Blood Flag: A Paul Madriani Novel

By Steve Martini

Defending a client accused of killing her father, attorney Paul Madriani is drawn into a treacherous conspiracy dating to World War II in this enthralling installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds have a new client: Emma Brauer, a woman accused in the “mercy killing” of her aged father, Robert Brauer. Insisting she’s innocent, Emma tells Paul about a package sent to her father shortly before he entered the hospital. Bequeathed to him by a member of his unit from World War II, the box contains a key and a slip of paper. Emma fears that this package is connected to her father’s death.

When Paul’s young assistant Sofia is murdered, Madriani is blindsided by the realization that Emma’s fears are well-grounded.

Digging into Robert’s military history, Madriani discovers that other members of the Army unit Robert served with have recently died—under similarly suspicious circumstances. When he finds that the box sent to Brauer relates to a mysterious talisman that went missing at the end of the war—a feared Nazi relic known as the “Blood Flag”—Madriani and Hinds realize they are in for the fight of their lives.

With Emma’s life on the line and their own safety in jeopardy, Madriani must uncover the truth before the evil of the Blood Flag is allowed to spin a new web.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9780062328977

Steve Martini

Steve Martini is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including The Enemy Inside, Trader of Secrets, The Rule of Nine, Guardian of Lies, Shadow of Power, Double Tap, and others featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani. Martini has practiced law in California in both state and federal courts and has served as an administrative law judge and supervising hearing officer. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Book preview

ONE

For most human beings, what to do with our hands is an issue. Until we need an opposable thumb to pick something up, our hands have the social utility of an inflamed appendix. Once upon a time we busied them by smoking. Bogart and Bacall taught us how to do this with style. Now that that has been declared unhealthy and a universal stigma, we employ our idle fingers fondling our cell phones.

It is what Sofia, my new legal assistant, is doing as I watch her sitting on the couch in my office. She is off to the side and behind my client, an older woman who is pouring out her soul, the painful details of her legal problems, from the client chair across from me. Sofia’s attention is riveted on the small screen in her hand. A tiny charm dangles from the cell phone on a chain plugged into the iPhone’s headphone jack. The charm, a minuscule chrome copy of the Eiffel Tower, signifies dreams of future travel. If she can stay on track between work and school, Sofia has already given me notice. She plans a trip to Paris with friends next summer. Ah, to be young and free—and utterly cavalier concerning assurances for continued employment.

Sofia came to us bearing three impressive letters of recommendation from social heavyweights in the community. I had to wonder how she knew these people. When I asked, she didn’t bat an eye. Instead she admitted that she had never met any of them and that, in fact, a mutual friend whom she did know and who ran in their circles, a person she had been acquainted with for some time, had requested the endorsements on her behalf. She offered nothing regarding the identity of this individual and I didn’t ask. The letters were very carefully crafted. None of them actually stated that they knew her. Instead they relied on her academic record and her reputation for hard work. I was impressed by Sofia’s honesty, that she didn’t lie about it. That and the fact that there was just something about her.

Her thumbs work on overdrive—enough speed to type out a Ph.D. thesis. I can be pretty sure she is not tapping out a transcript of my client’s words. It’s probably a text message confirming a date for tonight.

Sofia is our latest hire, a paralegal sidetracked on her way to law school, a hiatus to earn money and get some experience. She is twenty-six years old, and her real name is Sadie Leon. Someone, I think it was her father, tagged her with the nickname Sofia and it stuck. She is the spitting image of a young Sophia Loren. Tall, stately, beautiful, a little ungainly, like an adolescent doe. She is learning how to fend off the insecurities of youth, but still needs to hide on occasion behind the refuge of her phone. For me she is becoming an emotional stand-in for my daughter, Sarah, who, for the moment at least, is living in Los Angeles. Joselyn, my better half, has already taken Sofia under her wing. They spend a good amount of time laughing together. I suspect some of it is at my expense.

