by Erez Aharoni
Despite her surprise over his unexpected visit in the middle of the day, she welcomed him with a big hug.
“What happened that made you suddenly remember to visit your old mother?” she asked, laughing.
“Mother, you have to tell me the truth about what happened to Dad,” said Ofer without delay or introductions.
“What happened to you, son?” asked his mother, concerned. “Why today after all this time?”
“Mom, it’s important to me. I want an answer right now. Is it true that he killed himself?”
“I don’t want to talk about this. Your father passed away during a very difficult time, and now he’s been resting peacefully for more than ten years. There’s no point in speaking about this.”
“Mother, please…”
Mrs. Angel persisted with her refusal. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and moved towards the kitchen.
“Come, sweetheart, eat something. I made roast chicken with plums. I know how much you like it,” she beseeched him. “Forget about the past. I’ve managed to have you and Dana focus on the most important things in life—to think about the future, to learn, to move forward, there’s no use in opening old wounds.”
“I don’t want to eat anything. I won’t be staying either,” Ofer let his mother know decisively.
His mother tried to stop him, “Ofer, don’t be stubborn. Please stop with this, I beg you—”
“Mother, people say he killed himself. I stand in front of them and I don’t know what to say. I want to know once and for all. For myself. What happened to my dad?”
“Why should you care about what people say? People say a lot of things. Just ignore them.” She paused for a moment and asked, “Who told you?”
“Rodety. Jacob Rodety.”
“You don’t say. Rodety…” Her eyes widened with surprise. “He…he just died. I saw the obituary today. I don’t know how it happened. Haven’t heard from him in years.”
“Mom, I was the one who discovered his body. In a Tel Aviv hotel room. Rodety was invited by Yitzhak Brick, a very important client of my law firm, to serve as an expert witness in a trial. I needed to escort him to an appointment. He even asked me to give you his regards,” Ofer spoke with the speed of a locomotive about to go off the tracks.
“So when did he tell you your father committed suicide?” His mother gave him an inquisitive stare.
“At Dad’s funeral. I stood next to him, and he said that to all the friends around him. Then he said it again, to me personally. Is this the first time you’ve heard about it?”
“But you said you found his body…”
“Yes. He told me that on the previous evening.”
“Rodety was your father’s boss. Why did he need to say something like that next to you at the funeral, why…?” She withdrew into herself and a great tiredness fell on her.
Ofer rose from his seat. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. She suddenly appeared small, shrunken within the kitchen chair, holding her face in her hands. He took his helmet and prepared to leave.
While he was on his way to the door, she lowered her hands and said, “All right, come sit down. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment then began to speak slowly and quietly. “Your father was a biochemist. He worked for the Viromedical factory in a department that was under the authority of the Institute for…Biological Research, if I remember the name correctly. He was considered to be a genius, a prodigy. A genius at work and a genius at running his family’s financial affairs. He was working on a top secret project. You remember how he enjoyed learning about new things… model airplanes, trains, anything that moved. He loved toys even more than you children did. A small child with a genius mind trapped in an adult’s body. He never told me any of the details. You know how men are with such things. They keep all the secrets to themselves. Right before he died, he was deeply distressed. He was under a lot of pressure at work, but he didn’t share anything with me so as not to have me worrying—”
“So what killed him?” Ofer burst into her words, unable to contain himself.
“I don’t know. It must have been a stroke, a heart failure or God only knows what. Do you really think I know?”
“So why did you refuse to have him autopsied?” asked Ofer.
“How do you know about that?”
“You told me that. Don’t you remember not allowing me to go and see the body?” answered Ofer with a question of his own.
“Maybe I was confused or upset. How can you judge a person under such circumstances? I did not agree to have him autopsied. I’m sure that’s what your father would have wanted… He was a traditional man…I can’t tell you today why I refused. People make all sorts of mistakes. I loved him so. He was the father of my children…our children…you and Dana…” She lowered her trembling voice.
“I’m not sure Dad didn’t kill himself.”
“Please don’t say that. I’m begging you.” She wiped her tears with a tissue.
“What are the chances Dad felt guilty about wronging someone else?”
“Nonsense, your father couldn’t hurt a fly. He even refused to work with laboratory animals. It’s surreal to even imagine something like that.”
“Do you remember him ever complaining about malfunctions or disorders in the factory?”
“No. And he wouldn’t tell me something like that even if there were any.”
“Did he tell you he was about to go to the press with a story that was bugging him?”
“Are you dreaming? Where are all these inventions coming from?”
“I remember that during the shiva some people came and told you he had done something terrible. That he sold factory secrets. That an indictment would have been issued if he hadn’t killed himself.”
His mom gave him a long stare. “So you do know.”
“Yes, I know. And I also know you needed money because of my medical treatments.” Everything came out of his mouth after being buried deep inside him for over ten years.
