Cross Bones

by Kathy Reichs

  “I do and I don’t.”

  “I love a woman who knows her mind.”

  “I’ve always wanted to visit the Holy Land.”

  “Things are slow. Your lab wouldn’t implode if you disappeared for a week.”

  “What about the boys?” I swept a hand at Birdie and Charlie. “What if Katy needed me?”

  I felt instantly stupid. My daughter was twenty-four and a thousand miles away. And a short drive from her father.

  “Violence got you nervous?”

  “I’ve traveled to dicier places.”

  “Why not go?”

  I had no answer.

  * * *

  I was needed at the lab.

  Two kids found bones in a trunk in their uncle’s attic. Cold case! Call the cops!

  The bones were human. Female, white, thirty to forty years at the time of her death.

  Important detail. Every bone had been drilled with tiny holes. Some holes still sported wires.

  The knee bone’s connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone’s connected to the foot bone.

  You get the picture. Unc was a retired physician. The kids’ unknown was a teaching skeleton.

  My report was completed by 9:05.

  After lunch, my thoughts veered to Jake and his guarded mention of a major discovery. What discovery? And why such concern for Masada Max, as Ryan had taken to calling the skeleton? Max couldn’t possibly be Jesus. Max had been too old at the time of his death.

  Or too young. Wasn’t that the premise of the Joyce book?

  Both Jake and Blotnik had made reference to the James ossuary. Several Internet articles had mentioned it.

  Curious, I did some cyber-surfing.

  It yielded the following.

  An ossuary is a small stone casket.

  Ossuaries served an important function in Jewish burial in first-century Israel. The deceased were entombed and left to decay. One year later, their bones were collected and permanently interred in ossuaries.

  Thousands of ancient ossuaries have been discovered throughout Israel and Palestine. One can be purchased on the antiquities market for a few hundred dollars.

  The James ossuary is a first-century limestone box measuring approximately twenty inches in length. It is inscribed in Aramaic with the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

  When first reported in 2002, the James ossuary made a big splash. According to many, before its discovery, no evidence of Jesus existed outside written texts. The box was heralded as the first physical link to Jesus.

  Okay. That’s big.

  In 2003, an IAA authentication committee was formed. The committee declared the box legit, the inscription a forgery, based largely on oxygen isotope analysis of patina, an encrustation caused by surface oxidation.

  The finding led to controversy. Many experts disagreed, calling the committee’s work sloppy, its conclusions premature.

  Bottom line? No one disputes the age of the box. Some question the inscription, in whole or in part. Some accept the whole enchilada.

  Ryan came by at two. Resting a haunch on my desk, he raised his brows. I raised mine back.

  “Just for kicks I ran a check on your monastery. Address kicked out something interesting.”

  I leaned back in my chair.

  “Father André Gervais dimed the SQ post in Saint-Hyacinthe one week ago today.”

  “Gervais is a monk at l’Abbaye Sainte-Marie-des-Neiges?”

  Ryan nodded. “Seems the boys were edgy about a car with two male occupants parked inside their wall. Saint-Hyacinthe sent a cruiser to check it out.” Ryan paused for effect. “Both the driver and passenger were Palestinian nationals.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Nope. The other team.” Ryan checked a spiral pad. “Jamal Hasan Abu-Jarur. Muhammed Hazman Shalaideh. Car was a rental.”

  “What were they doing out there?”

  “Claimed they were sightseeing and got lost. Both men had valid passports. Names came up clean. The cop told them to move along.”

  “When was this?”

  “March first.”

  My scalp prickled.

  “Three days after my visit. One day before Morissonneau died.”

  “Could be coincidence.”

  “We’re running into a lot of those.”

  “Now for the good news.”

  “Groovy.”

  “Hershel Kaplan made fourteen trips to Israel in the two years prior to his last jolt in Bordeaux. Turns out Kaplan’s cousin to one of Jerusalem’s less fastidious antiquities dealers.”

  “Get out!”

