Fire in a Haystack: A Thrilling Novel

by Erez Aharoni

  Just then, the elevator door opened.

  From the elevator came an athletic young man, dressed in a white shirt, his spiky hair stiff with wax. Like all the hotel employees, he had a name tag on his chest, detailing his name and function—“Yoni, Hotel Security Officer.” A tall redheaded man followed him. Judging by his frigid facial expression and jumpy gait, it was obvious he wasn’t a tourist guide. Behind them both trudged a junior police officer who looked like a child wearing too-big clothes.

  “Who are you?” asked the redhead.

  “I’m the one who called you about the body,” answered Ofer.

  “Come with us,” said the redhead and began to jog towards room 613.

  The redhead rushed inside, and the rest of them followed. Not surprisingly, the late Jacob Rodety was lying in the same position, adorned with the same dancing hippopotamuses tie, wearing the same black socks, his genitals covered by the sheet.

  The redhead examined the body lying on the bed.

  “No need to check for a pulse. I’ve already checked and the man is completely dead,” said Ofer.

  The redhead did not accept his diagnosis. He checked the body himself then walked about the room and took a long look in the bathroom while maintaining the same frozen expression.

  Yoni, the hotel’s security officer, paced restlessly about the doorway with both hands on his head. Panic was written clearly on his face. There was no doubt he was new at this job. As far as he was concerned, this wasn’t a very promising start. The young police officer lit a cigarette. After a few puffs, he began to cough miserably and it sounded as if he was about to throw up. Apparently, the cigarette had influenced him more than the sight of the dead body that was gradually getting stiffer on the bed.

  The redhead seemed to be skilled in handling such situations. He began to give orders. “You make sure no one enters the room. From this moment on, this room is a crime scene,” he said and turned towards the young policeman. “And put out that cigarette, you’re on duty.

  “And you, you go and check immediately which of the hotel staff members were present on the floor today from the early morning hours up till now. I’ll also need to use the adjacent room,” he guided Yoni, the security officer.

  Then he added in his authoritative voice, “No one touches anything until the forensics people are here.”

  Only then did he find the time to address the man who had led him to the room. “What’s your name?”

  “Ofer Angel.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m an intern at the law offices of Geller, Schneider and Associates. I came to take Mr. Rodety to the office. That’s him.” He pointed at the body on the bed. “We were scheduled to meet at six o’clock in the evening. He’s an expert we brought in to help us with one of our clients’ cases. I got here on time. I waited for him downstairs, and when he didn’t show up I came up here. To my surprise, I found the… that thing,” he said and pointed with his finger again at the rounded body whose genitalia were draped with a sheet, “and I covered his—”

  “Why the hell did you cover him up? As a lawyer, you should know that nothing is to be touched. So you’re on the side of the law as well, eh?” he asked without expecting an answer and continued right away, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Nir Alush, senior officer at the crime investigation department.”

  Ofer shook the redhead’s extended hand and felt as though his fingers were about to snap. He noticed that the vigorous officer did not miss a single opportunity to whistle his S’s. He decided it must be beyond the policeman’s control.

  “Wait for me in the adjacent room I asked the security officer to open up for me,” muttered Alush. With a series of quick movements, he finished the job that Ofer had begun and covered Rodety from head to toe with the bedspread that was rolled up on the floor.

  Ofer went into the room the security officer had opened for Alush, sat down on the bed and waited. Twenty minutes later, Officer Alush arrived.

  “Routine questioning,” said the police officer. He took the chair next to the writing desk, turned the backrest in a way that separated them, and sat in front of Ofer. “No other choice. You were the first to find the body, so you are awarded the privilege and I am awarded the honor. Or vice versa, take your pick. We’ll start with a few background questions then you’ll slowly tell me everything you know,” he ordered and Ofer nodded.

  “Name, age, address, marital status,” he blurted.

  “Ofer Angel. Twenty-five, almost six. Single, 23 Nahalat Binyamin Tel Aviv, intern at a law firm. I’ll be taking my bar exam in a few weeks and hope to get my license then.”

  “What do you know about the body you’ve found?”

  “Not too much,” said Ofer.

  Alush raised his eyebrows. “Tell me, did you just happen to come here, or were you about to meet with someone you know?” he asked, keeping both eyebrows at the center of his forehead.

  “He’s an Israeli who’s been living in… as far as I know, in London for the past few years. His name is Jacob Rodety. He came here to serve as an expert witness for some businesses a client of my law firm owns.”

  “What businesses and what client?”

  “International commerce. The client is Yitzhak Brick. One of the firm’s most important clients,” answered Ofer.

  “How many times did you meet with him?” hissed Alush.

  “Only once.” He decided to skip the memories from his father’s funeral and mourning period.

  “When?” Alush continued to question him.

  “Last night. I took him out to show him around Tel Aviv after all the years he’d spent abroad.”

  “What’s your area of specialty?” Alush changed the subject.

  “Trade law. Contracts, companies, that sort of stuff.”

  “You prefer the commercial to the criminal, eh? Too frightened to get your hands dirty in the juices of life?” Alush finally smiled a bit.

