Queen Salsa Festival Bremen had No Money to pay Artists Part 3

This is the third part of a series of articles narrating the adventures of a united team of international Salsa artists in pursuit of a Congress organizer doing the best he can to avoid confronting and paying the professionals. Queen Salsa Festival Bremen did a 'Cinderella' and turned back into a Peasant Girl overnight.

The first two episodes can be read here and here.

At the end of the last episode, this reporter wrote about the plan the Salsa artists - from now of referred to as ‘CSI Bremen’, because this is the title the artists gave the whole web of intrigues and complot theories - hatched to discover if Salsa school owner Aga was hiding congress organizer Gervais. Taiti called Gervais on his other phone number, which Randolph traced by using the Internet, to ask him where he was: he had missed yet another appointment with CSI Bremen. Charlotte went outside the hotel so Gervais could not hear her call Aga, and Taiti put his phone on speaker for CSI Bremen to listen. Taiti got the organizing ‘Black man who turned Yellow’ on the phone and tried to convince him once again to not go into hiding and to meet up with CSI Salsa. Gervais uttered many excuses ranging from his girlfriend having the money to a person bringing the money during the workshops that morning. CSI Bremen had not seen anyone with their money.

Charlotte came in and asked Taiti to hang up the phone because Aga just told her Gervais was hiding at her Salsa dance school in Bremen. Charlotte also convinced the dance school owner to lock the door of the room where Gervais was hiding so they could speak with him. From this moment on the team started to head down a slippery slope by committing actions, which are punishable by law. CSI Bremen was transforming itself into ‘the A Team’.

Aga did not dare to give them the address of her dance school because she was afraid the team would trash her place down. They arranged to meet at a location nearby and walk together to the school. Joel said he would not accompany them because he could not guarantee to keep his cool when seeing Gervais. The rest of CSI Bremen jumped into four cars and raced towards the city center. They arrived at the city square, which was a complete pandemonium: the city’s soccer team Werner Bremen was playing for the German championship title against Bayern Munchen in Berlin, and hundreds of crazed football supporters followed the match on a large screen. As expected, many police officers were walking around.

CSI Bremen finally caught The Fugitive

Salsa school owner Aga found the Salsa instructors in this chaotic setting. Randolph and Charlotte convinced her they were not aggressive and that they would not harm Gervais or her dance school. They walked through all the football supporters and the police to the dance school. Four staircases later, CSI Bremen finally found Gervais sitting in a chair leaning forward and with a large towel covering his head. His reaction when he saw the team resembled the typical reaction of Daffy Duck when he gets scared. The team acted very calm: they took some chairs and sat down around him in a circle with Randolph and Taiti sitting both sitting at his sides. CSI Bremen asked him why he did not show up during the six opportunities they had given him, and Gervais kept repeating he did not have any money.

CSI Bremen thought of the following solution: Dave & Zoe paid 1600 Euros for their flight, and Vito & Stefania paid 500. The rest of the crew paid for gasoline to drive to the congress and back home. They proposed for Gervais to pay CSI Bremen a total of 2500 Euros to cover their travel expenses. Aga already told the team Gervais earned 800 Euros from ticket sales of the Friday party. They would shake hands and the Salsa Artists would not give him any problems. Gervais kept insisting he did not have any money. Solutions such as lending money from his girlfriend or family were not an option for him.

The congress organizer said he did not have a credit card. CSI Bremen told him it was nearly impossible to rent a car or pay for the hotel rooms without him using a credit card as a warrant. He insisted he did everything without a credit card. Gervais’ excuses got worse. His girlfriend was not his girlfriend anymore; then, she still was his girlfriend but was married to another guy, etc. The patience of the team was wearing thin. Aga told Randolph that Gervais’ jacket lay in the room where he had been detained. Randolph went in and came back out of the room asking Gervais, “Where is your credit card?” Gervais answered, “I don’t have a credit card!” Randolph took a card from his own pocket and said, “This says you have. It’s on your name. It’s a credit card. You remember now?” Gervais answered, “But it has no money on it.”

The tension in the room became very tangible.

Do not miss the fourth and climactic final episode.