The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 02

Agent's Montrose and Nelson were casting suspicious looks at Ben as they read the writ. "Are you ready?" Russo asked. They nodded and walked off with Mike to break the seal on the container.

"Why is the CIA doing this for me?" Ben asked Russo quietly.

She smiled at him. "You recently made some people in Washington very, very happy. The Agency... is returning the favor." Her smile became sultry as she panned her eyes down his body. "Until we meet again, Mr. Shepherd." She walked back towards the building having delivered the writ. There was just a hint of sway in her hips as Ben watched, puzzling over her words. She glanced back, and her sexy smile returned when she saw his eyes were on her.

Ben gave himself a shake and shared a bewildered look with the Sergeant. They moved to the entrance of the shipping container where Mike gave him a frustrated glare before cutting the seal with bolt cutters. He took the broken seal and marched back to the building.

Men from both agencies began removing items from the container as Ben stood next to Agent Montrose and Nelson. Ben noticed two agents were making a video of the items removed.

"Hahn like white leather and chrome," Nelson commented.

Ben snorted, and both agents looked to him. "His Berlin condo was decorated with the same furniture. Cold and impersonal. Like the man." He didn't mention that furniture was destroyed.

"What are you going to do with this stuff?" Montrose asked.

Ben shrugged. "Donate it to charity, I suppose."

Six flat crates were carried out and carefully opened. Inside were oil paintings. They looked like very old, oil paintings.

Agent Montrose looked at Ben. "Our records on Rainor Hahn indicated he might have been trafficking stolen art. These are likely stolen property." Her expression soured. "Now, according to the spooks, they belong to you." The agent walked away to look in the other crates.

Ben wanted nothing to do with the stolen art. More and more Rainor proved he was a truly repugnant human being.

He thought about how he might reverse the evil that man brought to the world. He looked back towards the city as he had an idea. He pulled his cell out and did a little web search for museums in San Francisco. When he found one that sounded promising, he dialed its number. It was picked up on the third ring. He navigated his way through the answering service to a live person.

"Hello, I need to speak to a curator. I want to donate some paintings I've recently inherited to the museum," Ben said with a friendly tone.

The woman's voice on the other end was also friendly and promised to put one on. Two minutes later she returned and apologized for the wait and transferred the call.

"Hello, this is Valerie Desmond, a Senior Curator at the museum. Who am I speaking to?"

"Hi, this is Ben Shepherd. I've recently come into possession of six-" Ben stopped as he saw the agents carrying out six more crates from the container. "Damn. Sorry, twelve paintings. I have reason to believe these are originals and may have been stolen from galleries or private collectors. The man who obtained these died and I inherited his estate. We opened the shipping container and found these paintings."

"Mr. Shepherd, we do not deal with stolen art! We will not purchase them from you!" she asserted.

"I'm not looking to sell them. I don't want them, but they should be handled by someone who knows how to protect them. I know nothing about handling art. If it helps you, I have a writ from the Supreme Court of the United States indicating the property rights of the inheritance is legally mine, regardless of original state."

"How- how did you get the Supreme Court to do- Wait! This is a hoax, isn't it! I should have known when you said your name! Ben Shepherd? Really!"

He sighed. "Do you have a cell phone with video call capabilities?"

She paused her blustering. "I- yes."

"Take this number down and call me back with the video chat app on your cell. You'll be able to see me, and I can show you some of the paintings. How's that?" Ben offered.

She was quiet for a moment as she considered. "Not sure what you're trying here... but all right. Give me the number."

Ben said the digits and goodbye. He hung up and walked over to the row of painting crates. Montrose walked back to speak to him.

"Twelve paintings. That's all of them. Congratulations," the woman scolded.

Ben's cell made a weird warble, and he answered it to see the cautious gaze of an older woman in a dark jacket. Her expression changed immediately to shock.

"It is you!" she gasped.

He smiled and nodded. He turned his body, so the FBI agent appeared in the shot for the woman. "Yes it is, and this is Agent Montrose of the FBI who's with me at the storage container facility. Agent, say hello to Valerie Desmond, Senior Curator at the Legion of Honor Fine Art Museum. I've asked her to take a look at some of these to determine if they are possibly the real deal. I'd like her to accept them as a donation to the museum. They can show them while they try to find the owners. That seems like the right thing to do with this art, doesn't it?"

