“How?” asked Liah fearfully. She knew that soon, very soon, she would need to deal with the problem whose consequences frightened her so. But more than that, she was afraid to think about what Gadi meant when he’d promised her his help.
Chapter 18
New York, October 22, 2013, 2:00 AM
The sonofabitch is a professional, Ronnie read the message sent to him the previous evening before he’d taken off for New York, call me.
Gadi answered on the first ring and began reporting without wasting time. “While you were having a good time with Liah over the weekend, I was working. One of O’Hara’s employees went to the TDO offices during the weekend impersonating a detective, you know, false IDs and everything, only to hear from one of the vice presidents, Jim, who was working in the lab over the weekend: ‘Aren’t you guys talking to each other? Another detective just left the offices ten minutes ago.’ In the search my man conducted in the company offices, no listening devices or cameras were found. This Jim was busy supervising some sort of freaking process in the laboratory and allowed our guy to walk around the building by himself. I guess the previous fake detective did the same thing, which left him all the time in the world to erase any evidence of his past deeds. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a description of the impostor. The son of a bitch was completely invisible. That nerd Jim answered all my guy’s questions with the same irritating answer: Average. Height — average, hair color — something between black and brown, sort of average, etc. He may be a genius in science, but when it comes to real life he is literally blind. The long and short of it, it’s a dead end.”
“Perhaps it’s not a dead end. At least now we know someone is trying to hide something. If we discover who or what they were trying to hide, perhaps we can get back on track. By the way, where are you right now?”
“It doesn’t matter,” answered Gadi, “you’d kill me if you knew.” And without allowing Ronnie to reply, continued, “On Friday, I sent one of O’Hara’s men to the West Coast to take care of another matter for me, and I urgently flew to perform a critical task for my most important client. Now I need to disappear for a few days, but O’Hara’s men will continue to operate for you…and before I forget — I need to update you about two more things: My man in Boston said that an unmarked car with two passengers who had ‘detective’ written all over them arrived just as he left the parking lot. If the police took the time to send detectives to the company on the weekend, they must be onto something important. There are two possibilities here: Either they’ve reached the same conclusion I have about the mysterious man from the hotel, perhaps even suspect that he’s involved in Christian’s death, or during the investigation of Christian’s death, they’ve reached the conclusion it’s somehow related to his work at TDO and hoped to find evidence in the company offices that might explain the suicide. Investigating over the weekend, it means they must be under some kind of pressure. It may be worth your while to sniff for information with your two West Coast detective friends. And one more thing,” he continued passionately, “last night, O’Hara managed to finally get information regarding the message sent to you while you were in Menlo Park. It came from a prepaid mobile phone. It means the sender is either someone who can’t afford the monthly payment plan, or — and this is more logical — someone who wants to remain anonymous. All I know at the moment is that the call came from the East Coast. Other than that,” Gadi fired off, “you’d better close the audio transmitter on your key chain before you get home. I sampled some of your conversations and it was occasionally embarrassing. We’ll keep in touch. Bye.”
So much like Gadi, the thought passed through Ronnie’s head, just as he saw his suitcase emerging from beyond the bend of the conveyor belt.
The drive back home went without incident. He did have to hear fifty minutes of a telephone conversation the driver conducted in some sort of African language, but it was better than having a polite conversation with a philosophical taxi driver.
“Liah?” he called when he got into the apartment, filled with longing. The silence that greeted him sent a sharp pang of fear into his stomach. Ronnie set his suitcase on the floor and hurried toward the bedroom. The illuminated clock next to the bed made him realize what time it was — three AM. He took off his clothes and stepped into the shower, allowing the water to wash the past day’s experiences off him. When he got into bed, he gently embraced Liah’s warm body and seconds later was sucked into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Other than Kumar’s annoyance, the next morning’s run was also uneventful. The shop owner carried on at Ronnie for not letting him know ahead of time that he was back in New York. Now his usual breakfast was not ready! Ronnie listened to the reproachful speech with a smile, knowing that Kumar was secretly proud of the fancied sense of ownership he had over his customer.
When he got back to the apartment, he was surprised to discover Liah still sleeping. He looked at her for a long time then bent to kiss her. At the last moment, he gave up and left the bedroom.
When the sound of his footsteps had subsided, Liah opened her eyes slowly and, without raising her head, searched the room. She knew she wouldn’t be able to continue to ignore Ronnie for long but kept on lying still, the thoughts running through her head intensifying her distress. The clinking sound of dishes being washed emanated from the kitchen. As opposed to everything she’d earlier planned on doing, she tossed the blanket aside, ran to the kitchen, and jumped on Ronnie, kissing him wildly.
“Forgive me for not brushing my teeth yet, but I was afraid you’d already left. Wait, don’t go anywhere.” She ran to the bathroom, where she stood in front of the mirror, feeling paralysis taking over her body again. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and washed her face again with freezing water. Finally, she took another look in the mirror, nodded to herself with encouragement and went out. When she reached the kitchen, she found Ronnie sitting with his iPad and reading news from Israel.
