Vanished Without A Trace (31 page)

“Then I sat on the yacht with a cup of coffee, more relaxed. I flew to Fisher’s house and supported him in his hardest moments. From that day, our relationship became so much closer. Fisher never forgot my support during those difficult times. Do you know how many biddings I won thanks to him?

"For years I never stop wondering if I did a smart thing by not killing the child. Even when he was under Julia’s supervision, the fear continued to dwell in me. The fact the child was alive didn’t put me to rest and I feared that my secret would be exposed. And I was right, on more than one occasion. The first time was when Julia suddenly showed up in my office, just two and a half years after the kidnapping. The boy still looked exactly the way he looked when he was two and a half years old. One look by an alert reporter was enough to expose me, one glance or alert from my employees would be enough to connect the puzzle. My son or his wife would be able to recognize Daniel. Oh, I was angry with Julia. America, she was telling me, she was going to destroy me and she was talking to me about America. She was not allowed to come here. If she wanted it, I would go to her. She was not allowed to come here in any way. I couldn’t trust her anymore. Her fate was sealed. An hour later, a woman from the Department of Social Welfare called me and said Julia left her a letter. I went to her and while she was making coffee for me, I replaced the letter and put a few thousand dollars in there to buy her silence. I knew she would take the money in her pocket and from that moment she wouldn’t say much about her meeting with Julia or with me. Now, all that was left was to finish with Julia before I got to the point of no return. I called and asked her to meet so we could clear things up. The moment she got into the car I sedated her and I drove off to Tel Mond. On our way, you won’t believe it, there was a check point. I was worried about the inspection. Fortunately, the police recognized me, shook my hand and let me pass. When I got to Tel Mond area, Julia was still sedated. I didn’t even have the need to kill her, I buried her alive and went on my way.”

Kowalski took a deep breath, "I thought the story with Daniel was over. What would a two and a half year old boy who was abducted remember after he saw me for a moment when he was five years old? That’s what I thought until Daniel arrived on my yacht one day and shocked me completely. You know, I was sitting, smoking a cigar when I suddenly saw him. Believe me, at first I thought he was just a ghost that came back to avenge me. I didn’t want to call the guards at the Marina because I thought I was just hallucinating, but it was not a hallucination at all, it was a delusional reality. Since then I have never been calm. I was afraid one day Daniel would discover the secret, and my worries have come true, Gideon.” He nodded sadly. "For twenty five years, no one knew anything, until you came along. And what did you gain from this? Was it worth it for you to lose your friend for the sake of a stranger like Daniel?"

"You killed Amos?" Gideon asked in pain.

Kowalski took a deep breath and nodded.

"Where is he?"

"He is buried in a secure place. He is not alone. It’s okay. I buried him in a mass grave in Hertzelia cemetery. There was a little bit of work but it was not what I thought, the soil was still soft.”

Gideon felt a blow to his stomach. The announcement his best friend from the army died in this way caused him intense pain.

He was so wrapped up with sadness, he didn’t immediately see Kowalski turning the gun on himself. He jumped at the gun to prevent him from doing it, but he caught two bullets instead. Gideon fell to the floor, struggling with pain. Immediately thereafter, the door opened, and men in uniforms with concealed faces jumped to Kowalski, handcuffed him and read him his rights while escorting him to the car.

Gideon was put on a stretcher and the first thing he wanted to know was if the test results had arrived. He turned on the phone and the SMS message from Alon was written on the screen, "It's positive. The tests confirmed that Daniel is Fisher's son." He thanked God for everything and dialed Alon. "It's over. You can go to the media. Kowalski admitted everything."

"How?"

"I paid a very big price; I lost Amos and got two bullets - one to my knee and one in my arm."

"Thank God you are okay." Alon said.

"I’m not okay…" Gideon said, but Alon already hung up the phone. He was in a hurry to go to the media. An hour later, Alon’s face was already visible on the TV screens, giving the interview of his life. Mr. Fisher even agreed to cooperate and answered a live telephone interview, as a courtesy to Alon.