Agent Montrose looked like she'd swallowed her tongue and Ms. Desmond's expression was a close match.

"Let me show you some of the paintings," Ben said moving to one of the open crates. "Evelyn, can you lift the paintings from the crates so I can show them to this nice lady?"

The Sergeant moved into the picture and carefully lifted one after another so Ben could aim his camera at them.

"That's sufficient!" Valerie called out, so Ben turned the cell back to his face to look at her flushed features. She seemed very excited.

"Did you recognize them?" Ben asked.

"Oh my yes! Are you serious about donating them? They may be worth a sizable fortune!" she breathed.

Ben frowned. "I'm serious. If you want them, they're yours. You'll need to come get them as soon as you can."

"Oh! Now?"

"Do you have a truck at the museum for moving art? I can text you the address. It's in Oakland," Ben explained.

"Oh! Oh! Yes! Uh, let me... I just need to arrange a few things! I can probably be there in an hour, two at most! Thank you, Mr. Shepherd!" the woman exclaimed.

"Ben. I assume you have a receipt form for me to sign over the ownership to your museum," he suggested.

She nodded and beamed a smile at him then gave him her cell number so he could text her the address.

"See you soon, Ben!"

"Thanks, Valerie! See you soon." Once he hung up, he hammered off the text.

He looked up from his cell, and Agent Montrose was watching him with a confused scowl. "She just confirmed they're probably worth a fortune and you're giving them away?"

Ben frowned in frustration at the agent. "Which is it, Agent Montrose? You're disgusted with me for inheriting stolen art, or you're disgusted with me for not profiting from it?"

Agent Nelson was standing nearby and barked a laugh at the FBI Agent's frustration. The DEA agent walked over to Ben. "No drugs or weapons found. No contraband at all. Nothing for us to do here." He looked back at the items they'd removed from the container. "I know a great local charity if you were serious about donating the furniture and contents."

Ben was nodding when excited noises came from inside the container, and an agent rolled a dolly out with a filing cabinet on it. The agent looked to Montrose with a delighted smile. "Ma'am! We've got documents showing Rainor Hahn arranged massive money transfers for Don Solerno!" Montrose rushed over to look at the documents in the filing cabinet.

Ben recalled how thorough Rainor's files were. He kept notes on everything. Liliya had been right when she'd said she hadn't known Rainor well enough to understand him truly. She'd said that he didn't like paper records, but Ben knew differently. When he'd been looking for the man's will the day after Rainor died, he'd gone through a filing cabinet filled with extensive notes on investments and business dealings. If he was doing illegal business with this Don Solerno fellow, Ben didn't doubt every transaction would be carefully annotated.

Rainor had absolute confidence in himself. He knew he was smarter than everyone else. It was inconceivable to him that his files could be used against him. Considering he died before that happened, maybe that confidence was justified. He did manage to con some underworld figures successfully.

Agent Montrose looked at Ben with her mouth open, but no sound came out.

"The files are yours. Take the cabinet too," Ben offered. The agent had the good grace to nod her thanks. "Who's Don Solerno?"

"Head of the East Coast crime syndicate. The Mafia?" Montrose clarified for Ben's curious expression. "To date, he's been untouchable. We got wind of him meeting with the heads of the other East Coast families. It was unprecedented cooperation with large capital transfers from each family to him but what their end goal was for that money was never discovered." She frowned as she looked at the documents. "We need to get these files back to headquarters." She nodded to the agent who'd made the find. "See if there are any other cabinets."

Ben picked up a couple of dining room chairs and set them down next to each other, out of the way of the working Federal agents. He gestured for the Sergeant to sit as well. They sat together and watched the activity.

Evelyn leaned closer to speak. "Why did you have to be here for this?" she said quietly.

Ben smiled at her. "I suppose the storage company might have needed my signature to let them off the hook contractually and the FBI agents might have wanted to press charges against me if they found illegal goods. My new friends in the CIA neatly handled that last reason." His smile diminished. "Not sure how positive that relationship will prove to be. Hopefully, it's just a one-time thing."

