A KIDNAPPING IN MUNICH

 

 A KIDNAPPING IN MUNICH

Ansgar Wolfgang von Beltz, who was known as Ansgar W. von Beltz, or simply Ansgar von Beltz, was a nineteen year-old teenager borned in Munich the 31st of December 2000; a junior bundespolizei inspector who was investigating a kidnapping in the capital city of the Freistaat Bayern which had happened at eight o’clock on the last day of Summer 2020.

He was tall and thin. He had long dark brown courly hair, dark brown moustache and beard also, brown chestnut eyes, a big aquiline nose and a sharp featured face… He was living in Augsburg with his parents Jürgen and Lieselotte and his cat named Elske in a castle on the top of a hill situated in the western zone of Westliche Wälder natural reserve where Jürgen’s ancestors had built their property in the medieval epoch.

He went out of his room and went downstairs to the garage where his grey BMW car was parked with his white motorbike, his blue bicycle and his green skateboard. He came into his vehicle and he went out of his house heading for the police station where his friends Patrick Schlager —the probationary bundespolizei inspector— and Johann Moritz —the senior bundespolizei chief inspector— were waiting for him.

Closed to Bayern, in the main city of the State of Salzburg, a twenty-three years old young woman whose name was Astrid Schwarz and who was born in Salzburg also the 1st of June 1997, as one of the Austrian bundespolizei constables, was investigating a murder in Linz which had happened the same evening of the kidnapping that had taken place in Munich some hours before.

Astrid Schwarz was the youngest of two marriage Schwarz children. Her mother died two days after giving birth her daughter at the hospital because of some unforeseeable difficulties at the last minute and her father had to get married again with another woman —who seemed to be one of the children of the President of Schleswig-Holstein with his first wife— with whom he had twins afterwards one year of meeting her in a restaurant of Berlin. 

She went out of her flat and she took her white Smart two-seater to set off for the headquarters where her boss Martin Müller —the senior Austrian bundespolizei chief inspector in Salzburg— and her friend Karl Steiner —who was working in that base of operations as one of the Austrian bundespolizei probationary constables— were waiting for her to give her some new piece of news about the murder.

When Astrid arrived Martin began to tell her what the chief surgeon had told him after carrying out the autopsy of the corpse: the German guy, who maybe was thirty years old, had fighted with his killer but the guilty had shot him on his heart and stabbed on his chest before his death which was brief and that had happened in the blink of an eye.

At the same time that Astrid arrived at her police station, Ansgar came into Johann Moritz office, who was commanding to Patrick to find the car used by the kidnapper to commit the kidnapping and while the senior chief inspector was talking with him about the alleged identity of the main suspect, Schlager was in contact with Karl Steiner to order him to look for the black Wolkswagen Transporter utilised by the kidnapper to kidnap the victim and to go out of the country towards Austria; Patrick suspected that after mistaken the kidnap, the guilty had planned to kill his victim the same day in another state to avoid a possible suspicion of the bundespolizei.

Some weeks after making the phone call, Astrid sent a letter to Johann telling him that one of her policemen had found a van with the same description in a ditch situated in the middle of the border between Germany and Austria. Moritz ordered Ansgar to meet with Astrid Schwarz that Friday morning at ten o’clock at the place where they had found the German vehicle abandoned because the judge, when he had known the event, he decided to order to be in charge of the case the Austrian bundespolizei also, suspecting that the murder and the kidnapping were realised by the same person in two different places in the same day.

The first time that Ansgar met with Astrid was arousing for him: he had not ever met someone whose beauty were gratifying and esoteric as hers. The most gorgeous portions of her oval face for him were her golden straight hair and her two flawed blue eyes together with her red and thick lips; she had a trim body with a perfectly round buttock and a pair of smooth thighs so that he must to fall in love of the most goddess person he have ever seen.

“Hi! Wie heißen Sie?” he asked her in German self-consciously when he got to the borderland among Germany and Austria and he saw her waiting for him uniformed beside her police car. “Mein Name ist Ansgar von Beltz und Ich bin der Polizeikommissar von München!” he added whilst he was waiting for her answer.

