“Good,” he answered her coldly.
She searched her handbag and produced an envelope. “Here’s something to make them very good,” she said, placing it on the table. Marin looked at her quizzically, and she responded with an encouraging nod. Darmond ripped the top of the envelope and pulled out a bunch of papers. He spread them out on the table and read the top document. His expression went from one of curiosity to surprise, and then to anxiety. “How did you get this?”
“You have nothing to worry about. I didn’t steal them. The original letters remain where they were, in a box in Muriel’s home in Gstaad. I presume she’ll have no trouble identifying the photocopies, and Ben David will also have to admit he sent the original letters. I have a legal opinion stating that as long as the original wasn’t stolen and no one knows who made the photocopies, they’re legal.”
“But we’ll still need to explain how we obtained these photocopies,” Darmond insisted.
“I found them on the sidewalk next to Madame Marin’s house,” Sally said, using the explanation she contrived together with Jacob. “It happened on the day I arrived there with a warrant to remove Ben David. He escaped hastily and I assume he lost the envelope.”
Marin nodded with appreciation. Darmond hissed, “You’ve thought of everything…”
“They thought of everything. You’ll find there a detailed plan they came up with to extract sums of money from Monsieur Marin and fund their life together in Canada, in the town Muriel was born in and where she lived before becoming a model. They planned to buy a farm and raise horses.”
Darmond turned the page. “There are explicit sexual descriptions here. Did Monsieur Marin see all this?”
Sally looked at Marin who shrugged nonchalantly. “He’s not interested in knowing a thing about Muriel and Ben David. He simply wants the divorce and trusts me to deal with it.”
Darmond nodded. “This does help us a lot,” he admitted, “and yet Ben David can deny the letters. Since it’s a photocopy, we can’t use a graphological examination proving he is the author.”
Sally sighed. “A person I consult with often taught me a legal expression, ‘a waterfall of evidence.’ When lots of evidence comes together to support one claim, the claimant has a good chance of winning, even if some of the evidence is inconclusive. There are the letters you just received, affidavits of witnesses concerning the close relations between Ben David and Muriel, Muriel’s abandoning her home and moving to Israel to be with Ben David, and the photos and recordings we took in Beersheba that cannot be challenged here. What more do we need?”
“You’re right. There’s lots of evidence, but the final decision is the court’s, and we can never know what it will rule.”
“I believe justice will prevail,” Sally said confidently.
Darmond stared at her. “I thought you were more sophisticated. Those who are right don’t necessarily win the case.”
“I am sophisticated but also believe in God, and that he despises injustice. That’s what I learned from my father. He is a very sophisticated man, but when it comes to believing in God he’s as innocent as a child. He believes in him and places his destiny in his hands.”
Darmond smiled bitterly. “I’ve spent many years in court. I’ve seen very little justice there, and in this trial Monsieur Marin is engaged in there’s no certainty that—”
“We shall win this trial,” Sally cut him off, “and also the next trial I’m planning.” She stood up and extended her hand to Darmond. “I ask that you prepare another lawsuit, this time against Ben David, demanding that he return the funds he extorted from Mr. Marin while impersonating a rabbi. In this matter too, I expect to see an indictment within two days.”
The room fell silent. A few seconds later, that lasted an eternity to Sally, Marin said, “She’s right. I’ll have no peace and quiet until I settle our score, and since there’s no other way, I’ll make do with money.”
Sally glanced at her watch. The time of Jacob’s daily update approached. “You’ll have to excuse me, I have other matters to tend to,” she said and stood up. The two men also stood up and shook her hand. “We’ll speak later,” she said to Marin and left the room.
At the lobby, the doorman rushed to open the door for her. “One moment, Madame,” he said politely, “I’ll call your driver. You can sit here for a moment.” He pointed to the couches she had sat on with Roy. “It’s very hot outside.”
Sally froze. She suddenly thought of an idea.
49.
The air-conditioning salesman spoke very basic French with a strange accent. “Are you Israeli?” Muriel asked.
“Lebanese,” said Jacob, “from Zahlé. They make the best arak in the world there. Zahlawi arak.”
“Nice,” said Muriel absentmindedly, focused on the advertisement flier lying before her. Her gaze wandered across the various photos of air conditioners. “How long have you been working for Monsieur Marin?”
“I don’t work for Monsieur Marin but for Cosmos Holdings, which belongs to him. It’s the first time they hired me.” He sent a hopeful look toward her. “I promise to do a good job.”
She scratched her forehead nervously. Jacob noticed that she bit her nails. “And how long will it take you to install the air conditioners?”
“Usually two days. Air conditioners in three rooms—including motors, drainage, and connection to electricity—that’s a big job. If it’s important for you to get it done sooner, we can bring more workers and have it done in a day.”
“All right, but the workers—I mean, are they OK? The man who lives there isn’t so well. They must be quiet and trustworthy.”
“There? I thought I was supposed to install the air conditioners here, where you live? They told me that Monsieur. Marin’s children live with you and he doesn’t want them to suffer from the heat.”
