Black Monday, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 7

  Chapter 20

  STOLEN TREASURES

   

  It was several days before I was able to get back to Dallas. The FBI wanted me to fill them in on everything I knew about Continental Exporters. I didn't know much, but I did tell them about Luther and the $150,000 that was supposed to be wired to Huntington's Beijing office. They contacted the person I had talked to at the Red Cross to see if Luther had been located and he told them he had not. It occurred to me that perhaps Luther was never in any jeopardy and that Huntington had simply used him as a pawn in his game of deception.

  My suspicions increased when Paula informed me of the Metroplex loans to Congressman Manning and Speaker Potts. Could all this be a coincidence or was there a connection between Continental Exporters and Metroplex Savings & Loan? It certainly was a possibility that couldn't be ignored.

  Detective Besch called and said he wanted to stop by the next morning to see me so I could brief him on what happened in Washington. He also wanted to fill me in on the latest in the Lottie West investigation. I remembered I was supposed to go visit Lottie's daughter and son-in-law, James and Loretta Barringer in Dennison, so I had Jodie get their address for me. It was nearly 6:00 p.m. when I knocked on the front door. A woman in her 70s appeared. She opened the door a crack.

  "Yes, may I help you?"

  "Mrs. Barringer?"

  "Yes, I'm Loretta Barringer."

  "Hi, sorry to disturb you, but I'm Stan Turner. I'm an attorney in Dallas and I am the designated Independent Executor of the estate of Lottie West."

  "Oh, my. You're handling Lottie's estate?"

  "Yes, I wonder if I could speak with you for few minutes?"

  She opened the door and let me come inside. Her home had a warm and friendly feeling with its early American decor, a large brick fireplace, and many beautiful antiques. She showed me to a sofa and invited me to sit down. A few moments later a tall, skinny man with a scowl on his face walked in the back door. His wife introduced him as her husband James Barringer. She explained to him who I was and he took a seat on a piano bench across from me.

  "I ran into your son, Otto, and he informed me that Lottie indeed had living relatives. I had thought that she did not."

  "Well, we disowned her years back," James said.

  "That's what I heard. Have you talked to Otto lately?"

  "No, not for a couple of weeks. He did tell us Lottie had died, but it was after the funeral."

  "Then I have some disturbing news to tell you," I said.

  "What's that?" Loretta asked.

  "It seems Lottie was murdered."

  "Murdered, oh my," Loretta replied.

  I told them about the circumstances of Lottie's demise. They didn't seem overly upset or surprised by the revelation. I wondered if that meant they knew something about it or, simply, that they didn't care. Either way their cold, aloof attitude bothered me.

  "Do the police have any suspects yet," Loretta asked.

  "No, not really. They've just started their investigation. Do you know anyone who would have reason to kill Lottie?"

  They both shook their heads no.

  "Well, needless to say, Lottie didn't leave either of you any property. I am curious, though, as to why you were estranged."

  James' expression didn't change. He looked away and took a deep breath. Loretta said, "It was her husband's doin'."

  "Really, is that the military man I saw her with in several photos."

  Loretta nodded. "Most likely. They were married just before the war started. He seemed like a decent man. He served several tours in Italy, France, and then Germany when the war was finally over. He was a first lieutenant in the army. When he came back from Germany after his last tour, he was a different man. War changes men, I guess. He pretty much became a loner and didn't want to socialize much at all. He wouldn't even let us visit Lottie and they never came to see us. It was real strange behavior. We finally gave up on keeping up any kind of a relationship with them."

  "I see. That's too bad. But, I'm curious. Why didn't you get back together after, after—what was Lottie's husband's name?"

  "William West," Loretta replied.

  "After William died—why didn't you get back in touch with your sister?"

  "We tried, but she had grown bitter over the years and become a little paranoid—you know—locking herself up with all those dogs. My word. She wouldn't speak to us at all. She said we were just after her money."

  "Did she have a lot of money?" I asked. "After they killed her, they ransacked the place. I have no way of knowing what they took because I don't know what property she had. All we found were some gold and silver coins that were hidden in a place a thief wouldn't have found them."

  "We don't know for sure, but we heard—there was talk that they had millions," James replied.

