Asylum City: A Novel

by Liad Shoham

  Itai paged through the whole file, but he didn’t find what he was looking for. He started again from the beginning. It had to be there; Nachmias had shown it to him. He found it on his second attempt and breathed a sigh of relief. Three pictures of the “Banker” were attached to the report of her allegations against him.

  He pulled out his cell phone and aimed the camera at the photographs with trembling hands. He pressed the shutter button twice, just to be on the safe side, and then slid the file back across the desk.

  Shaken by his own defiance of the rules, Itai returned to his chair. He was sitting down when the door opened. Inspector Nachmias was back.

  Chapter 31

  A shiver went down Gabriel’s spine when he heard the sirens approaching. He was all alone in the world, and his stomach ached from hunger. Once he’d had big dreams. He wanted to be a famous artist, to bring honor to his family. He wanted to fall in love, get married, and have children. Life was very bad in Eritrea. He’d hoped it would be better in Israel. But it was bad here, too. And now it was going to be even worse.

  He’d gone to see Itai at the OMA office last night even though he didn’t want to. He wanted Arami to go to the police with him, but his friend advised him to ask Itai to accompany him. That way, Gabriel could say he didn’t know English, and then the police would have to call an interpreter. Arami would make sure to be nearby. But they wouldn’t let him in if they realized the two men knew each other.

  “You’ll be fine,” Arami told Gabriel before they parted. “This way you’ll have two friends with you, me and Itai. If you don’t know what to say, I’ll help you. Just be careful not to let them see you understand what they’re saying. Play dumb. They don’t think we have a brain in our heads anyway. I’ll see you there, at the police station.”

  The Israeli had promised to give him twenty thousand shekels if he turned himself in and said he killed Michal. What if he didn’t keep his promise? He wanted to get the money first, but Arami said the man would never agree.

  Arami didn’t know who the Israeli was or why he wanted Gabriel to confess to the murder. The most likely explanation was that he killed Michal himself or worked for the person who did. Gabriel was tormented by the thought that the man who murdered his friend would never be punished, and he would be helping him get away with it. But what choice did he have? There was no other option. If he didn’t do it, Liddie would die and the police would eventually arrest him anyway. And as for that Israeli man, who knows what he’d do?

  Michal is dead and nothing will bring her back, Arami said. But Liddie is alive. He could still save her. Besides, even if he went to the police and told them the truth, they wouldn’t believe him. In their eyes, all Africans were bad, uninvited guests who were overrunning their home and taking advantage of them. Justice didn’t matter. Truth didn’t, either. Israelis only care about themselves, Arami said, and they’re consumed by racism and hatred. If he was going to go to the police, he might as well get something out of it.

  Last night he’d knelt in prayer, begging Christ for forgiveness. It was only the second time he’d prayed since his father was killed by the soldiers. The first time was in the desert, with Liddie, when he was sure they were about to die. Then it had been mainly for her sake. He was furious with Christ for taking the life of a good man like his father. But last night he felt compelled to pray, and the words came pouring out.

  Itai offered him a bed in his apartment, but Gabriel refused. It was even harder to face him than he’d feared. He was afraid that if he didn’t leave soon, he’d break down and tell him the truth. He hated lying to Itai.

  Arami said the police wouldn’t ask a lot of questions. They thought all Africans were criminals. If one of them came and said he was guilty, it would just prove their point. Gabriel hoped Arami was right. His whole plan depended on the police believing him.

  In the end, they decided that Gabriel would spend the night in the OMA office. In the morning, he’d go to the little park on the corner of Hachmei Israel and Neveh Sha’anan Streets and wait there while Itai spoke to the police. He didn’t get any sleep. He was terrified of what was ahead for him. Men who had been held in Israeli prisons said conditions weren’t that bad. There were showers and regular meals, and the guards didn’t beat you. But none of those men were accused of murder. The Israelis might not be so nice to murderers. And maybe they’d want to take revenge on an African who killed one of their own. Or maybe they’d deport him like they deported Hagos. They sent Hagos to Ethiopia and the Ethiopians sent him back to Eritrea and he was killed there. The same thing could happen to him.

