Although, this could give us greater insight into the actual nature of Julian's play here. He and Cherry were in direct contact with Jakob. Claudia trusts him with her game and she suspects but is unsure yet whether Jakob survived. So, depending on how Julian steers things we might get some clarity on his motivation at the moment. Has he broken with Jakob? Is he Jakob's mole in Claudia's little hunt...is Jakob using his disappearance and Claudia's motivation to find Dani without being detected by his harem? Or is it something else entirely? There are a lot of interesting possibilities.
I don't think we
know that there's a direct connection between Julian and Jakob. It seems likely, but we don't know it. Claudia could have employed the services of Julian and Cherry as her first attempt at freedom, before realizing that they weren't to be trusted. Julian could have found out all he knows (and obtained the fob for the surveillance system) by investigation and break-ins.
In 363 Adrian said to Johannes "[they] worked for your brother, they said." But Julian didn't say that to Adrian or Caitlyn, and Cherry didn't say it, either at the house or at the airport. At the house Cherry said she was one of Jakob's victims, and at the airport that they were working for Johannes.
Caitlyn suggested that they were working for Jakob but I don't think
they ever said it. Johannes said "Herr Pichler has a history with us," but it's not clear who "us" is or how long that history extends back.
If Claudia trusts Julian with "her game", why did she desperately urge Derek to get the watch "Before Julian and Cherry do" (375)? There's surveillance equipment in Claudia's harem prison. Julian knew about it and Claudia didn't. The day after Derek identified Dani as the woman with the watch, Dani was run over by the BMW, apparently driven by Julian. Julian and Cherry knew that Zenon had the pendant too. It appears they stole it from him. They don't appear to have been working
with Claudia in any of this.
It does seem that Julian wants the watch. On that basis it seems likely that the watch he gave to Adrian is the real thing, because it appears that Dani is the one who can fix it. Since I have in the past suggested there might be more than one watch, I'd be very happy if that's true but I suspect it isn't.
So why has Julian shown Claudia this broken watch? If this isn't the real watch then he's lying to her. But the real watch
is actually broken, so... hmmm.
Claudia wants the watch and she doesn't trust Julian. He knows that. By revealing the surveillance and turning it off, and showing her the watch, he may be trying to gain her trust - giving the impression he's levelling with her. I can only imagine he'd do that if he wants something. Maybe he needs a woman with a similar motivation to his to get inside the SJI and do his dirty work for him.
Or maybe there
are two watches. Or maybe we're reading two slightly different versions of the same story at the same time.
