Lucien had listened to Darlene’s entire exposé without saying a word. Now he fixed his gaze on her. “Very well done, Darlene, but you haven’t broached on the relationships that existed between Samuel Meshullam and Talya Kartz for one thing, and on what we discussed briefly this afternoon—showing Slimane was a victim rather than the man following Sadir’s orders.”
Darlene drank the last of her coffee and peered again into her friend’s eyes. “That’s because I have some problems with this. I mean, all the way through we’ve been led to believe that Sadir was at the helm, that he was the one making all of these decisions, and to me this whole bluff is only a red herring designed to lead us down the wrong path.”
Oddly enough to Darlene, Lucien nodded. “That’s exactly what I am thinking. Ever since we began looking for evidence against Sadir, we’ve been hitting brick walls. We’ve received bits and pieces from almost all parties concerned, but nothing that will hold up in court, let alone get a conviction against Sadir.”
“Will the evidence I brought you this afternoon help in any way, or will it throw a wrench in the works?”
Lucien waved a dismissive hand in front of him. “Oh no, don’t think that for a minute, and that’s why I was asking you to elaborate on the relationships between Talya, Samuel and Slimane, because I think these pieces may provide us with another way out of this mess.”
“Okay then... Let’s go back ten years ago...” Lucien raised an eyebrow. Darlene smiled. “We are in Australia. Samuel Meshullam is in love with a woman by the name of Talya Krist...”
“Woah… Hold on a minute... Are you telling me that Talya knew Samuel?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying…, and you shouldn’t sound so surprised if you’ve read the reports from Sydney—it’s all in there...”
“Not exactly. What I’ve received or read was mainly showing that Meshullam was hiding out after Slimane’s killing and Talya’s shooting, but nothing related to their backgrounds or that they knew each other.”
“Maybe CSIS, once they had read the Aussie’s report, didn’t want to promote the idea that Talya and Samuel knew each other, which could lead to the wrong conclusion, such as the conclusion you, yourself, drew earlier about the relationship that appeared to exist between Slimane and Talya. It sounds strange, though. Anyway, let me give you the background then.”
“Okay, go ahead.” Lucien was uncomfortable with the idea that Fred Gibson was apparently holding back some vital evidence from him. He would have to get some answers from the man at some point.
Darlene waited until she had Lucien’s attention once again. “As I said, this goes back ten years now.” Lucien nodded. “Samuel is avid to travel the world and he knows Talya can’t follow him—she was looking after her mother and couldn’t leave her—so he makes his way to Israel, and one thing leading to another, Mossad engages him and trains him to become one of their agents. Meanwhile, Talya returns to Vancouver after her mother’s death and is hired as an admin assistant at Carmine Resources.” Darlene paused and smiled at Lucien. She knew he was giving her a grilling. “A year later, Talya goes back to West Africa, where she was raised, to find out what happened to the half a million dollars that Carmine had entrusted in the hands of a Mr. Amadou Savoi. That’s when the troubles started.” Darlene took in a breath. “The rest you know, I guess.”
“Yes I do, but I’d like to hear your summing up of the events that led up to this point…, do you mind?”
Darlene drank a swig of water. She thought she was in court giving an opening statement. “Okay…, here we go. Talya soon finds out that Savoi is a small-time drug dealer at the stipend of a man named Osnoir. This Osnoir fellow was the lynchpin in the CIA’s operation, which was designed originally to exchange drugs for weapons—weapons that saw their way to Israel. Unbeknownst to Talya at the time, she was becoming a disruptive party in the CIA’s scheme and had to be side-tracked or otherwise eliminated. Prince Khalid comes on the scene at about that point. He soon realizes Talya is in danger for her life. The prince’s father played a part in Osnoir’s operation, but he didn’t know the CIA was the organizing party.