53

Benjamin looked at his friend lying in the hospital bed. At the entrance of the hospital he already noticed a lot of curious people and reporters who came to interview Gideon after hearing about the case and seeing Alon on foreign channels. On the television screen the picture of Kowalski’s arrest was projected again and again aside Alon’s picture as he was sharing the details of the whole investigation process.

Benjamin was watching TV, waiting for Gideon to wake up.

The truth was he figured the whole case out as soon as, he saw Daniel in the door of the Warwick Hotel, but he had to admit Gideon deserved all the credit in the world. When he looked at Daniel, it was impossible not to feel the intense pain of a two and a half year old boy who was abducted and found his family after twenty-five years. What had he been through all these years? How did he live? He felt sorry for him. Even if his life was on its way to a huge improvement, there was nothing could compensate the pain and suffering of someone who had been separated from his parents since childhood. Benjamin thought that he had no right to play with the life of a child and his family, and certainly not with the destiny of the people who designated a role in finding the boy. He kept silent as these thoughts ran through his mind.

Gideon opened his eyes, looking at Benjamin sitting beside him watching television, and he knew how much effort was required for him to leave his office in New York, but he had good reasons. Amos was murdered and he was lying injured in the hospital.

"Are you awake?" Benjamin asked.

"You knew it the moment you saw the boy." Gideon stated weakly.

Benjamin nodded.

Gideon lay in silence, his injured leg elevated, and his injured arm resting at his side. "We lost Amos," Gideon said, his eyes were stuck to a point on the ceiling, "Benjamin, do you still remember how the three of us sat in Mount Hermon in the evening, after we've lost so many friends in the war? We cried like children, we swore we would never forget them. We decided every November we would meet on a high mountain and commemorate them. We did it for a few years then suddenly it was over. Suddenly the three of us didn’t call to remind each other of our agreement, as if we decided to forget." Gideon was silent for a while and took a breath, "When I went to see Kowalski, I knew he was dangerous. I knew him more than Amos knew. If I had laid the cards right in front of Amos and told him everything, he wouldn’t have made any irresponsible moves like meeting Kowalski. But I walked up high to the mountain, while I pushed my friends at its feet. I was afraid to involve my friends in the discovery of the truth. I hid it from my best friends. I was afraid I couldn’t trust them with such a big secret, I was afraid they would betray me. But I know that I judged them according to my moral values. I thought I got to the top with this case, and look where I am, I’m lying in a hospital, mourning the death of my friend Amos. I wanted so much to be there in the moment Daniel and his father met. It would have been the highlight of my career, but instead, I’m lying here bruised and battered. My success has killed my best friend. It’s true he pissed me off. He drew something out of my wife I didn’t want to tell him, but why did I not trust him? What happened to me? Success probably got to my head."

"Don’t be so hard on yourself. We both know those had been the rules of the game between us for years. Usually, it didn’t bother us. I’m not much better. I put wire taps in your room and followed you as well."

"It was the first thing I did after you called. I searched and found the device, but I decided to fool you and talk only about what had already been suspected and not to give you any new material. But you needed to know something, on the same day Amos called and we both were in the elevator, I planned to tell you the whole story. I wanted to tell you everything from the very beginning, but Alon asked me to wait. I wanted to tell Amos too, but it bothered me he pressured me so much before I could consolidate something in my mind regarding the case. What will it be like without Amos?"

Benjamin closed his eyes and said, "I have many friends, but there was no one I could call my brother except you."

These were the first words Amos had written in a military newspaper, after being wounded in the Yom Kippur War and moving to the army's newspaper. The article talked about three friends who survived the war and promised to remember their brothers in arms.

