Agent’s Montrose and Nelson were casting suspicious looks at Ben as they read the writ. “Are you ready?” Russo asked. They nodded and walked off with Mike to break the seal on the container.
“Why is the CIA doing this for me?” Ben asked Russo quietly.
She smiled at him. “You recently made some people in Washington very, very happy. The Agency… is returning the favor.” Her smile became sultry as she panned her eyes down his body. “Until we meet again, Mr. Shepherd.” She walked back towards the building having delivered the writ. There was just a hint of sway in her hips as Ben watched, puzzling over her words. She nced back, and her sexy smile returned when she saw his eyes were on her.
Ben gave himself a shake and shared a bewildered look with the Sergeant. They moved to the entrance of the shipping container where Mike gave him a frustrated re before cutting the seal with bolt cutters. He took the broken seal and marched back to the building.
Men from both agencies began removing items from the container as Ben stood next to Agent Montrose and Nelson. Ben noticed two agents were making a video of the items removed.
“Hahn like white leather and chrome,” Nelsonmented.
Ben snorted, and both agents looked to him. “His Berlin condo was decorated with the same furniture. Cold and impersonal. Like the man.” He didn’t mention that furniture was destroyed.
“What are you going to do with this stuff?” Montrose asked.
Ben shrugged. “Donate it to charity, I suppose.”
Six t crates were carried out and carefully opened. Inside were oil paintings. They looked like very old, oil paintings.
Agent Montrose looked at Ben. “Our records on Rainor Hahn indicated he might have been trafficking stolen art. These are likely stolen property.” Her expression soured. “Now, ording to the spooks, they belong to you.” The agent walked away to look in the other crates.
Ben wanted nothing to do with the stolen art. More and more Rainor proved he was a truly repugnant human being.
He thought about how he might reverse the evil that man brought to the world. He looked back towards the city as he had an idea. He pulled his cell out and did a little web search for museums in San Francisco. When he found one that sounded promising, he dialed its number. It was picked up on the third ring. He navigated his way through the answering service to a live person.
“Hello, I need to speak to a curator. I want to donate some paintings I’ve recently inherited to the museum,” Ben said with a friendly tone.
The woman’s voice on the other end was also friendly and promised to put one on. Two minutester she returned and apologized for the wait and transferred the call.
“Hello, this is Valerie Desmond, a Senior Curator at the museum. Who am I speaking to?”
“Hi, this is Ben Shepherd. I’ve recentlye into possession of six-” Ben stopped as he saw the agents carrying out six more crates from the container. “Damn. Sorry, twelve paintings. I have reason to believe these are originals and may have been stolen from galleries or private collectors. The man who obtained these died and I inherited his estate. We opened the shipping container and found these paintings.”
“Mr. Shepherd, we do not deal with stolen art! We will not purchase them from you!” she asserted.
“I’m not looking to sell them. I don’t want them, but they should be handled by someone who knows how to protect them. I know nothing about handling art. If it helps you, I have a writ from the Supreme Court of the United States indicating the property rights of the inheritance is legally mine, regardless of original state.”
“How- how did you get the Supreme Court to do- Wait! This is a hoax, isn’t it! I should have known when you said your name! Ben Shepherd? Really!”
He sighed. “Do you have a cell phone with video call capabilities?”
She paused her blustering. “I- yes.”
“Take this number down and call me back with the video chat app on your cell. You’ll be able to see me, and I can show you some of the paintings. How’s that?” Ben offered.
She was quiet for a moment as she considered. “Not sure what you’re trying here… but all right. Give me the number.”
Ben said the digits and goodbye. He hung up and walked over to the row of painting crates. Montrose walked back to speak to him.
“Twelve paintings. That’s all of them. Congrattions,” the woman scolded.
Ben’s cell made a weird warble, and he answered it to see the cautious gaze of an older woman in a dark jacket. Her expression changed immediately to shock.
“It is you!” she gasped.
He smiled and nodded. He turned his body, so the FBI agent appeared in the shot for the woman. “Yes it is, and this is Agent Montrose of the FBI who’s with me at the storage container facility. Agent, say hello to Valerie Desmond, Senior Curator at the Legion of Honor Fine Art Museum. I’ve asked her to take a look at some of these to determine if they are possibly the real deal. I’d like her to ept them as a donation to the museum. They can show them while they try to find the owners. That seems like the right thing to do with this art, doesn’t it?”
Agent Montrose looked like she’d swallowed her tongue and Ms. Desmond’s expression was a close match.