“Ich heiße Astrid Schwarz und Ich bin die Inspektor von Salzburg. Freut mich, dich kennenzulernen!” she answered him in German also and she began to talk with him about the crime which had happened in Linz a week before. 

When she articulated that phrase Ansgar thought that her voice was sweeter than he  expected. However he had to give up thinking about it and leaving it for another occasion to pay attention to what she was talking about because he was there because of the case —and not to fall in love of her as he was doing it at that moment—.

They decided to go to a pub in the city centre to discuss it there while they would were drinking a glass of beer and some chips to eat it with the drink; Astrid ordered to Karl to watch the assumed scene of the murder and she leaved her car with him whilst she was getting on Ansgar’s car. During the journey, talking with Mr. von Beltz Jr. about their lives, Astrid began to feel the same feeling for him but she did not kiss Ansgar because they were in the middle of a judicial investigation and they were forbidden any type of relationship if it weren’t a labour relation.

Just after they arrived at the coffee shop, whereas Astrid sat on the table, Ansgar requested a waiter two glasses of malt liquor and one dish of french chips for them. He sat also on the table in front of Ms. Schwarz and then, they continued to talk about the investigation they were carrying out.

“And so have the forensic surgeon or the scientific police any type of fingerprint of the murderer? Did you find anything in the abandoned van?” Ansgar urged her to know. Astrid thought the answer for some minutes and she answered him affirmatively.

“We’ve found around his neck and his wrists some marks of fight and in his chest and his heart some scars that indicate that the killer used a bladed weapon and a handgun!” it was her answer. “And we’ve also found the bullet shot by the assailant. The ballistic analysis have shown us that the guilty commited the crime with an out of the ordinary pistol!” she added.

At twelve o’clock they went out of the restaurant and came back to the scene of the murder where Karl and Martin had found the knife of the crime which did not contain any fingerprint of the killer to do the fingerprinting. They had thought that the murderer had used gloves to carry out it and Martin ordered Astrid and Ansgar to find its gloves whilst they went back to the base of operations where a woman had asked a sergeant for their services.

The lady was crying on a bench of the police station when Martin and Karl went into the place where the sergeant was offering her a cup of coffee and taking her statement. He saw them and he went out of the room to keep Martin informed about the interrogation realised by him.

“She have told me that her husband reported a man who have sent him some threatening letters in order to pay his debt with him. The policeman who talked with her husband paid no attention to what he was telling him and he chased him out of the police station with bad manners!” the sergeant told Martin who was watching his mobile phone. “Did you hear what I have explained to you?” he added.

He said yes and he urged to know who was the sergeant who had talked with the victim. They discovered that the police officer who had paid him attention was an undercover agent; the broad was the leader of a criminal group which had a friendly relation with him. However, when the victim began to lose his money with the races wager and football matches, he asked for a loan to the leader and he began to be the killer’s debtor who ordered to someone to murder him if he did not pay the debt.

Nevertheless, when Ansgar came into the office to tell Martin that Astrid had discovered another corpse inside the boot of the van, he thought that the hit man refused to do the crime and the mobster had killed him also to show him his strength and leadership.

Martin and Ansgar came back to the place where Astrid was and they leaved Karl in the police station interviewing the victim’s wife also to get moore information from her. Astrid had vanished from the scene of the murder when the two policemen arrived there and Ansgar began to search her by the forest situated beside the road.

He walked some minutes through the woodland and he saw two types of footprints on the road. Ansgar identified the first one as the sole of Astrid’s shoes so that he followed it arriving at the end of the forest; in which place he discovered a trail of blood that continued to an abandoned cottage.

Then, he knocked on the door, but anyone opened it. Ansgar prepared himself to knock down the entrance while he was taking his handgun; he came into the dark and silent building and some minutes later, he saw a corpse on the floor of the kitchen beside the murder weapon —a rifle of hunting that smelt as if it was been shooted by the killer some minutes before because of the odour of burnt powder—. 

The junior bundespolizei inspector yelled Astrid’s name but he did not get her answer. He listened some steps and a man —who maybe was thirty-five year-old— went into the room closing the door behind him. He began to laugh malevolently and he said that he had closed Astrid in the basement and that he had buried the victim in the garden.