  “Ira Friedman’s the Israel National Police major crimes dick I’ve been dealing with. Friedman worked Kaplan pretty hard, suggested they were looking at him for violations of the Antiquities Law, the Protection of Holy Places Law, the desecration of graves, the destruction of cultural resources, tax fraud, smuggling, trespass, the rape of the lock, the mutiny on the Bounty, the murder of Lesnitsky, the kidnapping of Rapunzel, the theft of the golden fleece, and the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

  “He said that?”

  “I’m paraphrasing. Friedman got Kaplan thinking seriously about his future. He also dropped my name, mentioned that Canada wanted to discuss the rubber content of some checks.”

  “Wily.”

  “Ploy worked. Kaplan’s developed an enormous interest in talking to the home folks.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Wants me, and only me.”

  “Man’s got good instincts.”

  Ryan smiled a smile as wide as the Chattahoochee. “Friedman wants me in Jerusalem. The brass okayed it.”

  “The SQ’s actually footing the bill?”

  “Amazing, eh? External affairs rolled it to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Mounties bumped it back to us. I’m lead investigator on the Ferris homicide, so I’m the lucky traveler.”

  “We’ll be in high demand in Israel,” I said.

  “Shall we oblige?” Ryan asked.

  “Hell, yeah.”

  18

  THERE’S ONE ADVANTAGE TO FLYING INTO A war zone. Seat availability.

  As I booked with Air Canada, Denis wrapped Masada Max and packed him into a hockey bag. Then I raced home to arrange cat and cockatiel care. Winston, my building’s custodian, agreed. I’d owe him a fifth of Crown Royal.

  I was stuffing a suitcase when Ryan buzzed. Zipping the lid, I dug a catnip mouse from my stash, tossed it to Birdie, and flew out the door.

  I have known Ryan for years and traveled with him on several occasions. The man has many fine qualities. Patience in airports is not among them.

  We took the 7 P.M. shuttle to Toronto, Ryan grousing all the way about premature departures and long layovers.

  He needn’t have worried. Our AC flight to Tel Aviv was operated by El Al, and security was tighter than Los Alamos in the forties. By the time we explained and reexplained the contents of my carry-on and its supporting documentation, cleared the panty-by-panty luggage check, and discussed our life histories and future aspirations in the personal interrogation session, it was after ten.

  Ryan used the few minutes left to sweet-talk the gate agent. Between giggles, the nice lady upgraded us to business class.

  We boarded on time. We departed on time. An aviation miracle.

  At cruising altitude, Ryan accepted his second champagne, and an in-air set of toothy smiles was exchanged.

  I have a routine on long international flights.

  Phase one. I drink the OJ and read until dinner.

  Phase two. I eat sparingly. I saw Airplane. I remember the bad fish.

  Phase three. I slap the DO NOT DISTURB sticker on my seat, lean back, and crank up as many movies as it takes to drop off.

  I followed my routine, starting with a guide to the Holy Land that Winston had produced. Don’t ask why. I’ve never known the man to travel outside Quebec.

  Ryan read James Joyce’s Dubliners and ate everything served. He was snoring b
y the opening credits of his first film.

  I lasted through Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, and the window-box scene in Arsenic and Old Lace. Somewhere around dawn I drifted off, but my mind never really disengaged.

  Or so I thought.

  When I opened my eyes an attendant was clearing Ryan’s meal tray.

  I raised my seat.

  “Sleep well, cupcake?”

  Ryan tried brushing hair from my cheek. It stuck. I broke the saliva bond and did a two-handed ear tuck.

  “Coffee?” Ryan flattened bangs that were reaching for the overheads.

  I nodded.

  Ryan waggled his mug at an attendant and pointed to me. I set up my tray. Coffee appeared on it.

  “Thanks, Audrey.”

  Audrey?

  “Pleasure, Detective.” Audrey’s smile left last night’s in the dental dust.

  Security at Ben-Gurion wasn’t as rigorous as it had been at Pearson. Maybe Ryan’s badge. Maybe the coroner’s detailed paperwork. Maybe confidence that if we’d had nitro in our blow-dryers they’d have found it by now.

  Exiting customs, I noticed a man wall-leaning ahead and to our left. He had shaggy hair and wore an argyle sweater, jeans, and sneakers. Except for bushy brows and a few more years, the man was a Gilligan double.

  Gilligan was following our progress.