  THREE patrol cars squealed to a halt at the entrance to the park. The deafening sirens were making Gabriel dizzy. His mouth was dry. He’d been in such a hurry to leave the OMA office in the morning that he hadn’t even had a drink of water first. He wasn’t a big eater, but since Michal’s death he’d hardly been able to keep anything down.

  Police officers jumped out of the cars and started running in his direction. Someone was barking orders through a microphone, but he couldn’t understand what he was saying. There was so much noise. The cop in the lead pulled out his gun.

  THE soldiers in Eritrea burst into the house when the family was having supper. They grabbed his father and dragged him outside. His mother was screaming. He and Liddie were crying. Outside in the yard, they shot their father in the head. Gabriel was only eight years old at the time, but the image of his father lying dead on the ground in a pool of blood was burned into his memory forever. When he left home, his mother told him that was the moment she decided to send her children away the first chance she got. There was no future for them in Eritrea.

  THE policemen were running toward him, shouting words he didn’t understand. They all had their guns out now, aimed at him. All of a sudden Gabriel felt ice cold. The blood drained from his head and he fell to the ground.

  Chapter 32

  ANAT was sitting in her office preparing for her confrontation with the suspect. In the past half hour, both the District Commander and the Region Commander had called to congratulate her. News of Gabriel’s arrest had apparently reached the highest levels, even leaking to political circles, with people like MK Regev calling the RC to offer their congratulations.

  The message Anat received from her superiors was crystal clear, but she said nothing besides thanking them politely. It was only when the district press officer asked her to try to put the investigation to bed within two hours so he could get it on the evening news at eight that she really lost it.

  This wasn’t going to be a simple matter. You’re always at a disadvantage when a suspect doesn’t know the language and you have to use an interpreter. You lose the spontaneity of the responses, and you can’t control the momentum of the interrogation. Moreover, she’d never questioned an Eritrean before, and that had her worried. The tactics she used on Israelis might not work with him. You can break Israelis by telling them that if they don’t talk you’re going to have to interrogate their families, that their arrest will bring shame on themselves and their loved ones. But Gabriel’s family was thousands of miles away. She didn’t know what buttons to push. Should she show him a picture of Michal Poleg and remind him how well she treated him, or would that just make him clam up? The triggers were different in every culture. Gilad, the district intel officer, told her to threaten to deprive him of his liberty. These people had to work, he said. Their families depended on the money they sent home.

  “Stop worrying, Nachmias, everything will be fine,” Yaron said, slapping her on the back before he left to pick up Gabriel in the park. He offered to conduct the interrogation himself. He was known in the district as the go-to guy when they needed a confession. The way he hammered at a suspect, they almost always broke in the end. Anat thanked him for the offer but turned it down. It was her case.

  THE door opened and Yaron poked his head in. “He’s all yours, Nachmias,” he said. Anat got the distinct impression that it was an effort for him t
o refrain from adding, “Don’t screw up.”

  “Is the interpreter here?”

  “Yes. Joshua wasn’t available, but we got lucky. Arami was nearby.”

  “Excellent,” Anat said with a broad smile.

  She stood up and adjusted her blouse. She’d decided to wear her uniform for effect. She took a deep breath. It was time to go get a confession.

  Chapter 33

  THE door opened, startling Gabriel out of his chair. A short skinny policewoman came in, followed by the tall bearded officer who’d run toward him in the park pointing his gun at him. Gabriel had fainted from fright. The policeman threw water on him and slapped his face until he came to.

  With his hands and feet cuffed, they led him into a small room that contained nothing but a table and four plastic chairs. Gabriel checked the walls for bloodstains but didn’t see any. He felt a little better. A policeman gave him a glass of tea with a lot of sugar and gestured for him to drink it down. When he didn’t move fast enough, the policeman shouted at him in Hebrew he didn’t understand.

