After the tea was served and Mr. Hoffmann settled back into his chair with his second glass of whiskey, there was a lessening of tension in the exquisite suite. Sarah seemed to be slowly recovering from the traumatic ordeal,  witnessed only several hours before.

"I stay here in the Valencia whenever I'm in San Diego," Gunther said, now rather cordially, as if the girls were visiting his home. "Unless, that is, if I'm vacationing in this beautiful city. Then I prefer my nights and days at the Hotel Del Coronado. Do either of you know that magnificent place?"

Carrie simply nodded her head, while Sarah tried to force a pleasant look on her face at Mr. Hoffmann's efforts to engage in a more divergent conversation. Sarah indeed remembered being dragged to the grand and historical Hotel del Coronado  while still a child. And unavoidably she pictured in her mind its iconic red conical roof, with the many dormer windows in rows around its periphery. For some reason she also remembered the white dining tents down on the beach and her parents drinking Campaign for what seemed like the whole summer night. 

"Ladies, did you know that the Wizard of Oz  was written in that hotel?" Hoffmann asked, looking wistfully into his Chrystal glass. "Its author . . . Frank Baum, vacationed there regularly at the urn of the century, and he would totally immerse himself in his room, sometimes all night and day working on that literary creation."

The two young women looked at each other momentarily, then fixed their eyes back on their mysterious host. They were obviously puzzled by Gunther Hoffmann's sudden and odd preoccupation with such trivia.

He continued. "And as you probably know, The Wizard of Oz  would later become one of the first  American films shot and produced in Technicolor. Can you name another of the same year?"

"Yes," Carrie replied, surprising Sarah with her sudden gaming attitude  "That would be Gone with the Wind . . . in 1939. . . Right?"

"That is correct, Carrie!"

Hoffmann's response was bathed in a certain unexpected delight. "And can you name two other Technicolor blockbusters of that era, Carrie?"

She glanced seriously at Sarah and smiled back at Hoffmann's challenge. She closed her eyes and seemed to be searching for the answer.

 "Let's see . . . that would be . . . The Adventures of Robin Hood.  1938?  And . . . Oh,  I thought I knew the other."

"The Garden of Allah,  in 1936," Hoffmann recited.

"Damn!" Carrie quipped.

They all instantly smiled.

"Not bad, however," Mr. Hoffmann beamed, sipping again at his whiskey. It was the handsome smile again which lingered on his face while holding up his glass to Carrie's cinematic acumen.

"So. I see you are a connoisseur of film history as well. That so, Carrie?"

"Well hardly a connoisseur, Mr. Hoffmann. But I must explain I was a Film Studies  major during my university years."

"Marvelous!"

Sarah, still perplexed by the tangential conversation, stared over at her friend vacuously. 

"And I always thought you studied psychology," Sarah responded. 

"No. I minored in that."

A momentary frown drifted over both of their faces.

"So. Mr. Hoffmann," Carrie continued more seriously, and seemingly back on task. "Please tell us . . ."

"I would prefer if you called me Gunther."

"Very well . . . Gunther. So . . . what do you believe our demonic friend Derek's next move will be? That is, assuming as you say . . . he's still here and on the loose in San Diego."

"Well first of all, Sarah should not be left alone. Not at any time. And not until we have reduced all risks  to her."

"Risks?" Sarah asked.

"Opportunities. Which this monster might exploit. A time or a place to strike. Where he could harm or sexually attack you, Sarah. Remember, he wants you silenced at any cost. Just as Danford did."

Sarah's body visually stiffened at these words.

"As I said before, ladies, this man is extremely dangerous. He has tried frightening you to not go to the authorities. But now, since you have persisted in that, he would obviously rather kill you than be apprehended. With Jess, I recently learned, he was an accomplice to killing in the past. And will kill again, I'm sure of it, Sarah, if given the chance."

Sarah began to tap her food nervously on the floor. She was obviously shaken by the reminder of her increased vulnerability.

"Can you tell us about your sister, Gunther," Carrie asked. "It must be very painful. But I think we need to know."

"Well, of course I'd rather talk about film," he said, pausing to take another hardy drink of his whiskey. "But in this case . . . you two do have a right to know."

The two women leaned back on the divan and prepared themselves for whatever gripping details Mr. Hoffmann might provide them.

"Actually, there is not much to say about it. Last year when I became . . . professionally involved in a similar case concerning Jess Danford, I had begun following his movements. Just after he had already pursued and filmed one other of his beautiful victims. As my work often takes me abroad, I was in Paris where Danford and apparently Derek had closed in on what I learned was at that time his fourth . . . shall we say, 'target.'

Sarah looked down evasively at the intricate and confused designs in the Persian carpet.

"She was a young woman whose father was a banker," Hoffmann told them, sipping his whiskey. "Danford had done his usual charming of the girl and had made a sex tape of their love-making in a Parisian hotel room. He had sent the clips to her father's office along with a price to keep them out of the hands of a popular porn website being viewed internationally. It operated out of Brussels.

Carrie turned to Sarah. "Sweetie, you going to be OK with all this?"

She did not look up, but simply nodded.

"Please continue, Gunther."

