Chapter 6
I woke up in the shower. It took a moment for me to remember how the previous day had ended. Once I had recovered from passing out (I decided that sounded more macho than fainting), I had demanded that the hotel send up high-strength bleach, rubber gloves, and sponges. Since I couldn't use bleach on the cloth surfaces in the hotel room, I focused my efforts on the bathroom and scrubbed until Velma's darned blue light showed nothing inappropriate on any visible surface. I forced myself not to think about the places I couldn't see or reach. That was where I slept.
Going to bed exhausted at 2:00 in the afternoon means waking up at 5 minutes after midnight, wide awake. I know it was five minutes after midnight because room service quit serving at midnight. The Germans are a sturdy lot and do not cave to begging. At about 4:00 in the morning, I saw an e-mail pop-up from Velma. She was a victim of a combination of jetlag and workaholism. I refused her invitation to attend a case update in her plague-infested hotel room and she came to my bathroom with her laptop and a notebook.
Velma's eyes were bloodshot but shone with the light of accomplishment. I remembered the look and had forgotten how frightening she got when she was fully immersed in a mystery. If I didn't step in and make her rest, she would put herself in the hospital. It had happened before – three times. One of those times she had told an ER doctor to shut the hell up because she was talking to a witness on the phone. They had sedated her and she had kept talking until she sounded like an old vinyl record slowing down on the turntable.
She was sitting on the toilet - using it only as a chair, mind you - and I was curled up on the shower floor as she brought me up to speed, "Reggie's counter-surveillance skills are atrocious, I was able to pick him up in the Munich Train Station where he boarded a train to Berlin. He got off at the main train station in Berlin and changed over to a train for Szczecin, Poland. At the Szczecin station, he got onto a train bound for Gdansk but got off in a small city named Swoopsk." She pointed at it on the map and the way it was spelled did not look like Swoopsk but I accepted that Velma was pronouncing it correctly. "In Swoopsk, he left the train station out the main door and we lost him again. That was ten days ago, so he has had ten days to get someplace else."
"Rhere rould romeone go from Roopsk?"
She nodded, "Good point. It's not the kind of place you get off at unless you were headed there. We are going to need plane tickets to Gdansk and train tickets from there to Swoopsk for tonight. I'll ask Marcie if that's possible."
"Rye'm up to date now?"
"I think so."
I grabbed her laptop off of her lap and jerked it away, "Then roo are roing to sleep." I braced for a full dose of Velma.
She gave it to me, "You are not my mother and you can't put me to bed."
"Rye am rour boss and roo are roing to put rourself in the rospital… arain. Rhat is rad for rusiness."
"You are my boss on paper only. Don't try to push me around."
"Call it what roo rish. It is best for roo, for ree, for the rompany, and for anyone who comes in contact rith roo, if roo get some sleep before romorrow."
My argument was too solid for her to beat me on logic, so she switched to subterfuge, "Fine, I'll get some sleep. Give me back my laptop and I'll go back to my room and lie down."
She must have thought I was a simpleton, "Roe, roo rill sleep here where Rye can watch roo and rake sure that roo are not rorking."
"Eat me, dog."
"Rin rour dreams."
To this, she responded, "Ewww."
"Rorry, Rye got caught up in the roment."
She stood, "Okay, I will lay down for ten minutes. If I am not asleep, then I will get up, get my laptop and go back to my room. Deal?"
It was as good as I was going to get. "Real."
She was sound asleep in 90 seconds.
I texted Shaggy and explained why his fiancé was sleeping in my room. Things were confusing enough in our relationship without a major misunderstanding being added. His text came back, Good call. He had seen Velma on a roll as often as I had. And that gets me back around to 'I woke up in the shower'.
What woke me was a pounding at the door which got Velma up at the same time. I reached the door first and opened to find Marcie completely dressed and ready to go. "I knocked on Velma's door…" She saw Velma over my shoulder, "Oh, here you are. Why did you two sleep in the same room? Did someone have a bad dream?" I felt like I was having one now but left that unsaid.
