Page 48 of One Last Step

“Ithasto be there.”

He lifts his hands.“It isn’t.”

Margot curses and lifts her hands to the top of her head.The flashlight beam arcs and shines through the window, blinding me.I wince and turn my head away.

“Your son is lying.”

“He’s not lying.He’s ten.”

“Ten-year-olds know how to lie.”

“They also make mistakes.”

“And that leaves us introuble.”

“Look, there are other clocks here.He mentioned the twin grandfather clocks.We’ll check those.”

Lukas gets to his feet, but Margot stops him.“Wait.Let me see the crowbar.”

“After talking about murdering people, you want me to hand you a crowbar?I don’t think so.”

“Give me the goddamned crowbar.”

“Hell no.”

“Oh,mein Gott!Fine!Youdo it, then.Right here.”

She points at the face of the clock.Lukas rolls his eyes, but then he cocks his head.“Huh.Well, well.I think you might have found it.”

“Are you enjoying the sights or something?Open the damned face.”

He lifts a hand for patience, then slides the crowbar into a small gap between the face and the cabinet.With an effort, he jerks it open.The face pops out—dial, hands and mechanism—and a half-dozen photographs and letters fall out, along with a silver cigar case.The case is tarnished, but in relatively good shape.

Margot cries out and grabs the letters and photographs.Lukas grabs the cigar case.He turns it over and examines it closely while Margot scans the photographs and letters.After a few seconds, Luks pumps his fist.“Yes!This will fetch thousands!Perhaps tens of thousands if we find the right buyer.”

“I still think you should sell the clocks.They’re worth a lot more.”

“I can’t sell those this soon after stealing them.They’re hot right now.Once they cool off, I’ll make enough money to live like a king for the rest of my life, but this will allow me to pay the bills for the next few months.That’s good enough for now.”

“And this is the last of the evidence linking my family to the German gold,” Margot adds.

I gasp, and my hand flies to my mouth.So that's why Mossad is so interested.These aren't just letters between Nazi spies and their informants.There is evidence here that will prove that the Keller's have profited from Nazi connections, profit they continue to benefit from to this day.

“Okay,” Margot says.“We’ve done it.Let’s get out of here.”

They start to leave, and I stop the recording on my phone and dial Claudia’s number.If she hurries, she can catch them before they have a chance to hide the evidence.

I press the call button, and a loud dial tone erupts from my speaker.

“What’s that?”Margot cries.“What is that?”

The color drains from my face.I turned the volume off, but it still makes noise when it calls.My foolish oversight could cost me this case.

Or worse.

The door opens, and a strong hand grabs the back of my neck and yanks me through the door.My phone flies from my hand, and Lukas—the owner of the hand—cries out and slams the crowbar down onto it.The screen shatters, and the phone pops, then goes dead.

I look into the shocked, terrified eyes of the thieves and pray that the call got through to Claudia.Otherwise, I’ll have to hope that Lukas’s willpower remains strong and he protects me from Margot.

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