  The policewoman smiled at him and said, “Shalom.” He didn’t respond. Some of the women soldiers in Eritrea were more sadistic than the men.

  Gabriel stifled a sigh of relief when the door opened again and Arami walked into the room. He was so glad to see him, it was hard to keep from jumping up and throwing his arms around him. Arami had warned him that the police wouldn’t let him stay if they suspected they knew each other. He said they should both be very careful, but even so, Arami gave him a tiny smile. The small gesture encouraged Gabriel and made him feel that he wasn’t alone. Arami sat down beside him and patted his knee below the table where the policemen couldn’t see.

  Speaking in English, the policewoman asked his name, Arami translated the question, and Gabriel replied. Then she asked him where he came from, where his family was, how he got to Israel, where he worked, where he lived. She wrote all the answers down on a pad in front of her.

  The questions stopped abruptly and the detective started talking about the rights granted by Israeli law to a person in his situation. Gabriel didn’t understand everything she said, but he didn’t really care. Even the policewoman didn’t seem to care if he understood or not. She was obviously reciting pat phrases. Arami took the opportunity to tell him not to worry, he would look out for his interests. The Israeli was going to give him the money tomorrow.

  The policewoman asked if he wanted an attorney. Gabriel shook his head. Alarmed, he realized he’d answered before Arami translated the question, but the detective didn’t seem to notice the slip.

  Arami said he thought he was very brave and he hoped his sons would grow up to be as loyal to his family as he was. Gabriel’s eyes filled with tears.

  Then the policewoman stopped talking and her face became very severe.

  “Itai Fisher said you told him you’re responsible for Michal Poleg’s death,” she said after a long pause.

  Arami translated.

  Gabriel sat in silence. His heart was pounding.

  She asked if that was right, and Arami translated again.

  Gabriel took a deep breath. It was the moment of truth. Itai said that once he confessed there was no turning back. He wouldn’t be able to retract what he said. Gabriel thought about Liddie and the money he needed. He was doing this for her. He had to be strong.

  Arami nodded encouragingly. He was doing the right thing. He didn’t have any choice.

  Gabriel nodded and lowered his eyes.

  “You have to say it,” the policewoman instructed.

  Raising his eyes, Gabriel stated quietly, “Michal died because of me.”

  Arami translated.

  The policewoman didn’t move a muscle. She continued to stare at him with a grave expression on her face. The tall policeman smiled and then quickly tried to hide it.

  “You killed her?”

  Arami translated and Gabriel nodded.

  “Say it out loud,” the policeman ordered.

  Gabriel waited for Arami to translate and then said in a trembling voice, “I killed Michal.”

  The two officers sat opposite him in silence. The policeman no longer tried to disguise his pleasure. Grinning, he stretched and placed his hands on his head. But the policewoman continued to pin him with her eyes. “Why?” she suddenly fired at him.

  That was the question Gabriel was afraid of. He kept silent and only bowed his head again, hoping she would let it go, that she would move on. But she didn’t. She repeated the question and Arami translated.

  Did Itai tell them he didn’t do it? Did he know he only said he did it because he needed the money?

  “Help me, Arami. Tell me what to say,” he begged.

  Chapter 34

  “WHAT are you two talking about?” Anat snapped.

  The exchange between Arami and Gabriel was making her uneasy. She didn’t like having to go through an interpreter to question her suspect. She wanted to control the interrogation, but that clearly wasn’t the case here. Her question had been simple and direct. It shouldn’t take so long to translate.

  “He asked me to repeat the question,” Arami answered.

  “So do it,” Yaron barked impatiently.

  Arami lowered his eyes submissively and said a few words. The suspect replied.

  “It was an accident,” Arami said softly.

  “What does he mean ‘accident’?” Anat asked, trying to catch Gabriel’s eye. Something was gnawing at her. If she didn’t know better, she might think he understood everything she was saying.