Velma answered, "Scooby decided that he was my mother and made me go to sleep."
"Rot rour rother, your raby-sitter."
Velma squeezed past me into the corridor, "Very funny. It's 7:00, so I'll meet you two in the restaurant in 30 minutes?"
I was good with 30 minutes. I would have been better with ten and ecstatic with one. But I'm a patient sort. Breakfast bars are always a benefit to traveling but they were less fun without Shaggy. Wiping out a breakfast bar table by myself is just sort of embarrassing. I do it. But it's embarrassing. This one barely put up a fight. Germans don't eat much. During breakfast, Velma updated Marcie on her findings regarding Reggie's train travels and Marcie called her people to start make the arrangements for us to fly out that night. We packed our bags and left them with the concierge. Marcie's people would have them picked up. I wanted to have 'people'. But I didn't even have 100% control of me.
The office was within walking distance of the hotel and not near the city center. All of the buildings which we passed were from the 1960's or later. I assumed the older buildings had been destroyed in the 1940's. Kind of what happens when you lose a couple of world wars.
We made it to Barbarossa Pharmaceuticals GmbH at five minutes until 9:00 and Claus was waiting for us. Marcie was already in their system but it took about fifteen minutes for us to be processed and handed a badge with our names and pictures. Claus then showed us into a simple but nice conference room with pictures of pills on the walls. More importantly, a side table was covered in baked goods. Claus was steadily working his way off of my villain list. If the layout had included real American doughnuts, he would have made my Christmas Card list.
Velma and Marcie were settling into their chairs and I was sitting on the floor next to the food, when a well-dressed woman of middle age came in. Claus had been leaning against the wall and stood straight as soon as she crossed the threshold. It was the first stereotypically German mannerism I had seen from him.
Marcie stood, walked around the table, and extended her hand, "Frida!" They shook hands with the fake warmth of two people who spoke frequently on the phone but rarely met in person. Marcie turned toward us, "Frida Pflug, president and CEO of Barbarossa Pharmaceuticals, this is Scooby Doo and Velma Dinkley. They are assisting me in my search for Reggie."
The German woman's handshake with Velma was perfunctory but then she turned to me, "Ah, Herr Doo, I well remember your pictures from the newspaper ten years ago."
Oh shit. "Rye ras roung and stupid."
Frau Pflug's eyes narrowed. She obviously didn't understand me. Velma said something in German which I assume was a translation and Frida nodded, "Yes. We are all young and stupid at some point. But to be young, stupid, and in the public eye must indeed be a challenge."
"A rallenge Rye ras clearly not up to."
This time she seemed to get my words, "I am very sure that I would not have been, either." She moved to Velma, "And Ms. Dinkley, I understand that you are of German ancestry. Yes?"
Velma shook her head, "No. Dinkley is an English name and it has always been our family name. The old show made up a German name for me for one of the movies. It was all fictitious."
Frida looked between Velma and me, "Now, how can we help you?"
Velma took over and my uncomfortable conversation was over, "We would like to scan your security footage for the six weeks that Reggie was here and get copies for analysis. We would also like to speak with the people who worked most closely with him."
Frida nodded, "Claus will provide all of that for you." She turned to Marcie, "Meanwhile, Marcia, I was wondering if possibly you and I might have the opportunity to speak about the product development on which you are working. I believe it is ready to go into Phase III trials?"
Marcie seemed coy, "Well, certainly Frida, but you know that I might not be able to answer all of your questions since we are in the process of developing a financial relationship with a final manufacturer."
"Yes. And a brief discussion may assist me in being able to accurately present this opportunity to our board of directors."
Marcie smiled, "I will, of course, assist as much as I can." And she and Frida left the room.
Claus sat at the table with us, "How do you wish to get started?"
I was just along for the ride now. Velma laid it out, "We'd like to see where Reggie worked, where he took breaks, where he had meetings, where he ate lunch, and even where he went to the bathroom. Which entrance did he use to enter and exit the building? Were there other exits he might have used. After we walk through that, we will point out the cameras for which we want footage. Do you have all the footage for the last eight weeks?"