“Then Khalid and Talya go to extreme to evade Osnoir and his goons for a while and when Osnoir dies in a car accident, Khalid is hoping to take Talya away from the turmoil and down to Cayenne where Carmine needs his help to get some of their geologists out of the jungle.”
Lucien raised a hand in front of him. “Sorry to interrupt you, but that was a plot apparently designed to attract both the Prince and Talya into a trap, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but at the time, Carmine was led to think their men had been taken and held at ransom by some guerrillas. They had no idea there was a connection between the events that had occurred in Africa and what was happening in South America.”
“But why would they send the Prince and Talya to the rescue? Wouldn’t it have been better to get the French authorities involved?”
“Yes, and in fact Carmine did ask for the French’s help, but they were given the brush off.”
“Do we know why?”
“Yes we do. The French government didn’t know of any guerrilla’s deployment in the region, and that was the first clue that something was wrong with this whole thing.”
“But again, why sending Khalid and Talya down there?” Darlene was a bit annoyed with Lucien going off on a tangent, and it showed on her face. “I’m sorry, but I’m just curious. I didn’t have a chance to interview these people myself yet, and since you have, I’d like you to use me as a sounding board, if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s okay…,” Darlene said, playing with some of the breadcrumbs on the tablecloth. “Okay…, Carmine needed the prince’s assistance because that was part of his job. He had offered his services to transport men in and out of their various mine-sites.”
“Okay, what about Talya? Why would she be going to the rescue of geologists and put herself in danger?”
“Carmine didn’t ask her to go to Guyana. There were only two reasons for which she was to accompany the prince on the journey.”
“What were those?”
“Well…, she spoke French for one thing, but the main reason was that the trip would take her to Florida, where Talya decided to chase the man whom she thought was at the origin of the drug trafficking in West Africa—Ben Slimane. Slimane, was told she was Jewish, and from that point on, as Mark Gilford surmised, he tried to protect her any which way he could. While doing that, he forgot that he himself had become a target.”
Darlene stopped to drink some water, which gave Lucien an opportunity to ask the next question. “Okay, that clarifies a lot, but that still doesn’t tell me why Talya didn’t tell anyone she knew Samuel when she, Mark and Dr Hendrix met him on the road.”
“Huh-huh... and I asked her the same thing.”
“And what did Talya say?”
“She said that since other things happened on that trip, beginning with Mark being shot after the episode on the Marianne…”
“Hold on... Are you saying Mark Gilford was shot after the Marianne incident? I don’t believe this! How come I wasn’t told about this? Was that in his statement, or am I becoming blind?”
“No, Lucien, you’re not becoming blind—just kept in the dark about most things that could hurt the case against Sadir.”
“You mean Gilford kept quiet because he’s in on this?”
“No, Lucien. Remember what I told you before dinner; look in the mirror and don’t accuse anyone before you know the whys and wherefores, okay?”
“Alright, alright, go on for heaven’s sakes... I’m getting a headache.”
“Okay…, Talya didn’t want to let Samuel know she had recognized him because he also pretended that he had never met her, for one thing, and since she had no idea why they were being chased…”
Lucien couldn’t hold his tongue. “Chased now? What the hell are you saying…?”
“Just settle down, we’ll get to all that in detail in the mo
rning, but for now let me finish...”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”
“They were being chased, as I said. That’s a verified fact. I have interviewed the three people who intervened at the time and who offered Mark, Talya and Dr Hendrix their assistance in Atlanta. So, given all of these factors, Talya didn’t want to let anyone know that she knew Samuel—she didn’t know if he had remained a friend or had become a foe in the interim she had not seen him. And since he didn’t acknowledge knowing her in the first instance, she kept her mouth shut.”
It was Lucien’s turn to drink a big gulp of water. “How long are you in town for?”
Although unexpected, the question brought a smile across Darlene’s lips. “As long as it will take to get to a trial with a winning hand.”
“And who’s paying your fees for this?”
“Let’s just call the person an interested party, shall we?”
