“That’s exactly what I’m saying, lieutenant. It appears Richard Franklin took out a bizarre insurance policy to protect the future of his bloodline, and I’m afraid there’s more. Other paperwork we found in the safe stipulates that in all four cases, when the child reaches the age of twenty-one, they will receive a payment of fifty million dollars, courtesy of one of Franklin’s highly secretive Swiss bank accounts. At this time, it appears none of them is aware of their impending wealth.”

“How old are the kids now?”

The director studied his papers. “The boys are 15, 17 and 18 and the girl is 19.”

The president rose from the armchair, walked across to his desk and sat on the front of it in order to face the three men. He had remained silent throughout Mueller’s briefing but was ready to take back control of the meeting.

“So now you both know the full story. Clearly this information is highly sensitive and must be kept from the American people.”

The president paused for a few seconds and stared at the two detectives who were processing the implications of these latest revelations. “Gentlemen, the question is, what do we do about it?”

Author’s Note

I have always been fascinated by conspiracy theories: the Roswell UFO incident, JFK’s assassination, the moon landings, Princess Diana’s car crash, all come to mind. But they don’t come much bigger than the one surrounding the apparent deaths of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. It’s a highly controversial topic that has generated many books, articles and documentaries and the truth is that, even today, views differ on what really happened.

As a student, I studied Hitler and the rise and fall of the Third Reich at London University, where I completed a degree in history and modern politics. Part of my academic research included reading Alan Bullock’s Hitler: A Study in Tyranny and Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler. I always had a gut feeling that Hitler wasn’t the kind of man to take his own life, but, then again, there is a great deal of compelling evidence, and eye-witness testimony, to suggest he did. For the purposes of writing The Counterfeit Candidate, I went with my gut. I couldn’t help wondering, what if …

What if Hitler escaped from Berlin at the end of the war and sixty-five years later his grandson was in the running to become president of the United States?

Now you’ve read the story, I thought it might be helpful to try and separate what we know to be fact from fiction. Firstly, let’s look at the facts that are in the common domain.