Page 20 of Wild Oblivion

That took everything out of him. He faded and slumped back against the pillow after he said it.

"What's Von Markov trying to do?" I asked, going along with it.

Jürgen faded out of consciousness.

The nurse shuffled us out of the room. “That’s enough for now. You can try again tomorrow.”

I gave her my card. "Would you call me if he becomes more coherent? I really need to get some answers from him.”

She gave me a nod and said that she would, but I wasn't holding my breath.

We left the hospital room, and I called Isabella. "Please tell me you've got something for me.”

"I still haven't been able to track the origin of your bomber,” she said. “As far as your victim, Rudolph Weiss, I’ve got nothing. The guy’s a ghost. He doesn't exist. If I didn’t know better, I'd think someone went to great lengths to scrub his presence on the Internet." She sighed. "But maybe the guy’s just from a remote area and never got a social media account. Maybe he didn't shop online or use the Internet much. There are no Interpol records for him. Nothing stateside, and nothing in the archives. His fingerprints aren't on file in any of the criminal or professional databases.”

It wasn't impossible, but in this day and age, you definitely had to go out of your way to keep yourself out of an information database. Websites sold information to brokers all the time.

"Does the name Von Markov mean anything to you?”

"Not off the top of my head. Why?”

I told her about Jürgern’s ramblings. "I haven’t been able to establish a solid motive for Jürgen to shoot Rudolph. Doesn't make sense to steal the guy’s wallet but not his Rolex.”

“I’ll keep looking into this to see what I can find," Isabella said.

The circumstantial evidence was strong, but without a direct witness, there was wiggle room. I wanted to make this case as air-tight as possible.

I thanked Isabella for the information, ended the call, then dialed Brenda.

She picked up after a few rings. “Hey, I was just about to call you. You might find this interesting.“

10

“Ichecked the serial number of Rudolph Weiss's watch,” Brenda said. “That timepiece was made in 1939. How many people do you know that are running around, sporting vintage Rolexes on their wrists?”

"Not many," I replied.

"The thing’s in perfect condition. Not a scratch. It doesn't show any signs of wear or oxidation. It looks like a watch that just came out of the display case."

"Sounds like he took good care of it.”

"He did.” She paused. "You should check with the vintage watch dealers, online auction sites, and retailers. If a watch like that was sold recently, it shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

"It could have been passed down in his family from his grandfather. You never know.”

"It's your investigation. But it might be worth looking into."

"I'm on it. Is there anything else?"

"That's all for now, but I'll give you a call if anything comes up."

We left the hospital and drove to the Seven Seas. I wanted to have another word with Klaus Brenner.

Jack pulled the car up to the valet. We hopped out, and he took the ticket. JD and I hustled through the lobby and hurried toward the pool. We stepped outside, moved past the sun goddesses, and headed toward the cabanas.

I put a heavy fist against Klaus’s door.

A moment later, light footsteps shuffled down the foyer, and a soft female voice filtered through. “Who is it?”