Vanished Without A Trace

by Nava Dijkstra

  "A month," Matthew replied instantly.

  "I'm willing to pay for additional personnel if necessary. One month is too long."

  Matthew did not like Alon’s response. "Why are you in a hurry? You do not even know what you're looking for. I have to think about how I will draw the information, perhaps through someone who would enter the company with false identity, or a hacker, or anything else. It takes time."

  "Why a hacker? It is not classified information. We are not looking for the future plans of the company. It’s all about material that anyone who knows how to use the computer can access."

  "Wait," Matthew interrupted, "Are you not interested with such material? I thought it should interest you the most."

  "At this stage no," Alon said.

  “Okay, so I will probably deliver you the report next week. It’s good that we clarified this point.”

  After a week, the information was sent to Alon’s computer. There were two hundred pages describing the thirty years of the company’s enterprise in the United States, two hundred pages that separated him from Natalie. He needed once again to delay his pursuit with Natalie who, somehow, treated his presence at home as poisonous air and never stopped harassing him for every little thing. If he didn’t take himself into his own hands and strike the target, she might leave the apartment. Who knows if she had already left?

  He dialed her cell phone without hiding his identity, and she did not answer. He decided flowers could represent his good intentions, at least until he was finished reading the report and could aim for a more energetic courtship. He called the secretary, asked her to send flowers to Natalie and dictated a note of greeting to write. Then he turned to the report and began reading the first page.

  The company was founded in 1975 as a communications and electrical goods company. Since its establishment, it was already one of the ten major companies in the United States. Moshe Kowalski appointed his son as a manager of the company. He was considered as a child prodigy and the most desirable match in America.

  In 1976 he married an American girl who he met in an electronics exhibit who was the only daughter of a businessman, who also owned a large company in the field of communications. The father died a year later, and Naor absorbed the two companies. The merger placed the company as the third largest in the United States. A year after the merger and after the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military conducted a large bidding process on optical and electronic devices for the military, whose leaders planned to spend a fortune to improve advanced fighting machines. The bidding war was constituted of a number of companies, and the last two that were left in the race was Naor’s company and the Electrosky Company, the largest company in the United States. It was about a lot of money, and the Electrosky Company, owned by David Fisher, was ahead. During the negotiations with the military, the Electrosky Company decided to give up the bidding, and the job fell like a ripe fruit into the hands of Naor. He was not a tycoon like David Fisher, but he was definitely on the right path.

  Alon was impressed with the fortune that landed to the company. If, in the first page of two hundred, he was merging with big companies and winning bidding wars, what would happen in the additional one hundred and ninety nine pages?

  He read a hundred pages and found nothing problematic or suspicious. He glanced at the clock. It was four o'clock in the morning and he retired to sleep.

  Throughout the week he read the report again and again, but he did not find any new information that could help him. The week when he had hoped to uncover some details in the report and take them out from a dead end, passed by.

  He felt defeated when he entered Gideon's office. "I read two hundred pages and there was not a single detail could lead us to a solution. Enough, Gideon, we have to give up and admit the truth, we want to get onto something big, but all we have are two mere speculations, and nothing more. You can’t establish a murder case with this."

  Gideon pursed his lips, "It’s hard for me to give up."

  "We have no choice. Let's assume Julia was murdered and she took the truth with her, and Daniel is indeed the grandson of Kowalski. This is not what Daniel wanted, but it is the reality."

  It was evident Gideon was not satisfied. "It’s the first time in my life such a thing happened to me, that I see something suspicious, but I couldn’t prove it."

  "What can we do, the case is stuck. It’s been a month and a half and there is no development. We thought we would find something from Matthew’s documents, but nothing. Honestly, I started to pay a price in my private life, and so are you, I think. We will bury our lives for the search of a body that has already been buried."

  "But if we leave this case, it will leave us with a bad reputation, something will harm our professional ego." Gideon said.

  Alon had to admit he also felt the same way. The dead end on one side and the big budget for the investigation on the other side caused him a burning sense of failure.

  "It frightens me," Gideon said, "As we close the case due to lack of information, Amos will dig on his own and might eventually find out the truth. Believe me, he does not sit on the fence. While we are talking here, he is already in a hurry for a scoop, and the funniest is that, he tried to tell me I’m not okay, that I do not trust him, he will not publish anything, and reminded me of what I had forgotten from the army, of how much he helped me when I needed him. Well, let's move to something else which is not less important. It's time to keep you posted on something I decided a few weeks ago." Gideon asked the secretary not to transfer calls and for no interruptions until further notice. Then he began and said, "Alon, your contribution to the office in recent years was huge. I’m aware of this and see how you work and invest yourself. You do not neglect the work even if you have personal problems. The case we have is very complicated but you never gave up, which is a very important thing, to reach a point where there is no way out and yet again you reshuffled the cards and tried to find some information would illuminate the case. This feature brought me to a familiar office in Israel. Look, I’m not getting any younger from day to day. I'm getting older. I can no longer sit on the papers and examine them just like before. I admit much of the burden falls on you, so I wanted to offer you a partnership in the business. Fifty percent for a nominal fee on your part." Gideon saw the shock in Alon’s face.

