The Miracle of the Images. Welby Thomas Cox, Jr.
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Handmaker, so Aldo decided to send him an e-mail as soon as his reservations to Rome was confirmed. This, he was able to do on line quickly. Seven days hence, the supersaver flight from Cincinnati took him directly to Rome departing at 8:45 pm with arrival scheduled for DaVinci at 11:45 am on November 15, 2005.
Aldo sent the e-mail to Homer asking that he send the original portrait the day after his departure via DHL on November 16, 2005.
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The DHL truck was omnipresent in Centerville, Ohio. A suburban community of Dayton it had the sprawling shopping centers, triple lanes and no sidewalks. Handmaker & Handmaker was located on Alex-Bell Highway in a six story professional office building which they owned and leased out three floors to other professionals...mostly lawyers. It wasn't convenient to the court house but then it was equidistant to all of the county courthouses and only ten miles from the Federal Court in downtown Dayton off 1-75 at 3rd Street exist.
The DHL driver was the darling of the girls in the office...they joked about his tanned legs in the summer and the big bulge in his crotch in every season. Today Jerry Toomes, the DHL driver, had on new black shoes as well. Jerry picked up the packages from Handmaker & Handmaker...made a few moments of small talk about the coming winter and moved on to the next floor for pick ups at the other offices. He took twenty minutes to make the pick ups and deliveries...five more minutes than allocated but he had to get a signature from a new client who was indisposed.
The DHL driver's schedule was duly noted by Freddy Fingers, parked nearby in the small Chevete across the street from his van.
Jerry whistled as he enjoyed the sunny morning, a man enjoying his job and his new black shoes against his tanned legs. He knew as well that he was now behind schedule but he would make it up at the next stop. Part of the routine of trying to stay ahead of the office and the part that made his job fun.
Jerry hadn't cleared the door to Kinko's when Freddy Fingers climbed into the van...expertly picked the lock to the partition separating the packages from the cab of the van. Freddy quickly located the parcels from the last pick up...he took those and just as professionally hung a device of his making on the back of the partition...it was set to explode in seven minutes.
The Chevete pulled away as Jerry Toomes, the DHL driver, hustled out of Kinko's and jumped into his truck...he made up the lost time at the Handmaker building. He started out of the Kinko lot, which emptied into the Sam's lot before heading toward Highway 741 when the plastic explosive exploded. There was a shattering explosion, followed by smoke and fire from the crumpled truck which flew more than fifty feet, landing on a Mercedes just coming from Sam's. The commotion in the Sam's lot was frantic...everyone hustled to the driver of the Mercedes who was miraculously pulled to safety without major injury. Jerry Toomes, the DHL driver's new black shoes were found at the front of Sam's...they were filled with blood.
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It was dark along the Ohio River at the Newport Levee. Freddy Fingers was nervous as he waited for Homer to show for the package. Before he saw him Freddy Fingers heard the squeak of his shoes...and then a silent hulk sat down on the bench...Freddy cringed at the sight of Wermuth... six foot seven, three hundred twenty pounds...Freddy knew Wermuth's reputation... now lighting a cigarette. Wermuth blew the smoke into the chill of the night air and the smoke combined with the cold air formed an eerie halo about the two men. It was more than a scene setter and Freddy Fingers was not feeling good about this situation.
"Got the package Freddy?" Wermuth said in a voice that sounded as though he was chocking.
"Sure thing Wermuth." Freddy handed the man the DHL tube.
"This tube has been opened Freddy...the boss ain't gonna like that none at all." Wermuth said.
"Yeh Wermuth... things went bad with the DHL truck...I didn't think the driver would be back so quick...I only meant to set fire to the contents of the truck so that there would be no prospect that the cops could trace this heist back to the boss...I experimented with this material... and it was sorta like the scene from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 'The Whole in the Wall Gang is going to rob this train and Butch places too much dynamite on the safe in the postal car where all the money is, and he blows up the entire car...the sides of the train comes off and all the money is blowing about the countryside... the bandits are chasing this money around...it was just nuts...did you see it Wermuth?"
"Naw...I don't watch no fag movies."
"Whata ya mean fag movie...this was a classic?" Freddy implored.
"Look Freddy, grow up...Redford and Newman were in love, they chased each other all over the west and into Bolivia for Christ sake...they were queer for each other."
"So look Wermuth...you gotta know how it is for me now...I am so hot with the law...dead man and all...the boss has just got to understand, the dough ain't right now...so, you know, I opened this here package and found this art...so I just made a couple of copies for safekeeping...figured they would be worth something to the boss...you know enough to get me out of town and away from this heat. I don't like doing business this way but the boss forces guys to do things because he is so unfair"
"Seems you got it figured out...what is your guess as to the value of these pictures." Wermuth struggled to speak.
"Wermuth, I need ten grand to get the hell out of here." Freddy said.
"Were are these extra copies, Freddy...no bullshit now."
"I got them stashed at the bus station...you know in one of them lockers."
Wermuth adroitly flipped the cigarette into the river...he stood just behind Freddy Fingers and just as quickly he slipped a knotted rope around Freddy's neck. Freddy squirmed against the weight of the big man...like a fish out of water. And then Wermuth stuck an ice pick into Freddy's jugular vein. He then removed the ice pick and stuck it into the open right eye of Freddy Fingers. For all intents Freddy was pithed, the way a biologist might dispatch a frog he was about to dissect. Cold blooded wasn't a description. From the way it had been done, it was an act performed almost passionately, as if, with each involuntary squirm and muscular jolt the victim gave as his brain was slowly and deliberately crushed inside his skull, the killer was enjoying it. Maybe even sexually. If nothing else, the sheer inventiveness of the act said that the perpetrator was a person with absolutely no concept of conscience. A true sociopath who had complete indifference to the feelings, pain, or well-being of other people. A human being truly evil since birth.
The last act confirmed Wermuth's mental state... with the precision of a surgeon, Wermuth cut off each finger and thumb at the joint with a razor sharp ringed instrument and tossed the remnants of the finger tips into the river.
"I don't like doin beness this way either Freddy Finger...but you pay the price when you fuck up as you have...now only the fish will know who you are." Wermuth said to himself.
Wermuth took Freddy's wallet, all his cash, coins and the keys in his coat pocket. He took the prepaid cell phone and threw it out into the river. He sat Freddy on the bench, put his cap back on his head and walked away. Freddy appeared to have fallen asleep on the park bench while enjoying the twinkling colored lights on the still Ohio River reflecting the Cincinnati skyline.
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"Passport...por favor." Aldo faced the Custom's Agent in what was to be the first showdown with the new passport. There had been no hitch at the Cincinnati Airport when Aldo checked in...but that was as expected. The officials would have plenty of time to check out all the passengers before they disembarked at DaVinci.
"You are American priest?" The Agent spoke English with a heavy Italian accent.
"No, I am Italian studying in America." Aldo said. "A citizen of Vatican City."
"I see that you are Reverend Selleri...but this passport has not been used except for the one way from America."
"I will soon return to America for my studies as soon as I have completed some work at the Vatican." Aldo said.
"Do you have anything to declare?"
"No."