"As I said, I had learned that this was not Danford's only victim of the blackmail scheme. Interpol was trying by then to identify Danford through their own radar. They didn't then know who he was but I had found it out through my own sources."

"Sources?"  Carrie asked.

"The Dark Web. It's a wicked world," he said seriously. "Some of my contacts frequent it like bottom feeders of the underworld. They're abhorrent individuals. Yet immeasurably valuable to me in my line of work."

"Interesting,"  Carrie replied.

"So . . ." Sarah interjected. "If you learned who he was . . . and about his disgusting game, why weren't you able to prevent him from victimizing me, Mr. Hoffman?"

"I had only been seriously on his trail about the time you left to be with Danford in London, Sarah. I expected him to strike with his hidden camera while you were both spending the night in the exquisite Claridge Hotel. But when I observed that he did not meet you there that night, as you must have expected him, I deduced that he would try to film you after the two of you had returned to the Claridge. Following the outing you had obviously taken to the countryside."

Sarah looked into Mr. Hoffmann's eyes. Wondering how he had surreptitiously picked up so much information about them.

"What I didn't expect," he continued, "was that Danford would have you completely under his control at Derek's estate."

Sarah looked back down at the mesmerizing designs.

"You see, Sarah. At that point, I had not known who Jess' partner actually was. Though I suspected he could not be acting totally alone. Derek as a criminal, was not on anyone's radar screen as being linked to Danford. Although I would learn he was an internationally  registered sex-offender, there was nothing at the time to suggest he was involved with Danford's modus operendi  of the cases I was investigating."

"I see," Carrie nodded with an air of fascination. "Please, go on Gunther."

"So you see, Sarah. I had no way of knowing that it would be at that eccentric's equestrian estate where Jess would strike, teaming up with the elusive Derek. Just where you would be so vulnerable and ending up spending the night at Derek own nest of a crime scene."

Sarah remained stationary and silent. Carrie reached over and held her hand in support.

"And how did you know so much about us in all of this, Mr. Hoffmann?" Carrie asked.

"You should know, Miss FBI. I have been tapping your phone conversations since the beginnings of this ordeal," he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh my God, " Sarah whispered under her breath.

"You see . . . for had I known that would be the night and the locale of the video tape," he said with genuine sadness to his demeanor and voice, "I would have done all I could to intervene. To enter the premises and try to prevent it."

Sarah slowly nodded in appreciation.

"So . . . what happened to your sister, Gunther," Carrie asked, softly, sensitively.

"It's not something I am comfortable discussing with anyone. Just know that when Danford found out I was trailing him last year . . . over his earlier victims, he located and abducted my younger sister. Kept her in an unknown whereabouts."

"Jesus,"  Carrie whispered. 

"Gretchen was a second year college student at Boston University. He threatened to take her life if I did not stop my investigations of him."

"I see," she lamented.

The two young women could now see a seriousness to Hoffmann's face they had not seen before. And they detected in his voice a level of raw emotion.

"I tried to meet with this animal . . . to negotiate her immediate return! But someone . . . someone whom to this day I do not know . . . informed him that I would not cooperate.  It was as if I was calling his hand."

Mr. Hoffmann took a deep breath and another drink.

"Within twenty-four hours . . . her body was found floating in Boston Harbor. She had been drugged and drowned."

Sarah simply closed her eyes and hung her head. Carrie squeezed her friend's hand even tighter.

"As you can imagine," Mr. Hoffmann continued, his eyes now having welled-up with tears. "This only intensified my efforts to find Mr. Jess Danford. Where I followed him here, operating on the West coast. You see, I needed to settle a personal score with him. Derek has only come into the picture more clearly through your case, Sarah. Though I now suspect he had been dealing with Derek criminally for years."

Hoffmann then wiped his wet cheek with the back of his hand.

"I'm not proud of my actions today, ladies . . . sending a man to his death. But my heart has lost some of its great heaviness today. And I know when I face my own end someday . . . it will be easier."

With that, Mr. Hoffmann suddenly stood, obviously uncomfortable showing his unbridled emotions. It had been an afternoon which triggered such feelings in all of them. Carrie and Sarah would take the signal to make their own departure from Hoffmann's company. He walked them out and drove them back in his Land Rover to where they had parked Carrie's car, not far from the Sunset Trail head. 

"This case is still open," he told the two, walking them to the vehicle.  "With your expertise and armed protection, Carrie, I can trust that during these critical days, Sarah will be under your personal watch. And she will be under mine as well. Just not so detectable. Though I am around. Trust that."

Carrie nodded in affirmation.

"I'll be here and there," he assured. "Within your reach. I already have your cell phone numbers from my underground networking and now you have mine.  'll be in contact while trailing Derek. To let you know his location and level of threat."

Gunther then reached into their car and tenderly gripped each girl's shoulder.

"As you are now aware, ladies, I 'm still under contract to neutralize what's left of Danford's criminal operation.  Derek, now in this case. And I intend to do so. For as you have learned, this mission has a special connection to me."

Both young women, exhausted mentally and physically, remained silent on the freeway, all the way to Sarah's parents' gated community.

* * *