His mother was silent. The tears continued to roll down her cheeks ceaselessly. “We wanted to do good. That’s everything we ever wanted. We wanted our children to have a good life…”
“Tell me, Mother, did you ever go through his documents? Did you check if he had left anything that could shed some light on what went on with him? Perhaps a note or a letter?”
“He didn’t leave anything for me. He was a scientist. Meticulous. Had he wanted to leave something for me before going to that hotel, he would have known exactly where to leave it…had he wanted me to read anything. But if you insist, I have a bunch of documents I’ve never gone through.”
Before Ofer could reply, she walked into the bedroom and returned with a brown cardboard file folder, ancient looking and full of documents.
“Here, take it. Read it for yourself and see if we’ve missed anything. All that dust gives me allergies.”
“All right, Mom. I have to go now.” Ofer wasn’t able to stay there even another minute.
He took the cardboard folder and turned to leave. He didn’t even have time to tell her about his physical condition. About the danger he was in. About the fact that in a few days he might be in critical condition. About the fact that there wasn’t any cure or vaccine. Perhaps this was their last meeting? Once more, he felt nauseous. He hoped he wasn’t going to throw up.
All at once he recalled the fact he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for an entire day.
He got out of the apartment and refused her request to return and eat something. In any event, he comforted himself, he shouldn’t tell her anything so as not to upset her.
He mounted his motorcycle.
The moment he turned the throttle, a commercial vehicle passed him by with insane speed. It seemed to him that it was parked in front of the house when he had arrived to visit his mother. He broke to the right with the handlebar and managed to get out of harm’s way. Had he reacted an instant
later, he would have been splattered like a pressed flower on the vehicle’s windshield or under its wheels.
Must be a woman, he thought and shouted out loud, “You fucking bitch!”
He felt extremely ill. A fit of dizziness descended and the world whirled around him. All he wanted at that moment was a warm and loving embrace. Gali’s image popped into his mind.
I wish I had the courage to call her right now, thought Ofer.
Chapter 18
Gali wore a short black skirt and a tight light shirt. The soles of her feet were embraced by high heeled shoes. She had carefully selected her outfit for the coming appointment.
The guard at the Viromedical factory gate was interested in the young, good-looking woman. It wasn’t a common look for the visitors who normally entered the factory. “I have an appointment with the CEO,” said Gali, “he’s expecting me.”
The guard called on the internal phone and got approval to admit her. She was equipped with a magnetic card on which the word “visitor” was printed, and she hung it on her chest.
Gali gestured at the guard’s wax-drenched forelock and said, “It looks nice on you. That hairstyle suits you.”
His cheeks flamed at the compliment. “Do we know each other?” he asked.
“No,” she said, “but we can fix that. Pleased to meet you, I’m Gali,” she said and favored him with a trademark doe-like gaze from her deep brown eyes.
“And I’m Yanai.” He shook her hand and was surprised by the firmness of her grip but also by the pleasant sensation of her skin on his.
Gali passed through the gate and walked jauntily on her high heels towards the management building. She didn’t need to turn back to know that Yanai’s eyes did not leave her backside, which kept rhythm with the motion of her walk. She passed through the glass gate with the magnetic card and followed the signs to the CEO’s office on the second floor.
A secretary asked for her name and then offered her a seat in the waiting area. Gali took some lip balm out of her bag and hurried to moisten her lips, which were dry from all the excitement. The secretary dialed the internal phone. The ring disturbed Dr. Friedman’s train of thought.
During the past few days his schedule had been hectic. The Ministry of Health’s Director General’s requests disrupted his plans and took most of his time.
He couldn’t recall why the attorney, Gali Shviro, wanted to see him. A dim memory in the back of his mind conjured an innocent telephone conversation in which he’d been asked to approve an appointment with an organization that ranked factories according to their adherence with environmental protection requirements. He had distractedly approved the appointment. Still distracted, he instructed his secretary to let the
lawyer in.
He was surprised to see the handsome girl who walked to the middle of the room. That wasn’t the image he had expected. They shook hands. He politely directed her to the sitting area at one end of the room and said, “Welcome, madam, what brings you here?”
Gali did not waste a single moment and said, “Sir, my name is Gali Shviro. I’m an attorney and a representative of the Environmental Action Association. I’ve come to ask a few questions about the activities in your factory.”
“What exactly do we have to do with the Environmental Action Association?” Dr. Friedman cleared his throat. “And why would you think I would detail the factory’s activities for you?”
“I think it would be wise and proper for you to provide us all the information without omitting anything. We have a lot of information about the damages caused to the environment because of your—”
“Tell me, attorney Shviro,” Friedman cut her off, “aren’t you the ones who filed a lawsuit to stop the privatization of the factory? This is under legal discussion.”
“That’s right. But we think it would be better if we speak directly. Other ways might prove to be painful and harmful to all parties involved.”
