They followed him there. “Is the operation off?” Diana asked.
“One second,” said Jacob, turning the handle of the window, which opened immediately. A fresh breeze blew in. Jacob sat at the head of the table and waited for the women to sit down as well. “Ben David and his men haven’t arrived,” he said, “which on the one hand is bad because we waited for them, and on the other is good because that was actually the plan.”
“What do you mean?” Diana asked.
Sally was silent as she examined her face.
“We didn’t think they’d come here,” Jacob said. “We waited for them somewhere else, where they did indeed arrive.” He looked at Diana. “Maybe I’ll let Sally explain. It was her idea.”
Sally hesitated. She knew the next moments would be difficult. For a moment, she wanted to ask Jacob to speak, but immediately decided to go forward. She cleared her throat. “The idea belonged to someone smarter than me,” she said. “The original plan was to wait here for Ben David, as we did. But when I told my father about it, he asked who knew about the plan. I mentioned the people and when I reached five he stopped me and said, ‘That’s too many. Once two people know, it’s no secret. Five people are already the whole world.’ Using his advice, I devised another plan in case this one was discovered. So while we waited here, a more serious contingent waited in Marin’s mansion, while he advertised his trip to Brussels.”
Diana swallowed hard.
Jacob pointed to his phone. “I’ve been told that Ben David arrived there with Muriel and a number of other men from the organization that operates with him. Muriel was immediately removed from the scene so as not to get Marin and the family in trouble. Ben David and the others were placed under citizen’s arrest until the police arrived. They are all under arrest now and will soon be investigated.”
Silence fell in the room. Jacob and Sally were silent, looking worriedly at Diana who asked, “What?”
“For a while now we’ve been suspecting that someone working with us, someone we trusted and even befriended was double-crossing us,” Sally said. “Clearly someone told Ben David that the files he was looking for weren’t here but in the house, where he did indeed arrive—”
“All right.” Diana stood up. “My job here is done now, isn’t it?”
“Right,” Sally said, “but we need to discuss the matter I just mentioned.”
“I’m not in the mood to discuss anything right now. I want to go.”
“You can go,” Jacob said, “no one’s stopping you. But I suggest you consider your situation. You have two alternatives: Either give us a detailed testimony incriminating Ben David, or I’ll file a complaint against you with the Geneva police.”
“Against me? You have nothing against me.”
“We have lots,” Sally said. “As soon as we realized that someone inside us was acting against us, we began investigating.” She pulled out her yellow notepad and started reading. “We’ve deciphered the photo of the woman handling the disguised mailman who brought a letter from Muriel to Ben David every day. We received an eighty-two percent likeness to you. Then we interviewed the chef who you’d fired. Unlike what you told us, the children never complained about the food. She was simply dismissed without warning and replaced with a chef who reported to you about everything happening in the house. During the last hour, one of our lawyers took statements from both the women and had them sign depositions.”
“She was sacked because she was no good. The children would spit out the meals she cooked.”
“That’s not what they say,” Sally continued. “And then there’s the nanny whose position you cut because she wouldn’t inform you on what the children were saying about their mother and Ben David. She testified too. I assume you didn’t fire her because you were scared you wouldn’t find anyone to take care of those children, who are slightly problematic.”
“Sally, these are all speculations. You will erase our friendship over this?”
“And when Ben David wanted to reach Muriel before the scheduled time, you sent the Swiss investigators to hospital and told me they’d disappeared that morning, before I arrived.”
“This morning we examined their medical records.” Jacob looked at his phone and read out, “Weakness and diarrhea. Light treatment was given, and the patients were sent home.”
“Still speculations.” Diana remained adamant. “So I was wrong, I thought they froze, and then I was wrong again for thinking they fled the hospital. That doesn’t make me Ben David’s accomplice.”
Jacob scrolled through his phone. “We’ve received the original car rental form for the Peugeot that allowed Muriel to flee my detectives and disappear for over a day. Your fingerprints are all over it, front and back. If the Geneva police examine the passport shown when the car was rented, I’m almost certain they’ll find it was stolen. I’m also sure that sums of money were transferred to your bank account from sources other than Sally, which you’ll have to explain to the police. You’ll also have to explain a few things to the Paris police, such as your connection to Vivian Moyal, who will be arrested in the coming hours on suspicion of theft, fraud, and money collecting from Pierre Marin under false pretexts.” Jacob said those last words with the official air of a prosecutor, and the first crack appeared in Diana’s mask. Jacob immediately widened it. “As we speak, my men are examining security footage in the locations where you two would meet, and as soon as we have enough evidence, we’ll hand it over to the police, as required.”
Diana was silent.
“What hurts me,” Sally said, “was that I thought you really were suffering from unrequited love or a financial crisis, and truly wanted to help.”
“I really am suffering a financial crisis,” Diana said harshly. “I owe lots of money. It’s hard to live alone and maintain a lifestyle; it’s also hard to get old without plastic surgery and cosmetics that cost a fortune. While I was still working with you, Vivian Moyal turned to me and offered me work with a real estate company in Paris. I knew, of course, about her ties to Ben David, so I told her I was busy. But she never stopped calling and speaking of the wonderful work one could do online from home, and the fantastic pay.”
