Two Steps Forward

by Luana Ehrlich

I wanted to keep the promise I’d made to Nikki last night.

  So, to get it off my mind, I spent the next fifteen minutes talking about Baran Asan.

  But it was only because I wanted to keep my promise to Nikki.

  * * * *

  Carlton didn’t try to minimize or talk me out of what I thought I’d seen. Instead, he asked me a series of questions, questions only Douglas Carlton, a former Agency interrogator, would ask.

  By doing so, he helped me recall the details of the brief glimpse I’d had of Asan as he was wheeling his luggage out of the airport, and it wasn’t long before I realized I hadn’t made a mistake.

  I’d seen Baran Asan walking out of the airport.

  “I don’t know about you, Douglas, but I find this a little strange. From what I could tell, the Shin Bet officers knew all about Baran Asan. They even knew about his reputation as a fixer in the Quds Force.”

  “I’m sure that’s true, but I’m also sure they must have contacted Moshe Geller before they allowed him to leave the airport.”

  “Which means what exactly?”

  “Which means Moshe deliberately allowed Baran Asan to enter Israel. He probably did it to find out why he’s there.”

  “If that’s the case, he’s taking a big risk. More than likely, Asan is in Israel to arrange a terrorist attack on some high-value target, and even though Shin Bet will have him under surveillance the whole time, there’s a good chance he’ll be able to carry out his mission anyway.”

  “I assure you Moshe knows what he’s doing. He must believe allowing Asan to be in Israel is worth the risk.”

  “His team will need to be on their toes. If they don’t—”

  “It’s out of your hands now, Titus.”

  “If he—”

  “Baran Asan is no longer your concern.”

  I took a deep breath. “Right. You’re right.”

  Carlton quickly added. “That doesn’t mean I won’t make some inquiries. Moshe will expect me to do a follow-up with him; not just about the flash drive, but also about Asan. He’ll afford me that courtesy since it was one of my operatives who alerted his agents to Asan’s presence.”

  I heard the sliding glass door to the balcony open, and when I looked up, Nikki was standing there with a cup of coffee in her hand.

  “Well, Douglas, I’m glad you got the pictures I sent, and I’ll plan to touch base with you when Nikki and I get back to the States.”

  “Uh . . . okay. Sounds good. I hope you and Nikki have a good time in Israel, and you’re able to locate Eleanor’s grandmother.”

  “Thanks. That’s our hope too.”

  After I hung up, I walked over to where Nikki was standing by the balcony railing and put my arm around her waist.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “Good morning. Isn’t this an incredible view?”

  “It’s a gorgeous view from where I’m standing,” I said, gazing down at her.

  She smiled, but then she pointedly glanced over at the phone in my hand. “Douglas?”

  “Uh . . . I was just giving him an update about Baran Asan being on our flight from Marrakesh.”

  “Of course.”

  I slipped the phone in my pocket, “I . . . uh . . . also sent him the photographs I took.”

  “Yes, I heard that.”

  “Did you also hear me say I didn’t plan to talk to him again until we were back in the States?”

  “Yes, I heard that too, but forgive me if I find it hard to believe.”

  “Oh, you can believe it, Detective.”

  As she took a sip of her coffee, she gave me an amused look—at least that was how I interpreted it—and I gave her a big smile in return.

  She nodded her head. “Uh-huh. We’ll see.”

  * * * *

  The rental car we’d picked up at the airport in Tel Aviv was a Subaru sedan, and after we had a huge breakfast at the hotel, I entered the address for Lisa’s apartment in the car’s GPS, and we headed toward the German Colony district in Jerusalem.

  Before we arrived at Lisa’s apartment on Cremieux Street, Nikki asked me if I’d brought along the dossier on Lisa Redding—the one Moshe Geller had sent to Carlton.

  After I told her it was in my messenger bag, she took it out and began flipping through the pages, giving each of them a quick scan before moving on to the next one.