  Arami translated the question and Gabriel replied. She waited for the interpreter to translate the answer, but he went on talking with the suspect.

  Anat struggled to understand what they were talking about from their expressions and gestures, but it was a futile effort. She tried counting the words to see if the length of the translation was similar to the length of her question, but it was hard for her to tell where one word ended and another began in their guttural language.

  She was losing control of the situation and she couldn’t afford to let that happen, particularly not at this crucial stage in the interrogation.

  “Stop that!” Yaron yelled, slamming his hand down on the table.

  His raised voice and the resounding bang brought an abrupt end to the exchange between the two men. They both looked at him apprehensively.

  “Please translate precisely what he said,” Anat instructed gently. She had no other choice. She needed Arami. If she could keep things calm, she had a better chance of regaining control. From the corner of her eye she saw the angry expression on Yaron’s face.

  Chapter 35

  GABRIEL remained silent.

  “What does he mean ‘accident’?” the policewoman repeated, looking straight at him. He could tell from her tone that she didn’t believe him. Itai didn’t believe him, either. Itai wanted him to say that he wasn’t responsible for what happened to Michal, that it wasn’t true, that Gabriel was still the same person he had taken under his wing, the same person he believed in, not some murdering monster. The policewoman wanted him to say that it wasn’t an accident, that he did it on purpose.

  “Tell them you had an argument and you didn’t mean to do it. She gave you money and she wanted you to pay her back but you didn’t have it,” Arami coached him.

  Gabriel nodded.

  “What are you saying?” the policewoman interrupted again.

  “I explained the question to him,” Arami said innocently.

  “Then please tell him to answer it.”

  Gabriel was about to repeat what Arami told him to say, but the policewoman didn’t give him a chance.

  “You had an intimate relationship with Michal, didn’t you?” she said, her eyes boring into him. “She wouldn’t have sex with you anymore. That’s why you killed her?”

  “No. Never!” he burst out, not thinking.

  She set a trap for him and he fell right into it.

  The policewoman sai
d something to the policeman in Hebrew. She looked furious. The tall policeman leapt out of his chair, grabbed Arami, and pulled him up.

  “Be strong, Gabriel,” Arami said. “I’ll help you, I swear! I’ll get Liddie out. Don’t let them break you. They’re no better than us, and we’re stronger than they are. Don’t forget that.”

  “Let me know as soon as Liddie is free,” Gabriel begged before the policeman threw Arami out of the room.

  “Don’t worry, Gabriel, everything will be all right!”

  The door closed behind Arami. Gabriel was all alone now.

  Chapter 36

  WHEN it was made clear to Itai that he would not be allowed in the interrogation room, he realized there was no point in his sticking around. He considered acting as Gabriel’s lawyer but dismissed the idea immediately. He might have a law degree, but he’d never practiced criminal law. It would be reckless and irresponsible on his part to represent him. Instead, he’d make sure the public defender’s office appointed an attorney for him as quickly as possible. Still, he was feeling very guilty as he stepped out into the street, as if he was abandoning Gabriel.

  There was a lot of work waiting for him at OMA, but he didn’t feel like going back to the office. He had to do something constructive, not just sit behind a desk. It was already dark out. He’d spent the whole day in the police station. He was cold and hungry. He’d been in such a rush this morning that he’d forgotten his jacket. Itai went into a nearby fast-food place and ordered hummus.

  Taking out his cell phone, he stared at one of Michal’s photos of the “Banker.” He was standing in front of a restaurant, but it wasn’t clear if he’d come out of it or was just passing by. Itai didn’t recognize the place. He zoomed in on the picture until he could make out a sign with the name of the street on the corner of the building. Although he couldn’t read the name, he could see it was short. There weren’t many streets around the old bus station that had restaurants. If Itai had to guess, he’d say it was Fein Street. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and got up from the table.