“Amazing,” he told her without raising his head, “not a dull moment in our small country. You finally don’t hear about the Palestinians for a few days, and the economy is somehow being stabilized, so now crime raises its ugly head. No value for human life anymore. People just kill a man on the street for some drug money. This is the third time this week that the ultra-orthodox from Bnei Brak have been attacked and robbed, and the police are doing absolutely nothing about it.”
“You have enough concerns of your own without worrying about a robbery that went bad in Israel.”
“It drives me crazy. They murdered some poor man named Shlomo Klein who studied in the yeshiva and barely had enough to eat. Someone stabbed him in the heart, stole his wallet, and ran away. How much money could a yeshiva student have? It’s terrible to lose one’s life over a few pennies…”
The silence that settled in the kitchen caused Ronnie to raise his head. Liah was standing in front of him, face ashen. He went to her quickly, took her arm and carefully sat her in the nearest chair.
“What’s wrong?” he asked with concern.
She was silent for a long time that seemed like an eternity to him and finally looked at him with sad eyes and said in a choked voice, “I don’t know. I guess I’ve been working too hard. I felt very tired yesterday, now I suddenly have a dizzy spell. I think I’ll go back to bed. No reason to worry, honey. Go to work. I’ll call you if I need you. Just keep your phone available all the time.”
Ronnie hesitated. “Perhaps we should go to the hospital. Fatigue and a general feeling of illness are the first signs of a coming Crohn’s outbreak. You’re the doctor; I don’t really need to tell you that.”
Liah looked at him tiredly, nodded her head and said, “It’s all good. Really. It’s all good.”
Ronnie held her arm and supported her on her way to bed. He covered her with a blanket, brought the makeup bench closer to the bed, and placed on it the breakfast he’d prepared. After she promised him again she would call him at the first signs of another dizzy spell,
he left the house and drove to work.
The moment she heard the door closing, the tears that were locked up within her burst out. “What have you done, Gadi? What have you done?”
Chapter 19
New York, October 22, 2013, 8:30 AM
The polite nod that welcomed Ronnie at the reception desk, the tense silence that surrounded him as he made his way to his office, and the people who avoided his eyes as he greeted them with a “Good morning” all served to awaken a feeling of impending doom within him. He turned to David’s office. When he met Evelyn’s gaze, he realized that something was indeed about to happen. Something bad that had to do with him. Something that, for some obscure reason, everyone knew about — everyone but him. Without asking for permission, he opened David’s door and went inside. “This ‘wife is the last to know’ attitude doesn’t suit me at all,” he declared to David’s scowling face. “I expect to be the first to know about matters relating to me and not the last.”
“Sit down, please, Ronnie. I’d expect a bit more maturity from you.”
Ronnie somehow managed to restrain himself from tightening his hands around the plump senior partner’s neck and remained standing with his eyes blazing. “Let’s keep my education for another time. Talk, or I’ll be leaving my resignation letter on your desk. Then I’ll go to the authorities and share all the suspicions that have been running through my head since I returned to New York. So decide what you want to do and be quick about it.”
Ronnie looked at David, who gazed right back at him without blinking. “Sit down, Ronnie,” he instructed again quietly.
Ronnie turned on his heel and silently headed toward the door. As he grasped the handle, he heard David’s measured voice, “The last two clinical trials with the TDO medicine have failed.”
Ronnie turned around slowly and returned to the desk without lowering his eyes from David’s.
“What do you mean when you say the clinical trials have failed?”
“The patients died. Both of them. The police are already involved and so is the FDA. We learned about it only last evening, when you were already on the plane. I didn’t think you’d be insulted that I allowed you to get a good night’s sleep and decided to tell you about it in the morning, once you reached the office.”
“I’m the one who signed the authorization to conduct the clinical trials,” said Ronnie with a hoarse voice.
“I know. You had no way of knowing something like this might happen. After all, eleven trials have been successfully conducted, and if I understood correctly, the same medicine used for the previous six trials was also used for the last two.”
“How do you know that the medicine from the same production lot was used for the current clinical trials? I never reported what Christian and I had approved for these operations.”
“Someone from the FDA was looking for you yesterday. When I told him you were on a flight, he asked to speak with me and told me everything that’d happened. I immediately updated Henry and he told me it was the same medicine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. I’m not involved with what’s going on in the company.” David emphasized his words in a way that made it perfectly clear which one of them was sunk up to his neck in this new problem and which one of them would keep his hands clean, no matter what happened.
“So you’re saying they’re looking for me because I am the one who signed the clinical trials approval for the company?”
“Yes, and also because you’re the chairman.”
Ronnie remained seated and looked thoughtful.
“Is there anything else, Ronnie? Anything I can help you with?” David’s concern sounded genuine.
“Yes. Can you explain to me how my name appears on the company’s directors registry as the TDO chairman? I haven’t signed any related documents yet. I’ve been serving as chairman for about a week. At the end of last week, I discovered — or more precisely, the police discovered — that I’m listed as the TDO chairman as of the beginning of the month.”
A cloud of concern passed over David’s face. “I really don’t know. This is very strange. Hold on a moment,” he mumbled and called Evelyn into the room.
“Evelyn, what’s the status on the paperwork for changing the name of the TDO chairman I asked you to prepare with the company attorneys?”
