chapter Eleven
DAY THREE
Bern, Wednesday, October 17th
Bern was one of Robert's favourite cities. It was an elegant town, filled with lovely monuments and beautiful old stone buildings dating back to the eighteenth century. It was the capital of Switzerland and one of its most prosperous cities, and Robert wondered whether the fact that the street cars were green had anything to do with the colour of money. He had found that the Berners were more easy-going than the citizens from other parts of Switzerland. They moved more deliberately, spoke more slowly, and were generally calmer. He had worked in Bern several times in the past with the Swiss Secret Service, operating out of their headquarters at Waisenhausplatz. He had friends there who could have been helpful, but his instructions were clear. Puzzling, but clear.
It took fifteen phone calls for Robert to locate the garage that towed the photographer's car. It was a small garage located on Fribourgstrasse, and the mechanic, Fritz Mandel, was also the owner. Mandel appeared to be in his late forties, with a gaunt, acne-pitted face, a thin body, and an enormous beer belly. He was working down in the pit of the grease rack when Robert arrived.
"Good afternoon," Robert called.
Mandel looked up. "Guten Tag. What can I do for you?"
"I'm interested in a car you towed in Sunday."
"Just a minute till I finish this up."
Ten minutes later, Mandel climbed out of the pit and wiped his oily hands on a filthy cloth.
"You're the one who called this morning. Was there some complaint about that tow job?" Mandel asked. "I'm not responsible for ..."
"No," Robert reassured him. "Not at all. I'm conducting a survey and I'm interested in the driver of the car."
"Come into the office."
The two men went into the small office and Mandel opened a file cabinet. "Last Sunday, you said?"
"That's right."
Mandel took out a card. "Ja. That was the Arschficker who took our picture in front of that UFO."
Robert's palms felt suddenly moist. "You saw the UFO?"
"Ja. I almost brachte aus."
"Can you describe it?"
Mandel shuddered. "It ... it seemed alive."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I mean ... there was a kind of light around it. It kept changing colours. It looked blue ... then green ... I don't know. It's hard to describe. And there were these little creatures inside. Not human, but ..." He broke off.
"How many?"
"Two."
"Were they alive?"
"They looked dead to me." He mopped his brow. "I'm glad you believe me. I tried to tell my friends and they laughed at me. Even my wife thought I had been drinking. But I know what I saw."
"About the car you towed ..." Robert said.
"Ja. The Renault. It had an oil leak, and the bearings burned out. The tow job cost a hundred and twenty-five francs. I charge double on Sundays."
"Did the driver pay by cheque or credit card?"
"I don't take cheques and I don't take no credit cards. He paid in cash."
"Swiss francs?"
"Pounds."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I remember I had to check the rate of exchange."
"Mr Mandel, do you happen to have a record of the licence number of the car?"
"Of course," Mandel said. He glanced down at the card. "It was a rental. Avis. He rented it in Geneva."
"Would you mind giving me that licence number?"
"Sure, why not?" He wrote the number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Robert. "What is this all about, anyway? The UFO thing?"
"No," Robert said, in his sincerest voice. He took out his wallet and pulled out an identification card. "I'm with the IAC, the International Auto Club. My company is doing a survey on tow trucks."
"Oh."
Robert walked out of the garage, and thought dazedly, It looks like we have a f*cking UFO with two dead aliens on our hands. Then why had General Hilliard lied to him when he knew Robert would discover that it was a flying saucer that had crashed?
There could only be one explanation, and Robert felt a sudden, cold chill.
The Doomsday Conspiracy
Sidney Sheldon's books
- The Face of a Stranger
- The Silent Cry
- The Sins of the Wolf
- The Dark Assassin
- The Whitechapel Conspiracy
- The Sheen of the Silk
- The Twisted Root
- The Lost Symbol
- After the Funeral
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
- After the Darkness
- The Best Laid Plans
- The Naked Face
- The Other Side of Me
- The Sands of Time
- The Sky Is Falling
- The Stars Shine Down
- The Lying Game #6: Seven Minutes in Heaven
- The First Lie
- All the Things We Didn't Say
- The Good Girls
- The Heiresses
- The Perfectionists
- The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
- The Lies That Bind
- Ripped From the Pages
- The Book Stops Here
- The New Neighbor
- A Cry in the Night
- The Phoenix Encounter
- The Dead Will Tell: A Kate Burkholder Novel
- The Perfect Victim
- Fear the Worst: A Thriller
- The Naturals, Book 2: Killer Instinct
- The Fixer
- The Good Girl
- Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel
- The Devil's Bones
- The Bone Thief: A Body Farm Novel-5
- The Bone Yard
- The Breaking Point: A Body Farm Novel
- The Inquisitor's Key
- The Girl in the Woods
- The Dead Room
- The Death Dealer
- The Silenced
- The Hexed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Night Is Alive
- The Night Is Forever
- The Night Is Watching
- In the Dark
- The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Cursed
- The Dead Play On
- The Forgotten (Krewe of Hunters)
- Under the Gun
- The Paris Architect: A Novel
- The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush
- Always the Vampire
- The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose
- The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
- The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies
- The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star
- The Doll's House
- The Garden of Darkness
- The Creeping
- The Killing Hour
- The Long Way Home
- Death of a Stranger
- Seven Dials
- Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries
- Weighed in the Balance
- Funeral in Blue
- Defend and Betray
- Execution Dock
- Cain His Brother
- A Breach of Promise
- A Dangerous Mourning
- A Sudden Fearful Death
- Gone Girl
- Dark Places
- Angels Demons
- Deception Point
- Digital Fortress
- The Da Vinci Code
- A Pocket Full of Rye
- A Murder is Announced
- A Caribbean Mystery
- Ordeal by Innocence
- Evil Under the Sun