Alexander kissed his daughter on the forehead.
He thought of the Wednesday six months ago.
He had fetched their seven-year old son Felix from school. They had gone to Schottentor not far from Harmoniegasse where they lived and gone into a bank to pay an overdue bill.
Suddenly they heard a voice shouting, instructing everyone to lie down on the floor.
A man in a balaclava holding a gun in the air. Targeted it around the room. Everyone did as he said except Alexander. His police instincts switched on. He saw how he moved. Gaps in his voice. If he was used to this, if it was the first time, if he could handle the pressure. If he was dangerous.
Alexander thought he could talk him out of it.
People around him lay on their stomach with their face to the floor. He crouched and approached the man. He tried to urge him to calm down. The robber aimed the gun at him. He screamed and warned him. Aimed against Alexander's stomach. Alexander said.
”Quiet now, just be calm. We can solve this. Believe me, you do not want to do this.”
The robber moved nervously. Shouted at him to stop. Alexander felt that he began to gain control. He held up his hands. Kept an eye on the robber's trigger finger. The harrowing gun.
The desperation in the man's voice grew.
Alexander should have known it was a tornado, but he was so close. When he was three feet away, he saw the robber squeeze the trigger.
Alexander jumped aside.
A shot went off.
He threw himself on the legs of the robber. Wrestled him down easy. Received direct help from some security guards.
Around them, several cried. Some gathered in a circle behind Alexander.
He looked after Felix.
He lay on the floor a few feet away.
Alongside his little body floated a pool of blood on the floor.
A few hours later, Alexander was still there. The radio newscast came on. He screwed up. Some president had visited a country. Held a speech and praised the country's development. Then came the main news.
Just now had a theft occurred at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Lisa came through the bedroom door and stood in the doorway to say that she would go back and spend the night in the hospital.
When she heard the radio she said.
”If you are called to that”
Alexander interrupted her.
”I will not be called. I've been busy with other matters. They will not put me on the field for a while.”
The newscast was short on details. Alexander lowered the volume.
”Hey, I meant what I said, we need”
It vibrated in his belt on Alexander. Lisa sighed. Turned on her heel. Hung up her jacket and took off her shoes.
It was Alexander's boss that rang, Kontrollinspektor Simon Bauer.
*
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
June 14
A few hours earlier, a murmur met August and Ludwig in the entrance of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Loretta met up. She had changed clothes and put on a tight dark dress. On her chest was a colorful brooch.
She greeted and hugged August and explained who they were for the attendants, although it was obvious that Mr. Iacobi didn´t need any introduction. She gave them two glasses of wine and said.
”Unfortunately I have to rush immediately. It was really nice to see you again, August. We have to see each other a little more often. As before! And you also Ludwig. Hope you have a good time tonight.”
Loretta went to prepare. Nearly a hundred people were at the museum. They mingled in the baroque cafe one floor up where Loretta lecture would be held. August was acquainted with many of them and told Ludwig that he had to prepare to look friendly.
Ludwig immediately noticed that August was well known.
They went upstairs and visited several briefly. Ludwig discovered that many glanced at August from their company as they stood in groups of three, four, five and drank white wine poured by men in white uniforms.
All were eager to greet August and present their friendship with him to boast that they knew the man with the largest art collection in the room and above all with the greatest wealth and as old money in the family that they were almost rotten.
Ludwig felt small and alone, but he was so nervous that he barely cared about it.
Loretta got up on a stage. Beat with her fingers on the microphone. She started talking about Turner´s light, how he owed Caravaggio his right hand. Showed a slide show on a projector screen alongside.
Half an hour into the lecture August and Ludwig met near the stairs. They went down a half a flight towards the entrance, the entrance doors were locked.
Only one guard patrolled on the ground floor.
The rest of the guards were scattered in the baroque cafe where Loretta stood and spoke.
When the guard at the entrance went into the hall with the toilets, they hurried down the stairs. Went the other way around the toilets. Sneaked into the men's. Carefully locked the door to one of the toilets. They stood in silence for a few seconds. Listened to the guard´s steps outside that disappeared after a while.
They changed into the caftans. Gloves on their hands. Left the bag inside the bathroom. Locked from the outside with a small pocket knife. They tried the door to the Egyptian collection.
It was open.
They went in and crept across the floor, trying not to make it squeak.
Adrenaline spread in the body in both.
The lighting was more subdued than during opening hours. Crannies offered pockets of darkness. They walked slowly from room to room along the walls, hidden by the darkness.
They watched the cameras.
They didn´t pan.
The museum used an old CCTV-system.
They waited for over five minutes in the room before Saal XIII. It felt like an eternity.
The glass case in Saal XIII was only a few meters away from them, but it seemed so far away. They waited and made sure that nobody discovered them on the cameras.
They heard distant laughter from the baroque cafe one floor up. It hummed faintly in the hallways.
No one came.
Nervously, they sneaked into the Saal XIII and up to the glass case. They crouched at the booth and felt for brackets on the glass. Ludwig had not folded back the pocket knife. Didn´t want to slip it in his pocket unfolded.