54

On her way back to Israel, Karina sat alone on the plane, sad and depressed. Everyone seemed happy except her. Daniel had found his family, Alon and Gideon gained recognition, while she was left with sadness in her heart. Daniel was further from her than he had ever been. She wondered if she could meet him any time she wanted to and whether the vague relationship they had would remain. She hoped with all her heart he would appreciate her efforts in locating his family and get in touch with her somehow, in spite of everything. For five days, she waited for a call from Daniel, but no phone call came. If Daniel had known what she had given up just to get to the United States... but he didn’t find a minute for her. Before she left, she even thought he would surprise her on the phone, but the two phone calls she had before boarding the plane were from Alon and her secretary. Both times, she jumped on the phone hoping it was Daniel, but she was disappointed each time. Even when she was packing her suitcase and when she was on her way to the airport, she still thought Daniel would call. She checked the phone again and again hoping to see missed calls from him, but there was nothing.

In the newspaper she was holding, there were five pages allotted to the story of the Fisher family. The smiling faces of Daniel and David Fisher were plastered on every newspaper. Daniel looked completely different from the Daniel she knew. It was a little bit difficult for her that Daniel suddenly belonged to everyone, close to everybody’s heart, but far away from hers. In the newspaper, an inaccurate story of Daniel’s life was published, told by Alon. There was also an expansion on Moshe Kowlalski’s story, and his connection to Fisher, pictures of Daniel with his family when he was little and more. Every newspaper was trying to give unique information.

In Israel, there were also similar newspaper headlines. The faces of Fisher, Daniel, Kowalski, Gideon and Alon appeared in them. Karina turned on the television. There, ran a discussion about the subject on Kowalski’s rights. Panel members who had known him for a long time defended him on the premise he was innocent until proven guilty. Reporters who were usually comfortable with these sort of opinions were pulling their claws out with much less tolerance. After all, it was about the murder of their colleague. They went over and over again on the serious allegations again Kowalski and his evil heart. For them, he was guilty of kidnapping of a child to win the bidding war, of murdering Julia and, of course, murdering Amos. They had absolutely no mercy left for Kowalski.

After the hearing, the lawyer was asked about the extradition treaty between Israel and the United States. There, he explained, the Statute of limitations for serious crimes was generally after ten years, but there were exceptional cases wherein the period begins from the day of indictment or from the last day of the procedure in court, whichever was later. The lawyer said this case was quite complicated and he believed there would be no statute of limitations, but first, Kowalski must be tried in Israel for the murder of Amos, and then transported to the United States to face trial for the murder of the nanny and for the kidnapping. However, the sentence would be served in Israel so Kowalski would probably die in prison.

Alon was the star on all TV channels. He spoke to reporters in Israel via satellite where he carefully formulated Daniel’s business partner had turned to them in order to find his mother, but at the end they discovered something much bigger. Alon didn’t hesitate to use the name of Daniel Fisher and made promises to get him one day to talk about the subject. Karina was very doubtful if something like this would happen. Although Alon succeeded to convince Mr. Fisher to say a few words in the first interview, it was only as a gesture of gratitude to Alon and Gideon. However, it was very difficult to extract more than a few measured sentences from him that were centered on commending the two experts, Gideon and Alon. Whenever the interview fell on personal affairs such as the meeting with his son or his feelings on the subject, he refused to answer. She knew getting Daniel would be harder.

It took a week for the whole case to die down slightly from the headlines. Karina went back to her routine, trying to put aside Daniel’s story, which caused her pain. That same summer evening she went down to the beach all by herself. The breeze was pleasant and the beach was calm and quiet. It was early September and the serenity came after the storm of the summer vacations. An hour later she heard her phone ringing; a call from overseas. For a moment she felt a rush of warmth in her body, which disappeared when she heard Alon’s voice from the other end. "There have been developments here. I'm getting married to Natalie in five days, here in the United States, at a synagogue in New York. Then Mr. Fisher will throw a party at his house, not especially for me, but more for Daniel, something small."

"When?" Karina was surprised, "I just got back from there. Why didn’t you get married a week ago?"

"Gideon was in the hospital, remember?" Karina had honestly forgotten. She didn’t even visit him." Besides, how would I know if Natalie would agree to marry me? You don’t need to come for me, but I know you're looking for every opportunity to come here for somebody else. So I’m giving you another chance, how is that?"