Murder & The Monkey Band: High Desert Cozy Mystery Series (2 page)

Jim Warren’s adult years
had not been kind to him. It seemed no matter what kind of business or
relationship he got into, the businesses failed, and the relationships
sputtered and died, including two marriages, both of which ended in divorce.
The only good thing that happened to him during those years was when his mother
married Brian Jensen, the co-owner of the wildly popular world-wide restaurant
chain known as Mai Tai Mama’s which he’d started in Palm Springs. His
biological father had been an alcoholic who had walked out on the family,
leaving his mother to work in the shoe department in a high-end retail store to
put a roof over their heads and food on the table. That’s where she’d met Brian
Jensen.

He
was nice enough to me. He even gave me money to fund a couple of my companies,
but when the last one went belly up, he told me he’d never again give me so
much as a penny, and he made mom promise she wouldn’t help me financially
either. From time to time when mom saw how much I was struggling she’d give me
some money, but she always made me promise I’d never tell Brian, and I never
did.

Brian
had passed away a few months earlier. Jim thought back to a recent conversation
he’d had with his mother about Brian. She told him Brian had willed his entire
estate to her and deliberately left his daughter, Amy, nothing. Pam told him
she felt guilty about that and was going to revise her Will to include Amy. In
her new Will, Jim and his sister, Marilyn, who was married to a wealthy private
bank manager with J.P. Morgan, would get half of her estate, and Brian’s
daughter, Amy, would get the other half. Pam said she felt sorry for Amy and
even though she’d sided with her mother when Brian divorced her to marry Pam, she
shouldn’t be punished. Pam said she didn’t feel right giving it all to her
children, when Brian was the one who had made the money. She’d reminded Jim
that she’d brought almost nothing into the marriage.

A
bitter argument had ensued with Jim pointing out to his mother in the strongest
words possible that if she changed her Will she would not be doing what Brian,
her deceased husband, wanted. She countered by saying that sometimes it was
more important to be fair than to blindly do what someone wanted done. When the
argument ended, Jim left her home in a rage.

It’s
bad enough that under her existing Will I’m going to have to split her estate
with Marilyn, and I’m only going to get half of the estate. If she makes a new
Will and Amy gets half, that reduces my share to one-fourth, and that’s simply
unacceptable. I’ve got some great plans for a new business here in Palm
Springs, but it’s going to take a lot of money, money that will now go to Amy
if mom carries through with her plan and makes a new Will. I’ve got to do
something to stop her from carrying out this foolish idea she has about trying
to be fair to Amy.

Early
the next morning Jim called his mother and said, “Hi, mom, sorry about our
argument yesterday. I want to apologize for acting so badly. It was just such a
shock to think you’d do something that Brian clearly did not want done. Have
you thought any more about it?”

“Yes,
and although I’m sorry you feel the way you do, I think Brian made a mistake
when he left Amy out of his Will. I clearly was the other woman, and I have no
idea how much psychological damage the breakup of the marriage did to Amy, but
I’m sure there was some. I know this isn’t going to make you happy, but I have
an appointment with my attorney later this week, and I’m going to change my
Will. Brian was a wealthy man, and there will still be plenty for everyone.”

“Well,
it’s your money and your decision. If you feel it’s important to do that, I’ll
respect your wishes. Are you still planning on me being the Executor?”

“Yes,
you live locally here in Palm Springs. Since Amy’s in San Francisco and
Marilyn’s in Los Angeles it would make sense for you to take care of it.”

“As
healthy as you are, I’m sure that won’t be something I’ll have to do for a
long, long time. Love you! Gotta go.”

He
ended the call.
Sorry I have to do this, Mom, but I’m only doing what Brian
wanted.
Jim walked over to his desk, unlocked the center drawer and
withdrew the Will his mother had given him for safekeeping several years
earlier. He read it to make sure the Will stated that he and his sister,
Marilyn, were named as the only beneficiaries other than his mother’s long-time
housekeeper, Rosa, who was to be given the sum of $25,000. He considered
forging his mother’s signature on a new Will that left Marilyn out, but he
couldn’t think of a way to do it that wouldn’t cause his sister and
brother-in-law to make life very difficult for him and which might ultimately
cause him to be exposed as a forger.