Sofia’s hire, along with several others, was made possible by a huge financial windfall from our last case—like winning the lottery. Harry Hinds, who is my law partner, and I have netted millions. We have yet to stop counting it all. The money pours into our business account and from there into a burgeoning investment portfolio. It is the result of a federal whistle-blower statute. With the help of our client we were able to identify a small brigade of offshore tax cheats, some of whom were hiding millions in secret numbered bank accounts overseas—to be specific, Switzerland. The IRS and the Treasury Department rewarded our client and he, in turn, showered us with enough money in the form of fees for Harry and me to retire. But we didn’t. Instead we doubled down, hired more help, and went back to the gristmill trying to rebuild our practice. As I listen to our prospective client from the chair behind my desk, I begin to wonder why I am not fishing off the deck of a gleaming motor yacht somewhere in the Lesser Antilles.

I don’t know how they could possibly think I killed him, she says. Emma Brauer is sixty-three, has never married, and has no children. She has disheveled brown graying hair and a face like a pedigreed bulldog, which is etched with lines of worry that allow even the casual observer to suspect that this is not the first time she’s fallen victim to anxiety. They can’t really think I did it, she says. I loved him. He was all I had.

That’s why they think you did it, says Harry. The motive for a mercy killing is usually love, though not always. Harry is seated in the other client chair in front of my desk playing devil’s advocate, the devil in this case being the cops and the county’s district attorney. Let me ask you, he says. Did you by chance come into any kind of an inheritance as a result of your father’s death?

Only the house, she says. And some money.

How much money?

About two hundred and seventy thousand dollars.

Harry winces.

They can’t possibly think I killed him for that. He was already dying. Why would I kill him when all I had to do was wait? And besides, I loved him.

Prosecutors have twisted psyches and hyperactive imaginations, says Harry. Maybe they think he was about to change his will.

He didn’t have one. I was his only child.

Maybe he was about to write one? Harry’s plumbing all the possibilities.

Not that I know of, she says. The police didn’t say anything about any of this when they talked to me.

They wouldn’t, Harry tells her. He looks at me. Dad was in a nursing home. Harry looks down at the open file in front of him on the desk. Robert Brauer, eighty-nine years old, smoked like a chimney almost till the end, according to the notes. They haven’t released the toxicology report or precise cause of death from the postmortem, but rumor is he was helped along.

Why would I do that? she asks.

Your father was suffering, I take it? I look at her.

He was in some pain. He was old. Of course he was suffering.

Diabetes, emphysema, COPD—chronic obstructive pulmonary disease . . . says Harry.

He smoked all his life, she says. It was the only pleasure he had left. I couldn’t bear to take them away from him. His cigarettes, I mean. Is that what this is all about? Because I didn’t take away his cigarettes?

We can hope so, says Harry, but I doubt it. According to the doctor’s reports, Robert—

Bob. Nobody called him Robert, she corrects him.

Bob’s breathing was chronically labored, says Harry.

Like sucking air through a straw, says Emma, if you know what I mean. He had been using oxygen for a couple of years at the house before he went into the hospital.

So you saw all of this? I ask.

Of course. I had to take care of him.

Was that a burden? asks Harry.

It wasn’t easy, she says.

All the possible motives. Harry glances at me.

So I guess it looks bad for me, doesn’t it? This seems to dawn on her for the first time.

We won’t know until we see the evidence, I tell her. Relax.

It’s hard enough to lose your father, but to have the police say I killed him . . . Brauer looks down at the surface of my desk and begins to tear up.

Before I can search for the box of Kleenex, Sofia is off the couch and finds it on the credenza behind my desk. She dangles two from her fingers in front of Brauer’s watering, downcast eyes. Emma takes them and mops up her tears.

Sofia’s cell phone is still in her other hand, her gaze continuously on its screen as she navigates flawlessly in the blind, back to the couch. The girl must have learned multitasking in the womb. Quiz her after the client meeting, she’ll be able to repeat almost verbatim everything Brauer told us. I know this because I’ve tested her before. A mind like a police scanner.