  “Are you looking for something specific?” I asked.

  “I wanted to see if there’s anything in here about Lisa’s neighbors. Even if she only lived in her apartment for six months, she must have met some of them.”

  “There’s a list of her neighbors included in the appendix.”

  Nikki turned to the back page and ran her finger down the list. “I can’t believe all the information here. Not only does it have their names and addresses, it shows their ages, number of people in the family, where they’re employed, ethnicity, and approximate income, not to mention a lot of other stuff. The detail here is amazing.”

  “You’ve got to admire the efficiency of Israeli intelligence.”

  “Or be worried about their complete disregard for privacy.”

  “Well, that too, but maybe that’s a discussion for another day. Is there anyone on there you think would have made friends with Lisa just because of something they have in common?”

  “There are a few people on here who are close to her age, so I’d suggest we begin by questioning them first. More than likely, she would have made friends with at least one of them.”

  She flipped back to the first of the document and stared down at a photograph of Lisa. “But I could be totally wrong about that approach. Lisa certainly doesn’t look like a woman who’s in her late sixties, so I might need to find something else they have in common.”

  “Keep in mind that’s her passport photograph. It was probably taken several years ago; she’s probably changed a lot since then.”

  “I’m sure that’s true. In my experience, women tend to change their appearance every five years or so anyway, and that’s especially true if they’ve been through something traumatic. Losing her daughter in a car accident would certainly qualify as something traumatic.”

  “I don’t really know what happened to her when her daughter got killed, but Jeremy said she was very distraught after Kaylynn’s accident.”

  “I wonder what kind of relationship she had with her daughter before her accident. Eleanor doesn’t really talk about her grandmother as someone who was around that much.”

  “No, she doesn’t.”

  “It’s really kind of sad.”

  “I forgot to ask you if you were able to talk to Eleanor last night when you were waiting for me to clear immigration.”

  Nikki laughed and shook her head. “Yes, I called her, but she immediately told me she and Bella were studying for their spelling test, and since she intended to get a perfect score, she wouldn’t be able to talk to me for more than five minutes.”

  I smiled. “It sounds like she’s doing fine.”

  “I agree, but she also told me she couldn’t wait for us to get home and live together at your house.”

  “Did you tell her we’re in Israel now?”

  She nodded. “I told her we’d decided to leave Marrakesh a few days early so we could spend the rest of our honeymoon visiting her grandmother in Israel. The only thing she said was, ‘Be sure and tell Grandmother Redding I said hello.’ ”

  “That was it? She didn’t ask you any questions?”

  “No, my five minutes were up by that time.”

  “Even if you’d had more time, I’m not sure she would have said anything about her grandmother. The times I’ve asked Eleanor about her, she hasn’t had much to say. Usually, she tells me she can’t remember anything.”

  “Well, that may be true, although if you think about it, she doesn’t talk about her parents that much either.”

  I didn’t respond until I’d finished listening to the voice on the GPS giving me directions, but once I’d ex
ited the highway and entered the neighborhood where Lisa’s apartment was located, I said, “You’re right, she seldom mentions Jeremy or Kaylynn.”

  “I wonder what that means?”

  “I’m not sure, but I suspect her unwillingness to talk about her feelings could be the reason she keeps having anxiety issues.”

  “I hope once her grandmother is back in her life those issues will be resolved. I really believe having family around her will help.”

  After I pulled into a parking space on Cremieux Street, I shut off the engine and looked over at Nikki. “I think you’re right, and that’s the reason I won’t hesitate to lay a guilt trip on Lisa if she turns her back on Eleanor. I know that sounds harsh, but I’m convinced Eleanor needs her grandmother, and I’ll do anything to make that happen.”

  “How could you possibly think that sounds harsh to me when I grew up not knowing my parents or any of my relatives?”

  “Just don’t be surprised if I confront Lisa about abandoning her granddaughter.”