After half a minute, he had not yet folded it together.
He was stressed.
He got no grip with gloves on. August looked nervously when Ludwig pulled off one glove. He whispered as low as he could.
”Careful, Ludwig.”
Ludwig dropped his balance for a second. He had no choice, he had to put the bare hand on the floor.
”Hurry up”, whispered August.
Ludwig felled together the pocket knife. Put it in his pocket. Pulled on his glove. They looked at each other under the hoods.
They went after it after three. Lifted the glass cover upwards. It was heavy as hell.
The alarm went off immediately.
They were unable to dislodge it.
Sirens howled.
A red light flashed in the corner of the room.
The alarm turned on the adrenaline significantly. Stress transformed the room into a sauna. The alarm screamed so loud that they dared to talk to each other.
August said.
”Can you see if it is screwed on in some way?”
Ludwig checked quickly by the booth. He shook his head.
”How does it look from your side?”
”I see nothing, it's too dark!”, said August with panic in his voice.
It took too long.
20 seconds passed.
Sweat ran down their backs.
Ludwig urged August to one side of the glass case. Instead of lifting it, they tried to push it aside. They amassed so much strength that it stung.
It did not take more than three seconds before it relented.
>
The glass case fell to the floor with a thud. The thick glass didn´t shatter but filled with cracks. August quickly took the Sapphire Box of Edfu from its pedestal.
They ran along the corridor. Halfway through they heard the door of the entrance was torn up. They heard several guards feet thud on the floor. To August and Ludwig´s great joy the guards came the same way as they did earlier in the day.
They were sheltered in the corridor at least for half a minute. When the guards ran by where they stood, they ran out to the door they came through.
Without breath they ran into the bathroom. Locked up with the pocket knife and locked themself inside. Ludwig pulled off August's caftan and his own. He picked up the scissors from the bag and cut the caftans. He flushed down bits of tissue in the toilet.
Meanwhile he saw in August put the Four-Leaf Clover in the velvet pouch and tightened. From the bag he picked up the cardboard and folded it over the pouch. He picked up string and ribbon around the package and taped it all together.
They crept out into the hall. There was chaos at the entrance. Guards ran back and forth while some guarded the main door. All the guests had come down the stairs and gathered at the entrance.
They talked to each other and tried to figure out what was going on. Some held their hands over their ears because of the alarm. Two guards guarding the exit. Rejected a few who wanted to go out and escape the high signal.
August and Ludwig went apart. They snuck into the crowd from different directions. Ludwig saw August snake through the groups. He staggered across the floor of the entrance to the other side. He stopped at a small souvenir corner where there was a desk with postcards and audio guides.
Behind the counter were a few statues to buy copies of the Saliera and the Sapphire Box of Edfu.
He approached a box that stood next to the counter. He looked around. When some guards ran past, he quickly put the package into the box. What they could see no one saw anything.
*
Alexander ran out on the Ringstrasse. He had not showed to Lisa but he was happy to be out on the field again. Glued at that desk shoveled away the anxiety as well as a bed of nails.
He threw out the juice mixer13 on the roof. Honked at cars that didn´t move. Pressed the gas. Drove past some trams. Felix was with him. As always. Alexander went on autopilot. Ticked between the cars. Returned to the Wednesday.
Felix had like his father didn´t lain down on the floor but Alexander had not noticed it, he hadn´t even thought about it. Felix had bravely stood behind his father as his assistant.
The robber had missed Alexander's stomach and shot Felix in the chest at the heart. A blessing in disguise, if there was such, was that the robber had a low-caliber weapon. Because of this the shot had stayed in the pericardium, scratched the inner pericardium on little Felix, but not penetrated his heart.
It had, however, caused extensive damage. Felix had low blood pressure and lack of oxygen in the brain.
He fell almost immediately into a coma.
A few days later, Lisa and Alexander met the doctor. They had high hopes that Felix would wake up during the day. While they waited the doctor asked them to accompany him to his office. He sat down obviously troubled and turned up the journal. He said.
”Felix has serious injuries. The extent we do not know yet. You should be prepared for the fact that he may never be restored. Furthermore, we are fairly certain that he does not know what happened.”
The doctor looked at the parents, tried to soften the words. Failed.
”When he was shot, he fell with his head against the floor pretty hard, which probably has caused memory loss and while in the ambulance, he had a pretty severe stroke that have damaged the temporal and occipital-lobes. That makes this a very terrible scenario.”
The doctor paused. It was never particularly easy, but even more difficult when it came to a seven-year old child.
”What”, asked Lisa with tears in her voice.
”The damage in the brain has unfortunately made him both blind and deaf. We do not yet know if this is permanent. It may well be that he regains those abilities. Children have a much greater ability to heal these kinds of injuries than us adults.”
Lisa moaned out some words.
”What do you mean? Is he blind or not? ”
”Yes, he is. But it is the brain that causes this, not anything else. There is nothing wrong with his eyes or ears, but just, what should I say, it's the part of the brain that control sight and hearing that is damaged.”
