by Adiva Geffen
We found Prince Albert drinking coffee in the empty coffee shop.
Cooper sat across from him. “Do you mind if I join you?” he asked in English.
Prince Albert lifted his eyes from his cup, and panic washed over them. He rose and put on his plastic apron. “My break is over.”
“Just give us a couple of minutes,” said Cooper.
“I can’t. My break is over — do you want me to get fired?”
Cooper went over to the counter, said something to whoever was standing there. They shook hands, and Cooper came back to us. Another one of his army buddies?
“The boss gives you permission to take a longer break,” he said. “We just want to ask you a few questions about the girl, Daria. Remember Daria?”
Prince nodded.
“Who was she hiding with?” Prince hesitated, and Cooper pressured him. “You’d better tell me. Keeping such secrets is not very healthy for your community. Get it?”
Sweat beaded on Prince Albert’s forehead. “What would you like to know?”
“We’re checking a few things and would like to see the room she stayed in.”
“Who said I know anything about that?”
“The pastor himself said you gave her the room next to the church. The room where you’re hiding people. Do you want us to come back here with Superintendent Bender?” Cooper gave him a threatening smile.
He knows.
“But they already took everything,” Prince Albert said.
“Who took everything?”
“Her parents sent someone to get her stuff.”
Cooper turned to me. “How did they know where she’d been hiding?”
“Sammy,” I sighed. “She felt she had to report every little detail to her girlfriend Eve.” I thought for a moment. “Prince, please tell me, the guy who came to get her stuff, was he limping?”
Prince Albert nodded. Yossi Deliveries. An evil messenger or an independent entrepreneur? The emissary of doom had beaten us to it. Maybe that was why I had stopped getting surprise visits from him.
“When was he here?” I asked.
“A few days ago. Pastor Raphael told me to help him. He felt bad and was afraid his involvement in this whole thing would get our community in trouble. He kept telling everyone how sorry he was.”
“Do you know what was in that room?”
“Not much. Just a few clothes and some books. Look, we don’t want any trouble. The pastor helped her. Honestly? I was against it. I thought we shouldn’t get involved, that it’s not good to—”
“Don’t worry.” I smiled at him. “We’re the good guys. We’ll be finished quickly and go on our way. Just take us to her room, please.”
Cooper exchanged a few more words with the coffee shop manager, and Prince got permission to take another hour off. On the way to the car, Danny Alray, Avital’s agent in this world and the next, called me. Before I managed to say anything, he assaulted me with an angry monologue.
“Look, I don’t know who you are and what the hell you want, but for me, Avital is history.”
I tried to get a word in, but the man just wouldn’t stop.
“I treated her like a daughter. I took care of her, I arranged everything for her, made her feel like a queen. And what did I get in return? Greed and selfishness! I’m running a clean business here, I always pay on time, but she…” He ran out of steam.
“Can I ask what she did to you?”
“She told me she needed a loan. I gave her the money, no questions asked. And where is she now? Gone. It’s not about the money, I have all the money I need. But is that any way to behave, disappearing like that? Tell me that you’ve got a better agent, no problem. I would have been angry, but that’s the way the business works. But Avital wouldn’t answer my calls, wouldn’t talk to me. Then I read in the newspaper that she…”
“Killed herself.”
“Yes. So, make a movie about her, an HBO series, for all I care. Just leave me out of it, got it?” And slam, he disconnected.
“What was that?” asked Cooper.
“Another person who lost money to a higher cause. Listen, Cooper, I don’t know if this is a murder case, but I’m pretty sure there are some financial crimes involved.”
“Daria?”
“I don’t know. If she’s not really their daughter, maybe she had to give her adoptive parents a substantial dowry.”
◊◊◊
Levanda Street was nearly deserted at that time of day. Two kids were trying to fix a bicycle frame. They waved Prince a quick hello and hurried to get out of there, towing the rusty frame behind them. Prince stopped next to the church building and handed us a key. “Fourth floor, blue door. That’s where her room was. I’ll wait for you here.”
We climbed up to the fourth floor, carefully, because the stairwell was dark and foul smelling. Cooper took a penlight from his pocket and directed it at the blue door. He turned the key in the lock, and we entered Daria’s mysterious hideout.
The room was spacious but grim and depressing. A single naked bulb hanging from a wire gave off a weak light. A bare iron bed. A rickety white dresser. A doorless closet. A carpet that had seen better days. The Virgin Mary smiled from above the bed, holding a plump and radiant baby Jesus.
“There’s nothing here,” Cooper determined after checking and crawling and touching every inch of the room, banging on all the walls, and looking in every corner. “Nothing that belonged to her.”
“The problem is that we have no idea what we’re looking for,” I said.
“Let’s go back to our guy. I have a feeling he’s not telling us everything. It’s your turn again— let’s see what you can get out of him.”
When we got out to the stairs, we found Prince sitting on a step next to the door.
“Prince Albert” — I sat down next to him, and tried hard to sound doleful — “you’re the only one who can help us, do you understand?”