  “Oh, believe me, if Lisa refuses to have anything to do with Eleanor, I’ll have a few harsh words of my own to say to her.”

  I believed her.

  * * * *

  For the next several minutes, Nikki and I sat in the car and studied the area around Lisa’s apartment. Besides a few restaurants and shops, it was mostly a conglomeration of apartment buildings.

  Some were only three-story buildings, while others were several stories tall. However, each building’s exterior was constructed of the same cream-colored stone, and more than half the buildings had dark wooden trim and painted window shutters. Trees and other foliage were in abundance.

  Flower boxes hanging from window ledges on several of the apartments gave the neighborhood an Old-World feel. They reminded me of a village in Germany, which was how the area got its name.

  Waist-high fencing, consisting of concrete blocks or large stones, separated the buildings from each other and provided a measure of privacy for residents living on the ground floor.

  In the document Geller had provided Carlton, he had referred to Lisa Redding’s apartment as a “garden apartment,” which usually meant a lower-floor apartment with access to a patio, not an apartment with a full-fledged garden attached to it.

  However, the entrance to Lisa’s front door was surrounded on both sides by raised flower beds overflowing with colorful flowers.

  “It looks like someone’s living in Lisa’s apartment,” Nikki said.

  “If you’re referring to all her flowers, I have to agree with you, but maybe one of the other tenants has a green thumb.”

  Nikki pointed down at the list of Lisa’s neighbors. “There’s a young couple living on the second floor of her building; no children and they both have jobs; possibly gardeners, but not likely. On the third floor are two males; both of them work and attend Hebrew University, so I doubt if they have time to care for a flower garden.”

  “What about the building next to hers, the one nearest her front door? That patio is filled with flowers.”

  “Hmmm. Let’s see. A single male lives there. He’s middle-aged, has a cat, and his occupation is listed as a free-lance writer. He’s originally from New York, so I’m sure he speaks English. He’s lived in his apartment for the past five years.”

  “They share a common border wall, so there’s no way he and Lisa aren’t acquainted with each other.”

  “If we don’t find Lisa in her apartment, we should definitely talk to him.” She looked down at the document. “His name is Felix Glaser.”

  “Anyone else on the list look promising to you?”

  “Two ladies in their seventies, Rose Stillman and Clare Turner. They live together in the apartment building behind Lisa’s. If they have a backyard, or if there’s an alleyway behind the buildings, Lisa probably met them too. In my experience, older ladies living together usually don’t mind answering a few questions.”

  We sat there for a few minutes while we watched two young ladies come out of a gift shop and get in the car in front of us.

  After they left, I said, “Well, Detective, I believe it’s time for us to start working this case.”

  She smiled. “Just for the record. I have a sneaky suspicion having you as my partner could be a little distracting.”

  “Is that right?”

  She put her arm around my neck, pulled me towards her, and gave me a long slow kiss. “It’s definitely a possibility.”

  “The question is, which one of us is the lead detective on this case?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head, “there’s no lead detective. We’re equal partners.”

  “I’ll remind you of that when you start giving me orders.”

  “More than likely, it’ll be the other way around.”

  “Now why would you say that?”

  Chapter 16

  Nikki and I walked across the street and onto the sandstone patio in front of Lisa Redding’s apartment. A small round metal table with two chairs and a cushioned lounge chair took up most of the area, and an assortment of potted plants occupied the rest.

  As we approached the front door, I bent down and touched the soil in a flowerpot full of geraniums to see if it had been watered recently.

  It was moist.

  After pushing the buzzer on the front door, I glanced over at the garden apartment next to Lisa’s, the one belonging to Felix Glaser.

  “Don’t look now,” I said to Nikki, “but we’ve drawn the attention of Lisa’s neighbor.”

  “You mean Mr. Glaser?” she asked, continuing to look at me.

  I pushed the buzzer again and said, “I assume that’s him. He’s sitting in a chair on his patio holding a cat in his lap.”