“Let me show you some of the paintings,” Ben said moving to one of the open crates. “Evelyn, can you lift the paintings from the crates so I can show them to this nicedy?”
The Sergeant moved into the picture and carefully lifted one after another so Ben could aim his camera at them.
“That’s sufficient!” Valerie called out, so Ben turned the cell back to his face to look at her flushed features. She seemed very excited.
“Did you recognize them?” Ben asked.
“Oh my yes! Are you serious about donating them? They may be worth a sizable fortune!” she breathed.
Ben frowned. “I’m serious. If you want them, they’re yours. You’ll need toe get them as soon as you can.”
“Oh! Now?”
“Do you have a truck at the museum for moving art? I can text you the address. It’s in Oand,” Ben exined.
“Oh! Oh! Yes! Uh, let me… I just need to arrange a few things! I can probably be there in an hour, two at most! Thank you, Mr. Shepherd!” the woman eximed.
“Ben. I assume you have a receipt form for me to sign over the ownership to your museum,” he suggested.
She nodded and beamed a smile at him then gave him her cell number so he could text her the address.
“See you soon, Ben!”
“Thanks, Valerie! See you soon.” Once he hung up, he hammered off the text.
He looked up from his cell, and Agent Montrose was watching him with a confused scowl. “She just confirmed they’re probably worth a fortune and you’re giving them away?”
Ben frowned in frustration at the agent. “Which is it, Agent Montrose? You’re disgusted with me for inheriting stolen art, or you’re disgusted with me for not profiting from it?”
Agent Nelson was standing nearby and barked augh at the FBI Agent’s frustration. The DEA agent walked over to Ben. “No drugs or weapons found. No contraband at all. Nothing for us to do here.” He looked back at the items they’d removed from the container. “I know a great local charity if you were serious about donating the furniture and contents.”
Ben was nodding when excited noises came from inside the container, and an agent rolled a dolly out with a filing cab on it. The agent looked to Montrose with a delighted smile. “Ma’am! We’ve got documents showing Rainor Hahn arranged massive money transfers for Don Solerno!” Montrose rushed over to look at the documents in the filing cab.
Ben recalled how thorough Rainor’s files were. He kept notes on everything. Liliya had been right when she’d said she hadn’t known Rainor well enough to understand him truly. She’d said that he didn’t like paper records, but Ben knew differently. When he’d been looking for the man’s will the day after Rainor died, he’d gone through a filing cab filled with extensive notes on investments and business dealings. If he was doing illegal business with this Don Solerno fellow, Ben didn’t doubt every transaction would be carefully annotated.
Rainor had absolute confidence in himself. He knew he was smarter than everyone else. It was inconceivable to him that his files could be used against him. Considering he died before that happened, maybe that confidence was justified. He did manage to con some underworld figures sessfully.
Agent Montrose looked at Ben with her mouth open, but no sound came out.
“The files are yours. Take the cab too,” Ben offered. The agent had the good grace to nod her thanks. “Who’s Don Solerno?”
“Head of the East Coast crime syndicate. The Mafia?” Montrose rified for Ben’s curious expression. “To date, he’s been untouchable. We got wind of him meeting with the heads of the other East Coast families. It was unprecedented cooperation withrge capital transfers from each family to him but what their end goal was for that money was never discovered.” She frowned as she looked at the documents. “We need to get these files back to headquarters.” She nodded to the agent who’d made the find. “See if there are any other cabs.”
Ben picked up a couple of dining room chairs and set them down next to each other, out of the way of the working Federal agents. He gestured for the Sergeant to sit as well. They sat together and watched the activity.
Evelyn leaned closer to speak. “Why did you have to be here for this?” she said quietly.Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.
Ben smiled at her. “I suppose the storagepany might have needed my signature to let them off the hook contractually and the FBI agents might have wanted to press charges against me if they found illegal goods. My new friends in the CIA neatly handled thatst reason.” His smile diminished. “Not sure how positive that rtionship will prove to be. Hopefully, it’s just a one-time thing.”
The Sergeant nodded as she also had reservations about the benefit of being friends with the spooks.
They sat watching the agents move back and forth as they emptied the container.
Arge truck entered the yard behind them, and the agents stopped to see who it was. Ben got the impression that the FBI agents were feeling a little nervous now that they had their hands on what could be decisive evidence against this Mob boss.
Agent Nelson waved to the men and Ben saw Agent Montrose and her team rx. The DEA agent walked over to the truck and had them back it up facing the items removed from the freight container. Then he walked over to Ben.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything you want from the container?” he asked.