Afterwards the guilty hit him with a vase and before to close him with Astrid, he stole his mobile phone to avoid a possible call to ask the police for their help. He took his suitcase and with his stepbrother, by his car, they evaded their house beforehand their prisoners woke up and tried to escape from the basement.

“Have you taken the money from the robbery?” asked the leader of the criminal group when they were driving to Vaduz by the motorway where Martin was waiting in his police car for Ansgar and Astrid. “Please, tell me, because if you have not taken the loot, we have to come back to the house to take it; if not, they will discover our plans!” he added and saw his stepbrother who was chatting with their accomplices.

That afternoon Ansgar woke up and saw Astrid in the same room as he was closed in. He cut the rope that tied him and his chair in a wooden column of the room and he free his friend also; then, they planned how to go out of the basement and they decided to wait the kidnappers, thinking that they will went in, and to attack them by surprise with the chairs where they were sitting on.

While the two police officers were waiting for it Ansgar confessed to Astrid his feelings for her and she told him that she was in love with him also. Astrid kissed Ansgar expressing her gratitude to him for release her and they made the love; Ansgar jerked off himself thinking on it when they listened a voice of man talking with other person in the living room so that he had to stop what he was making and they feigned to be bound in the column sitting on their chairs respectively.

But the voice disappeared and they wished that Martin and their mates were trying to find and free them, so that Astrid thought to use the mobile phone to send Martin a message and to free her and her boyfriend that night. However, the kidnappers had stolen their phones and they couldn’t do anything to evade from the basement. 

Seeing that Ansgar and Astird did not come back to the place where he was waiting for them, he came back to the police station and ordered to Karl Steiner to talk with Patrick Schlager and Johann Moritz to tell them what had happened and to prepare a police operation to free them and try to find the guilties of the mystery.

Johann and Patrick travelled to Salzburg the following day to meet with Martin and Karl who were eating their breakfast in the base of operations. They said hello to Martin and their friend, and they urged to know how Ansgar and Astrid had disappeared… 

Martin answered them that while Ansgar and him were in the police station talking with Karl and the victim’s spouse, Astrid had disappeared; they had come back to the scene of the crime and Ansgar began to find her but whilst he was doing it, he had vanished also.

Patrick decided that Martin and he would go to the scene of the crime and look for them in the forest whereas Karl and Johann were waiting for his call of rescue if they needed their help. He catched one gun for himself and while he was putting his jacket Martin did the same; then, they went out of the police station and Martin drove his police car to the place where Mr. von Beltz and Mrs. Schwarz had vanished.

When they arrived at the scene of the murder Martin ordered to Patrick to wait for him while he was searching for them and he went out of the vehicle. Patrick took advantage of that to do the autopsy of the second corpse and to look for the identity of the victim; he discovered that he was a thief who had collaborated with three more people in a robbery in Berlin some weeks before the first crime.

Mr. Müller found Ansgar’s footprints and he followed it. Some minutes later he reached the dwelling where Ansgar and Astrid were closed in the basement and he came into the building; he also found the corpse that Ansgar had seen the day before and he phoned Patrick who arrived there right away too.

While Patrick was making the autopsy and the identification of the third cadaver, Martin yelled Astrid’s name and she answered his call. He knocked down the door and Ansgar and Astrid came out of the room; they gave thanks to Martin and later on, they asked him if the police had detained the suspects.

Then, Patrick appeared and told them his suspicions: the three murders were connected with a robbery that had happened the 31st of July 2020 in Berlin where six young guys had robbed the fifty percent of gold of the Deutsche Bundesbank. He demonstrated his theory with the identities of the three victims and their corresponding criminal record.

“And how do you explain the crimes?” asked Ansgar, who believed his friend from the beginning. “Did you find something else to prove your thesis?” he added and also he urged to know the relation of the two thieves with the man who had a debt with the mobster who ordered someone to commit the first crime.

Patrick showed to Ansgar and their mates the whatsapp messages of the criminal group and he told them that one of the thieves was the hit man who was employed by the mobster and who rejected his proposal in order not to be convicted for the murder and the other was killed by the mobster because he wanted to report to the police his plans if he not paid him the fifty percent of the loot robbed by them; the third one was the debtor who reported the mobster in order to the threatening letters and he was murdered by him due to he had not paid his debts with him.

