by Adiva Geffen
We sat quietly for a moment until Yoash spoke again.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish, but my recommendation is that you give up right now. You won’t be able to crack their secret, and I find it hard to believe you’ll succeed in helping anyone there. We’ve already tried several times, and it’s very problematic.”
“You don’t know Dikla.” Cooper smiled and looked at me.
“By the way” — I remembered there was something I needed to ask Yoash—“do you know Ehud Gal?”
“The reporter?”
“Yes.”
“Of course. You heard what happened to him, right? That’s an example of what these people are capable of. His sister was drawn into the morass of that group too.”
“And jumped to her death. Just like Daria,” Cooper added.
“You think the cases are related, don’t you?” Yoash commented immediately.
“We only have theories for now,” I said. “Daria tried to reach Ehud and even sent messengers to him. We assume she had information about Avital, something she wanted to give him. By the way, how do you know Ehud?”
“He contacted me while doing some research about cults for an article. We met several times, and I thought he wasn’t the best man for the investigation.”
“Why?”
“He was too personally involved, and I thought he’d lost his professional distance.”
“That’s understandable,” I said quietly.
“The police claimed it was just a simple case of suicide involving a mentally unbalanced girl and closed it. He, of course, accused Deborah and Barak and tried to disrupt a few of their gatherings. They even complained to the police about him.”
“Is there a chance you could arrange for us to meet Ehud? We’ve tried, but he won’t talk to us. He must have something on them or at least they are afraid he had something on them.”
Yoash reached for the phone and called Ehud. He left a voicemail. “Ehud, this is Yoash Ben-David. Call me as soon as possible.”
“Should I make lunch, guys?”
Cooper looked at me with sad puppy-dog eyes, practically begging.
“No thanks, we have to go up north…we’re acting as a rescue party today,” I answered for both of us.
“Believe me, my friends, this game is too big for you to handle on your own. Leave those people to the police. Just be patient, they’ll make a mistake eventually.”
“They’ve already made their biggest mistake,” I said with a smile. “They messed with me.”
While we were at the kissing, thanking, hugging, and complimenting stage of saying goodbye, the phone rang. Yoash picked up then handed the phone to Cooper.
“It’s Ehud Gal,” he whispered. “He wants to meet you.”
Cooper took the phone and listened for a few minutes. Expressions ranging from concern to shock flitted across his face. Now and then he said, “I see.” Then he finally said, “Of course, as soon as we’re back.”
Yoash and I watched him anxiously. As soon as he hung up, I pounced.
“What’s going on? Tell me! The tension is killing me.”
“Tell me, sweetie, how fast can your jalopy go?”
“At least fifty miles an hour, why?”
“We’d better hope it can go much faster than that. Ehud just told me his sister Avital killed herself by jumping off the roof of a hotel.”
“Let me guess…Jasmine at the Carmel.”
35
“The new pathologist,” I said, right after we reached the main road after leaving Yoash’s house. “Even then I thought it was strange.”
“Explain.”
“You remember I told you they released the body from the forensic institute without an autopsy and without the approval of the coroner?”
“Sounds reasonable. After all, it was deemed a suicide, and they had no reason to suspect any crime had been committed.”
“So what? Even Bender told me it was careless of them to do that and that perhaps we should look into the—”
“Yeah, Bender. Superintendent Bender.”
How much did he really know?
“Superintendent Bender is a sweet guy who helped me on a previous case. I would have been arrested if it hadn’t been for him. He risked his career for me.” I raised my voice, offering him only a partial explanation.
“Sounds like I touched a sore spot here.”
“Right, very sore,” I said, surprised to hear so much anger in my voice, maybe even some fear. “Bender helped when other people, whose names I won’t mention so as not to embarrass them, were far, far away, took no interest in my well-being, and didn’t bother to keep in touch.” The best defense is a good offense.
“All right, Dickie. You don’t need to snap at me. Whoever this Bender is and whatever he’s done for you or with you, it’s none of my business. That’s the chance I took when I disappeared on you. Go on, get it off your chest. Tell me everything. Let’s get it over with.”
I imagined my sister Madi shaking her angelic head in disapproval.
“Listen, Bender’s off-limits, and there’s no trespassing. Not now, not ever. End of discussion,” I said in the most assertive tone I could muster.
He pressed his lips together and said no more. I kissed his cheek, offering him a comforting message. Seemed better than idle chatter.
◊◊◊
“Are you sure this is the right way?” Cooper asked an hour later as the Kia struggled up the Carmel Mountains.
“That’s what it says.” I pointed at the map I had printed off the hotel’s website.
We kept driving, hardly able to keep our hands off each other. The road wound its way through the wretched, charred forest of the Carmel, victim of the great fire that had struck in the summer. Finally, we saw a sign promising Jasmine at the Carmel was only two miles away.
“We need a plan,” said Cooper. “How should we introduce ourselves?”