Muriel placed a wad of one-hundred-euro notes on the table. “It’s all right. Install it here, as you were instructed. I want a similar system somewhere else. I’ll tell you where.”
“All right Madame, I want you to be satisfied.”
“If you do the second job, I’ll be very satisfied.”
“I’ll do everything,” said the salesman obediently. “What’s the second address?”
“Come here and I’ll lead you. You’ll follow me.”
“Yes, Madame,” the man said again, collected his papers, and left.
A few streets away he stopped and dialed on his phone. “It’s happening,” he said, “and it was easier than I thought. I didn’t have to convince her. She herself asked me to install the same air conditioners over there. Actually, how did you know?”
“I know something about women in love,” Sally said, trying to distract herself from Marin.
50.
The first images appeared in Jacob’s computer right after his men, who came along with the air conditioner technicians, switched on the cameras. A tiny hole in the front of every air conditioner was meant to pick up the activity in the room, and Sally, scarred from the surveillance equipment she discovered in Marin’s guesthouse, was scared of being exposed. “If they discover the cameras, we’re finished. Marin doesn’t know a thing about this and he’ll never forgive us.”
“Don’t worry,” Jacob promised. “The lenses and microphones are so tiny that even if one feels the air-conditioning unit, he won’t find them.”
Sally looked at the computer screen. Ben David examined the new air conditioner in one of the rooms. Muriel appeared next to him, holding a bottle of alcohol. “Southern Comfort,” Jacob said. “She has good taste.”
“Burn me a CD every day,” ordered Sally, “and then immediately delete all the footage on the computer.”
“All right.” Jacob was fixated on the screen. “I love the first moments of hidden camera footage. Here, Muriel is all over Ben David.” He turned the volume up. “Are you h
appy with my little gift?” Muriel asked. Her voice was as clear as though she was with them in the same room.
“We’re very grateful. Very.”
Jacob enlarged the image. “Now we’ll see how grateful he is.” The door shut, and Muriel was seen crossing the room and heading toward the bedroom. “Shall we move over there?” Jacob asked.
“Thanks, but that time was enough,” Sally said, remembering the image of Ben David lying on Muriel’s perfect body.
“One moment,” Jacob said. “Something strange is happening. Why does she need that big bowl?”
Muriel exited the bathroom carrying a large bowl and two towels folded on her arm. Jacob hit a key and the image switched to the interior of the bedroom. Ben David was sitting barefoot on the bed, his trousers folded up. Muriel knelt beneath him, spread a powder into the water, and then gently placed Ben David’s feet in the bowl. “What are they doing?” Sally wondered out loud.
“Sex,” Jacob answered.
“If that’s the sex you know…” Sally began and immediately fell silent as Muriel dipped her hands in the water and started rubbing Ben David’s left foot. “That’s good,” his voice echoed through the speaker, “that’s so good…”
“Look how he thanks her, the pig,” Jacob commented.
Muriel placed a towel on her thighs, pulled Ben David’s foot out of the water, and put it on the towel. She wrapped the foot and dried it, and then repeated the process with the other foot. Sally and Jacob found themselves hypnotized by the images they were seeing. “There’s so much love in the way she’s treating him,” Sally said.
“I’ll ask again: What is it about him that does it for her?” Jacob said. “Look how ugly he is. Skin and bones. I’ve been trying to keep fit since I was fifteen, and no woman ever pampered me like that.”
Sally smiled. “Do you know what the most important muscle a man has for a woman?”
Jacob looked at her surprised. “I didn’t expect to hear you talk like that.”
“It’s not what you think. It’s the brain. Men win women over through their brains. Something about him plays on her emotions, on her spiritual side.”
“His spirituality is a sham,” Jacob said scornfully. “And he has a criminal mind.”
Sally realized that as soon as the following day, when she arrived at Jacob’s hotel room to receive the daily CD. The envelope also contained a few printed pages. “After you left, they had a conversation you’d find interesting,” he said. “We’ve transcribed it, and I suggest we read it together and think of what we can do.” He spread the pages out on the table and pointed to one of them. “Look here,” he said, and Sally started reading.
Ben David: “…his papers. It’s very important. Where did he put them?”
Mrs. Marin: “In the Geneva office. He has a steel vault.”
Ben David: “With a code?”
Mrs. Marin: “No, only a key. But it’s made of reinforced steel.”
Ben David: “What’s ‘reinforced’?”
Mrs. Marin: “Strong.”
Ben David: “Oh, I see. And where does he put the key at night?”
Mrs. Marin: “He has many keys. He can’t put them all in his pocket, so he puts them in the briefcase.”
Ben David: “And where’s the briefcase?”
Mrs. Marin: “In his study.”
Ben David: “Here’s what you’ll do. Go to his apartment. Say you left things you like over there.”
Mrs. Marin: “I didn’t leave anything important.”
Ben David: “He doesn’t know that, does he?”
Mrs. Marin: “No, he doesn’t. But…” [silence]
Ben David: “So where’s the problem?”
Mrs. Marin: “He won’t believe me.”
Ben David: “He will. If you say it nicely enough, he will. You’ll come to take your things while he’s home, and go to his room. Do you recognize the office key?”
