Haunted Blood

by Elik Katzav

  “Great idea,” she raises an eyebrow and smiles. “We’ll identify a search area and put out an APB.”

  She collects everything back into the case file and closes it.

  The second before we part and go our separate ways, she looks at me and tightens her lips.

  “One more thing. I’m not sure it’s important, but, the body, the fish, the fruit, and the circle—they were there for at least a few hours before they were found.”

  She pauses for a moment and considers what she just told me.

  “It’s very strange. The whole time, the body and everything around it were just sitting there in the middle of the woods, without a single animal getting close—and I mean any creature, not even bugs. Not a single ant was found inside the parameter of that circle. No one but us dared to get close.”

  Chapter 6

  On my way back to Florentin, Rose texts me that she was able to restore another part of Idan’s PC. She emails me the stuff she recovered.

  Great, I think to myself, now we’re gonna find out what he was trying so hard to hide when he formatted the hard drive. This is sure to help us locate him.

  My soaring expectations could not be dashed more quickly… I use the internet café to check the email from Rose. She sent some stuff over, a reconstruction of a few dozen links from Idan’s browsing history. Looks like a dead end.

  ‘These are links that were searched for on numerous occasions over the past month, which made it easier for me to trace them,’ Rose explains in her email.

  I follow these links to places that no longer exist in the World Wide Web… They must be broken, I think hard as I see one leading to YouTube. Let’s try my luck. I delete the file name in order to arrive at the clip maker’s page. It’s working: a channel that covers politicians. Right, exactly what a sixteen-year-old boy would look up to pass the time.

  I go over the clips. None of them has had many viewers, so I let go of this lead.

  The next link is even stranger. Of all places, it lands me at the Q&A page of this ALS forum.

  I frown and pull my phone out once again.

  - Hi, Michal, is anyone in your family suffering from ALS?

  I am having second thoughts the second after I hit send. Surely there are more delicate ways to broach the subject.

  Michal replies within one minute. “What? ALS? The degenerative muscle disease? No, we have nothing to do with it.”

  - Thank you.

  “Did something happen to Idan? Do you think he has ALS???”

  - No, it’s just something he read up on over the past few weeks, so I thought there might be a connection.

  “There’s no connection, and I have no idea why he would read about this subject. Please keep me posted when you do find the connection.”

  Great, now you’ve made the woman looking for her son even more anxious and stressed. Great job...

  I hit backspace to the link for that political website. Something there caught my eye as I was going through the list of clips. I zap between them until I find it, an interview with Eldad Ben Ya’ar, another businessman who had made millions cashing in on his hi-tech company, after which he decided to get into politics. Nevertheless, his story is different, so this is where I pause. The description of the clip says he’s now retired from politics. It’s a few years old now. He announced his retirement a few years ago, after finding out he had ALS.

  I take my time to watch the video in full.

  A couple sits at the table next to mine. The man casually throws his cigarettes on the table, glances in my direction and freezes.

  “Hey man, is everything ok? You look like you were in a fight.”

  The woman he’s with pulls him back. “Check out the way he’s dressed, what are you even talking to him for?” She whispers loudly enough.

  I stare in their direction and then at myself. My shirt still has blood stains. I look like I got out of a car accident.

  - I’m fine, tripped on a table.

  Then, I ask him:

  - May I have a cigarette?

  “Sure, here you go,” he tosses the box over to me.

  I quickly grab hold of three, secure them in my shirt pocket and toss the box back to him.

  - Thanks!

  “No prob! Need a light?”

  - What do I need a light for?

  “To light one of the cigarettes you just borrowed from me?” He sounds stunned for a second.

  - Uh. Well, I can’t afford to smoke just for the hell of it at today’s prices. I save them for the night, when all the demons come out and I can’t get to sleep. They calm me down.

  “OK, suit yourself,” he nods and has this funny look on as he turns back to his table, pushing his chair further away from me.

  I resume my viewing. This clip is part of a news program dated two years ago. I hit play and see Eldad Ben Ya’ar again, giving a press conference. This was already after his reelection to the Israeli Parliament. Second term as Knesset Member, I remember it now. He announced his retirement from public life, citing he was diagnosed with ALS. Very impassioned, he tells the press about the road he has taken and how sorry he was for not being able to serve the country, adding that despite it all, he will fight, like he always did throughout his life, that he wasn’t going to succumb to the disease, he’ll find a way to beat it and raise public awareness of it for as long as he’s got.

  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I couldn’t be more willing to beat this.” Those were his concluding words at this short press conference.

  I continue to flick through the clips. Nothing else stands out. I note the details in my notepad and glance at the links I still have left from Rose’s email.

  The last chunk of links related to forums and news sites of an online multiplayer game Idan was apparently very in to. Another idea occurs to me, so I text Michal again.

  - Idan played online, right? Is it possible he was playing with any of his classmates?

  She responds a few seconds later.

  “Yes, but not just kids from his class. He was part of a group of friends playing online on their PCs and PlayStations.