“We’ll just tell them we’re looking to spend a night or two in a romantic boutique hotel.”
“And just happened to find their hotel in the middle of nowhere?”
“We heard about them from our friends and got some great recommendations.”
“And just showed up like this? Without calling first?”
“Of course we called! Yesterday. They said they had an available room for us.”
“Not bad,” said Cooper. “You should have been a Mossad agent.”
“Their loss is your gain,” I said and pressed my hand on his crotch.
◊◊◊
Jasmine at the Carmel was even more exquisite than its website photo. A white, three-story stone house, whose walls were illuminated by bright garden lights. Green shutters all shut for the night. Cozy balconies, with flower baskets hanging from the wooden railings. A glittering chandelier lit up a transparent stairwell that seemed like a later architectural addition. The hotel itself was surrounded by a grief-stricken garden. The arid autumn had left it in ruins.
Two black German shepherds showed up from nowhere, barking and baring their teeth. Cooper stretched out his hand in a friendly gesture and made some strange gurgling sounds. The dogs came up to him, sniffed here and there, and sat beside him to continue the doggy conversation. I was still too scared to breathe.
We walked to the house with Cooper’s two new friends. The lobby had a white pinewood floor. A huge empty vase stood on a round table in the center. A few doorless openings led to the dining room, the elevator, and the conference rooms. A large placard on an easel next to one of them had details on the workshop and instructions for registration. The reception desk was empty.
“Hello,” I shouted into the air. “Anyone home?” The walls echoed my voice.
“Just a minute,” a voice called, and a wan young woman wearing a blue apron showed up fro
m one of the doorless openings.
A man in a tuxedo who looked to be in his thirties watched us warily from the staircase.
“How did you get in here?” the woman asked.
“Through the garden.” I tried to play dumb. “What a beautiful place you’ve got here.”
She turned and looked at the young man in the tux. His face remained completely expressionless.
“We’d like to get a room here. How much do you charge per night?”
“How did you even hear about us?”
“Well, our friends told us about you. They—”
“Who are they?”
“Anat and Dan Neeman,” I replied. “They’re from Ashkelon. They told us what a great time they had here, and we thought about spending a couple of nights here too. Do you serve dinner?”
She hesitated for a moment, gave the tough guy in the tuxedo another glance and said, “Sorry, it’s impossible. You should have called before coming all the way here.”
“We did call, and we were told we could come,” I said.
“When? That’s not possible. I’m here all day, every day.”
“It was yesterday and—”
Cooper pushed me aside gently and gave the now-ashen receptionist a killer smile. “Vardia, right? My girlfriend is just crazy about hotels like yours.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint her.” She smiled but covered the name tag on her shirt with her hand.
“Look, Tammy and I… May I?” He leaned in closer to her and whispered in her ear. She gave me a long look, and her face turned red. What could he possibly have said about me?
“I understand,” she said and eyed me some more. “But I still can’t help you — the hotel’s closed now. It’s not going to reopen to the public until spring.”
“But the website said you were open in December.”
“That’s not what is says. We only advertised the fact that the hotel will host a workshop given by Dr. Barak Magidal over the next few days. They’ve booked the entire hotel,” she said and pointed at the workshop sign. “We’ve no available rooms. I’m so sorry.”
“Just for one night. I’ll make my own breakfast. I’ll make one for you too.” He slathered on the charm.
“Sorry, that’s just not an option. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave.”
Very slowly, tuxedo guy descended one step, then another, giving us the clear message that the conversation was over.
“Thank you,” Cooper said. “I get it, you just don’t want us here. Come, Tammy, we’re leaving.”
“Excuse me, but I have to use the bathroom.” I turned to the guy on the stairs. “Can I?”
He nodded, and Vardia hurried to show me the way. I followed her to the second floor. She opened one of the guest rooms and pointed at a brown wooden door.
“The office restroom is out of order. Use this one,” she explained and walked away.
I waited two minutes and tiptoed up to the third floor. The corridor was empty. I tried the doors, but they were all locked.
“Galia,” I whispered next to each door and waited, hoping she’d answer or that I’d hear something from one of the rooms. Silence. I searched the second floor as well. There wasn’t any sign of Galia.
When I reached the final landing, I saw tux guy and Cooper waiting for me at the bottom. When I got closer, the guy in the tux examined me closely and crushed the cigarette he was smoking. I thanked him, and he walked off into the building. We went through the lobby and back into the garden, surrounded by dogs again.
“Act like we’re on our honeymoon,” Cooper told me. “I think they’re still watching us. What were you able to find out?”
“The second and third floors look empty. Either they’ve got her drugged and unconscious, or they have a cellar, or the crazy messenger guy lied to us, and Galia’s not here.”
“The only thing that’s certain is they don’t like the fact we’re here. Now come on, give me a real tight hug, sweetie.”
That was easy enough to do. “By the way, what did you whisper in the receptionist’s ear?”