There’s
nothing else I can do. If she draws up a new Will, I’m down to one-fourth of
her estate. If I’m going to do something about it, it’s got to be done in the
next couple of days, before she goes to see her attorney.

Jim
walked over to one of the walls in his home office and removed the painting
that hung there. He twirled a combination lock on the wall safe hidden behind
the painting and opened it. For a moment he stood there and simply looked at
the .9mm pistol in the safe.

Fortunately
I know the code to turn off the alarm system in her home, and even though Mom’s
been talking on and off about getting a dog, right now she’s by herself, and
that will make this ugly little task pretty easy. I should be able to get in
and out with no problem.
I never thought I’d have to use this pistol on my mother,
but then again, I’ve been planning on this money for a long time, and I’m not
willing to give half of it away to Amy. She’d probably go through it all in a
few months, giving it away to one of those non-profit organizations she’s so
involved with.

Henry Siegelman looked out the window
of his La Quinta home, a wealthy enclave on the outskirts of Palm Springs,
California, and thought about what he needed to say to Pam Jensen when he
called her. Satisfied, he dialed her number.

“Hello, Pam, it’s Henry
Siegelman calling. I was wondering if you’ve given any more thought to what we
talked about last week.”

“I’m not ready to sell,
Henry, and I doubt that I ever will be,” she said. “We’ve had this conversation
more times than I care to remember. I love my Meissen china collection, and I
have no intention of selling it. I’m sorry, but it’s a hobby and an investment
that brings me a great deal of pleasure.”

“Look, Pam, we both know
we probably have the two best private Meissen collections in the world. My
collection is my life. If you won’t sell me your entire collection, at least
sell me the three pieces you have of the Monkey Band that I need to finish my
set. You’ll be a wealthy woman if you sell them to me.”

“I’m already a wealthy
woman, Henry. This is the last time I want to hear from you. I’m willing my
collection, including the pieces from the Monkey Band to my children, and they
can decide what to do with it when I die, but according to my doctor, that
shouldn’t be for quite awhile. I appreciate your persistence, but this subject
is finished. Good-bye.”

After the call ended Henry
walked over to the wall where he’d installed custom-made glass-fronted
shelving. His Meissen china collection was dramatically displayed on shelves
which stretched thirty feet along the wall and were five rows high in the
family room of his spacious home. Special lighting had been installed that cast
a soft light on the various pieces of his collection, highlighting the
magnificent colors and designs. The shelving had been bolted to the walls to
make it earthquake proof, and he had carefully secured each piece to the
shelving with a special wax made specifically to keep displayed antiques and
collectibles in place.

Henry had become
interested in Meissen china when he was an art history major in college many
years ago, and a professor had shown the class a slide show of different types
of china and their history. He’d been away at college when both of his parents
had died in a tragic home fire, and as the only child of the union, he’d
inherited a great deal of money.

Shortly after graduating
from college he’d gone to the Meissen museum in Germany and spent days studying
all the various types of Meissen china and the different marks on the backs and
bottoms of the pieces that indicated a fake from an authentic piece of the hard
paste porcelain. The Meissen signature logo was crossed swords in a blue
underglaze, and once you’d seen the original mark, it was fairly easy to spot a
fake. Although China had started producing hard-paste porcelain in the 8
^th
century, it wasn’t until 1708 that the first European hard-paste porcelain was
produced at a factory in Meissen, Germany.

The European aristocracy
quickly embraced the detailed landscapes, port scenes, animals, flowers, and
courtly scenes depicted on most of the Meissen pieces. There was a strong Asian
influence in much of the work, as there was in many of the decorative items of
the time. The broad palette of colors was appropriate for the bright colors
which dominated the 18
^th
century costumes and decorative arts. 
Small figurines and animals were very much in evidence during this time as well
as all types of dinnerware.