Chapter 61
Doctor Blaine Adelman, M.E. sat uneasily in the witness chair. He had taken the stand so often during his career that it had become a routine appointment in his calendar. He had learned from long experience to confine his answers to the simplest description of the victim, the time of death, and its cause. In his fifties now, he had developed a permanent scowl on his brow that made him look more sombre, even menacing, than he really was. His brown eyes, droopy eyelids and greying hair gave him the ominous look of a surly graveyard digger. Yet, the man was gentle, loving and kind. To anyone who knew him well enough, he was a joker at heart. He loved to entertain his staff with dry humour and wit while listening to opera as he was dissecting the victims of sometimes-atrocious crimes.
Once the doctor established his identity and function with the department of the Medical Examiner in Flint, MI, he was sworn in.
Lucien Billycan then got up from his seat and walked the few steps that separated the prosecution table from the witness stand. “Good afternoon, Doctor.” He smiled amiably.
“Good afternoon, sir.” The doctor shifted in his seat. Although cushioned to make it as comfortable as possible, the chair hadn’t been designed to have people sit in it for great lengths of time.
The courtroom was one of the oldest in the city. The atmosphere was nothing less than solemn, not to say stuffy. Some of the Old Bailey’s courtrooms in England had very little to envy from the décor of this room. The wood panelling and judge’s bench, the seating, reflective of another era, impressed the members of the jury and the public attending the proceedings with a feeling of sober grandeur.
“Now, Doctor, could you describe for the court the victim’s state of health and the injury or injuries that caused the death of Mr. Ishmael Assor, known to everyone as Ben Slimane, the first victim in this case?”
“Yes. The victim, a Caucasian man, 35 years’ of age, 6’1” in height, 176 lbs., in excellent health at the time of his death, died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. The bullet pierced the frontal lobe just above the right temple, traversed the frontal lobe and lodged itself inside the skull of the victim, just above the left temporal lobe. Death was instantaneous.”
“Therefore, Doctor, your conclusion is that Mr. Assor, as you’ve just described it for the court, died instantly from a gunshot wound to the head, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir, he did. That is my conclusion.”
“Did you ascertain the size and calibre of the bullet upon its recovery?”
“No, sir. I recovered the bullet, and sent it to the forensic lab for examination.”
“Did you receive a report of their findings?”
“Yes, I did.”
Billycan moved back to his table and picked up a binder, which he brought to the witness. “Is that the report you received from forensic?”
“It looks like it, yes,” Adelman said, taking the slim binder from Billycan’s hand.
“Would you mind turning to page 3 of this report and read the highlighted portion?”
Adelman turned to the page in question and read; “The bullet recovered from the victim was shot from a Gamo Silent Cat .22 Air Rifle with 4x32 Scope.”
He closed the binder and handed it back to Billycan.
“Your Honour” —the US Attorney turned to the judge— “the Prosecution offers this forensics report, marked Exhibit 1 and tender to opposing counsel.”
“No objection, Your Honour,” Mr. David Simmons replied distractedly from the defence table.
Muhammad Sadir, sitting beside his attorney, appeared very indifferent to what was happening. In fact, he looked bored. Since his arraignment, he had had several sessions with his solicitor and had been biding his time in jail, and his ennui showed in his manner and in the way he tried to find a comfortable position in the seat that seemed definitely too tight for his ample girth.
“You may proceed, Mr. Billycan,” Judge Silverman said.
Silverman was a thin-faced man. Everything about him was thin and lanky. His long nose, elongated ear lobes, his sallow cheeks, his pointed chin, and his almost cadaveric-looking hands protruding from the sleeves of his robe, gave one the impression the man was not healthy. Yet, he was known to jog five miles every morning, to eat voluminous meals, and to indulge in the occasional drink or two.
“Now, Mr. Adelman,” Billycan said, “let’s return to your examination of the body of Mr. Assor. Did you find anything else on the body that may have indicated that he suffered trauma prior to his death.”