  I elbowed Ryan.

  “I see him,” Ryan said, not breaking pace.

  “Guy looks like Gilligan.”

  Ryan looked at me.

  “Gilligan’s Island.”

  “I hated Gilligan’s Island.”

  “But you’re acquainted with the character.”

  “Except Ginger,” Ryan amended. “Ginger had talent.”

  Gilligan pushed from the wall, dropped his hands and spread his feet, making no attempt to mask his interest in us.

  When we drew within yards, Gilligan made his move.

  “Shalom.” The voice was deeper than you’d expect from a guy Gilligan’s size.

  “Shalom,” Ryan said.

  “Detective Ryan?”

  “Who’s asking?”

  “Ira Friedman.”

  Friedman stuck out a hand. Ryan shook it.

  “Welcome to Israel.”

  Ryan introduced me. I shook Friedman’s hand. The grip was more powerful than you’d expect from a guy Gilligan’s size.

  Friedman led us outside to a white Ford Escort illegally parked in a taxi zone. Ryan loaded the luggage, opened the front door and offered the passenger seat.

  Ryan’s six-two. I’m five-five. I opted for the back.

  I pushed aside papers, a manual of some kind, balled-up food wrappers, boots, a motorcycle helmet, a baseball cap, and a nylon jacket. There were French fries in the crack. I left them there.

  “Sorry about the car,” Friedman said.

  “No problem.” Brushing crumbs from the upholstery, I crawled in, wondering if declining Jake’s offer of airport pickup had been a mistake.

  As we drove, Friedman brought Ryan up-to-date.

  “Someone up your food chain contacted one of your external affairs guys, who contacted one of our senior police representatives for the U.S. and Canada. Seems your guy knew our guy at the consulate in New York.”

  “A personal touch can mean so much.”

  Friedman stole a sideways glance, obviously unfamiliar with Ryan’s sense of humor. “Our guy in New York sent paper to the International Relations Unit at national headquarters here in Jerusalem. IRU bounced the request down to major crimes. I caught it.”

  Friedman merged onto Highway 1.

  “Normally this kind of request goes nowhere. We’d have nothing to ask your suspect, no knowledge of the crime. That’s assuming we could even find him. Once a tourist enters the country, he’s pretty much invisible. If we did locate him, legally he could refuse to talk to us.”

  “But Kaplan was kind enough to palm a choker,” Ryan said.

  “Herodian shekel on a gold chain.” Friedman snorted. “Dumb ass. Thing wasn’t even real.”

  “How long can you hold him?”

  “Twenty-four hours, and we’ve already eaten that. I can push it to forty-eight with some fancy talking. Then it’s charge him or kick him.”

  “Will the shopkeeper press charges?”

  Friedman shrugged. “Who knows? Guy got his coin back. But if Kaplan walks, I’ll keep him on a very short leash.”

  Now and then Friedman would glance in the rearview. Our eyes would meet. We’d both smile.

  Between rounds of collegiality, I tried taking in the landscape. I knew from Winston’s book that the route from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was taking us from the coastal plain, through the Shephelah, or lowlands, into the Judean hill country, and up into the mountains.

  Night had fallen. I couldn’t see much.

  We rounded curve after curve, then suddenly Jerusalem was twinkling before us. A vanilla-wafer moon grazed the top of the Temple Mount, lighting the Old City with an amber glow.

  I’ve observed few scenes that triggered a physical reaction. Haleakala volcano at dawn. The Taj Mahal at sunset. The Masai Mara during wildebeest migration.

  Moonlit Jerusalem stopped my breath. Friedman picked up on it, and our eyes met again.

  “Awesome, isn’t it?”

  I nodded in the dark.

  “Lived here fifteen years. I still get goose bumps.”

  I wasn’t listening. My mind was shanking up images. Suicide bombers. Christmas pageants. West Bank settlements. Catechism classes at my old parish church. Newsreel scenes of angry young men.

  Israel is a place where the wonder of the past slams daily into the bitter reality of the present. Driving through the night, I couldn’t take my eyes from the ancient settlement forever and always at the center of it all.