  "Really? What line of work was William in?" I asked.

  "He was an antique dealer—mostly European stuff. He had a retail store on McKinney Avenue in Dallas for many years."

  "That wouldn't be an easy trade to learn. Did he work for a dealer to learn the business?"

  "Apparently he got interested in art and history while in Germany. I guess he had a lot of free time after the war was over, so he took it up as a hobby. He brought a lot of stuff back with him when he came home and just opened up his own place."

  "Interesting. So, I guess it turned out to be a lucrative business?"

  James shrugged. "I believe it was but I'm just guessing. William and Lottie never talked about money or their business the few times we did get together."

  "There are some personal effects that are of no value to anyone but family. You're welcome to come look through them and take what you like," I said.

  Loretta’s eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. We'd like that. She was my sister and it was terrible the way William stole her from us. I curse the day she met that man."

  "Just call my office and Jodie, my secretary, will be happy to arrange a time for you to stop by and look through it."

  "Thank you, Mr. Turner," Loretta said. "May I ask you one more question?"

  "Sure," I replied.

  "Who will be getting Lottie's money?"

  I smiled sympathetically and said, "The SPCA."

  Their faces dropped. I added, "She was very fond of her dogs."

  James shook his head and stormed off. Loretta escorted me to the door. As I left, she said, "We'll be by to go through Lottie's things."

  I smiled and left. It amazed me how a strong loving family could be so quickly and easily torn apart for no apparent reason. Unfortunately, it was a pretty common phenomenon and this wasn't the first time I had been caught in the middle of a nasty feud. It was even worse if there was money involved which was apparently the case with Lottie West. I was pretty certain now that whoever killed Lottie West walked off with a lot of valuables—possibly cash, works of art, jewelry, and antiques. I wondered if I'd ever know the extent of what was stolen.

  The next morning Detective Besch came by and I filled him in on what had transpired in Washington and what I'd learned about Robert Huntington and Continental Exporters. When I was done, he told me Otto Barringer hadn't been making any unusual expenditures in the past few weeks. That didn't eliminate him as a suspect. He could have still killed Lottie but knew better than to start spending the loot. Besch had also made contact with Otto's sister, Alice St. James, in Philadelphia.

  "What did she tell you?" I asked.

  "Her story was very similar to her parents," Besch replied. "Except she indicated the estrangement took place in the mid-sixties when rumors surfaced about the possibility that William West might have stolen art treasures from Germany."

  "Really?"

  "Yes, apparently he tried to sell some of the pieces to a Dallas art dealer. He met with him and showed him some slides of an ancient manuscript. He claimed to have inherited them from his father but the pieces were so well known and obviously stolen, the dealer wanted no part of it."

  "Jesus. Th
at would explain a lot."

  "Later on the dealer checked with some art authorities and realized that he had been shown the Ludinburg manuscripts—probably the most valuable art objects to even enter the state of Texas."

  "Oh, my God."

  "These manuscripts were part of a collection that included a 9th century version of the Four Gospels, the Reliquary, and other gifts from kings and emperors who ruled numerous German states in the 9th and 10th century."

  "So, Lottie's killer was after these treasures?" I said.

  "That's my guess."

  "So, what now?"

  "I've notified Army intelligence and they are going to send me all the information they have on these missing art treasures. In the meantime, I've got men checking all the local art dealers and pawn shops to see if anybody has tried to sell anything like that over the last few weeks."

  "Sounds good. Is there anything else I can do to help the investigation?" I asked.

  "Yes, I've been told the Ludinburg Church has a committee or commission of some sort trying to locate these art treasures. You might want to contact them and find out how to contact these people."

  "Sure, I'll get right on it."

  Besch left and I sat for a while trying to digest all I'd learned about William West and his underground art business. It was a complicated scenario but it was starting to come into focus. William West had to be secretive as he was sitting on millions of dollars of stolen art treasurers. He couldn't afford to have Lottie's family snooping around his home or his business. His reclusiveness was for a good reason. I wondered if Lottie knew what her husband was involved in. Was she the innocent spouse or willing accomplice? I understood now why she was so paranoid. Who else knew about William West's business? It occurred to me if I was able to answer that question, I'd be a lot closer to knowing who killed Lottie West.