  “Not exactly. I’m just not so sure I’m fit for this type of job,” explained Ofer with a feeble voice. A rage bubbled up inside him. This police officer was toying with him as if he were in the middle of a job interview. What did he know about the law? The commercial field didn’t have enough “juices of life”? And anyway, I don’t owe him any explanations, he thought.

  “Why did he come to Israel?” Alush changed the subject once more.

  Ofer was happy Alush dropped the subject of why he didn’t want to get his hands dirty in the juices of life. He wasn’t too hasty in his reply “He came for business. As an expert. Brick’s company is participating in a large privatization tender for a factory Rodety used to manage. Viromedical. Rodety is an expert in the field and came to help with the preparations for the tender. Last evening, I was asked to take him out, and today I came to take him for a meeting in the office.”

  “And… what happened?”

  “He wasn’t waiting for me in the lobby. I called the room and he didn’t answer, so I came up here and the chambermaid opened the door for me. Then we both found the body…just like that…I later saw someone passing quickly by the room and peeking inside. He wore a dark coat. I don’t know if it’s related. I ran after him but couldn’t catch up. I went back to the room and the chambermaid was gone.”

  “I don’t get it. What chambermaid?” asked Alush.

  “The chambermaid who works on this floor. I think her name is Natalia.”

  “How do you know her name?”

  “It was on the name tag she wore on her chest.”

  “Can you think of anyone who might have killed him?” asked Alush.

  “I haven’t a clue. Maybe he just died,” answered Ofer.

  “You really are a novice. You seriously believe that such a man came especially from London to die here in the Holy Land in a room that looks like this?” He marked the disorder in the room with a wide motion of his arm. “We’ll look into it, and trust me, in the end, we’ll know if he killed himself or if someone else gave him a hand.�
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  “You’re right. The truth is, I have no idea. You do your job any way you think it should be done.”

  “Wait here please, I’ll be right back,” said Alush and headed out of the room with an agitated gait. A few minutes later, he returned to the room, even jumpier than before. “Listen, kid. Are you sure you went into the room with the chambermaid?” he asked sternly.

  “Of course. You can ask her.”

  “Thanks for the advice,” he hummed. “I already looked for her. She’s gone. It’s now seven o’clock. According to the hotel’s time clock, she finished work at four o’clock in the afternoon. Maybe she wasn’t here at all? Maybe your feverish mind simply invented her?” His voice rose an octave when he wanted to impress his listeners.

  “That’s impossible. You need to look harder for her. You’ll see that I’m not lying right away,” said Ofer, sensing his voice beginning to quaver.

  “Listen, I’m sorry, but I’ll need to detain you. You’ll need to come to the station with me to continue the investigation. We’ll need to verify your version of events and wait for results from forensics,” Alush announced without leaving any room for appeal.

  “What do you mean detain me? You need a tangible reason or an actual suspicion.”

  Alush didn’t even bother to answer.

  They took the elevator down to the hotel parking lot. Ofer wanted Alush to say something, but the police officer was silent.

  “Can I come to the police station with my motorcycle?” asked Ofer.

  “No,” answered Alush, “you’re coming with me in the patrol car.”

  Ofer reluctantly obeyed. He abruptly recalled that he hadn’t called the office to let them know what was going on. It was already getting late. Yitzhak Brick and Gideon Geller were waiting for him and Rodety in the office and they had no idea what just happened to Rodety. Perhaps it was selfish, but what bothered him most of all was the thought that his career at Geller, Schneider and Associates was possibly drifting away from him.

  “Where are we going to?” asked Ofer.

  Alush didn’t answer.

  “I need to call my office,” said Ofer.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to do that,” hissed Alush.

  At that stage, Ofer decided to maintain his cool and cooperate. Now was not the time to demonstrate his objections or to teach this police officer a thing or two about the law. I’ll keep my objections for the right moment, he thought. I’ll have my chance to show him no one messes with me.

  At the end of Allenby Street, Alush turned to him while driving. “Say, Angel, you and that Englishman, Rodety, or whatever his name was, did you have an… intimate relationship… let’s say… other than your business association?”

  “Are you crazy?” Ofer reacted with anger to the mean question and a slight blush snuck into his cheeks. The first chance I get, swore Ofer, I’ll show that nosy cop what tree the mandolin is made of.

  Chapter 4

  Officer Nir Alush parked the patrol car in the police headquarters parking lot on Salame Road then led Ofer Angel into the station. They passed through long, brightly lit corridors. Even though the building seemed new, the smell of mold filled Ofer’s nostrils. Alush ordered him to sit on a metal bench next to his office on the second floor.

  More than an hour and a half passed and no one came to talk to him. He cursed everyone involved one by one. First of all the deceased Rodety, then Natalia and finally Alush. He also cursed their ancestors’ ancestors and the mess he’d gotten himself into. Instead of sitting at home, studying court rulings for his bar exam, he was chilling his butt on the most uncomfortable bench the police station had to offer. Only because of a weird chambermaid, some bad luck and one stupid answer. “Not necessarily in that order,” he said aloud with a bitterness that intensified by the moment.

