Free The Paderborn Connection by William A. Newton

letting Agent, I have the keys to let us in.”
    Andrew spoke to the Policeman in passable German and explained that only the three of them could go into the flat as it was to be considered a potential crime scene.
    The letting Agent started to protest but the German Policeman assured him that he could check the flat over once they had finished and taken away anything of relevance to their enquiry. This seemed to satisfy the agent and he let them in.
    The flat was well looked after, clean and tidy, nothing obviously disturbed or out of place. It was let as a furnished flat, the furniture was fairly modern and in good condition. There was a large television with a Sky box and a DVD player, also a good quality radio and CD player with quite a large selection of C.D.s including a lot of classical music and modern jazz.
    The layout consisted of a large open plan lounge, kitchen and dining area. There were two bedrooms, one with a made-up double bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers and the other one a smaller room with a single un-made bed, a small wardrobe and two cupboards. Stacked in the corner of this second bedroom were several boxes.
    â€œRight,” said Mick “we’re looking for any bank or credit card statements, and documentation to do with financial transactions of any kind, particularly insurance policies, share certificates and such like. Any document with an address, whether official looking or handwritten, in fact anything that gives us some clue to Captain Phillip Austen’s lifestyle. I would particularly like to find his laptop and his car keys. I’ll start here in the lounge if you’d start in the main bedroom Andrew. We’ll tackle the second bedroom and those boxes together.”
    Andrew quickly explained to the German Policeman what they were intending to do. He didn’t look particularly interested and sat down in the armchair where he proceeded to make a long phone call, to his wife, Andrew said.
    Mick looked through the cupboards in the lounge area and found nothing of any interest. He went through the kitchen cupboards and in the cutlery drawer found a set of car keys. “Bingo,” he said out loud, causing the German policemen to look up. He checked the fridge and freezer, which were both well stocked, but contained nothing out of the ordinary. He looked under the chairs, on top of the curtain pelmet and anywhere something might be hidden out of sight. He joined Andrew in the main bedroom.
    â€œAny joy?” said Mick.
    Andrew pointed to some documents on the bed,
    â€œI found those, mainly bills, documents for the car and insurance for the flat contents, that sort of thing. Hold on, I think I have something here,” he said pulling out a folder full of papers from the top shelf of the wardrobe.
    The folder contained a copy of Phillip Austen’s will together with a life insurance policy. A cursory look at the will showed that he had left everything to be divided between his two sons. These were added to the other items on the bed.
    As Andrew finished searching the cupboards and wardrobe checking the pockets of the trousers and coats, Mick bent down and looked under the bed. “Double bingo,” he said.
    â€œSorry?” said a puzzled looking Andrew.
    â€œHis laptop,” said Mick pulling it out and placing it on the bed.
    â€œI’ll have a look in the bathroom whilst you finish in here, see if there are any signs of a lady visitor.”
    â€œCheck if the toilet seat is up or down, “said Andrew laughing.
    â€œYou’ve been watching too many detective stories on the telly,” replied Mick.
    â€œNo signs of the fairer sex in there, did you find anything in the bedroom?”
    Andrew shook his head. They both went into the second bedroom and went through the cupboards first, then the wardrobe and looked under the bed.
    â€œRight then, what have we got in these boxes,” said Andrew as he picked the first one up and put it