  "I do not know what to say," Alon said, "I won’t let you down. Believe me, our office will make more money, so you won’t even feel the fifty percent will be passed to me," Alon said, excited.

  Gideon stood up and patted his shoulder. "I have enough. It is time to enjoy life a little bit. I worked for twenty-five years in the police. I've been in this business for almost fifteen years. I won’t lose fifty- percent; but rather I will earn fifty percent of my life. I'll let you manage the business and give myself more vacations."

  "You will not regret..." The secretary passed on, an important call from Amos, and interrupted Alon. He listened to the conversation between Gideon and Amos for several long minutes. Gideon finished the conversation with a pale face "It was Amos. He wanted to publish Kowalski has an illegitimate child."

  "Yes, I understand from your conversation that your wife told him."

  "It was not exactly like that, though I expected my wife to be more careful. She had breakfast with Amos' wife in their house. Amos joined them and had a conversation with my wife about the case and he gave her the impression he was involved with all the details of the case. He told her about the article he wrote in the newspaper about Kowalski and about the body that I was looking for. In short, my wife figured he knew about the case and told him what happened. She revealed everything to him, things he didn’t know."

  Alon was silent, shocked. He did not like the idea that he worked hard to get the information that someone else will just get on a silver platter. "What do you think he'll do with it?"

  "Look, he won’t publish until he have concrete evidence otherwise he can be charged with libel, but it scares me he is so close
and trying in any way to draw the true story from me. He is pressing too much."

  "Actually, we don’t have too much to worry about. We are closing the case, right?"

  "I don’t know, are you sure?" Gideon asked, hoping for something to save him from defeat.

  Alon nodded.

  "If so, we need to prepare the report for Karina. You know she gave us a handsome amount of money. We need to give her back most of it. So, prepare a good report so we can also gain something from this case. Detail everything. Prepare a thick portfolio. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to pick a fight with my wife."

  Alon was also thinking about the trouble was waiting for him with Natalie, who was much more difficult to connect with. He preferred to go home before Natalie arrived, so he would save himself from negotiations. When she arrived at five he was already laying on the sofa, as if he had been there forever, pretending to be asleep. She in turn had kept quiet. It’s better, he thought. She seemed to be pleasant and considerate, but a few minutes later he heard the five o’clock news blasting loudly. She sat on the couch in front of the TV, with a sandwich in her hand, ignoring him completely.

  He got up and made a sandwich too. "Want some coffee?" He asked.

  "Say one more word and you will be out of here."

  "And two words?"

  She got up from the couch and went to the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

  40

  Daniel sat on the deck, happy with the new yacht he purchased from a tourist who arrived at the Marina in Constanza. The guy agreed to sell it at a bargain price because he was supposed to return to Turkey and leave the boat there for sale. He had been trying to sell it for two years, but he failed, so when he realized Daniel was serious, he agreed to go lower with the price and get rid of it. It was a motor yacht that sails at a speed of ten knots. Daniel preferred a motor yacht over a sailboat. Although the sailboat sails quietly, it demands a lot of work. Motor yachts, on the other hand, were like cars – power on and go. The relatively slow speed did not bother him. The yacht was faster than the sailboat, so it was perfect for him. The design was more impressive than any other yacht he saw of the same size. The sophisticated interior design was made of wood. At the entrance was a spacious living room equipped with all kinds of appliances. On the left was a large bedroom. Across the room were a bath tub and a shower. The bathroom was quite a significant addition to a yacht of this size. On the right side of the living room was a huge kitchen with three steps leading to it. On the right, stood the sink, refrigerator and stove, and on the other side of the kitchen was a dining table for six diners. In the bow of the yacht were another spacious room and additional toilets and showers.

  Since he purchased the yacht, Daniel made a habit to stay in it during the summer weekends. On Saturday night, he sailed with Alexander and Mikhail for fishing until Sunday morning, and after dividing among them the variety of fish, they went home and he sat comfortably while reading a book. Once in a while he thought of Karina. She was a wonderful woman, and sexy too. Is this a feeling of love he had for Karina? He didn’t know. He longed for her, this was sure. But in love with her? At the moment he was not even sure if he ever loved Neta.

  He returned to his apartment at eight o'clock in the evening, picked up his mail from the mailbox and went up to his apartment. He quickly flipped through the mail and a decorative envelope caught his attention. It was an invitation to the wedding of Odi and Karina. The wedding was scheduled to take place in three weeks. Daniel was clear on the fact he was not going to the wedding. He looked at the invitation again, 'stupid', he thought about Karina as he threw the envelope in the trash.

  He did not look at the rest of the mail. The announcement of the marriage has struck him, not to mention it was on such short notice. Until this day, he still believed Karina somehow would find time to come to him. After all, he knew she was in love with him. He didn’t sleep all night. In the morning, he woke up, and realized he wanted Karina. That he wanted to live his life with her. And the fact Odi took her away from him caused him to feel even more frustrated.