Mrs. Marin: “Yes.”
Ben David: “And the key to his room in the office?”
Mrs. Marin: “That too.”
Ben David: “And the key to the vault?”
Mrs. Marin: “Yes. It’s different than the other keys.”
Ben David: “We’ll give you six boxes with soft material. Plasticine. You take the key and press both sides of it into the material. First the one, then the other. That way we have the shape to make a copy. After you do it for all three keys, bring us the boxes.”
Mrs. Marin: “Why get into trouble?”
Ben David: “Because we need money and your husband won’t give you what you deserve, which is half of what he has, so we’ll have to take it from him. I’m sure we’ll find things in his office that will make him pay a lot to keep the police away. You can’t be rich without committing felonies. Therefore, rich people have secrets, lots of secrets about things they did.”
Mrs. Marin: “That’s theft and extortion. I’m scared.”
Ben David: “You’re not stealing or blackmailing, just taking your half, which he won’t give you. You’ll copy the keys, then we’ll enter his office. I have a friend, a business expert; he’ll choose the material we’ll take. Then, my beauty, you and I will build ourselves a new life.”
Sally lifted her eyes from the page. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Something else illegal to get me in trouble?”
“No, something completely legal. Something even the police could be involved in.”
51.
Sally scanned the passengers exiting the Geneva airport arrivals terminal, searching for Diana’s black bob cut. When she picked up her phone to call her, a voice sounded right next to her. “You didn’t recognize me, did you?”
Sally turned her head with alarm. Diana’s hair was long and blond, out of sync with her brown eyes and olive skin.
“You don’t like it?” Diana asked.
“I need to get used to it.”
“Yeah, that’s what people say when they don’t like something. So, where to now?”
“As usual, Hotel d’Angleterre. But first I want to find a café or small snack bar where I can give you all the details without fear of surveillance.”
“You’ve become paranoid.” Diana laughed.
Sally walked to a small bistro at the edge of the building. Most of the clients sat next to its large windows, soaking up the sun. Sally chose a distant table, inside the large empty space. Diana sat down and dug through her handbag. “My phone,” she said, alarmed. “Could I have left it on the plane?”
Sally was apprehensive. Something about Diana’s behavior wasn’t right. “Is everything OK?” she asked.
“Yes, of course. Here, it was at the bottom of my bag.” She placed the phone on the table. “So what’s going on?”
“First tell me what Paris was like,” Sally inquired.
“You know, work. Information security, the constant fear that our computers are being hacked. As soon as you called asking me to come, I took time off.”
“And your family?”
A cloud came over Diana’s face. “I don’t think I have one. The children are grown, you know. Both are in the army, one signed on, and my husband wasn’t very interested in me even back home. How about you?”
“Complicated,” Sally admitted. “Very complicated.”
“You and Jerry were always the perfect couple to me. What happened?”
Sally fell silent.
“Marin?”
Sally said nothing.
“Is something going on between you? Don’t deny it. He’s super-hot and you’re a pretty woman.”
Sally used the first excuse that came to mind. “He loves young women and I’m too old for him.”
“Nonsense. Look at yourself—you’re ageless.”
“Stop.” Sally laughed. “That’s not why
we’re here.” She began telling Diana about Ben David’s plan to break into Marin’s office and steal or photocopy materials to be used for extortion.
“How do you know about this plan?”
“We know.” Sally tightened her lips and moved her fingers over them, imitating the closing of a zipper.
“I get it. So where do I fit in?”
“We’re going to let her copy the keys, and as soon as we find out when he plans to enter the office, we’ll wait there with the police.”
“Hmmm…” Diana said. “And why do you need me?”
“I need you because Jacob only employs men and a few former female police special agents. There’s a good chance she doesn’t like me after I arrived at her home with a warrant banishing Ben David. You, on the other hand, dealt with all the matters of the Gstaad house and never confronted her. On the contrary, you hired a cook, you supervised the nanny. You effectively managed her life. Your relationship with her was pretty decent, wasn’t it?”
“Decent, no more than that.”
“That’s good enough. In addition, you know what to expect and how she’ll respond. I assume she’ll start screaming and going wild like the last time we removed Ben David from the house. If we try to calm her and the surveillance cameras in the office pick up something that even comes close to assault, the entire operation is doomed.”
“Why do you fear she’ll go wild?”
“We’re about to call the police and Muriel won’t sit idly by while the man she admires goes to jail.”
Diana sighed. “I wish I had such an admirer. I thought something would happen to me in Paris, but Paris isn’t what it used to be. It’s filled with Arabs and Africans. So tell me, what exactly is happening between you and Marin?”
“I didn’t say anything was happening. You decided that,” Sally answered warily. The sense of unease she picked up from Diana was only growing stronger. She wasn’t the same easygoing friend who waited for her in the back alley in Beersheba while she penetrated the police station yard, nor the woman who managed the surveillance on Ben David when they just started out. Her naughtiness had vanished, replaced with a restrained, even forced behavior. She looked into the eyes of her friend. “Something about you has changed.”
Married to the Mossad Page 21