“Can’t help anymore.”
“We’re looking for something Daria left behind, something important. Important and dangerous.”
Prince’s liquid chocolate eyes shifted around the room, unable to look at me. “I don’t know anything.”
“Of course you don’t, but if we were able to find that something, we would be able to understand a lot of things. We would be able to protect ourselves from the people who threatened her and could protect you as well.”
“I didn’t see anything. The moment she came here, I told the pastor, ‘You’re too good. What do we care about this girl? We have enough trouble of our own, why get into more trouble?’ It’s best that we wait till the pastor comes back.”
I placed a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have time, Prince. You don’t understand how dangerous this situation is.”
“Not just for us,” Cooper added. “Dangerous for you, the pastor, your friends. There are scary people who won’t give up until they find what they’re looking for. Dikla, tell him about the break-in.”
I told him. I also told him they had broken into my car. For a moment, it seemed that we’d lost him. I just sat next to him and waited. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable with my closeness, rose to his feet, and asked to make a phone call.
I gave him my cell phone. He held on to it briefly then handed it back to me. “Let’s say I help — you no come here no more?”
“If we ever come back, it’ll only be to pray with you,” I promised.
He smiled. Hallelujah.
“All right, follow me,” he said quietly.
Prince Albert went into the empty church and walked straight to a wall with a painting of a rosy-cheeked baby Jesus. He took the painting down and set it gently on the floor. Taped to the wall, was an envelope bearing the logo of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. Two telephone numbers were written on it. I recognized the first nu
mber right away. It was Galia’s. When I opened the envelope, I found a blue identification bracelet, the type secured around a newborn’s wrist. The line for the mother’s name was blank. Other than the bracelet, the envelope contained only some kind of document.
We’ll check it out in the car, I said to myself, put the bracelet back in the envelope, and shoved it in my bag.
“Wait for me in the car,” Cooper asked as we went down the stairs. “I have a little something I need to take care of before we hit the road.”
“What do you need to take care of?”
“I want to leave them something. That’s the least we can do.”
I stood next to the car and called Avner Surer, the ophthalmologist. He didn’t answer. I decided he must be screening my calls since he realized our little dalliance was over. I left him a horny message with a suggestive ending.
He got back to me right away.
“Yes?”
“Did you check about Ehud for me?”
I could feel a cold breeze blowing through the phone line. “He’s out of intensive care, and they’ve transferred him to one of the regular wards. You’ll have to find out for yourself which one.”
“Thanks. Say hi to the wife and kids for me.” We said goodbye, probably for good.
It was pretty obvious our next destination should be the hospital to see Ehud — the missing link connecting Avital to Daria. I wouldn’t be surprised if the unidentified young woman who had called the police from his house after the attack was Galia.
I fumbled in my bag for my cigarettes. I needed a bit of smoke to calm me down. The moment I pulled the pack out of my bag, someone grabbed my wrist.
“You’ve got something that belongs to me,” I heard a familiar spine-tingling voice say behind my back. Just when Cooper had decided to become a social worker. Shit.
I turned around and found myself facing a blue pair of eyes belonging to Yossi Deliveries, my favorite gimp. I tried to release his grip and get away, but he held on tight.
“Let me go, you piece of shit!” I shouted.
“Take it easy, will you? Let’s do this the nice way. It’s for your own good, trust me. I’m not in the habit of asking twice.” He patted a gun hidden in his belt.
“I’m not afraid of you. You’d better get the hell out of here before Cooper gets back.”
“Another one of your imaginary husbands?” He blinked at me and looked like a cheetah deciding whether it should eat the antelope or save it for later.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” I screamed as loud as I could, hoping my voice would carry to the fourth floor. “Just so you’re aware, we know everything. Everything. Including the fact that you were the ones who kidnapped Galia.”
His face turned scarlet. “I have no time for bullshit. Give me what you took from the Africans.” He got closer and stuck his face so close to mine I could smell his sour breath.
“What are you talking about?”
“You think I was born yesterday? Come on, give me back what belongs to us, quickly.”
“Who are you to threaten me?” I raised my voice. I thought I could hear Cooper rushing down the stairway. But the footfalls stopped before reaching the bottom. What is he waiting for?
“I’m sick and tired of you.” The limping guy tore my bag from my hand and spilled the contents out. The white envelope fluttered to the sidewalk. As he bent to pick it up, I saw a shadow gliding next to me. Cooper. My Cooper. He had burst out of the stairwell and before old blue eyes realized what was happening, he’d lunged forward, grabbed his head from behind and raised him up as if he were a sack of potatoes.
“What are you doing?” the guy wheezed.
“Apologize to the lady,” said Cooper. “That’s not any way to behave.”
The messenger started writhing in Cooper’s hands as he was frog-marched to the car. The street remained silent. If there were any witnesses, they were sure to stay out of sight until the incident was over.
I opened the car door and Cooper cuffed the squirming delivery guy with a cable tie he got out of his pocket. Then he pushed him into the backseat and sat beside him.