“Are you kidding, madam? Do you know where you are? Is this some sort of joke or prank?” Dr. Friedman became impatient.
“Of course I know. I’m at the Viromedical factory. But it turns out this factory isn’t really independent; it’s really a branch of the Biological Institute for the study of contagious diseases. So I allowed myself the privilege of coming here in order to ask you a few questions.”
“Madam, I don’t know how you’ve reached such conclusions. I don’t know how you’ve managed to mislead me and coordinate this appointment, and with all due respect, I don’t see any need or reason to cooperate with you. Especially in light of the path you have chosen.”
“This is the material relating to your factory we’ve been able to find.” Gali took a plastic sleeve, which contained photocopies of the letters she had found in the archive, from her bag. Before his startled eyes, she skillfully spread the letters that bore Dr. Friedman’s name on the table.
He peeked at her face from above his glasses and immediately became consumed with the reading of the documents, forcefully stopping the cough that rose up his throat. He simultaneously tried to read and hide the anger and surprise that overwhelmed him.
Under any other circumstances, he would have erupted angrily at someone demonstrating such impertinence, but his keen senses helped him realize that this time he was facing a larger and deadlier threat, and a single misdeed could turn the situation into an explosive one.
“As you can see, sir…your signature is on one of the letters. It is my understanding that you served as a high ranking employee of the Biological Institute before your current job.”
“That’s correct,” he said, “but I have no idea what you’re talking about, madam. Either the documents were forged or someone is pulling a prank on you. Where did you get these documents?”
Gali wouldn’t even dream of betraying her source of information or telling him how she had gotten ahold of the letters.
“I can’t tell you that,” she answered, “but that doesn’t change the fact that the documents are authentic.”
“I’m not entirely sure they are authentic. For all intents and purposes, Viromedical is a civilian factory. This factory is about to be privatized. Our products are in great demand and are sold all over the world.”
“But the documents I’m showing you tell an entirely different story. And unless you help me to refute it, I’ll need to bring this story to the public’s attention,” said Gali with a non-threatening, yet firm tone. She found it difficult to believe she was speaking like this. The man in front of her was older, more educated and in a senior and influential position, but she was filled with a motivation to discover the truth. “I mean every word I’m saying,” she added.
Dr. Friedman collected the documents with his long fingers, and without warning, in front of Gali’s stunned eyes, he tore them to shreds. He went over to his desk and threw the scraps into the wastepaper basket.
Then he slowly returned to Gali and said with a measured tone, “Those documents are worthless. We will not cooperate with you. All our activities are businesslike and legal. I will not take an active part in any provocation or manipulation.”
“It won’t help you, sir,” said Gali, trying with all her might to maintain her composure, “You can shred and burn the documents; it doesn’t matter. Those were only copies. The originals are kept in the safe of a well-known and respected law firm. They will be published and you will need to give a full account of your activities, either to me or to the media.”
“I can think of a few organizations that would be very interested in learning how such documents came into your hands, who forged them, and for what purpose. Our interview is at an end, madam,” Dr. Friedman told her decisively.
“I’m sure we’ll meet again,” said Gali as she rose from her seat and straightened her skirt.
Dr. Friedman accompanied her to the door, maintaining a disinterested appearance. He approached the open window, through which she could easily be seen, with her straight skirt and high heels, leaving the managemen
t building and walking confidently towards the gate.
A few minutes later his secretary called him again on the internal phone line.
“Who is it now?” he roared into the receiver.
“Officer Nir Alush would like to see you,” said Ziva.
“What does he want?”
“He says he is a police detective and that he needs to see you right away.”
“Let him in, please,” said the doctor and emitted an irritated sigh. His daily schedule was about to be completely disrupted.
Chapter 19
Gali went out of Friedman’s office and took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain her restraint and self-composure. She walked along the corridor then down the stairs to the factory yard.
It was the end of the workday and the tiled yard was bustling with activity. People wearing white lab coats were walking towards a large building that appeared to be the factory’s main compound. She assumed most of the industrial activity took place there. A forklift carrying cardboard boxes passed in front of her.
She raised her eyes towards the exit and for a moment thought they were deceiving her.
The person who walked past the gate and spoke with the guard was Officer Nir Alush. He was dressed in the same civilian clothes, a light T-Shirt and khaki pants. Gali hoped he at least washed them since their last meeting.
She heard bits and pieces of the conversation and recognized his whistling S. What was he doing at the factory? Then it occurred to her that he might be interested in what she herself was doing there. She immediately turned right and got further away from the exit.
Not too far off, she could see the inner fence of what Fliegelman had called “a factory inshide the factory.”
The fence was made of concrete and its height did not allow her to see what went on behind it. She walked over to it and discovered cracks probably caused by the gradual settling of the wall. She peeked through one of them. Even though it was starting to get dark, she managed to see a gray, one story building, its roof flat and its walls hidden by oleander bushes.