  - Could you please set me up to meet them? I know school is out for the summer and everything, but please tell them you need their help tracing Idan, so they’re sure to come.

  “Let me check and get back to you.”

  If there’s anyone you share everything with, it’s your friends, not your parents. It’s so typical of their age, so that’s what I’m counting on.

  Chapter 7

  The morning continues as lamely as it started. The pain from the beating I took still hasn’t subsided and the swelling is just beginning when Michal texts me to say she could not put together a meeting with the kids Idan was playing online games with, because their parents won’t allow it.

  “The parents,” she texts me, “are concerned that in case their kids are involved in this story, it could mean a criminal record and future trouble.”

  Seriously? Speaking with a PI is gonna scar your kids’ delicate soul? Didn’t you already pass the point where you’d let bad things happen to one kid just to save a little discomfort from your own? Where’s your concern for others? I am willing to bet Michal was friends with them, and now they’re turning their back on her, and on Idan.

  I swear to myself and text her back.

  - Do you know where they meet when they hang out? A playground? Some football field or basketball court? A place I could maybe wait for them at?

  “They play basketball at the school in the mornings, before the heat drives them back home.”

  She texts me the details of Idan’s friends again.

  - Thanks, I’ll take it from here.

  The roads are pretty empty by this time, most of the people having gone to work by now, so I reach Hod Hasharon before eleven in the morning
. A short stroll through the neighborhood reveals the empty school, deserted but for a group of kids playing basketball. Typical school break for them.

  I get closer and see a group of teenagers are playing basketball on one half of the court. Three against two.

  Despite the disparity, the smaller team scores more. One of the two is a better player than the rest of them, so he evens the difference.

  I call out to him, guessing his name by the details Michal had sent me.

  - Koren?

  He stops, still holding the ball, and looks in my direction. A boy from the other team takes advantage of his short lack of concentration and snatches the ball.

  “What are you doing?” Koren shouts at him. “Can’t you see I’m talking to someone here?

  “I can see you’re staring at this guy, not talking with him,” the blond boy replies, stands, throws the ball and misses.

  “He can’t play and talk at the same time, you know that,” another, younger looking boy says as he grabs the ball, shoots, and scores. He smiles.

  “Doesn’t count,” Koren gives them an angry look. “I wasn’t playing, so it doesn’t count.”

  “So who’s your buddy?” asks the blond guy who stole the ball.

  “Dunno,” Koren is examining me at a distance.

  “So go ask, could be the NBA scout coming to recruit you,” says blondie, and the rest of the kids all laugh.

  I stand in the shade as Koren approaches.

  “What happened to your face? You look like you’re bleeding. Are you from the NBA?” he asks, worried.

  - Yeah, I had an encounter with the corner of a table, and no, I’m not from the NBA. I am a private investigator trying to locate Idan. I understand that you and a few other boys were best friends of his.

  “Some table!” he scratches his sweaty head. “Me, Naveh and Ohad here,” he points to the other boys, who had resumed the match without him.

  “We used to play online games and all sorts of other stuff together, along with Idan.”

  - Excellent. Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?

  “Uh, I don’t know. Don’t I have to ask my parents for permission or somethin’?”

  “Hey, Koren,” says the boy Koren pointed out to me as Naveh, “Are you joining in or is the contract they’re offering you so good you gotta leave right now?”

  “Shut up already! He’s not from the NBA,” Koren shouts at him. “He’s a private investigator who wants to talk to me about Idan.”

  - To be honest, I would like you, Naveh, as well as your brother, Ohad, to join in on our conversation. I understand that you two were also close friends with Idan.

  Ohad, the younger boy, walks over to Naveh and whispers with him for a few seconds, after which he runs towards me. Naveh shrugs and hands the ball over to the other boys. “Continue without us. We’ll be right back.”

  I begin as soon as Naveh joins us.

  - So, if I understand correctly, Koren and Naveh are in the same class as Idan?

  Koren is scratching his head. “Yeah,” he says eventually. “We’ve been hanging out together since first grade, I think,” he looks to Naveh for approval.

  Naveh nods. “Something like that.”

  - So Idan didn’t join your basketball games?

  “No,” Koren laughs, “he was never into sports too much.”

  “Unless it had anything to do with a joystick,” Naveh adds, as he pushes Koren, who was leaning backwards against him. Naveh then says, “If our PE lessons included PlayStation sports he would be sure to get straight A’s.”

  “Sure,” Ohad joins the conversation from the sidelines, “because playing against you sure took a great deal of effort… to stoop to your level, that is,” he grins sardonically.

  Koren turns to Naveh and tells him, “Your brother is trying to be funny again. Tell him this still isn’t working out for him.”

  I attempt to regain my control of the conversation.

  - So you used to play a lot of PlayStation games?”

  “Yeah, when it got too hot or too cold to go outside, or in the evening-” Naveh replies, but Koren interjects and says:

  “Or whenever I didn’t have basketball practice.”

  - So you used to hang out together quite a bit?