“Do you recognize him?” he asked me.
“Yes, he was the one who paid me a courtesy call at my apartment. This time he threatened that unless I give him a certain envelope—”
“Got it,” said Cooper. “Start the car. We’re going to your office for a little interrogation.”
Yossi Deliveries howled and wriggled, spat curses, and desperately tried to convince us just how dangerous he was.
I left the car in the Cappuccino Café parking lot and waited till Cooper disappeared up the stairwell with our extra baggage.
“Get your car out of here, or I’ll have it towed,” Rami, the café owner growled at me, part of his daily, never-ending war against parking violators.
“What if I swore on my mother’s name that this is an emergency and promise you a pedicure, manicure, and Swedish massage?”
He smiled and said, “In that case, I just need to ask you — how long is your emergency going to be?”
“Could I have an hour?”
He nodded, and I blew him a kiss. Who said Israelis weren’t nice?
◊◊◊
We manhandled Yossi Deliveries up to the office. With another cable tie, we secured him to Sammy’s chair and covered his mouth with duct tape. Then we went to the other room and examined the paperwork we had found in the envelope with the blue baby bracelet.
It was a hospital maternity care release form, for someone named Carolina. At least that was the name on the official government birth certificate. A male, seven and a half pounds. Father’s name — unknown. Carolina? Sounded like a bogus name. Who approves a birth certificate without verifying the details? Perhaps the hand that had signed the certificate was the same that had hurried to release Daria’s body without an autopsy.
Other than the bracelet and the release form, there was nothing in the envelope. Perhaps the pastor, fearing for the well-being of his community, had removed something from it? Or maybe he had lied to us and had given Ehud Gal whatever else the envelope had contained?
I went on to check out the other phone number written on the envelope. A quick look at my papers confirmed my suspicions. Bingo! The number belonged to our friend Ehud. During the single brief conversation we’d had, he’d claimed to have no idea who Daria was. Let’s see what he’d have to say now.
“Come on, Cooper. We’re going to the hospital. The only question is, what do we do with our prisoner?”
Cooper thought about it for a minute then said, “We have a little heart-to-heart with him, then we call your friends, the police.”
We returned to our disabled guest.
“I’ll take the tape off your mouth, but only if you promise not to scream,” Cooper told him.
Yossi Deliveries sounded muffled threats.
“All you need to do is tell us where you’ve taken Galia.”
More muffled threats.
“Got it,” said Cooper. “I think I’ve had all I can take from this guy. Call your police friends and ask them to come and get him. Maybe they’ll be able to knock a little sense into his head.”
I took out my cell phone and started to dial.
Deliveries wiggled in his chair.
“I see that you’ve come to your senses.” Cooper chuckled and tore the duct tape off his mouth.
Yossi guy shrieked like a little girl and licked his lips gingerly. “Come on, what do we need the police for?” He coughed. “A great man once said: ’People are not rocks. People can get along with each other’”
“Sure — rocks. Why don’t you stop embarrassing yourself and talk already.”
“Don’t forget, I’m only the messenger. I’m just doing my job.”
“Before you tell us who sent you, you shou
ld know what you’ve gotten yourself involved in.”
“Me? I’m just a nobody. I got a job and tried to do it the best way I could. You look like an honest, working man — you know what it’s like. I don’t know who exactly needs this envelope, but the person who gave me the job said they’re good people, that they just want something that was stolen from them. That’s it, I swear on my mother’s name.”
“Stop lying, you don’t even have a mother.”
“I swear I don’t know anything else. Call the main office. Ask them.”
“We’ll get to that. Are you the one who delivered the pizza?”
“Pizza?” He shook his head in contempt. “I don’t do pizza. I never touch food. It’s a matter of principle.”
“And Galia?”
“Who’s she?”
“The girl from the ambulance.”
“Her? She’s all right. They just asked me to bring the girl to a nice place. Said she was a little nuts, that she took her clothes off in the middle of the street and started acting crazy. They just wanted her to get proper treatment.”
“Where did you take her?”
“I swear on my mother’s grave that I don’t remember the address. I had it written down somewhere. I just took the girl there. I forget where it was. Maybe an hour from here.” He shrugged. “It was all legal. They had a doctor and a nurse waiting for us there.”
“More impostors like you?”
“No, of course not. They were real. They took care of her as if she were their little baby girl. She cried a little, but they gave her a shot, and she calmed right down.”
“Enough with the stories. Just tell us where you took her.”
“I don’t remember. I told you.” He tried to get up and shook the chair he was cuffed to. Cooper sat him back down.
I decided to take matters into my own hands.
“Listen, knucklehead, you’re in way over your miserable head here. We’re talking kidnapping, conspiracy, extortion, fraud, and a few other charges that should get you a nice vacation in prison.”
“Me? You’re joking! I just took her in an ambulance. I didn’t lay a finger on her. I just did what they asked me to. It was about medical treatment, not kidnapping, God forbid. What, you think I’m some sort of criminal?”