He nodded, "Of course. Our insurance requires that we keep a minimum of six months."
"Good. Then we would like to meet with the people with whom he worked the most. Not just the muckety-mucks but the administrative staff."
He looked quizzically at her, "I'm sorry. Muckety-muck?"
"Higher ranking people. I can switch to German if you wish."
He shook his head, "No, I do not believe that would be polite for Mr. Doo."
This guy was continuing his rapid slide off my potential villain list, "Rease, rall ree Scooby."
Claus smiled, "Thank you, Scooby." He turned back to Velma, "I know the secretary that worked most closely with him and I will request that she set up your meetings when we pass her desk on the tour. Which, if you are ready, can start now."
The next few minutes were boring. It was, for the most part, an office building and, although Europe had embraced the open office concept more that we had in the US, it was pretty much like any other office building. We did stop briefly at the desk of a woman of about 40 who he introduced as Gretchen Stegler who had been Reggie's administrative support. Gretchen stood and then kept standing up to about six feet tall. Her blonde hair was worn long and her eyes were that pale blue that almost made them disappear within her face. She had once been very attractive and had aged into handsome. After handshakes, she resumed her seat and started the process of setting up our afternoon meetings.
We continued on with Claus pointing and talking and Velma looking around and nodding absently. The company had a 'hot seat' arrangement where they maintained two offices specifically for visitors. Reggie had used one of these. Both were presently filled with Government auditors. No detailed search of his office would be possible. It would not be likely to yield anything but I knew that Velma's OCD was going to give her fits over not being able to follow the process.
She got more excited when we got to the lab in which Reggie had worked. And it was a nice lab. I should know, I spend enough time in them. We couldn't enter because it was a clean room and only authorized people were allowed in. Private Detectives didn't pass muster. Neither did talking Great Danes (maybe if I were a German Shepherd?). So, the two places where he spent most of his time were off limits. Velma took this amazingly well - meaning that no one was kicked in the groin. She was argumentative and muttered under her breath when it became clear that the arguing wasn't going to work. Like I said, she took it well. But there were two cameras in the lab at each end of the room. She pointed them out and Claus wrote the camera numbers down.
Next we went back to the main entrance and Claus explained that there was no reason for him to enter or leave by any other entrance. Two more cameras were noted. Claus then took us to a side entrance which he said there was no reason for Reggie to use but it was possible. There was one camera. It went on the list.
Velma asked, "That is two exits from the building. How many are there in total?"
Claus answered immediately, "Four. Three pedestrian exits and the loading dock."
"Why do you think he would only use these two?"
"Because the third pedestrian exit is a fire exit only and is alarmed. And the last is, of course, a loading dock."
"I would like to see them, please."
Claus led us to another door. The first two we had seen before were glass doors. This one was all metal, had a crash bar, and had a sign on it which read Nicht verlassen Alarmgesichert which included a drawing of a horn blowing. Velma stood in front of it, "How often is this tested?"
"Monthly."
"Could we test it now?"
He didn't seem to like this but nodded, "Certainly." He made a call on his cell phone and spoke into it in German. He then handed the phone to Velma who continued the conversation in German. She pushed the door open and talked some more and then shut it and then opened it again.
She turned around, "It tests out okay and there are no records of an unauthorized exit while Reggie was here. But I would still like the footage from that camera," she pointed. "Now, let's take a look at the loading dock."
They were led through a warehousing and storage area filled with boxes and tanks of liquid. The temperature was about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the building. It ended at a airlock with roll-up door next to a pedestrian door on the exterior. There was a card reader next to the door and a camera pointed at it. Velma tugged at the door, it didn't open.
Claus explained, "You need to have access privileges assigned to your badge to enter or exit from this door."
Velma held her badge up against the card reader. A red light blinked and the door did not open.
Claus continued, "You do not have such privileges, so a record of an unauthorized request to exit has been logged by the system with your name and badge number."
Velma tugged at the door one more time, "Did Reggie have that privilege?"
"No. He did not."
