Jakob and Hana rode in silence in the back seat of Wahid’s Mercedes. Jakob assumed Hana was thinking about matters that couldn’t be discussed in the presence of Wahid.
“Do you live in Atlanta, too?” the driver asked Hana, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“Yes, but I grew up in Reineh near Nazareth.”
“I know Reineh,” Wahid replied. “I drove a fare there from Tel Aviv last week. It was a guy from California who had a business meeting with a company that manufactures irrigation supplies.”
“He probably met with my father or one of my uncles,” Hana responded.
“Small world, eh?” Wahid said. “What brings the two of you to Jerusalem? A big lawsuit?”
“Just checking some things out for a client,” Jakob said. “But as you know, I spent most of my day as a tourist.”
“Maybe, but not many American tourists go to Beit Hanina,” Wahid answered.
Hana caught Jakob’s eye and shook her head. They rode the rest of the way in silence. As soon as Wahid dropped them off, they sat down at a table in the courtyard, which at this time of the afternoon was deserted.
“I didn’t think it would be a good idea to mention Daud to the driver,” Hana said.
“I’m not stupid,” Jakob said, touching the side of his head. “And every time I have a headache, it reminds me to be careful.”
“Is your head hurting now?”
“No. Maybe the air here agrees with me.”
Hana paused for a moment. “Any communication with your other driver in Atlanta?”
“Not since she assured me that she wasn’t followed when she left the Atlanta airport.”
“Okay,” Hana said. “No news is probably good. Do you have any questions about what Daud did today in Ramallah or Deir Dibwan?”
“Are you asking me because you’re willing to admit your personal involvement with Daud makes it tough for you to be objective?”
“Not really. I hired Daud to investigate and that’s what he’s doing. But my presence in Ramallah didn’t make a difference today. I could have stayed here and gone to Hurva Square and the Kotel with you.”
“Except that you wanted to spend every minute you could with Daud,” Jakob replied with a grin. “Hey, I think he’s doing a great job. No questions or concerns from me.”
“Me too,” Hana said as she stood up.
“Do you know what we should do now before it gets too late on the East Coast?” Jakob asked.
“What?”
“Call Ben Neumann and give him an update. I told him I’d be in regular communication with him.”
“You’re right.” Hana nodded.
“We’ll Skype from my room.”
When they reached Jakob’s room, he knelt in front of the door.
“What are you doing?” Hana asked.
Jakob stood and showed her a tiny piece of brown paper. “I positioned this paper so I’d know if anyone came into my room while I was gone.”
“What about housekeeping?”
“I waited until after the room was cleaned.”
“Did you see that in a movie?” Hana asked skeptically.
“Several times. It always works.”
Hana sat in a chair by the window while Jakob reached Ben via Skype. After a couple of rings Ben’s face came into view. Jakob positioned his computer so the client could see both of them.
“How’s Sadie?” Hana asked.
“Filled with endless questions about your trip. Is there any way you can send a few pictures? She wants to know where you are and what you’re doing. She’s especially interested in photos of your nieces and your cousin Fabia.”
“If that happens, it will be later in the trip,” Hana replied. “Let us tell you about today.”
As she talked, Hana could see shifting emotions move across Ben’s face. The most dramatic came when she told him they’d seen Tawfik Zadan.
“You’re sure it was him?” Ben asked.
“Yes. Daud talked to him.”
Ben pressed his lips tightly together as he listened.
“Daud wants to move forward on a fake business deal with Tawfik as a way to find out more about the group he’s working with,” Hana said. “It may be the same organization connected to the attack on your family.”
Ben took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m not sure how I would handle being in the same room with any of these people,” he said.
“We’re a long way from that day,” Hana replied. “Right now, it’s still a lone-wolf attack by Abdul.”
“That’s not all,” Jakob spoke up. He told Ben about their dinner conversation with Daud the previous evening.
“The computer data sounds promising,” Ben said.
“Yes,” Jakob said, glancing at Hana. “But if there was something incriminating, I wonder why nothing has been done before now by the Israeli authorities.”