I didn’t do it, says Brauer. Why do the police think I did something wrong?

Don’t know, says Harry.

But it’s clear that they do. Several of Emma’s friends, one of them a neighbor, were interviewed by the cops. They were asked questions about hypodermic needles and medications and who administered them, with particular emphasis on Emma. One of her friends told Emma she would be wise to get a lawyer. It’s the reason she is here this morning.

Did you ever administer medications to your father? I ask her.

Sure, when he was home. But not after he went to the VA. After that, the nurses did it. After they finally took him in. Had to fight like hell to get him there. They said they would contract out for a private nursing home. They put him on a list and nothing happened. Weeks went by. You know, I’m thinking that if Dad died of some kind of problem with his medications, maybe they screwed up. The VA, I mean. They’re known for it. I should have never let him go there.

I look at Harry. I can tell by the way his eyebrows arch, the familiar wrinkle across his forehead, that this is the kind of pregnant thought that might breed a theory of defense. We’ll look into it, he says.

All the problems started after Dad received that damned package, she says.

What package? I ask.

You mean medications? says Harry.

No, it wasn’t medicine, she says. It was a small cardboard box. Came in the mail, in brown paper wrapping. Dad said it was something left to him by a friend, a buddy from his army days. I thought it might be jewelry, you know, the size and shape of the box and all. It had Dad’s name and address on the wrapper. Inside was a key. It looked like it belonged to a safe-deposit box. You know the kind, flat metal with no grooves on the sides.

I nod. Go on.

That box was no end of troubles. Inside, in addition to the key, there was a piece of paper folded up with a name on it, and a picture. It looked like it might have been a copy of an ID. It was military but not US. I don’t think, anyway. The words printed on it weren’t in English. I asked Dad what it was. He said he didn’t know. But I think he did. Just the way he looked. He knew something. All the trouble started after that.

What trouble? says Harry.

Phone calls late at night. A man’s voice asking for Dad. Whenever I asked for his name on the phone he told me, ‘I’m a friend of your father’s. He’ll know who I am.’ Wouldn’t give me his name. Dad would take the phone and send me out of the room while they talked. When the phone calls ended, Dad looked worried, you know what I mean? He was sick, getting sicker each day. Now whoever was on the phone was making it worse. Adding a ton of stress. Over what, I don’t know. But it had to do with the key and that piece of paper. Of that I’m sure. Dad didn’t need the aggravation and I certainly didn’t. After the third call I stopped putting them through. I told the guy on the phone that my father was out and I hung up. Dad got scared. Told me I shouldn’t have done it. He told me to put the box with the key and the paper in my safe-deposit box at the bank. He wanted it out of the house.

Why? says Harry.

I don’t know. But that was before the burglary, she says.

When was this? I ask.

About five months ago. One afternoon I took Dad to the VA. We came home and the house had been turned upside down. Everything dropped out of drawers all over the floor. Dishes broken. The place was a mess. Upholstery and mattresses were all cut up, slashed and ripped. You know what I mean?

Like somebody was looking for something, says Harry.

Exactly.

Where’s the box now? I ask.

Still in the safe-deposit vault at my bank.

You have the key? says Harry.

At home hidden away, in a safe place. They didn’t find it.

Did you report the burglary to the police? I ask.

No.

Why not?

Dad didn’t want to.

Did he say why? I ask.

No. Instead we called in some friends. They helped us clean up. Dad told them it was probably kids. But he and I both knew that it wasn’t. Two weeks later Dad was admitted to the VA and he never came out.

And he never told you who was on the phone? says Harry.

No.

Do you know who sent the box to your father? I ask her.

No. But I think there was a return address on the wrapper.

You saved it?

Dad folded it up and put it in the box under the key and the ID. I saw it in the box when I took it to the bank, but I didn’t think anything of it.

And you think whoever burglarized your house and called your father might have killed him? I look at her.

I don’t know. All I know is he was scared.