A tear appeared on the corner of her eye. “I needed money, so I agreed. At first I did survey asset prices in Paris by going over real estate ads. You were in Israel, and I was only here to loosely supervise things, so I had time. Two weeks later, I received a check, and right after depositing it, Vivian turned to me again and started asking me about you. She told me how nastily you’ve been persecuting Ben David and how much Marin was paying you. She asked me how much you were paying me. I didn’t want to say, but she claimed that whatever it was, it was a pittance compared to the sums you were raking in. Real estate work was finished, she said, but I could help her another way and make lots of money. I immediately realized what it was, and said, ‘No, I won’t betray Sally.’”
Sally snickered.
“And what then?” Jacob asked. “You still betrayed us, your friends.”
“Twenty thousand dollars a week,” Diana said, beginning to cry. “Who can withstand such money? I calculated the amount I would have five weeks later, ten weeks, twenty. For the first time in my life, I’d be rich and free!”
Sally suddenly recalled the phone call between Ben David and Vivian Moyal staying at the Four Seasons that Jacob recorded. A man’s voice could be heard there, and the hotel records had Darmond staying there as a guest. She decided to take a chance. “Darmond,” she said. “Tell us about his part.”
Diana’s body language exposed her. Her shoulders slouched and she shrank in her seat. “What does he have to do with this?”
Sally wouldn’t let go. “Well, it’s both money and a man.”
Diana didn’t reply.
“He won’t defend you,” Sally added, pushing onward. “He’ll protect himself and claim he has nothing to do
with this, and you’ll find yourself alone to face the allegations. He’ll even claim that nothing happened between you.”
“He can’t. Too many people saw us together in Paris,” Diana shot back.
Sally chuckled. “You have no idea what men can come up with when they’re under pressure. He has a family, a wife and two children. I’ve seen their photos in his office. He won’t leave them for you.”
“He doesn’t live with them. They live in a mansion in Provence and he lives in Geneva.”
Sally clicked her tongue. “All married men say they don’t really live with their families, that their wives don’t understand them, and that they plan to leave them. I thought you were smarter than that.”
This time, Sally’s words struck right at Diana’s heart. “I would never come on to a married man,” she defended herself, “but he’s so special and sexy. One evening, after a meeting we had with you on Skype, he offered to bring me to his hotel.”
Sally wrote the word “Darmond” on her notepad, wondering whether Marin would also respond to this act of treason with an outburst of emotion, as he did with Muriel’s.
“Can we count on you to testify?” Jacob’s voice bellowed.
“No.” Diana was unequivocal in her response. “No. I want to get out of here now and stay away from all of this. I don’t care about Ben David or about Marin. I know an island in the Pacific, off the coast of Chile. Its beaches are pristine and its men young and beautiful. The money Vivian paid me will suffice for a good life there. So, if you’ll excuse me, our conversation ends here.”
Jacob chuckled. “Did you ever consider you were an accomplice to a crime? Breaking and entering, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit a crime, and a few others?”
“I’m not an accomplice to anything. Vivian wouldn’t tell on me because she’d be incriminating herself. Darmond too will say you’re crazy. So there’s no problem, is there?”
“You’d have a problem with this.” Jacob pointed upward.
“God? Do me a favor. Have you caught Sally’s bug?”
“Microphones,” said Jacob peacefully. “Cameras. It’s all being taped and filmed, and sent to my computers in real time.”
“You can’t do that.”
“We’ve received permission from Marin, the owner of this office, to document Ben David’s capture.”
Diana stood up. “I don’t care. I’m leaving. I’ll be somewhere else in a few hours.”
“The world is very small today,” Jacob said. “Prepare for your photo to appear in every airport in Europe within the hour. The money you earned will be spent on lawyers, and if you plan to flee to a third world country, on bribes as well.”
Diana sat back down. “So what do you want?” she asked tiredly.
“This situation is as follows,” Jacob said. “Ben David and a few others will have now been arrested by the Gstaad police, and will be transferred to Geneva. I don’t know how they’ll explain breaking into Marin’s home, but we need your testimony to establish a case for conspiracy to commit a crime. We will make sure you’ll be indicted for nothing. You will appear before an investigator judge, tell him everything that was already recorded, and can then leave Switzerland and Europe altogether.” He dialed his phone. “Can you come here?” he asked someone in his broken French. “A woman needs to give testimony on Ben David’s case.”
After hanging up, he turned back to Diana, as though the conversation was never interrupted. “Before the police arrive, I have a few more questions. Where did Muriel go that day you stalled my investigators?”
“I don’t know.”
He glared at her.
“I really don’t. Robert—I mean Attorney Darmond—asked if I could do it. I said I could easily do it, and he asked me to, and…” She fell silent.
“Is that all? You have nothing more to tell us?”
“Any information you give us will make it easier for us to get you off the hook,” Sally added. “And don’t worry about him. He’ll abandon you anyway.”
