seems possible with this guy," said the boss. "I want you people to go over every scrap of information we have about Jernigan. Everything we know and everything we think we know. We're missing something."