“So, we have to find the three other people of the mob, correct?” Martin asked afterwards “Because we still lack the third one who maybe is the associate of the mobster and who was the undercovered agent who did not pay attention to the debtor when he wanted to report the leader of the criminal group because of the letters!” he added also while Ansgar kissed Astrid again.

She suggested that Ansgar and herself will come back to the police station to find in the database the name of the undercovered agent and his associates whereas Patrick and Martin were waiting in the house for them finding some fingerprints of the three other components of the group of thieves.

However, when they arrived at the police base of operations, they discovered a killing: Johann, Karl and the lady had vanished from it and also some policemen had been murdered by someone who was in the police station yet. They phoned Martin to tell him what had happened but he did not answer the call.

In the dwelling Martin and Patrick had found, by surprise, the fingerprints of the third component: the lady who was crying when Ansgar and Martin came back to the police station where Karl was talking with the woman had participated on it; she was the wife of the debtor who divorced of him after knowing that he was going out with his British  sister-in-law —the mobster’s spouse—. 

“Patrick, I think I know what happened on the 31st of August 2020!” Martin yelled. “The first victim’s wife wished to kill her husband because he was going out with his sister-in-law, who was the mobster’s spouse. They decided to kidnap him in Germany and killing him in Austria; the lady was living in Salzburg with her husband and the mobster was living in München with his wife, so that when the woman knew her husband’s debt she suggested him to report the letters sent by the leader of the criminal group and to move to the Freistaat Bayern to avoid a possible murder. Nevertheless he never thought that his wife had sent him the threatening letters as she agreed it on the mobster.” Martin narrated to Patrick.

“And then, when the first victim arrived at the main city of Bayern, as they had agreed some days before, the mobster kidnapped him —that was one of his brothers (the other, the undercovered agent, was his stepbrother)— and his wife murdered him in Linz. They did not thought that one of their associates in the robbery of the Deutsche Bundesbank wished to be paid with the fifty percent of the plunder robbed; that was the mobster’s stepbrother who was employed by him as an undercover agent when some weeks before the first crime he was informed by the lady that she had suggested to her husband to report him to the police because of the threatening messages written by herself. The mobster killed his stepbrother and hid him in the van. Afterwards he abandoned the vehicle where our policemen found it but how do you explain the cadaver of the dwelling?” Patrick urged him to know.

But when he finished to say it, he listened to some steps and Astrid and Ansgar came into the house. The last one answered Patrick’s question: “We’ve thought that the third cadaver was involved in also; Astird have discovered that the undercover agent blackmailed another policeman to participate in the robbery and when the leader of the group discovered that the undercover agent wished to be paid with the fifty percent of the loot to not to report him as the main guilty of the robbery, he employed the other policeman as a hit man to get rid of him but the boy in blue did not want to do it and wished also to free Astrid, so that the mobster had to murder him also!” exclaimed Ansgar, making Martin react and he asked him if the three guilties were going out of the country.

Later on, Astrid saw a laptop on the dining room table. She told Ansgar what she had discovered and Ansgar went to the place where it was to try to find the answer of Martin’s request; he found something to show to the judge and ask if he allowed them to act in Switzerland.

When Martin know that the three guys wished to go out of the country he notified to Vorarlberg bundespolizei and Tirol bundespolizei also about the three thieves who wanted to escape to Vaduz and he describe their car to stop them if they saw the guilties that Ansgar and their friends were looking for. 

The evening of the second day the mobster and his two associates were arrested after crossing the border from Austria to Switzerland. They were extradited to Salzburg by plane where Ansgar and Astrid interrogated them to know why they had to take the fifty percent of gold of the Deutsche Bundesbank and why they had to kill their three other associates. 

The mobster affirmed that he had killed one of his brother because he wished to have a part of the loot robbed and because he was going out with his sister-in-law; the debt and the kidnap were fake because it were a part of the plan, so that the three murders and the robbery were connected and the motive was the plunder of the hold-up.

They were convicted a month after Astrid and Ansgar wedding who were married in Augsburg and they moved to München to live there in a house of the ancient city where they would set up their family and they would take care of their children. Johann and Karl were free by them some days after the police operation in Vaduz.