“They often take a long-term view,” Hana answered. “They’re less interested in prosecuting a terrorist attack that’s occurred than trying to prevent more in the future. That’s especially true when the immediate perpetrator is dead.”
“I can see their point,” Ben said, rubbing his eyes. “Jakob, I received a call this afternoon from a woman named Emily Johnson who says she’s been driving you around for the past few weeks. I let it go to voice mail and haven’t answered her because I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to talk to her.”
“I have no idea why she would call you,” Jakob said.
“Have you talked to her about the case?” Hana asked.
“She’s aware that there may be a connection between the mugging and my work, and she knows about the explosive device, but I haven’t violated attorney-client confidentiality.”
Troubled, Hana decided not to challenge Jakob in front of the client.
“She’s a former cop and has direct access to information whether I tell her or not,” Jakob continued. “I trust her, but it’s up to you whether you want to talk to her.”
“All right,” Ben said. “It helps to know that much. I’ll mull it over.”
“I vote against it,” Hana said. “Let Jakob find out first why she called.”
“Good idea,” Jakob jumped in. “I’ll text her.”
“When will I hear from you again?” Ben asked.
“Hopefully tomorrow night,” Jakob answered. “Is this a good time to call?”
“Considering the number of nights I suffer from insomnia, the answer is yes.”
The call ended. Hana turned to Jakob. “It’s my turn to ask if your personal connection with someone has affected your judgment,” she said.
“Emily? Not at all.”
They returned from dinner at a restaurant in East Jerusalem. Jakob had sampled some of the best that the local Arab cuisine had to offer. Most food in the Middle East grows from the same culinary tree, but the individual flair of a skilled chef allows room for unique expression. Hana enjoyed Jakob’s enthusiasm, which made her pay more attention than usual to the familiar flavors.
“That was great,” Jakob said as Daud pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. “I never knew eggplant could taste like that, and the baked kibbe was delicious.”
“And the fish shakshuka was the best I’ve ever eaten,” Hana added.
“That’s the way they prepare it in Alexandria,” Daud said. “Shakshuka is a way of cooking, not just an egg dish.”
“When were you in Egypt?” Jakob asked. “Can Israeli citizens travel there?”
“Yes, with a visa,” Daud answered. “And I’ve been there more times than I can count. My grandfather lived in Port Said before coming to the Negev.”
“What time will you be here in the morning?” Hana asked.
“Nine o’clock,” Daud replied. “First stop is the rendezvous with my friend who has access to the computers seized at the Zadan residence.”
“Where will we meet with him?” Hana asked.
“I have to put the blindfold over your eyes to take you there,” Daud replied with a grin.
Hana forced a smile but wasn’t satisfied with his answer. “Will it be near Tel Aviv?” she pressed.
“Uri is supposed to let me know the details later tonight. This falls into what you would call the gray area. He is doing me a favor, and someday I will do him a favor. After talking to him, we will meet with some people who work in Israeli internal security regarding their investigation of Gloria Neumann’s murder.”
“Will we have to sign any confidentiality paperwork?” Jakob asked.
Daud looked at Hana. “Please explain.”
Hana quickly did so in Arabic.
“No,” Daud said to Jakob. “But they are not under the control of the American courts.”
“Which means their cooperation will be voluntary at every level,” Hana said. “That’s where Sylvia Armstrong and the US Attorney’s Office could help with exchange of evidence by official sources.”
“That is all true,” Daud said, looking at his watch.
“Time for me to say good night,” Jakob said. “Hana, that doesn’t apply to you. Enjoy the journey.”
“What did he mean by ‘enjoy the journey’?” Daud asked with a puzzled expression on his face after the door closed. “Do you want to go someplace?”
“Only the places God wants to take us,” Hana answered.
Daud switched to Arabic. “On that we agree one hundred percent, but I had trouble understanding your mood this evening. Part of the time you seemed to be happy and having a good time. Then at other times, you seemed wrapped up in your own thoughts.”