Before Harry or I can say anything more, there’s a rap on the door. It opens and Brenda, my secretary, sticks her head in. Sorry to interrupt but there’re two detectives here to see you. They say they have an arrest warrant for Ms. Brauer.

TWO

He was parked at the curb looking through the open window on the driver’s side. The tiny rented Kia Rio was about a hundred and fifty yards down Winona Avenue from the small single-story house, the center of all the commotion across the street. It was a ranch-style bungalow like most of the others, gray stucco siding with a composition roof. There was a small single-car garage tacked on to the front of the house. Two fair-sized palm trees poked out of the planter bed that bordered the six-foot strip of front lawn that ran to the concrete sidewalk out in front.

A cop was busy tying off yellow plastic tape to one of the palm trees. He snaked the tape three times back and forth between a fence near the adjoining property and the tree, forming a barrier to keep the growing band of nosy neighbors at bay.

Damn it! He looked at the computer printout lying on the passenger seat next to him hoping that maybe it was the wrong house. It showed the street view from Google Earth. There was no question it was the same house, correct address, palm trees and all. Two police cars were parked on the street in front. There was a white official van of some kind backed into the driveway. The question was, what to do now?

He reached into the backseat, grabbed a backpack, and pulled out what looked like a short telescope. He popped the lens cover off the spotting scope, eased the rubber cover from the eyepiece, and steadied the tube of the scope on top of the exterior side-view mirror on the car. Then he adjusted the zoom and focused in.

The scope was capable of showing .30-caliber bullet holes, about a third of an inch across, on a target a thousand yards away. From where he was parked he could read the names of the officers from the nameplates on the front of their uniform shirts. The lettering looked like a highway billboard. He adjusted the magnification down to reduce the shake on the scope and focused in on the white van parked in the driveway. Blue letters on the side read: SAN DIEGO POLICE CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION.

What the hell is going on? He talked to himself. This wasn’t unusual. Lately he’d been scratching his head about a number of things. He wondered if the police were looking for the same thing he was. Unless the old man left something in writing or talked to someone before he died, which was not likely, there was no way for the police to know.

He settled in as he watched the front of the house. He sat there for nearly two hours as they carried cardboard boxes and a number of plastic bags out of the house. He could only guess at the contents. The bags were sealed and the transfer boxes were covered. He assumed that maybe there were papers in most of the boxes, but there was no way to know, not a clue as to what the cops were looking for. At one point they came out with a desktop computer tower and some other electronics too big for a box. One of them carried a house phone with one of those base stations that probably recorded messages.

He was relieved that he had never attempted to contact the old man by e-mail. Nor had he left any voicemail messages on his phone. The only connection between them were two brief telephone conversations for which there were a dozen plausible explanations. That is, if anyone ever came asking questions. Unless the old man had recorded their conversations or taken notes, which was highly unlikely, no one could possibly know what they talked about. He knew the man would never tell his daughter. He would have had well-founded and serious concerns for her safety.

Rumors were now floating, information leaked into some dark crevices in certain correctional halls where twisted cretins lurked in the shadows. Word was that the thing actually existed. It had survived, and with the right information it might be found. Some of these people were crazy. All of them were dangerous, many of them ethnic fanatics, nutcases who would kill in a heartbeat if they thought they had the slightest chance to lay hands on it. Then there were others, people who might pay vast sums if only to lock it away behind glass in the confines of a private collection. Something to share over evening cocktails in the intimate gathering of other affluent friends. It was, after all, one of a kind, an original, like a Monet, only more lurid. A vivid and well-recorded piece of history. As to its ultimate monetary value? Who could say? It depended on the bidders, how many, who they were, the depth of their pockets, and perhaps most important, the intensity of the dark impulses that drove them to have it. The trick for any seller was to get it and to stay alive long enough to deal with the right people.

At the moment what was gnawing at him was the possibility that the police might stumble over the key and take it by mistake. If they found it they might assume that the box it opened could contain evidence they were searching for. They would take the key and worry about finding the bank and the box it belonged to later.