  We stood at the door for another minute or so, and then when it became obvious no one was going to answer, I said, “As we leave, let’s say something about Lisa’s flowers.”

  “Why?”

  “I’d like to see if Felix is as interested in us as we are in him. He seems to like flowers, so talking about them might get his attention.”

  “I’ll say something about how beautiful they are.”

  The charade of trying to draw Felix’s attention proved unnecessary. He got up from his chair and began walking toward us the moment we turned away from the door.

  It wasn’t until I saw him veer around a large tree and come out on the other side, that I noticed the fencing at that spot had collapsed, making it easy for him to have access to Lisa’s patio.

  When he emerged from the shadows carrying a large yellow tabby cat, he immediately lifted his hand and gave us a brief wave. “Are you looking for someone?” he asked in Hebrew.

  Felix was a little overweight, of average height, partially bald, with tufts of unruly gray hair growing around the lower half of his head. He had on a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, and his mouth had a lopsided appearance, as if he might have had a stroke at one time.

  “Oh, hi,” I said in English.

  He repeated his question in English. “Are you looking for someone?”

  “You speak English. That’s good. Yes, we’re looking for Lisa Redding. Do you know her?”

  Instead of answering my question, he introduced himself. “I’m Felix Glaser. I live in the garden apartment next door.” He gestured off to his right.

  “Hi, I’m Titus Ray, and this is Nikki Saxon. No, wait . . . ah . . . this is Nikki Ray,” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

  “We were only married a few days ago,” Nikki explained.

  “I see,” Felix said, nodding his head. “You’re Americans?”

  “Yes,” Nikki replied, “we’re from Oklahoma. What about you? Your English is so good you could be an American.”

  “I’m originally from New York. I emigrated to Israel—we call it making Aliyah—twenty years ago after I lost my wife to cancer.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

  I wasn’t sure if this was Nikki’s way of getting Felix to talk, or just her nat
ural social response, but I decided it was time to get the conversation back on track.

  “We were hoping to visit with Lisa while we’re here on our honeymoon,” I said. “We really need to talk to her about an important family matter. Have you seen her lately?”

  “To answer your first question; of course I know Lisa. We’re very close, so to speak.” He laughed as he waved his hand back and forth between his patio and hers.

  “Yes, I can tell you’re very close,” Nikki said, laughing along with him. She paused a beat and then added, “I bet you’re responsible for her beautiful garden.”

  “Yes, I am,” he said, bobbing his head up and down. “When Lisa first moved here, she asked me to make some suggestions about what kind of flowers she should plant and how to take care of them.”

  As if reminded of that responsibility, Felix bent over and pinched a dead leaf off one of the flowers. The sudden change in Felix’s posture seemed to have annoyed his cat, who jumped out of his arms, raced over to Lisa’s door, and started meowing.

  “I think your cat wants inside,” I said.

  Now, it was Felix who looked annoyed. “Lisa used to feed him canned tuna, and he hasn’t forgotten it.”

  “What’s your cat’s name?” Nikki asked.

  “It’s Scout. I love reading spy novels, and I thought about calling him Spy, but that didn’t sound masculine enough, so I settled on Scout. He’s turned out to be a sneaky dude, so maybe I should have named him Spy.”

  “Spy sounds pretty masculine to me,” I said.

  Nikki smiled. “If he’s sneaky, then Spy would have been really appropriate.”

  I tried to steer the conversation back to Lisa.

  “Lisa doesn’t feed Scout anymore?” I asked.

  Felix looked a little nervous, as if I might have caught him in a lie, but then he quickly recovered and said, “No, I asked her not to do it.”

  “Do you happen to know when she’ll be home?” Nikki asked. “We really need to talk to her. It’s about her granddaughter.”

  “Her granddaughter?”

  “Eleanor,” I said, “her granddaughter who lives in Virginia.”

  Felix shook his head. “She’s never mentioned a granddaughter.”