  A quarter hour after first seeing Jerusalem, we were in the city. Cars lined the curbs, bumper sniffing bumper, like dogs in some frozen canine parade. Vehicles crammed the streets. Pedestrians thronged the walks, women in hijab or full burka, men in black hats, teens in Levi 501’s.

  How like Quebec, I thought, with its constant clash of religion, language, and culture. French and English. The two solitudes. In Jerusalem the ante was upped to three. Muslim beside Christian beside Jew, all separate.

  I lowered my window.

  The air was packed with smells. Cement. Exhaust. Whiffs of flowers, spices, garbage, cooking grease.

  I listened to the familiar city-night jazz. Car horns. Traffic humming on an overpass. The sound of a piano slipping from an open door. It was the melody of a thousand urban centers.

  Ryan had booked us into the American Colony, a Turkish-style manse-turned-hotel in East Jerusalem. His thinking: Arab sector, no bombs.

  Friedman turned from the Nablus Road into a circle drive bordered by flowers and palms. Passing a small antiquities shop, he looped around and stopped under a vine-draped portico.

  Friedman alighted and retrieved our suitcases.

  “Hungry?”

  Two nods.

  “I’ll be in the bar.” Friedman slammed the trunk. “Lower level.”

  Ryan’s choice was a good one. The American Colony was all antiques, chandeliers, hanging tapestries, and hammered bronze. The floors were polished stone. The windows and doorways were arched, and the floor plan centered on a flower-filled courtyard.

  Everything but the pasha himself.

  We were expected. Check-in was quick.

  As Ryan asked a few questions, I scanned names engraved on small marble wall plaques. Saul Bellow. John Steinbeck. Jimmy Carter. Winston Churchill. Jane Fonda. Giorgio Armani.

  My room was everything the lobby promised. Mirrored armoire. Carved writing desk. Persian carpet. Bathroom aglow with gold gilt mirrors and black-and-white tile.

  I wanted to shower and crawl into the four-poster. Instead, I brushed teeth and hair, changed, and hurried downstairs.

  Ryan and Friedman were already seated at a low table in one of the alcoves. Each h
ad a bottle of Taybeh beer.

  Friedman signaled a waiter.

  I ordered Perrier and an Arabic salad. Ryan went with spaghetti.

  “This hotel is beautiful,” I said.

  “The place was built by some fat-cat Arab around 1860. Forget his name. Room one was his. The other downstairs rooms were his wives’ summer digs, and in the winter, the ladies moved up a floor. The guy was hot for a son, but no one obliged, so he married a fourth time, and built two more rooms. The new bride disappointed him, too, so he died.”

  Friedman sipped his beer.

  “In 1873, a big-bucks Chicago attorney named Horatio Spafford sent his wife and four daughters off on a European vacation. The ship sank and only Mama survived.” Another sip.

  “Couple years, couple more daughters. Then the Spaffords lost a son. They were real religious, members of some church organization, so they decided to seek consolation in the Holy Land. In 1881 they came and settled with friends in the Old City. The group became known as the American Colony, and developed quite a reputation for helping the poor.

  “Long story short, others joined and the group outgrew its digs. The Spaffords rented, then eventually bought this place. Ever hear of Peter Ustinov?”

  Ryan and I nodded.

  “In 1902 Peter’s granddaddy started sending visitors here from a hotel he owned up in Jaffa. Became the American Colony Hostel, later Hotel. The place has survived four wars and four regimes.”

  “The Turks, the Brits, the Jordanians, and the Israelis,” I guessed.

  “Bingo. But you’re not here for a history lesson. Why’s this toad Kaplan such a hot property in Canada?”

  Ryan filled Friedman in on the Ferris investigation.

  “Big leap from bad paper to homicide,” Friedman said.

  “Jumbo,” Ryan agreed. “But the widow’s got a history with Kaplan.”

  “Which she failed to mention,” Friedman said.

  “She did,” Ryan said.

  “And Kaplan fled the country.”

  “He did.”

  “Widow stands to collect four million,” Friedman said.

  “She does.”

  “Four million’s a lot of motivation.”

  “Nothing gets by you,” Ryan said.

  “You’d like to chat with Mr. Kaplan?”

  “At his earliest convenience.”

  “First thing in the morning?”