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Back The Counterfeit Candidate Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Prologue
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  29. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  30. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  31. Chapter Thirty
  32. Chapter Thirty-One
  33. Chapter Thirty-Two
  34. Chapter Thirty-Three
  35. Chapter Thirty-Four
  36. Chapter Thirty-Five
  37. Chapter Thirty-Six
  38. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  39. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  40. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  41. Chapter Forty
  42. Chapter Forty-One
  43. Chapter Forty-Two
  44. Chapter Forty-Three
  45. Chapter Forty-Four
  46. Chapter Forty-Five
  47. Chapter Forty-Six
  48. Chapter Forty-Seven
  49. Chapter Forty-Eight
  50. Chapter Forty-Nine
  51. Chapter Fifty
  52. Chapter Fifty-One
  53. Chapter Fifty-Two
  54. Chapter Fifty-Three
  55. Chapter Fifty-Four
  56. Chapter Fifty-Five
  57. Chapter Fifty-Six
  58. Epilogue
  59. Author’s Note
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the Author

Vargas stood in front of the giant whiteboard positioned at the far end of the open-plan office. It was covered with printed imagery linked together by hand-drawn arrows. There were a number of photos showing the vault, the interior of the tunnel and six grabs taken from the CCTV footage showing still images of the three perpetrators. A second, smaller board held three lists of names. The longest one showed the names of the owners of all twelve hundred boxes. The second was a list of the ninety owners whose boxes had actually been raided, and the final list showed the names of any owners who had visited their boxes in the previous twelve months.

Vargas signalled to his assistant, Juan Torres, to call the assembled detectives in the office to order. In total, there were ten of them assigned to the case, including Vargas and Torres.

“So, here’s what we know so far. This heist was carried out by three men wearing monkey masks and one of them is a fucking giant.” Vargas pointed to one of the CCTV grabs, which showed the three thieves standing together near the tunnel entrance and one man’s six-foot-six frame towered above the other two. “We also know the tunnel must have taken them months to excavate and the lease for the café was taken out under a fake name and profile. What else have we got, Juan?”

“We have the lab boys going over everything we found inside the café and the tunnel. They think we may have a lead on where the carpet came from, although it’s quite old. Who the fuck worries about laying high-quality carpet in a hundred-foot tunnel?”

Vargas cut back in and pointed at the smaller board. “I want these three lists worked through and broken down. Look for anything unusual or suspicious about any of the owners and let’s contact everyone who visited the vault in the last twelve months. I want them all interviewed in person.”

Torres moved over to the board displaying the lists. “Chief, the list from the bank shows over two hundred of the owners made visits in 2011 and forty of those came on more than one occasion. It’s going to take time but we will work our way through them.”

Vargas nodded at his assistant. “Okay, Juan, let’s start with any owners who visited their boxes more than once and see what we find. Somewhere down the line, our boys will have made a mistake. Our job is to find out what it was.”

Chapter Seven

9 January 2012

Buenos Aires