It would have been nice if the police had waited one more day. By then he would have been in and out of the house, had what he wanted, and been gone. There was more than a fair chance that once inside he could locate the key. Unlike the others, the stumblebums who couldn’t wait and who trashed the place and terrified the old man, he knew exactly what he was looking for. He would recognize the toolmaker’s stamp the instant he saw it. That is, if the key was still there.

He watched the house as police kept coming and going. He thought about getting out of the car and wandering up to mingle with the neighbors to see if any of them knew what was going on, why the cops were there, what they were looking for, and when they might be done. He quickly dismissed the idea. He noticed two of the uniforms were working the small crowd with pens and notepads. They were talking to people, taking names, and jotting down notes. Why? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to find out. Better to remain anonymous, keep his distance, wait, and hope for opportunity.

It didn’t take long to present itself. Just before three in the afternoon the cops wrapped up. The last bag of stuff came out of the house and one of the uniformed officers started cutting and pulling the yellow tape from around the tree and off the fence. One of the squad cars pulled a U-turn and headed out the other way. A few minutes later it was followed by the van.

The dwindling bunch of neighbors that remained began to break up. They drifted back toward their homes and the dull existence of normal life. Only the one squad car remained, two of the uniformed cops left behind to close up.

He zoomed in with the spotting scope on the area around the open front door. He was wondering how they had gained access to the house, whether the daughter had let them in, though he hadn’t seen any sign of her. Or had the cops taken the door down, broken the lock, or called in a locksmith? The answer came almost immediately. An older woman was standing near the front stoop with the two cops. She had a small dog in her arms. She leaned over, pushed the door, and kind of pitched the animal into the house as one of the cops quickly closed the door behind it. As it shut the push-button lock swung out of the indoor shadows and into bright sunlight. The woman leaned over, studied it for a second, and then began to press the four-digit code into the keypad. He watched through the scope as her finger moved over the buttons, then pushed the lock button. She waited a second, then checked the latch. It was locked. The neighbor woman must have let them in to save the door from being destroyed by the cops.

He grabbed a pen from his pocket and made a quick note on the palm of his hand. He looked at the time: 3:28. By six thirty it would be dark. He could move the car farther back and watch to see if the police set up a patrol. If so, he wouldn’t go near the place. He could watch to see if anybody came and went, neighbors looking out their windows or checking on the house, and whether the daughter came home. He wondered where she was.

He started the engine and pulled away from the curb, drove quickly past the parked patrol car, and headed down the street to look for a better location to watch the area. He was approaching the intersection with Forty-Ninth Street, about eight houses down, when he saw them. A rusted-out Chevy Chevelle, a muscle car from the seventies. Two white guys with shaved heads were sitting in the front seat. The driver looked at him, direct eye contact as he drove by. The driver showed tracks of gang tattoos all over his face, ink like a Maori warrior running down his neck disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. He didn’t have to take a second look at the swastikas, the numbers 14 and 88, to realize that others were scoping out the house and to know who they were. Police patrols in the area might not be a bad idea.

THREE

Emma looks at me with large oval eyes. The warrant for her arrest and the two detectives waiting in our reception area test the limits even for the queen of worries. Her face has now collapsed into a mask of angst. In too much shock even to cry, she looks at Harry, then back to me. What do I do?

Nothing, I tell her. Relax. Let us handle it. Don’t say anything. I look toward the door and Brenda. Tell them to wait, she’ll be out in a minute. Tell them she is conferring with counsel and that we will surrender her momentarily. Brenda closes the door. Have you talked to any other lawyers? I ask Emma.

She shakes her head. I wasn’t . . . I didn’t think I needed one; at least I wasn’t sure. Do I have to go to jail?

It appears so, says Harry. Lemme go check, see what they got. He’s out of the chair and headed for the door, then slips out and quickly closes it behind him.

The important thing is to keep calm and don’t say a word. They will book you, process you into the jail, take a couple of pictures, do your fingerprints.