  Koren and Naveh exchange glances and nod.

  “Yeah, you can say that,” Koren confirms. He then points at Ohad and adds, “He would always crash and push his way in.”

  “Bullshit,” Ohad leans against the wall behind him. “You could never play two against two without me. Besides, me and Idan always beat you two so called jocks.”

  He then continues, “we used to meet at Idan’s place or at our own home to play, because Koren doesn’t have a PlayStation, he’s got a Wii, which his mom says is enough, so she won’t buy him a new console.”

  Koren turns to him and gives him this menacing look, “How many times have I told you not to make fun of my mother?”

  “And how many times will you use your mom as an excuse for that you’re not as good a player as me?” Ohad rebuts.

  “Ha!” Koren laughs and turns over to me. “He’s got a PlayStation at home, so he practices every day, which makes him believe he is naturally better than me. It’s the practice that gives him a leg up. The first time we played World of Warcraft on a level field, I sure showed him who was the better player!”

  He proceeds to elaborate.

  “When we began playing together online, we all played on the same team and got ahead as one outfit, with each member having his own role. Idan was the warlock, Naveh was the shaman, Ohad was the warrior and I was the paladin, every time Ohad, the strongest competitor,” he says in a dismissive tone, “would try-”

  - Wait, what’s paladin?

  I feel old, but I gotta know.

  “Oh, a paladin is a warrior for justice, a kinda character that fights as well as heals,” Koren sounds amused he has to explain the game to this know-nothing oldie.

  “Whenever he tried to get into a duel with me, he would always lose,” Koren turns back to Ohad, and continues in his snickering tone: “the only time he ever beat me in a match was when I had to go. I was forced to leave in the middle and pick my baby sister up from preschool and left my PC running. That was the only time he ever had me beat.”

  “That’s because your character is shit,” Ohad asserts. “You always play cheaters.”

  “So? Your superior gaming skills are supposed to give you an edge over cheaters, right?”

  I have to cut this war of egos short. This gets us nowhere.

  - One moment, you’re playing this online game? Only the four of you?

  “No,” Naveh replies. “It’s an open world where you meet people and talk to them, people from all over Europe, cuz we’re playing on a European server,” he smiles. “That’s how we got mom to pay the monthly bill, we told her it’s for practicing our English, both verbal and written.”

  - So you use earphones? Do you chat online?

  “Yes, we were using a server that allowed us all to surf together for a joint chat, mainly for coordination before raids, which meant having to organize.”

  - Raid?

  “Yeah, a raid is a meetup of a large group of gamers fighting a powerful in-game monster. We all have to cooperate and synchronize our actions,” Koren answers me, acting as an ad-hoc guide for old fogies.

  “When it’s just us, we talk on Skype,” Ohad adds. “It’s simpler. You could hear Naveh, even through my own speaker, shouting when he had to heal Koren and Koren would get us in trouble.

  “That’s not true!” Koren turns to Ohad and clenches his fist, in a gesture that says, ‘Watch it! You’ll get one of these if you’re not careful!’

  “Just because you think you cannot die, you allow yourself to pull all sorts of bullshit! Tell him
I’m right, Naveh,” Koren continued.

  Naveh rolls his eyes as he looks at the both of them. “Koren, how many times have we had this discussion, eh? This favorite stunt of yours, to stand in the way of fire, is seriously cutting into my ability to keep you alive.”

  I use this momentary lull in their squabbling to keep up with my questions.

  - And were there also any specific people you played against on a regular basis, besides the four of you?

  “Yes, listen, we’re part of this European Guild,” Naveh responds.

  “-Jew haters the lot of them,” Koren cannot help cutting into his answer.

  Naveh ignores him and continues, “There were lots of things, events, going on as part of the guild, which we took part in. We’ve been playing with the same gamers for nearly a year now, almost from the time we began playing together.”

  - And there aren’t any other Israelis in the guild with you?

  “One, Tzarina,” Ohad answers, weighing each word, watching his brother. “She joined a few months ago. She came over from a different server, she was looking for a guild with Israeli gamers.”

  - Hmmm, and how did you know Tzarina was a she?

  “She spoke with us on Skype,” Naveh replies immediately.

  “That was funny,” Koren reiterates. “I knew she was a girl right off the bat, because she played a huntress and animal gatherer, and also because she was a lousy gamer.”

  - So you spoke with her? Tzarina, her gamer name, do you know her name in real life?

  “Yeah, her name was Lynn, I guess,” Ohad shrugs, “I didn’t speak with her all that much.”

  Koren turns and laughs, “but of course, every time she would go online on Skype, Ohad would disappear, like the cat got his tongue,” he laughs.

  Naveh joins the laughter as Ohad turns bright red.

  “Idan certainly knew her name,” Naveh continues, “he spoke with her quite a lot on Skype even when we weren’t there. She wasn’t a good gamer,” he reiterates, “but hey, she was a fellow Israeli and we always play together and stick together and help each other out. It’s like an unwritten law, Israelis are there for one another,” he snickers.