The doctor looked at Lisa and Alexander.
”We'll hopefully find out more when Felix wakes up.”
They went to Felix and waited for four hours. Lisa had her eyes fixed on his son the whole time. Alexander went back and forth. Put the TV on in the room. Lisa glared at him. He turned off.
Eventually, Felix move like a sleepy baby. He fumbled with his hands. Lisa rushed. Alexander's heart was pounding. The doctors told them to be careful.
”Felix, do you hear me?” asked Lisa. She got no answer. She looked at her son. Shook her head.
Alexander gathered. Said aloud.
”Felix, can you hear me?”
Felix did not respond. Lisa took her son's hand in his. Caressed it with her thumb. Tears ran down her cheeks.
Suddenly Felix sat up. His little body began to shake. He jerked his hand away from his mother and screamed. He hit around them in panic.
All the movements caused him to fall out of bed. The drip scaffold fell after.
Felix floundered like a fish on land. He was completely helpless. Thrown into a world that was not his own. The doctor and the nurse shoved them aside. Took out a syringe. Gave him a sedative. They were taken out of the room.
A few hours later, they found out that it was as they feared. Felix was blind and deaf and probably had no memory of what had happened. He was locked in a dark coffin. Without knowing why. Felix fell back into a coma.
It tightened sharply in his chest every time Alexander thought of what his son went through that moment. He could not understand. Waking up and not knowing where you are. You don´t see anything. Can´t hear anything. No one is saying what happened. Just darkness. Total silence. And hands that touch you.
Alexander started working again after a month. His work began his cave. Lisa quit her job and was in the hospital almost constantly. No improvements were made. Felix had some breath above the surface now and then, but no sign that anything was better.
He thought of Julia. His sister was only a few years younger. Her brother had already lost six months of his life.
Alexander approached the Kunsthistorisches Museum. He picked up the mobile phone and called his boss.
”Bauer, it's me. I'm almost there. Who did you send?”
”There are some blue there already but the ones who will be part of your team is Mayer and Berger. Weber will too.”
Alexander swore quietly. Compressed teeth against each other.
”Come on. Do you have any others?”
”No, they are competent. They have 40 fucking years of service between them.”
Alexander knew it would not be enough with hundred when it came to those two. He was angry.
”You call me to a fucking highlighted event and you throw me those stars. What happened to the two external services we were promised? They were supposed to be out as early as last year.”
”Alexander, calm down. You know what the situation is.”
”Fine, do not expect any great deeds. I'll let you know later.”
*
Ludwig and August was not far off when Loretta was introduced to Gruppeninspektor Alexander Wagner, who would lead the investigation into the theft. She quickly discovered that it was a fast-talking man who was pretty tall.
He was muscular, dressed in a dark suit. He was around 40 years old but had a boyish face and as an art historian as she was, she could not fail to see, no one else didn´t that had seen his self-portraits, he was obviously much ali
ke the Austrian prodigy Egon Schiele. His face was like a downward pyramid. Pointed to a pole at the chin. Empty, dark eyes. Bushy black hair.
They stood at the souvenir counter, next to all people. Loretta said.
”Everyone is pretty tired here. The guests want nothing more than to go home.”
Wagner shook his head.
”Everyone is kept here until I decide they must go.”
Loretta made a face.
”Then you'll probably have to say it to them. We've just got off the alarm. We have many old people here.”
Alexander went from Loretta. Took a chair from the souvenir corner.
Stood up. Silenced everyone.
”I am Gruppeninspektor Alexander Wagner, responsible for this investigation. You will soon be able to go home. But first, everyone, without exception, is going to be heard by me and my colleagues.”
An older gentleman, a member of high society, in hat and finery raised his voice.
”You cannot mean that. There's no reason to do this now.”
Alexander jumped down from the chair. Went up to the gentleman. Egon flexed his jaw.
”That I mean. The sooner the better. If you are friendly and come with me.”
He turned to Loretta.
”I need three rooms. Where can I find them?”
Loretta showed the way. Alexander handed the gentleman to her. Went out to the entrance again.
Reluctantly, he met up with the stars. It was Revierinspektor Julian Berger and Revierinspektor Tobias Mayer. They were two almost identical men in the upper age of 50. Alexander thought they looked like buffoons from the Tyrol, like chip ´n´dale. In his opinion, they were tired, dull men who did everything for a little overtime, which they did too little on. After each shift, they sat in a pub with other weary policemen and shivered for every sip they poured down. Rested a butt in his mouth. Continued the competition they had been doing for 20 years. To be the first to put a dart arrow in the 20-box on the triple ring. Real genuine stars in Wagner's book. Wagner had after all these years great difficulty to keep them apart.
Alexander held back his frustration. Asked them to divide the crowd into three groups. They would be responsible for one respectively. If they did not have anything interesting to say, they would be released immediately. Wagner put two guards at the entrance that would write everyone's name and take a photo of everyone who passed out14.