Now she starts to cry, a river of tears. Sofia grabs the box of Kleenex and hands it to her. She’s put her phone away and for the first time even Sofia looks worried.

We’ll handle it, I tell Emma. See if we can get bail. If so, you’ll only be there a short time. If they put you in a cell with anyone else, be friendly, polite, but quiet. Whatever you do, don’t talk to them about your case. If they ask why you’re there, tell them you don’t know what’s going on, your lawyers are handling everything. And don’t talk to the cops. If they ask you anything beyond the spelling of your name, your date of birth, and home address, you tell them to talk to your lawyers. Got it?

She looks at me with a frantic expression and nods.

I’ve never been in jail. I’ve never been in any kind of trouble before. Last traffic ticket I got was so long ago I can’t remember.

Getting arrested is not a crime, I tell her.

The door opens quickly and Harry slips back in and closes it. He hustles to the empty client chair with a fistful of paper. Looks like one count, voluntary manslaughter. He glances up at me, a puzzled look on his face. It doesn’t make sense.

No murder count? I say.

He looks through the papers, checks one more time, and then shakes his head.

What does that mean? she asks.

Means you’re eligible for bail, says Harry. Do you have a passport? he asks her.

No. Never needed one.

Then we won’t have to surrender it, says Harry. There’s also a search warrant for her house. He looks at me. Apparently they’re searching as we speak. That’s how they found her with us. One of the neighbors must have told them where she was.

What are they looking for? I ask. A search warrant has to be supported by probable cause, an affidavit sworn to by a law enforcement officer setting forth in sufficiently specific terms the nature of the evidence being sought and the reason to believe it’s to be found at that location. Police cannot simply come in and ransack a residence looking for whatever they can find, though at times it happens.

Harry scans the document quickly. Medications, any toxic substances or materials, medical implements, any and all medical prescriptions, electronics including any computers, data disks and drives, telephone recordings and records, any and all documents relating to the estate of the decedent, and any and all financial records belonging to the decedent and/or to Emma Louise Brauer.

They’re leaving the door open, I say.

What do you mean? asks Brauer.

They may amend the charges later, depending on what they find, I tell her.

You mean murder?

I nod. It’s possible. We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime we’ll work on bail.

I’m guessing that the cops are also looking for evidence in two areas. First, medications that might have been stored at the house and allegedly used by Emma to kill her father. This would establish the necessary evidence of planning, the element of malice aforethought and premeditation for a charge of first-degree murder. Second, they’re looking for evidence that money may have been the motive. If so, they can jettison the theory of a mercy killing, ratchet up the charges to first-degree murder, and top it off with the special circumstance, under California law, that personal financial gain was what prompted her to act. This would open the way to a death penalty or, at the very least, a life term without possibility of parole.

And, of course, the two dicks outside brought the media sharks to document the arrest, says Harry.

It’s election time and the D.A. is running for a third term. Even if it’s not a capital crime, allegations of a mercy killing at a local hospital are likely to catch a premium spot on the local nightly news. This is free face time, worth a million dollars in campaign ads.

Do you have any cash in the bank? Harry asks her.

Yeah, she says. I don’t know how much of it I can get at. Most of it is in Dad’s account and could be tied up in probate for a while.

Of course. Dad died intestate, no will.

It could be tied up for months, says Harry.

In perpetuity if they convict her.

And the title to the house? asks Harry.

In Dad’s name. If you’re worried about your bill, I can pay, she says.

What Harry is thinking about is bail, the 10 percent cash payment for the surety bond to get her out of the bucket.

Why worry about it? I wink at Harry.

Harry looks at me, thinks about this for a second, then smiles. Of course, we can front it.