Soon Henry felt confident
enough to begin buying, and within a few years he’d amassed a large collection
of early Meissen pieces. He began employing people in different countries
around the world who went to auctions and galleries and bought Meissen pieces
for him after he’d researched the sale prices. His reputation for owning one of
the finest Meissen collections was well known in the world of antiques.

Henry had been approached
many years earlier by a man who had offered to sell him a very important 18
^th
century Meissen piece. Henry researched it and found out that it was stolen.
He’d bought it anyway, and it was soon followed by other stolen pieces he’d
added to his collection. After all, he reasoned, his collection was just for
him, and he was the only person who gained satisfaction from looking at the
uniquely beautiful pieces. He had no need to share it with others, and over the
last few years most of his purchases had come from the black market rather than
being purchased from galleries or at auctions. It was enough for him to know
that he was the one who possessed the pieces.

He remembered when an
intermediary had first contacted him and offered him several pieces of the
Meissen Monkey Band. The pieces had been made in the original 18
^th
century molds in 1746 and were almost impossible to purchase on the open
market. The Monkey Band was created by Johann Joachim Kaendler, the most
celebrated and famous of the Meissen sculptors. The Monkey Band consisted of a
twenty-two piece set of figurines, each approximately five inches in height,
depicting monkeys dressed in colorful costumes playing various different
musical instruments. They were based on the satirical illustrations of the
French artist Christophe Huet and included the monkey conductor of the band who
was whimsically perched on the shoulders of another monkey as he directed the
band.

Each piece was created in
the “singerie” style of elegant monkeys which was very popular with the French
aristocracy during the 18
^th
century. He couldn’t explain why, but he
became absolutely infatuated with the Monkey Band figurines from the moment he
first saw them. Privately he wondered if he’d lived in that century and had
something to do with the Monkey Band. He’d even wondered if he’d been Kaendler
and now was reincarnated as a wealthy man, so he could buy his previous work.
That was something he kept to himself, rather certain that people wouldn’t
understand that type of thinking.

Original pieces dating
from mid-eighteenth century in perfect condition brought about $75,000 to
$80,000 for each of the twenty-two pieces of the Monkey Band and that was when
they were available, which was rarely. There had been a theft of some
eighteenth century Monkey Band pieces, and the theft had been written up in
numerous antique magazines. The owner had posted a large reward for their
return. Henry had been very pleased that he was the one the intermediary had
contacted about the stolen pieces. Those were the first pieces he’d bought of
the twenty-two piece Meissen Monkey Band. After he purchased the first Monkey
Band pieces, he’d become consumed with wanting to own the entire Monkey Band
set and within a few years he’d been able to collect all of them with the
exception of three pieces: the hurdy gurdy player; the conductor of the band;
and the bagpiper. His Meissen collection was his passion, or as the French
would say, his
raison d’être
, meaning his reason to be. Ever since he’d
learned that Pam Jensen had the three pieces which would complete his Monkey
Band collection, he had spent almost every waking moment of the day thinking
about how he could get them. He was desperate to own all twenty-two pieces of
the Monkey Band.

She’s made it very clear
she’s never going to sell them to me, but I hear her son Jim is money hungry.
If something happened to her, I might be able to buy the pieces from him,
Henry thought.

He sat for a moment
thinking about the steps he needed to take to complete his collection, and then
he picked up his phone. “Nick, I have a job for you. It involves a little more
than what you’ve done for me in the past, but I’ll make it worth your time.” He
listened for a moment and said, “Come to my house this evening, and I’ll give
you the particulars.”

Henry smiled thinking
about what it was going to feel like when he finally owned the complete set of
the 18th century Meissen Monkey Band. He looked at the other pieces of his
Monkey Band collection and visualized how the missing three pieces would look
in his glass-fronted display case.

It’s too bad, but Pam will
simply be collateral damage, and that happens in the world of high stakes
antiques. She should have taken me up on my offer. At least she would have
lived if she had.

Henry had briefly
considered having Nick steal the pieces he wanted, but he knew that sooner or
later he might be questioned because everyone in the antique world knew that
Henry Siegelman wanted those pieces to complete his Meissen Monkey Band. If Pam
was murdered and the entire Monkey Band was stolen, no one would point a finger
at him.