“That you’re as horny as the devil’s sister.”
I looked at him fondly.
“Well, aren’t you?”
I gave him a loving punch.
We got into the car and took off down the hotel’s access road then continued on the main road heading west. The moment he was sure we were completely out of sight, Cooper turned toward the forest, drove a few more yards and stopped. We left the car on a dirt road and continued on foot back to the hotel. Less than twenty minutes later, the stone structure appeared before us, now shrouded in darkness. The garden lights had been turned off.
Sammy once taught me that during a surveillance job you need to think like a cat on the hunt. When a cat is stalking its prey, it sits and waits. It bides its time. Then it approaches very slowly, keeping its eyes glued on its victim, moving silently and with measured movements — seeing, but not seen. And that was what we did, eyes locked on the building and ears straining to hear any sound. The silence of the night was disturbed only by the croaking of frogs.
“Is there any point in going on?” I asked.
Cooper held my hand. “Tired?”
I nodded.
“Let me spoil you.” His hands started massaging the nape of my neck, slowly at first, then with increased intensity, as if trying to find the right key to unlock my aching, knotted muscles.
“That’s nice,” I told him and covered his hand with mine.
“If only we could be…”
“Where?”
“You know, on the carpet in Sammy’s office, for example.”
“Tell me exactly what we would be doing there.”
“I would be reaching with my hand to touch you like this…” He snaked his hand beneath my shirt, then dug with his fingers under my bra, cupped my breasts and massaged them softly one by one.
I stifled a cry of pleasure.
“Exactly like this,” he said, as if we weren’t hiding in front of a hotel full of maniacs. “I would release these two and set them free, then I’d have some of that taste of heaven you have at the end of your nipple, lick it until I made you moan. And then—” he pulled his hand from my breasts and slowly slid it into my pants, going down my belly and igniting fireworks “—just like this, I’d reach into this vibrating place, rub it real good until I heard you scream.”
“More…”
He slid his fingers into my pussy, then began to stroke, gently, patiently, exploring, identifying more and more pleasure centers, lingering on them until I floated into my own personal heaven.
“Then I’d peel all the clothes off your body and hold you up to the light so I could see you, smell you, kiss every inch of you, from your forehead down to that amazing place between your thighs and taste it… Taste and taste and hear you sighing and moaning, and then you’d be ready for me to—”
All at once, he withdrew his hand from my crotch. I’d heard it too. Something had disturbed the silence. A scream that rose and intensified, then stopped all at once. We froze, suddenly a hundred light-years from heaven. We listened, but silence had settled around the hotel once more.
A few minutes later, we heard the sound of an approaching car. We saw it speeding down the road towards us, shining in the moonlight, a black SUV. It entered the hotel garden, but no one got out. Another scream came from the hotel. Pleading. Desperate. Heartbreaking.
“Something is happening in there. I have to get closer and see. Wait for me here.”
“I’m coming with you,” I let him know and began to follow him, hunched over, not taking my eyes off the hotel.
Three people came out of the main building and stood next to the car. Then one of them lowered his head to the window, probably speaking with the driver. The passenger didn’t bother to get out for long min
utes, but finally the front door opened, and a woman exited. A huge woman. A mountain of a woman. Tall and astonishingly wide. She glided forward in a quick movement, then raised her head to look at the hotel, marched toward it, and went inside.
“Who is she?” Cooper was dumbfounded.
“I’ve never seen her before in my life, but I have no doubt she’s none other than the Prophetess Deborah.”
“She looks like someone I wouldn’t want to mess with, a female Goliath.”
“What are we going to do, Cooper?”
“Wait. Just like her driver. It looks like she was called here to take care of something. I don’t think she plans on staying for long.”
We sat against the trunk of a tree. I snuggled inside my wool jacket. Cooper wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I struggled to keep my eyes open, focused on the hotel, but fatigue overcame my body, inch by inch, until I succumbed to it.
When I woke up, I saw the moon shining above. Cooper wasn’t sitting next to me. “Cooper,” I whispered into the darkness. “Where are you?”
Silence.
“Cooper, where are you? This isn’t funny!”
A quick look at the driveway told me the SUV was gone. Where are you, you piece of lizard shit? Where the hell are you?
I decided to count to two hundred and then take off. When I got to six hundred and fifty, I heard a rustling sound.
“Shh,” Cooper whispered.
“Where did you get to? Is that any way to treat your boss?”
“Sorry, my grumpy sweetheart. I decided to take a quick tour of the hotel. Lady Gulliver took off and that only left two bodyguards and my receptionist girlfriend.”
“Vardia.”
“Whatever. If everything works out, we’ll be able to retrieve Galia without even breaking a sweat. I have a plan. Tell me, what’s the best distraction you can create in a forest?”
“A fire?”
“Precisely.”
I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard a siren exactly five seconds later. It was a firetruck. “You started a fire?”
“Not exactly.”