Vincent turned on the flashlight and placed it on another chair beside him while he pried open the large wooden trunk. The lid was heavier than it seemed and required the use of both arms. Once all those items were exposed, he flooded them with white light and scanned all the contents slowly, trying to figure what to pull out and inspect first.
The first thing his eyes caught sight, were two bundles of cloth laying one next to each other. Both of them were deep red and appeared to be of great length. One was neatly folded, while the other was somewhat exposed, revealing the corner of a geometric black shape. As much as he wished to remove them and see what they were, Vincent suspected to know the answer and just ignored them. Either way, the room was not in conditions to inspect them anyways, as there was way too much dust and dirt all over the floor. Instead, he carefully removed them from the trunk, placing them on the chairs next to him in order to have a better look inside at what remained.
A combination of fear and excitement ran through his entire body. As Vincent flashed the inside of the trunk with some more light, he immediately found the panzer helmet he thought he had seen, followed by a rectangular wooden box and several leather-bound books that were stacked on top. Vincent had never seen or held anything quite like it before. He immediately realized its weight and tried picturing that thing on his head as he ran for cover whilst bullets whizzed by.
His heart nearly stopped upon realizing that his intuitions were correct. The helmet's unique shape and characteristic color revealed an eagle clutching the swastika on one side and on the other, although faded, the infamous white italicized letters belonging to the Schutzstaffel, or SS as they were also known.
By placing another chair much closer to the trunk this time, Vincent could barely contain himself as he sat down feeling once again like a kid eager to unwrap presents on Christmas day. He removed the leather books and was about to open them when his eyes caught sight of a serial number stenciled on a wooden box right underneath. He immediately placed the books back in the trunk and chose to inspect the box instead. With his excitement barely containable, he noticed a tiny metal clasp fastening the lid shut which he removed with ease and slowly opened the box.
Vincent froze in his place the moment his eyes caught sight of the red velvet liner, revealing a silver Mauser pistol, two stripper clips with ten parabellums each, a metal barrel brush and an empty removable magazine. Although he wanted to hold it in his hand and carefully inspect it, he worried Ms. Reichenbach would freak out if she saw him with it. Instead, he ran the tip of his fingers on the body of the gun, feeling the metal grooves and unique design, while picturing the same process using his mind's eye. Without hesitation Vincent closed the box shut and decided to take the pistol along with anything else that could fit in his bag.
He continued digging for more treasures and came across two accordion folders that appeared to contain a collection of photos, neatly arranged and separated by several manila envelopes catalogued by years. Although his initial thought included asking Ms. Reichenbach if she would want to keep some of them, Vincent quickly changed his mind when he noticed two small velvet covered boxes, one square and another rectangular in shape, as if hidden from everything else.
The first box he reached for contained several medals he didn't quite recognize, and yet, at that very moment the realization hit him in the gut. Ms. Reichenbach's father in-law must have been an SS officer and all of these things belonged to him. Vincent took a few deep breaths trying to calm down and think of the implications this discovery meant. Yet the more thought he invested, a side of him did not produce regrets or remorse. For all he knew, that man had been responsible for countless atrocities in the name of a twisted ideology and the items before him were necessary for any historian to claim as valid proof.
In preparation for his departure, he quickly rearranged the contents back inside the trunk, placing the two rolls of cloth on the bottom; almost taking up the entire length. Next to them he placed the panzer helmet and the accordion folders on the very top. Because the accordion folders were too big to fit in his bag, he took all the envelopes instead; along with the smaller boxes and the three leather bound books he'd seen at first.
Everything else would remain in the trunk, a decision he took along with not bringing up the subject of the family photos he had found, hopefully preventing Ms. Reichenbach from realizing what she was practically giving away. Once the lid was almost closed and both ends of the lock were aligned, all it took was one firm push from the top for the locking mechanism to close shut.
Coincidentally, as the trunk's hinges clicked into place, the woman entered her home and let out a big sigh. Upon catching her breath, she immediately began her usual trek up the stairs. By quickly placing the chairs back to their pile, Vincent turned off the light and went out to meet her in the kitchen in order to discuss the final arrangements and settle the purchase once and for all.
He casually drank some more tea when Ms. Reichenbach entered the kitchen with a concerned look on her face. Vincent noticed it but was in the process of chewing and was unable to address it in time as she spoke and beat him to the punch. She made an effort to smile and hide the frown with which she arrived but struggled to pretend everything was ok and hoped that he hadn't noticed anything strange.
"Oh! I see you couldn't resist another cheese empanada." Said Ms. Reichenbach with a wink, catching her breath as she spoke.
"They are delicious, I hope you don't mind." Said Vincent as he spoke and chewed at the same time.
"Not in the least, besides, it's almost 5pm anyways and it would be culturally unacceptable not to have them." Said the woman followed by another one of her distinctive and lively chuckles.
"I wanted to finalize our agreement. I had plenty of time to inspect the contents and I'm very pleased with the trunk itself." Said Vincent hoping she would not ask anything in regards to what items he had found inside.
"I have also arranged for a moving truck to arrive in the next few days to come pick it up and take it to Buenos Aires on my behalf."
"And I also brought you a check as agreed." Handing her a check folded in half, his eyes shooting glances at the tray of pastries as he went past them.
Ms. Reichenbach looked like she had something else she wanted to say until she saw the amount that was written on the check and simply nodded quite content.
"I also took the liberty of closing the trunk shut. Would you happen to have the key?"
"Oh gosh, that's exactly what I was about to tell you. I don't have the key and was going to advise you to not lock the darn thing."
"It's so old that I'm not even sure where to find the right locksmith." Said the woman visibly concerned.
"Oh, well don't you worry about that. I'm sure I can do it or find someone who can pick the lock back home. Besides, this way I can also feel comfortable that the contents will remain safe until its delivery."
"Well, in that case I guess it's done. We have a deal." Said Ms. Reichenbach as she grabbed the tray and offered Vincent a final snack for the road. As he couldn't resist the temptation, he took two more pastries, quickly shaking the lady's hand and making his way out the door.
As soon as her visitor left, she realized the backpack he had with appeared heavier on the way out than it did when he walked in. Realizing her initial plan had worked; she leaned her back against the door and took a moment to think.
"Check Mate." She finally uttered to herself.
Since she hadn't really sold anything but rather gave some things away, she held the personal check Vincent gave her and without hesitation, ripped it to shreds.