The Sergeant nodded as she also had reservations about the benefit of being friends with the spooks.

They sat watching the agents move back and forth as they emptied the container.

A large truck entered the yard behind them, and the agents stopped to see who it was. Ben got the impression that the FBI agents were feeling a little nervous now that they had their hands on what could be decisive evidence against this Mob boss.

Agent Nelson waved to the men and Ben saw Agent Montrose and her team relax. The DEA agent walked over to the truck and had them back it up facing the items removed from the freight container. Then he walked over to Ben.

"Are you sure there isn't anything you want from the container?" he asked.

Ben shook his head. "Just the painting crates. The museum curator will be by for those later today. I want no reminders of Hahn in my home." He stood, and Evelyn did as well. "You can take these chairs too."

"It's ok. We'll get those last. Thanks!" The agent nodded with a smile and went back to direct his men to begin loading the truck. Ben ensured the twelve painting crates were set aside and sat back down.

A second filing cabinet was discovered, but it only contained Rainor's personal finance documents from his non-criminal activities. He'd compartmentalized his life into the two distinct income streams. His personal investments had already been transferred to Ben's accountant, so these documents were just trash. He recalled receiving an envelope from the lawyer in Sidney containing Rainor's unfiled paperwork. There'd been pages for each deed. These were currently in a locked cabinet in Walter Greyson's office, and he'd been given instructions not to mention them until the legal ownership issue had been resolved.

Ben dumped the cabinet's contents into a dumpster behind the building, and Agent Nelson loaded the empty office furniture into the truck.

A second truck drove into the yard, and once more all activity stopped as the agents watched the newcomers drive close. Ben waved to the woman sitting in the passenger seat as he recognized Ms. Desmond. She got out with the driver and joined Ben next to the crates. She looked timidly at the agents.

"They are an intimidating group," she said.

"Good thing they're the good guys then," Ben replied with a smile. "Nice of you to come on such short notice."

The woman's face lit up with a smile of her own. "Shall we take a closer look at this art?"

Ben nodded and went to the first crate. He carefully lifted the painting out so she could see it.

"Oh my! That's lovely." She peered closer and made odd noises as she studied it.

She leaned back, and her eyes were twinkling with excitement. Ben smiled and lowered the painting back into its crate. He went on to the next one. On the seventh, it looked like the woman might faint.

"Are you ok?" he asked cautiously.

She raised a hand to her forehead. "Yes, my apologies. I- I believe this one was originally thought to have been lost to the Nazi's in world war two. A remarkable discovery. It hasn't been seen since then. This one must have been in a private collection."

Ben gave her an impressed look then moved on to the next painting.

When they finished, it looked like the lightest breeze might blow the curator away. "This is beyond generous, Mr. Shepherd."

"Ben, please. And it's just a good idea to have someone who knows how to handle the art properly, take care of it. I trust you're willing to do so?"

She smiled broadly and pulled some paperwork from her purse. "Could I take a picture of that writ you mentioned before?" she added pulling her cell phone out.

Ben extracted the letter and held it up for her to take a picture. He took one with his cell too while he had it out. Then he signed her paperwork, and she gave him one of the forms once she'd signed it. Ben helped carry the crates over to the back of the van and shook the woman's hand once more.

"Thank you so much, Ben! I'm so glad I took your call today!" she gushed.

He grinned back at her. "I'm glad I was able to convince you it wasn't a hoax. If you'd hung up on me, my next call would have been to the Museum of Modern Art."

She gave him a scandalized expression then slapped his arm playfully when she saw his teasing smile. She burst into surprised giggles at her boldness in hitting him.

With another wave, she climbed into the van with her driver, and they drove out of the yard. Ben walked back to the Sergeant who was standing, as the chairs were in the truck. He walked over to the container, and there were only a few items left. It looked like boxes of linens. Agent Montrose walked up to him. "Thank you, Mr. Shepherd, for your assistance today. My apologies for the rocky start."

"It's fine. Good luck with your case against the Mafia boss," Ben returned. "I guess I can go now?"

Montrose nodded as she looked to Agent Nelson who also nodded. "Thank you for the donation of the furniture and household items."