It’s difficult to break the habits of a lifetime, a criminal defense practice run on the edge of a dime. At the moment, Harry and I have enough cash on hand to buy a casino in Vegas. And it’s not as if Emma Brauer is going to jump a jet to Brazil. For a number of years Harry and I maintained a small criminal defense practice in Capital City. We moved south to Coronado and have made this our home for almost two decades now. Until the whistle-blower’s windfall we maintained a small practice. Most of our clients had few resources, like Emma, and oftentimes couldn’t pay. Now the world is a wild and woolly new frontier with opportunities, and no doubt our share of pitfalls. We are treading on unfamiliar ground.

It’s time to go, says Harry.

Maybe she’d like to freshen up before she leaves, says Sofia. Would you like to go to the ladies’ room?

That would be nice. You’re so sweet. Emma turns and looks at her. Don’t know what I would do without all of you. Will they wait? She’s talking about the detectives in the lobby.

I doubt if they’ll leave without you, says Harry.

If they don’t mind, says Emma.

And even if they do, says Harry.

I must look a wreck. She reaches for her purse.

Let me take that. Sofia is up off the couch, takes the purse, and opens it up on the top of my desk. She fishes inside. I am wondering what she’s looking for. You did drive here, didn’t you?

Yes.

Sofia comes up with a set of keys and asks Emma, Where’s your car?

The little details.

Oh my God. I forgot all about it, says Emma. It’s down the street at one of the parking meters on this side. She gestures. A blue Prius. Do you know how to start it?

Electronic key, says Sofia. Just push the button, right?

You’ve driven one before?

My mom has one.

Oh, that’s great.

We’ll park it here in the lot behind the office. It’ll be fine until you get out, I tell her.

Is there anything else in your purse you want to leave with us? Harry is not as diplomatic as Sofia. The way he puts the question makes it sound as if he’s offering to stash any spare hypodermic needles Emma might be carrying.

Not that I can think of. Unless you think I should leave my wallet and checkbook?

Keep them, says Harry. They’ll prepare a receipt for everything. It’s better to have ID and the usual sundries. Otherwise they’ll wonder where they are and come looking.

Sofia takes the smart key for the Prius off the ring

Reviews for Blood Flag

[dcarlin-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A new author and a new style of whodunnit. A thoroughly enjoyable read and I will be seeking out more of Steve Martiini's novels.

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charged with killing her father, new client Emma Brauer proclaims her innocence and throws Paul Madriani and Henry Hinds into the midst of a mystery that dates back to World War II. The case takes an unexpected turn when the police arrest Emma and Sofia, their newest office hire, takes on the task of caring for Emma’s dog. How, Paul wonders, could such an innocent action result in her death? And why are other soldiers in Robert Brauer’s army unit turning up dead as well?With interesting characters, an engaging storyline with an ever-twisting plot, and an ending readers will not expect, this well-written tale will keep readers guessing until the final reveal. Recommended.

[ralph pastore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Martini was looking at saw off shot gun and look like he was hospital bound. But.

[lewilliams-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An international thriller has Paul Madriani on the hunt for a Nazi Blood flag while trying to prove his client is not guilty of the mercy killing of her father.

[carl_alves_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I’ve generally liked the novels I’ve read by Steve Martini, but Blood Flag fell short of the mark for several reasons. For one thing, I didn’t care for the writing style, especially the use of present tense, which seems to be all the rage these days but is an illogical way to tell a story. I liked the incorporation of history into the story behind the blood flag, which was a Nazi flag that Hitler had during his failed Beer Hall Putsch, and Hitler’s blood had shed on the flag. He later used it during his reign. But that was really about the only interesting element of the story.I found the original case featuring the defendant in the story and how the story gets started with Emma Brauer being accused of assisting in her elderly father’s death in Euthanasia fashion to be laughably silly. There was absolutely no evidence against her, and there was no way in hell she would have been arrested for murder on this basis. The entire case was utterly uninteresting to read about. One of the characters in the novel comes off as the Terminator—very unrealistic. Similarly, I found the killer in the story to lack any kind of credibility. The elements I found interesting did not rise the overall level of the novel up. I would recommend skipping this one.Carl Alves – author of The Invocation