“Yes?” Draco called out.
“I need to speak with Cate Marsh,” a woman’s muffled voice said through the heavy wooden door.
“Who are you?” Cate asked.
“Lena Brandt.”
Cate’s eyes widened. A rush of anger flooded her cheeks with heat. In a low, barely controlled tone, she said, “Let her in.”
Draco frowned. “Stay back.”
Cate complied.
Draco eased the door open, his knees bent, ready to spring into action.
The woman on the other side had her hands up. “I’m not armed,” she said with a German lilt to her voice. “I just want to talk. We might be working toward the same goal.”
“I doubt that,” Cate said. “You can come in after he frisks you.”
The inspector turned toward Draco. “Go ahead. You won’t find a weapon. I did not come here to arrest you.”
Draco ran his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, over her waist and hips and the length of her legs. “She’s clean.” He stepped aside, allowing her to enter.
She turned. “Please, could you close the door? What I have to say is for your ears only.”
Draco’s gaze met Cate’s.
She gave a brief nod.
Draco closed the door.
Cate grabbed the chair by the window and set it in front of her. “Sit.”
The other woman dropped into the chair and rested her hands in her lap. “I am an inspector for the Zurich Kantonspolizei. I inspect various types of crimes. My specialty is financial crimes. I have been tracking a money laundering operation for the past eight months, gathering what little information I could. Last night one of the people I was following ended up dead in the river.”
“Stefan Brunner,” Cate stated.
The inspector met her gaze and nodded.
Cate’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t commit suicide.”
Again, the inspector nodded. “I know. I wanted to close the case quickly and publicly in hopes it would flush out the other people involved.” She sighed.
“What do you know so far?” Cate asked.
“Everything revolves around a corporation called Alpenhorn Relief Logistics,” Brandt said softly, looking left, right and over her shoulder as Brunner had at the bank. “Brunner managed the company’s banking transactions.”
“What do you know about the people behind the corporation?” Cate asked.
Brandt’s eyes narrowed as well. She studied Cate for a moment before answering. “As I have hit a wall in my investigation, I find that I need a fresh perspective. I have heard you are here in search of one of the men involved in Alpenhorn.”
Cate didn’t offer the woman any information. Instead, she waited for her to reveal what she knew before commenting.
Brandt nodded as if making a decision. “Marcus Calloway has been involved with Alpenhorn from its inception. From what my connections in the US have told me, his wife has been charged with his murder.”
Cate fought to keep a neutral expression, not revealing her anger at the injustice of her friend being charged for the murder of her husband—a husband Cate suspected was not dead at all.
“I know Herr Calloway was a key player in the money laundering that has gone on with Alpenhorn, a fake business that only exists on paper. What I’ve had difficulty with is finding the person in charge. Calloway was not that person.”