“It’s been waiting on my desk since the end of last week,” answered Evelyn with typical efficiency. “When I asked the lawyers to prepare the documents, they laughed and said they’d already been prepared. As soon as I hung up the phone, the documents were waiting in my email. I wanted Ronnie to get back so I could have him sign them. Should I bring them now?”
“Look, Evelyn —” David began to answer when Ronnie cut him off and said, “There’s no need. I’ll collect the paperwork on my way out. Thank you, Evelyn. That’ll be all.”
When Evelyn exited the room, David gave Ronnie an embarrassed look. “Please explain,” he asked.
“Look, David, I gave this matter a lot of thought, before deciding to ask you this question. Bottom line, even though I must admit you have an irritating and condescending way of speaking to me, I’ve decided you’re not a bad person, and you’re probably not involved in all the recent TDO complications. But that doesn’t change the fact a lot of strange goings-on have been taking place below the surface. The documents that the company’s legal advisor received and were signed by me before I even agreed to accept the job, Christian’s death, and now, the death of patients in operations that were supposed to go smoothly. One dead patient would be bad enough, but two? Something doesn’t smell right, and I intend to find out who’s responsible. I need to ask you to keep the forgery of my signature secret, until we know who we can and can’t trust. I can’t ignore the fact Henry has a lot to gain by having me listed as the chairman instead of him. I insist that we keep him in the dark about any action we take. This is also how we should act with all the staff in the fund, from the most senior partner to the most junior employee. Perhaps it’s a bit paranoid, but it’s better to be paranoid than end up under a tombstone. Agreed?”
“I’d stake my life on Henry,” David exploded. “He would never do anything that might hurt me or the fund.”
“What about me? Would you swear that he’d never do anything that would sacrifice me in order to save his entire world? Did you know he instructed Christian to falsify reports and clinical trial results so he’d be able to raise money? I pray you didn’t.” Ronnie stared at David’s shocked face. “I need to know you’re with me on this, or I’m going straight to the authorities. I believe they’ll realize very quickly I’m not involved.”
David seemed devastated. Ronnie assumed the thought that Henry, his good friend with whom he’d founded the fund, might have performed criminal acts was difficult for him to digest. If Ronnie was right, even about a small part of his suspicions, their partnership and possibly the fund itself were about to end.
David lowered his head submissively and asked, “And what do you intend to do in the meantime? Burn Henry at the stake?”
“I don’t intend to do anything for the time being. I don’t have any proof that Henry’s behind this, and until I do I have no intention of involving him or anyone else. At the moment, what’s more important than finding suspects is to clear the fund and myself of any involvement. If you agree with me, I’m willing to take the risk upon myself and not turn to the authorities at this stage.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate your loyalty to the fund. I want you to know, as far as I’m concerned, this kind of sacrifice is not taken for granted. I give you my word and promise to keep this between us. Thank you.”
Ronnie stood up, left without adding a word, collected the documents from Evelyn, and headed to his office. He closed the door behind him and called Gadi. Strangely, his call went straight to voicemail. “Where are you, Gadi? Call me when you’re available,” he left a laconic message and disconnected. It was the first time Gadi hadn’t answered after a single ring. I guess he’s
on a flight, Ronnie tried to explain the strange phenomenon.
He dropped to his chair and turned on the computer when the phone in his hand suddenly vibrated: This is not about you. The future of many other people is at stake. Try to understand what happened in the last operations.
Ronnie was rereading the message when suddenly the door opened and Henry barged in. The senior partner stopped in front of him, his fists leaning on the desk, knuckles whitened with the effort, his body leaning forward, and his face reddened with anger. “Are you happy now? In times of crisis, time is our most valuable asset, and you’ve wasted it with investors instead of doing what you were told to — try and sell the company. Why on earth every time I give someone some authority, he’s suddenly convinced he has godlike knowledge? Couldn’t you just do what you were told?”
Ronnie read the message one more time.
“Answer when I’m talking to you. You’ve ruined a company I spent the past seven years building. Answer me!!!”
“I don’t know of any acquisition offer,” said Ronnie coldly, “and if you have any information about the subject, you should have passed it on to me. If I’d had different data, I might have acted differently. By the way, that was the last time you raise your voice to me. Get the hell out of my office and come back when you’re willing to speak in a civilized manner.”
“You’re gambling with something that doesn’t belong to you,” Henry screeched angrily.
“Well, you’re the expert on gambling,” Ronnie hissed and sent him a defiant look.
Henry froze for a moment then turned around and left the room.
Chapter 20
New York, October 22, 2013, 11:20 AM
Ronnie could not continue to ignore the fear that had begun to take root. Gadi, the only person he could always trust, was gone without a trace. And Liah? Something had changed in her since his marriage proposal, which he’d been sure would make her the happiest person on earth. For the past week, he hadn’t been able to understand her behavior. Then there were these messages he’d been getting from an unknown party. Who was the sender? Where did he get his information from? Is he sending his messages in order to help? Or perhaps he was attempting to mislead him. Maybe it was another one of Henry’s or one of the other partners’ dirty tricks?
Green Kills Page 10