“Objection, Your Honour,” the defence attorney shouted, “He’s leading the witness.”
“Sustained. Watch your step, Mr. Billycan. You know better than that. Rephrase.”
Billycan bowed slightly and turned again to the M.E. “When you examined the body of Mr. Assor did you find anything apart from the gunshot wound?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Could you describe for the court what that was?”
“Yes. I found several contusions on the shins and knee caps of the victim’s legs.”
“Were those in some way indicative of trauma, in your opinion, Doctor?”
“Yes, those are consistent with slamming one’s legs and knees against a hard object.”
“I see. And were you able to determine what this hard object was?”
“Yes, I did. The victim died at the wheel of a vehicle as it struck a tree on the side of the road…”
“Your Honour!” Simmons was on his feet now. “Objection. Foundation?”
Judge Silverman turned to the witness. “Doctor, please confine your answers to the questions, nothing else.” He looked down at Billycan. “Let’s try to move a little faster, Counsel, it’s been a long day already.” He turned to Simmons. “Objection sustained.” Then to the US Attorney, “Go on, Mr. Billycan.”
“Do you want the court reporter to read the question back to you, Doctor?”
“Yes, if it’s not too much trouble.”
The young woman did and the doctor then nodded. “The contusions and bruising were consistent with the victim’s legs hitting the lower part of a dashboard in a vehicle.”
“And you determined the cause of the contusions and bruising to be the result of an impact against the lower part of the dashboard of a vehicle how?”
“The victim died at the wheel of a vehicle which he was driving at the time of his death as was determined later upon forensic examination.”
“And that was part of the same forensic report we just introduced as Exhibit 1 to the court?”
“No sir, that was part of another forensic report which described the victim’s vehicle in detail and the position of the body as it was found at the scene of the accident.”
Billycan bowed to the witness. “Thank you, Doctor.” Then he turned to the judge. “Your Honour, the prosecution intends to introduce the forensic report mentioned by the witness at a later time, when the forensic examiner will take the stand next.”
“Very well, Mr. Billycan. If Defence Counsel has no objection to the introduction of this particular forensic evidence a
t a later time, we will make a note for the record and move on.”
“No objection, Your Honour,” Simmons mumbled without looking up.
“Thank you, Your Honour.” Billycan nodded to Silverman and returned his attention to Dr. Adelman. “Thank you for your patience, Doctor.” He walked toward the jury. “Did you discover any other injuries on Mr. Assor’s body?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Assor had a ruptured spleen, and several rib fractures.”
“Did you determine the cause of these particular injuries?”
“Those were consistent with the victim sustaining a sharp and extensive blow to the abdominal cavity and thorax.”
Still with his back turned to the doctor, Billycan went on, “Now, Dr Adelman, could you tell us if these injuries were caused prior to the victim being shot?” He swung on his heels to Adelman. The latter fidgeted in his chair.
“Some of the injuries were sustained prior to the gunshot wound, yes.”
“Let see if we understand what you are saying, Doctor. Are you telling us that only some of the injuries were sustained prior to Mr. Assor’s death, and some others were sustained after his death?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Now, Doctor, there is a detail that you haven’t broached during your description of these injuries. Did you discover any indication on Mr. Assor’s body that he had been wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident?”
“Ah, yes... Well, I mean no.” Billycan looked at the witness fixedly. “I mean there were no marks on the victim’s torso or left shoulder indicating he had been wearing his seat belt, no.”
“Thank you, Doctor. So, we could be fairly certain then the injuries—whether sustained before, during or after the accident—could have been the result of Mr. Assor being projected against the steering wheel and underside of the dashboard. Is that your testimony?”
“Yes, Mr. Billycan.”
“But you determined the cause of death to be the gunshot wound, didn’t you, Doctor?”
“Yes, I did. The gunshot wound was the primary cause of death, yes.”
WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1) Page 22