  The hard weekend influenced the beginning of the week. His secretary noticed the change in his mood. Usually, his mood was never visible. He always seemed calm and always treated her well, but this morning she saw something listless in his face. She entered into his office, served him a cup of coffee as she usually did every morning and found him standing by the window, staring outside. When he heard the door open, he looked at her and thanked her. But she stood by the table, stretching her fingers. "Are you okay? You look tired," she asked, worriedly.

  "Thanks for your concern. I feel fine. It’s just lack of sleep."

  Daniel couldn’t understand why he did not pay attention to Karina. She did everything for him in order to show how much she wanted him. Her look of admiration, compliments, her support for him and even her weakness whenever she was near him, all these would be enough to stimulate him, but he was too focused on himself, on building the company and on getting revenge on his grandfather. He took the keys from the table and went to Alexander’s bar, where he found Mikhail sitting at the bar. "Give me some vodka," he asked from Alexander.

  "No!" Alexander refused when he saw Daniel in a depressed mood. "Here, you drink just for fun and not for sorrow."

  "One small glass," Daniel asked.

  Alexander poured him a glass.

  "Would you like to share it with me?" Mikhail asked.

  "Karina is getting married."

  "So?" Mikhail asked.

  "I don’t know. It made me sick."

  "I told you, you are in love with her," Mikhail reminded him.

  "But what could I do, she was always with Odi." Daniel said.

  "Come on, Odi has nothing to do with the subject. Odi is just the air beside you".

  "Odi is the air that she is going to marry, may I remind you." Daniel said.

  "Unpredictable women!" exclaimed Mikhail, who really could not find an explanation for this, because he knew with absolute certainty Karina was crazy about Daniel from the moment she decided to invest in the company, to the small moments of excitement were visible whenever he was around her. "Maybe you should talk to her." Mikhail suggested.

  "She is not answering my calls anymore. It’s already been a month.

  "Then go to her." Mikhail again suggested.

  "It’s too late for that." He motioned Alexander to give him another drink. Alexander looked at Mikhail for consultation and he agreed. Daniel emptied the glass at once. "I'll go and sit on the yacht, it might calm me." He got up to leave and suddenly realized while he was so absorbed in his depression he hadn’t noticed Sultana was not around. "Where's Solly?" He asked.

  "She might be late today, I guess." Alexander said.

  "Is it usual for her?" Daniel asked with a sound of concern in his voice.

  "No, but it’s not bad, it’s barely half an hour late and there aren’t a lot of customers yet."

  "I’m not worried about you, I'm worried about her," Daniel said seriously. "I’d better go check on her, maybe she's sick."

  He knocked at her door, but Sultana did not answer and did not open the door. When he pulled the lever of the door, it was unlocked. He began to get scared. He quickly entered her room and found her lying on the floor. She looked at him helplessly and motionless covered with blood, but still breathing heavily. The room was a mess. Daniel realized they probably beat her and robbed her.

  He looked at her, shocked, and then lifted her in his arms, trying to calm her. "Don’t worry, everything will be fine, Solly." He drove so fast to the hospital. He held her hand all the way with his one hand and the other was holding the steering wheel. He never stopped talking to her so she would stay conscious.

  When he reached the hospital, she was immediately brought to the intensive care unit. An hour later, the doctor came out and told Daniel that her situation was critical and she will not get through the day. She lost a lot of blood for hours, probably from the blow to the
head with an iron bar.

  Daniel cursed himself... while sitting at home, full of self-pity, she was attacked violently, suffering from pain and bleeding. He swallowed, and tried hard not to cry. Tears choked him. "I want to sit next to her in her last moments," he told the doctor.

  "It's unnecessary. She can’t recognize anyone anymore. Her brain is dead," the doctor said.

  "I still want to be with her." When the doctor left the room, Daniel allowed himself to release the tears that choked him. He clasped her hands in his hands. "Solly, you are strong, you can’t go. You know how much I need you... I can’t lose you…" He looked at her and continued talking, constantly stroking her forehead and her hands. "I'm here, you are not alone. Fight! You are a strong woman. Wake up!"

  He recalled the days when he was living with her, and how much she encouraged him with her words. Now he realized how important it was for a man to be with her at home. He couldn’t stop thinking about his irresponsibility towards her, that he didn’t protect her. For him, she was more important than his mother.

  At eight o'clock, the life support machine stopped working. Daniel lost Solly. He was in agony. This was incomparable to any pain he felt before. The thought she survived long after the robbers left, tormented him and gave him no peace.

  He remembered the look in her eyes when he arrived in her house. She was conscious, he was sure of it. He wanted to believe he gave her a moment of joy; he was with her in her final moments. That he, somehow, had arrived.

  He closed his eyes, squeezing the tears that gathered in them. "I don’t remember how it feels to have a mother, but what I feel now is definitely the feeling of a son towards losing his mother," that’s how he parted from her.

  41

  Although Alon said there was no point in continuing the investigation, he had a hard time admitting failure, especially after learning Amos could succeed in a place where they had failed. Failure is hard, but when someone else can solve the mystery for you... It is too much. It happens, Alon thought, he would leave his profession and go find a hole in a remote place. Alon appreciates successful people as long as they deal with their issues, but for him, in his own backyard, there was only one winner.