Moonlight Sonata

I mouth a ‘thank you’ to the waiter as he brings my coffee. He gives a smile and asks something. I shake my head, assuming it was a question of if I needed anything else— I don’t know because Marissa is talking my ear off. She’s going so quickly and so loud that I’m positive my phone will somehow catch on fire.

“Is that Moonlight Sonata that I hear?” I ask her. “Rissa, where are you?”

“Oh, tea at the country club. I’m hiding out in the bathroom, that’s not important right now though. You were saying Berlin. Why are you in Berlin? I thought the Sako Clan were from Mali.”

“No, they are but they spread out a lot and have a substantial amount of family in Germany. I’m sure the move was purposeful and not just because of Leila’s marriage,” I say before taking a sip of my coffee.

One thing I love about Marissa is how much she likes to hear about my job. Most of our other friends find it boring and I can’t blame them. Unless you’re into mysteries that take a long time to solve and involve a lot of history, my line of work isn’t exactly for everybody. I continue going through my notes, scribbling things here and there while Marissa talks. She likes to work out the mysteries herself and see if she can figure it out without me telling her every detail. She’s decent at it— gets it completely right about 75% of the time. I’ve been staring at these pages all day to the point where if I close my eyes, I’ll be able to see the Sako’s insignia. The image is burned into retinas at this point— the head of the egret bird with a snake in its beak.

“If the move was purposeful then… the jewels have to be in Berlin!”

I can practically see her pointing at me with conviction and slight crazy eyes at the notion she probably solved another mystery. Pointing was Marissa’s thing.

“That’s what I’m thinking,” I answer her. “The problem is not a single diary or account has written anything explicitly about it. That’s weird for just some wedding gift from the royal family.”

“You think there’s something else to it?”

“The Sako are known as one of the major players in organized crime yet how many cases do you hear that involve anyone in their circle? Even distantly related to them?”

Marissa pauses on the other end. “Not many, practically none if I’m being honest.”

“But they’re filthy rich through ways no one can trace and everyone is scared of them. I think they’ve got dirt on people. Like I own half the city or the world finds out sort of dirt. The wedding gift was probably a cover for handing over deeds or something. I mean they own the entire sewage system in Prague and none of them live there. Who just coughs over something like that to an entire clan?”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Me? Oh, no. My job doesn’t pay me enough for that. The museum and IHSA want to find the jewels for their next exhibit and that is all I am doing for them. Whatever blackmail the Sako Clan used to have their hands on is well above my current pay grade. You know they wouldn’t even pay for my AirBnb.”

“What?” Marissa goes from waiting with bated breath to annoyance on my behalf.

“I’m serious. They filed this trip under paid vacation, that way they only have to cover my flight and technically my personal expenses which is just giving me my normal salary.”

“Such cheapskates. You’re only the best at your job and they can’t even spring for Four Seasons, hell, even a Marriott… T? T!”

“Huh? Sorry, was judging how far the counter is to my table and if I can leave my stuff out without it getting stolen.”

Marissa laughs and continues to remind me how my job sometimes is full of shit no matter how fun the actual assignments are. I order a few pastries, some water, and another coffee but now to-go in my very poor German. The woman behind the checkout gives me that smile of appreciation that says thank you for trying but also that I just pronounced every word wrong. She hands me a little bag with my items as well as my coffee and I head back to my table, very relieved to see all my stuff is still sitting there. I set the bag down so I can start packing away my laptop and notebooks when I pause.

“Rissa, I’m going to have to call you back. Work stuff.”

She hangs up with a friendly bye as I stare in confusion at the little black notebook sitting on top of all my other stuff. Any other time, I would probably leave everything and just call the cops. But I’m in a crowded coffee shop, not a deserted one. There’s no way someone would attempt to stage a kidnapping in a fully packed cafe.

I flip to the first page, almost gasping at the sight. It’s a drawing of an egret head with a snake in its mouth. There’s a set of keys there as well and an address written right underneath. I could ignore it. The Sako would just leave me alone. I’ve done enough research on them to know that unless you were a true threat, they would leave you alone. And I couldn’t be much of a threat. I’m only trying to recover some lost jewels for the museum and the Sako have plenty of artifacts in museums— some they’ve donated themselves. This isn’t any different from all those times. But if something was different then they would do this again… and again until they got tired of me not complying and forced me instead.

I’m not stupid, I know someone is watching me in this cafe. That being said, I don’t dare risk looking around. I pack up as if nothing happened and then go back to looking at the little black notebook. I type the address into my phone GPS and take the keys out of the notebook. It isn’t a far walk, ten minutes.

I head out and the GPS takes me to a locker facility, but one that looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. With a deep breath, I shake my body out and head inside. The keys say 42 and I assume that’s the locker I’m supposed to look for. It wasn’t too hard to find, number 42 sits pretty close to the entrance. The key slips in with no problem and I turn it— bracing myself for the worst.

Nothing happens.

I open the door and the notebook almost drops out of my hand. It’s a large pile of cash. I don’t even know how much— it doesn’t even look like the same currency in each little bundle. There’s a card sitting in front of it addressed to: The Best Little Historian.

Unfortunately, I already know that’s their nickname for me. I pick up the card and open it to see a very short note:

Twenty-thousand dollars USD. First payment, you work for us now. Say yes or no.

“Yes,” I say out loud, my voice shaky. I’ve come too far, more terrified of if I say no.

A grey Sedan pulls up outside. The window to the passenger’s side rolls down and I can see a man and a woman— the woman driving. The man gives me a smile and nods his head. From the back, two more large guys exit the car. There’s nowhere to run but they don’t seem to be coming at me with a sense of urgency. One gives me a smile as the other begins to put the cash— my cash, I guess— in a small duffle bag. They escort me back to the car where I am sandwiched in between them— Moonlight Sonata is playing over the car speakers. The woman looks at me through the rearview mirror.

“Welcome to Sako.”