  Behind the closed door, he heard Alush speaking on the phone. A gloomy female police officer appeared from beyond the end of the corridor and entered Alush’s office with a pile of documents.

  Ofer’s bladder was beginning to call for his urgent attention, but he was afraid to go anywhere without permission.

  After nine o’clock, Alush came out of his office and led Ofer to a small interrogation room down the hall. The room was dimly lit. It had three chairs and a greenish Formica table that looked as old as the British Mandate.

  Alush said, “Sit down, sit down,” whistling his S’s again.

  “Let me tell you something,” Ofer began, “I think you’ve made a mistake that you are going to regret dearly.”

  Alush twisted his face, “Let it go, kid. I don’t know you, so don’t try these stunts on me. A man is dead, croaked. And someone did it to him. Do you understand? If the guy who died is a British citizen, I’ll soon have the British embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire police department upper chain of command around my neck, so let’s get to it.”

  “You said earlier that it’s not yet clear whether he was murdered or committed suicide,” said Ofer, understanding there was no point in trying to get friendly with the interrogator who was facing him.

  “Who knows? Do you know? How many dead bodies have you seen in your life?” Alush’s face reddened.

  Ofer grew silent just as someone entered the room in a jumpy gait without knocking on the door. Just like Alush, he was wearing civilian clothes. Faded jeans and a white T-shirt. Even before he opened his mouth, it was clear to Ofer that both officers carried the same genes.

  “This is Benny Dadon, an interrogator at the unit,” said Alush, even though no explanation was necessary. “You’d better give him the right answers. I’m the bad cop and he’s the badder cop,” he added and laughed.

  They both started firing questions at him.

  “Let’s start from the beginning. This time, try to be more specific. When did you reach the hotel?”

  “Six o’clock in the evening. Precisely.”

  “Why did you go there?”

  “I needed to pick up Jacob Rodety.”

  “What did you do when you didn’t see him?”

  “I called the room. You can check with the receptionist. There wasn’t any answer. I asked the chambermaid to open the door for me.”

  “And she opened it?”

  “Yeah, she opened it.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Where would you like to spend the night?” Dadon barked in a voice that did not carry good omens, while writing down the questions and answers in a white notepad.

  “Don’t you know hotel staff is not allowed to open the rooms to strangers?” Alush raised his voice as well.

  “Look, I had to get Rodety to the office. So… how can I say it…?”

  “So? So what? Get to the point.”

  “The truth is… I gave her… money… pocket money.”

  “You paid her? Are you serious?” Alush raised his voice and whistled his S’s with deliberate intensity, as if the two hundred Ofer paid the chambermaid had been taken from his own pocket.

  “You bribed the chambermaid to open the room for you?” Dadon echoed Alush’s amazement.

  “No, of course not. I didn’t bribe her. I just gave her two hundred. It was nothing. A gift. She’s a new immigrant. I just thought I should give her something symbolic,” Ofer tried to explain with growing unease.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that from the start?” Alush grumbled.

  “I didn’t think it was relevant, or that important.”

  “You let us decide what’s important. I’m asking you again, when was the last time you saw Rodety?” Dadon continued the interrogation.

  “Last evening.”

  “What time did you leave him?”

  “Around eleven o’clock at night.”

  “Where? In the hotel?”

  “No. A little later…” answered Ofer and sweat began to trickle down his back. “I need to go to the restroom,” he said, trying to buy some time by addressing the urgent pressure in his groin area.

  “You ca
n go afterwards. What do you mean ‘a little later’? Where and when did you two part ways?” Dadon persisted.

  “In… well, what does it matter? Listen, I’ve got to tell you, there’s some crazy mistake here. I’m just an intern in a law firm who was running an errand. What do you want from me?” his voice became hoarse.

  “Listen, kid. Maybe you didn’t get it, so I’ll explain it to you one last time. The rules of the game are that we ask the questions and you answer them. Got it?” Dadon shouted. His throat bloated and his eyes bulged.

  He’s not the type of man I would grab a beer with in my spare time, a thought passed through Ofer’s mind. “We parted company next to the Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan,” he said, realizing that he had no recourse but to tell the entire story if he wanted to finally go home.

  “What were you doing there?” Alush became matter-of-fact again.

  Ofer didn’t know what to say. What was an intern doing in a strip club? His lawyer’s license was just around the corner. What would his mother say? He’d already gotten tangled up with his answer about the yellow-haired chambermaid. Ofer’s discomfort intensified.

  “You’d better answer,” said Dadon and hit the table forcefully with a small broomstick. The stick cracked in half. “Or would you like to spend some time inside a tiny cell with six or seven more detainees who would love to interrogate the nature of your relationship with the pink English tourist and the band of hippopotamuses that danced on his tie?”

  All at once, it was clear to Ofer that his question wasn’t entirely hypothetical. “All right. We were in a club together. You can check it out. They’ll probably remember us,” said Ofer.

  “Which club exactly? We know all the clubs in the Diamond Exchange District,” Alush hurried to say with pride in his voice.

  “The place is called Paradise. It’s not far from the theater.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that from the start?” asked Dadon.

  “I was a little ashamed. But Rodety wanted to see ‘Zionist breasts.’”