"My pleasure," Ben said with a smile.

"You're the only one walking away empty-handed," the FBI agent said with a grin.

Ben extracted the writ from his pocket. "I have this."

Montrose shook her head in confusion. "Yeah... but you gave away a fortune in art and kept nothing from the container."

Ben just smiled at the two agents as he tucked the envelope back into his pocket and turned to leave. He waved over his shoulder as the Sergeant walked with him. Ben pulled out a cell and ordered a taxi as they made their way to the front of the building.

When they were alone, the Sergeant looked up to Ben. "Captain Kendricks informed me that you inherited a safe deposit box in Berlin as well. Are the contents of that covered by the writ too?"

Ben nodded. "I think so, but I'll get confirmation. According to the wording of the writ, all items included in the inheritance are legally mine. It doesn't specify the geographic location of the inherited items."

"There was a memory stick in the box which led to the issues with the Russian industrialist. Was there anything else in the box of value?"

Ben smiled at Evelyn and nodded. Then his smile slipped a little. "I wonder if the CIA was aware of the contents before they arranged for the writ."

He pondered that while they waited for the taxi. Once it arrived, he called the charter flight pilot to let him know they were on their way back.

He called Walter to let him know how it went. When Walter heard of the writ, he was over the moon excited. On his return from Germany, Ben talked with Walter about his trip and made him aware of the deeds. He told him he still had to determine the legal ownership rights. Now it seemed that question had been answered.

"I'm going to send you an image of the writ once I hang up. I got it as a favor from the CIA, so I need you to confirm just how ironclad it is and the true scope of its coverage. If you determine it is sound, I'm probably going to ask you to sell some of the property. I'll work with you and Jerry to invest that income under a new business entity."

"Ben, if that happens, we'd be moving into real estate, and I'd need to expand my practice to manage this. I have someone in mind. A real wizard I've worked with before. I'd bring him onto the team. Also, Jerry's been talking about the need to expand his operation too," Walter advised.

Ben nodded. He suspected this would probably happen sooner or later, considering how his estate had been growing in recent days. "That's fine with me. If you and Jerry need me to sign anything, I'll be available in a few days."

"Thanks, Ben. Sure can't say working with you is dull!"

Ben chuckled. "We live in interesting times."

Walter laughed at the reference to the subtle curse. They said their goodbyes then hung up.

Ben looked to Evelyn who was staring back at him with wide eyes.

"Properties?" she asked quietly.

"Deeds to extensive plots of prime real estate in seven different countries," Ben said, equally quiet. His mind was forming a plan. He couldn't see all of it yet but it was looking like it might be the most ambitious project he'd ever taken on.

They rode in silence until they reached the airport. The flight wouldn't be for another hour, so they grabbed some food and relaxed. Ben had a few people approach him for autographs which he turned down, but he posed for photos with them. He was grateful when they were finally allowed to board the plane and soon after they were on their way back to LA.

"We should get back to the hotel a little after 7 pm. When we land, I'll see what the others are doing for dinner."

"What are you going to do with the money you're going to make from the property sale?" Evelyn blurted.

He looked closer at the woman. She seemed earnestly curious.

"I'm going to invest it."

"So, you'll make money from the money. But what are you doing with the money?" Evelyn pressed.

He smiled. "For a period of time in my life, not that long ago actually, I was in the situation where I was making money just for the sake of making money — growing the nest egg. Then Gabriella and Catherine came into my life. And Tina. And Trish. People in my neighborhood I could help with those savings. Money without a purpose is a terrible thing. Soon I discovered I was investing in people and making a difference in lives. The money finally had a purpose!" Ben exclaimed.

"I have a... need to help, and sometimes it gets out of control. Gabriella brings me back down to earth. She, of all of the women I love, gives me the firmest foundation in reality. She reminds me that I can't save everyone. I spread myself too thin. Too much until I begin to do myself harm. She protects me, from me." He happily sighed as he thought of the gorgeous brunette.

"With this new income, I'm going to be able to help others on a much broader scale, but I'll need Gabriella and the others more than ever to help keep me centered and focused on the important things. Family, friends, and the little corner of the world I've made my home." He turned his eyes to the window once more.