Diana laid her head and arms on the table and broke out sobbing. “I think they traveled together,” she said in a broken voice, “on the day she left Gstaad, he left Geneva. He traveled with her because he wanted her. I was never sure he really loved me.”
Outside the conference room, loud knocks could be heard on the locked office door. “I’ll open for them.” Jacob stood up and told Diana, “Think well if there isn’t anything else you’d like to add.”
There was nothing of the sort, or perhaps Diana preferred to remain quiet. Her face remained glued to the table, and her blond head of hair quivered. Two policewomen entered the room and held Diana’s arms. Diana said to Sally without turning her head, “You have no idea how lucky you are.”
“What did she mean?” Jacob said after Diana had gone.
Sally shrugged. “Who knows? Now tell me,” she said, wanting to change the subject, “how did you find the car rental slip and how did you persuade the Paris police to arrest Vivian Moyal?”
“I never saw the slip, nor did I reach Vivian Moyal.” He smiled. “Do you know what I did in the army?”
“No, you were already working for the Mossad when I met you.”
“I was a military police investigator. I learned a few tricks there.”
“I feel sorry for Diana,” Sally said.
“Are you crazy? She double-crossed you!”
“She’s a good woman searching for love and money, and Vivian Moyal entrapped her. Darmond is the real villain in this story. You should have heard him rant about the treacherous, thieving Jews when we met Attorney Ovadia. All the while, he was deceiving Pierre and betraying him. Then he put on a show, as though he were being threatened, and fled Israel, probably to scare me. Now I understand why he wanted to get the photos we took in Muriel’s apartment. I’m sure he would have handed them over to Ben David, who would have gone straight to the police. Now I also realize he told Ben David about the account Pierre was going to open for Muriel, and maybe even planned how to withdraw lots of money from it.”
“Wait, that’s only the beginning,” Jacob said. “Many things will become clearer in the coming days.” He collected his briefcase and Sally too collected her affairs. “Victory is sweet, isn’t it?” he suddenly asked.
She smiled. “Very, but if I know anything about Ben David, the story isn’t over yet.”
Part Three
54.
They sat side by side, silently. Darmond, wearing no tie, his hair disheveled, lowered his eyes. Ben David, on the other hand, was full of confidence, smiling defiantly at his surroundings. Cameras flashed. “Diana was wise to cooperate,” Jacob whispered to Sally. “Imagine if she was sitting here too, her photo splashed across the papers.”
Sally shrank back. “As long as they don’t photograph us.”
“Come on, relax. You’re seated in the fourth row, on the side. Do you really think someone will notice?”
Sally scanned the hall, which was entirely full. More and more people crowded near the entrance, waiting to get in. It seemed like everyone in Geneva wanted to witness the two swindlers who almost took down the billionaire Marin, leaping into to the newspaper and television broadcast headlines. Muriel’s name was absent from all the stories. On the day of the break-in, even before the police arrived at Ben David’s estate, she was rushed to a mental health institution in Lausanne, where she completely collapsed. Vivian Moyal was mentioned as a side story, as someone investigated by Paris police. She too, like Diana, agreed to serve as a state witness in the upcoming trial.
A side door opened and the investigator judge entered the hall. He was elderly, with a fatigued look, and Sally couldn’t help but think about the dozens or hundreds of criminals he’d judged. He read out the short list of indictments, and Darmond responded with long-winded, effusive phrases. The judge turned his gaze on Ben David, repeati
ng the same clauses. A bald, well-dressed man stood before the bench, replying for Ben David. “A lawyer?” Sally asked.
“Yes. From Paris. No Swiss lawyer would stand alongside someone who harmed Marin.”
“There are actually many unemployed lawyers in Geneva. Darmond’s entire firm. Marin sacked them the moment Diana signed the affidavit implicating Darmond as an accomplice to the activity against him.”
“Where is she now?” Jacob asked. “On the island she dreamed of?”
“Maybe.” Sally smiled.
“What do you mean by ‘maybe’? Yes or no?”
Sally wouldn’t answer.
“How much did you pay her?”
“Who told you I paid her?”
“I already know you. You’re obsessively generous.”
Sally laughed out loud. A few heads turned to look at her. She covered her mouth with her hand.
“I hope she doesn’t get into trouble again.”
“I think she learned her lesson.”
“There are people who never learn,” Jacob started, then went silent as Ben David’s lawyer ended his speech. The judge looked through the documents before him. The court was silent. A phone rang at the back of the hall, and the judge frowned as he surveyed the audience, beginning to speak into the microphone before him. “After hearing the response of the people brought before me today,” he said, “I believe they should be indicted on the charges mentioned in writing by the Geneva police. They are suspects and will remain under house arrest in the Canton of Geneva with an electronic bracelet ensuring they do not leave.”
“Commit to house arrest? Has Ben David ever stood up to a commitment?”
“I forgot to warn you. That’s what’s done here.”
“Don’t they have prisons?”
“They have a small prison in Champ-Dollon, not far from Geneva, where only prisoners considered a menace to society are kept.”
“Ben David is a con man and imposter—isn’t that considered dangerous?”
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