"Can I get an output of those logs for every door for the duration of Reggie's stay here?"
"Certainly."
After we were done with the tour we got down to the real business at hand, Claus asked us our choices for pizza. I chose three large pepperoni. Velma said that she would take one slice of one of mine. I changed my order to four. While we waited for the pizzas, Claus disappeared to get the video downloads that Velma wanted. When the pizzas arrived, I faced the most surprising and disorienting part of the case so far. I opened the pizza box to find a cheese pizza with some large green peppers baked across it. No pepperoni slices were anywhere to be found. This was just wrong.
Claus seemed startled by my consternation, "That is a pepperoni pizza. What you are describing sounds like a salami pizza."
This man was obviously a gastronomic neophyte, "Ralami is not repperoni."
Claus stopped a passerby in the hallway. More German ensued. He returned in a moment seeming less confused, "You wanted an American pepperoni pizza. I understand now. My apologies. I can exchange the order if you wish."
Given that the pizzas were already gone with the exception of Velma's single piece which she held in her hand to avoid any confusion on my part, I was gracious, "Rhese are acceptable. Rank roo."
The first interview was Gretchen Stegler, I was expecting Velma to take lead and I just add my pithy one-liners, but Claus had brought back a thumb drive with the video files and Velma had her nose buried into her laptop. That left it up to me with Claus sitting in.
"Rerro Gretchen. Roo rorked rith Reggie?"
Gretchen looked blankly at me and then over to Claus. Clause spoke in German and then Gretchen looked back at me and responded in English, "Yes. I worked with Reggie when he was here."
"Rhat rid rhat rork entail?"
Blank look to Clause. German. Back to me. Response. "If he needed help with something such as IT issues or making the copier work or finding something on the server, he would ask my assistance."
"Row ras rour rork relationship?"
She seemed to be catching on to my speech now and answered this one without translation, "It was fine."
"Rid ree ever act inappropriately rith roo?"
"Inappropriately? How do you mean?"
"Rid ree make roo uncomfortable?"
"No. Never."
"How rong had roo known him?"
This question seemed to startle her, "I met him when he came to the office."
"Roo ridn't rork rith him on his previous trips?"
"There were no previous trips. This was the first project that our two companies had worked on together. Prior to his arrival, there had been some phone calls and many e-mails. We spoke more with Ms. Fleach than we did with Reggie."
Velma spoke from behind her laptop without looking up, "Where did he eat lunch?"
The German woman was startled at this question, "Lunch? I have no idea."
"Was it brought in for him or did he go out?"
"He went out most days, as I recall."
"Did he go with other people from the office, or alone?"
Gretchen had to think for a moment on this, "I do not recall him going with other people, but I have many duties and noticed little more than that his office would be empty at lunchtime."
"What was his schedule? Did it change or stay the same every day?"
"Stayed the same. Very regimented. He would arrive at 7:30 and work at his desk until 9:00 when he was scheduled for the lab. His time in the lab lasted until 11:00. He would return to his desk until noon when he went out for lunch. He returned promptly at 1:00 and stayed at his desk until 2:30 when he would leave his desk until 3:00. Then he would be on the telephone with the United States until 6:00 and then he would leave."
"Do you have any idea where he went at 2:30?"
"No idea. It was neither my job nor my business to know."
"But he left his desk every day at that time?"
"Yes. Every day."
This information started Velma typing and clicking fast and furious into her laptop while I was left to close out that interview and conduct the next two which were frustrating due to the communications issues and yielded little. Reggie did not appear to socialize with any of the staff. No one recalled ever eating with him at a restaurant and multiple invitations for evening and week-end social events were politely declined. The lab project manager said that he was very regimented in his schedule and that he had a clear decision-making process. Any question put to him would be written down. He would think about them overnight and then provide the answer the following morning. She made a joke that it was like dealing with someone who was more German than she was.
When the scientist had left, I looked at Velma whose hair was now in disarray from her absent-mindedly running her fingers through it as she worked. Her head was tilted to the left and she held a fistful of hair with her left hand which was supporting her head. It was a position I remembered for the last fourteen years and brought back fond memories of when I was just Shaggy's dog who happened to be able to talk which most people thought was a trick. I hated to disturb her.
