The Will

It was crisp, cool morning in Paris. David Rawling was sitting at an outdoor cafe waiting for his breakfast. He had been in his lawyers office finalizing his divorce, when a call came through from France. His great aunt Inez had passed and he was the sole inheritor of her estate. David had hoped that the trip would cool the fresh sting of his failed marriage. Now the only thing to do was wait for the executor.

David finished his croque monsieur sandwich and expresso, when someone approached his table. A tall thin man in a well fitted suit, with a freshly shaved head. "David Rawling?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Mr. Kinski, we spoke on the phone." His accent was thick but his english was impeccable. They shook hands and Mr. Kinski took a seat. "Let me begin by saying I'm sorry for your loss Mr. Rawling."

"I appreciate that but I didn't really know her." Mr. Kinski shifted slightly in his seat. "So my aunt really had no one else?"

"It appears that, she was living alone in a government apartment building receiving a monthly pension." Mr. Kinski reached into his coat pocket and retrieved and envelope. He placed down on the table and slid it over to David with two fingers. "Her will stated that the contents of that envelope be opened by her last living relative."

David picked it up and ran his fingers over the thin paper. It felt almost empty but something small and solid was inside. He grabbed the end of the folded flap and tore it open across the top. Mr. Kinski looked a little uncomfortable as he did this.

David pulled out a sheet of paper with a line of numbers and dashes, followed by a tiny metal key. confused, he looked at Mr. Kinski and shrugged hoping he might understand. "That looks like a bank code and the key to a deposit box."

Mr. Kinski seemed to be stunned by his own assessment.

David leaned back in his chair and examined the key in his hand. "I'll call her bank and let them know you're coming." Mr. Kinski said.

"Kinski that's german right?" David asked.

"It is, my family hails from Berlin." He said slightly caught off-guard. "How'd you end up in France?" David asked.

"We moved to Paris when I was in my teenage years." Mr. Kinski stood up and buttoned his coat. "If you'll excuse me I have another appointment." He shook David's hand quickly."I will send you a text with the Address of the bank." He turned abruptly and quickly began walking down the street.

David didn't know what to make of him.

A short cab ride later and David was ushered into a closet sized room with only a table and a dark blue curtain instead of a door. A bank employee arrived a minute later carrying a long metal box. He seemed to be struggling with the weight of it, David noticed. The young man placed the box on the table, then told David to notify someone when he was finished. The bank employee left and closed the curtain, giving David some privacy.



David placed the key into the lock and pulled one side of the box open. the first thing he noticed was the bright gleam of yellow light reflecting off five gold bars. Next to those were a few stacks of paper money underneath a little black book. David didn't know where to begin.

Davids's hands where shaking as he picked up a gold bar, he'd never seen anything like this before. He examined it closely finding a swastika with a circle of german writing stamped on the front of it, he took a look at the other four, they were all marked the same way.



David's initial glee had turned to dread instantly. His mind raced wondering why and how his Aunt had been in possession of Nazi goods. He went through the other contents of the lockbox. The paper money added up to 20,000 dollars American. Lastly he picked up the little black book, He thumbed through the pages finding only lists of cities and towns followed by long strings of numbers.

Coordinates is what they looked like. Tucked between two pages somewhere in the middle was a separate sheet of paper folded in half. He unfolded it to find a letter

To David,

If you're reading this letter, I'm no longer alive. I know you have many questions and I wish I could be there to answer them for you but I've run out of time. I'm sure by now you've seen the contents of my lockbox and I don't need to explain to you what the symbol on those gold bars mean.

They were entrusted to my uncle days before the soviet army captured Berlin along with the black book you found this letter in. My uncle was a top ranking officer in the german army, his speciality so to speak was allocating all the valuables including art from every city they trounced on during the war. He created secret cashes around Europe and hid everything. The locations of which were recorded in the black book. You have to be careful David. There are many people who would do anything to get there hands on the book, you're life may be in danger. Don't trust anyone and keep the book hidden. I'm sorry you had to be apart of this, our family's shameful secret. Perhaps you can do what I never could and make things right. Good luck

Before he had a moment to think, David heard two sets of footsteps suddenly stop on the other side of the curtain. Two voices whispering in a mix of French and German. He heard a click, like the sound of a hammer on a gun being pulled back.

The curtain was drawn back slowly and David's stomach dropped.