"Rhat now?"
Her eyes popped up over her screen and she realized that I was looking at her, there was no interview happening, and Claus was sitting there politely. "What now?" Her intonation turned the question back on me for further elaboration.
"Rye asked roo first."
The slightly startled look on her face narrowed to a focus and she turned her computer screen toward me. "I have found where he was going every day at 2:30 and it's interesting."
I leaned in to look at her screen and she continued, "Every day, he left the building…" she clicked the mouse and the perspective changed to a different camera, "…and he walked down the block…" Another different camera, "and to a public telephone." Final different camera, "And at that pay phone, he made a call every day at exactly 2:40. He would speak for between 4 and 6 minutes. Then he would walk back."
"Roo ras ree calling?"
"I don't know, yet. But I should have that in about an hour. While I'm doing that, can you walk down to the pay phone and just get the lay of the land? See if anything jumps out at you that might be a clue."
"Rye don't rike it when things jump out at ree." A dropped my copyrighted laugh for Claus's benefit. It didn't seem to impress him. He just lost some points. "Got it. Rye'll be back roon."
Maybe Velma really thought that something might turn up along the route that Reggie took every day or maybe she was trying to get me out of her hair so she could concentrate. It didn't really matter to me since it got me out of the building and into the open air. The harsh fluorescent lighting was beginning to get to me. It was a sunny but chilly day as I stepped out of the front door and followed the directions provided by Velma. It wasn't quite cold enough for me to be thinking about putting on the coat, but it would have been nice if the Anannaki had made me out of a Siberian Husky rather than a Great Dane. That's some high-quality fur. But I persevered.
The sidewalk was crowded and the unleashed dog was attracting attention. I felt someone stroking my side which was overly familiar and extremely inappropriate. I turned my head to give this brigand a piece of my mind when I felt the gentle stroking change from a finger to something round, cylindrical and just like the barrel of a gun.
"Please keep looking straight ahead, Mr. Doo."
Being me – I assumed that if it feels like the barrel of a gun, then it is the barrel of a gun. All of my senses went into overdrive, "Are roo razy?"
"Possibly. But I am definitely desperate. I'm not sure which one is driving right now. So, please make no effort to look at me and I will not be forced to do anything which is either desperate or crazy."
My assailant had not thought this through very closely. I am a dog. Especially with my presently heightened sense of awareness from the fear, I was getting enough information about her from scent and voice to pick her out of a line-up 100 times out of 100. She must have grown up with cats. Her voice was slightly muffled which meant she was wearing a mask which Covid had made into the new normal. She spoke English with an American accent but with the kind of accent that hinted that two languages were spoken in her childhood home and she was comfortable with either. The second language was probably Pacific Rim Asian. She was a woman and she was extremely tense.
"Rhat do roo want?"
"Maybe the same thing that you want and maybe the opposite. First, I need to know, are you a good guy or a bad guy?"
I considered launching into a discussion regarding the subjectivity of the concept of good and evil and whether society had the right to impose a rigid definition on the concepts based upon a questionable societal and historical perspective. I chose the other option, "Rye'm a rood guy."
"Which is exactly what a bad guy would say." Then why did she ask?
"Ron't look now, but rou're the one rith the gun."
"And you're the one with fangs and claws." Claws? You skip one pedicure...
"Rye still don't know rhat roo want."
"In case you are a good guy, I wanted to tell you that what I am pursuing is very important to me. If you get between me and it, I will kill you if I have to."
"Rell me rhat it is so Rye can aroid retting in your way."
"But if you're a bad guy, then it would help you stop me."
This was nothing if not confusing, "Rhat have ree arromlished here?" That was when I noticed that the gun barrel was absent from my side. I stopped and turned to see a door closing to my left. I immediately went in pursuit… just kidding. I headed quickly in the other direction, crossed the street, and returned to the office building on the opposite side, constantly checking over my shoulder.