“It’s hard to jump back and forth so quickly between the personal and the professional,” Hana said. “When I was here before, we settled our business first and then focused on getting to know each other better. It makes me uneasy when we switch back and forth.”
“This investigation is an excuse to spend time with you and be paid for it. It’s the best of both worlds,” Daud said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Look, lawyers like Jakob Brodsky and the US attorney in New York think a lawsuit is going to make a difference in eliminating Islamic terrorism. It may help in an isolated way, but you and I know the problems in this part of the world can’t be litigated in a courtroom. Only the power of the gospel can make a lasting difference, because it changes the hearts and minds of men and women who believe it.”
“You’re right,” Hana agreed. “I need to remember that.”
“And don’t make me guess what you’re thinking and feeling. Whatever my skill is as an investigator, I’m still a man trying to understand a woman.”
“You’re doing great,” Hana said and smiled. “Talking helps a lot.”
“Does that mean you’re enjoying the journey?”
“Yes, very much.”
Jakob left his room for the hotel lobby to pick up a bottle of complimentary shampoo. At the bottom of the stairs outside, he saw Daud still standing beside his car with his phone to his ear. Hana was nowhere in sight.
“No, not yet,” the investigator said in Russian.
Jakob froze in place and then moved back into the shadows.
“My way is the only way this is going to work,” the investigator continued in the same language. “Everything will be good in the end. Don’t worry.”
Daud lowered the phone from his ear, opened the door of his vehicle, and drove away. Jakob continued to the lobby.
“I have shampoo options,” the young woman behind the counter said. “Your hair is thick and wavy, so I recommend this one.”
Shampoo bottle in hand, Jakob returned upstairs. The investigator had spoken Russian with a pure accent that was more Ukrainian than Muscovite. Clearly, he was a man of many talents.
Hana emerged from her room. She’d woken up early and sent a detailed memo to Mr. Lowenstein outlining what had happened so far in Israel. In her first draft, she emphasized that she and Daud had left Jakob behind when they traveled to Ramallah and Deir Dibwan, but the sentence didn’t sit right with her, and she changed it to simply report what they did. Jakob was sitting at a small table in the courtyard and drinking coffee when Hana joined him.
“Is your body clock adjusting to the time change?” she asked when she sat down.
“Not very well. I’ve been up for hours.”
“Me, too, but I’ve been working. I sent a memo to Mr. Lowenstein about the trip.”
“Did he respond?”
“Not yet.”
Jakob glanced over Hana’s left shoulder as a couple staying at the hotel passed close by. He lowered his voice. “I heard from Emily. She’s concerned about Ben and Sadie’s safety. That’s why she called him.”
Hana’s heart sank, and her morning appetite left. “What’s going on?”
Jakob continued in a soft voice. “It’s true that she wasn’t followed when she left the airport after dropping me off for my flight. What she didn’t say at the time was that she turned the tables on the car tailing me and followed it. The driver led her to a run-down apartment complex in East Point. She stayed for a few hours to see who came and went. It was an active place, and she took a bunch of photos.”
Jakob handed his phone to Hana, who scrolled through the pictures. There were multiple shots of four Middle Eastern males in their twenties or thirties. Two men had uncut beards in a manner preferred by fundamentalists.
“Where’s the connection with Ben and Sadie?” Hana asked. “East Point is across town from where they live.”
“The following day, Emily took a break from driving customers and returned to the apartment. The car that followed us to the airport was gone, but a couple of guys left in a different vehicle. Emily tailed them all the way to the community where Ben and Sadie live. As you know, it’s gated, so the men parked nearby. They were still there when Emily left an hour later.”
“Has she reported any of this to the police?”
“Not yet. She has a call in to Detective Freeman to request increased police presence in the area.”
“Ben wants to keep things normal for Sadie,” Hana said as much to herself as to Jakob.
“Nothing has been normal for either one of them since they were in Hurva Square nearly four years ago,” Jakob noted.
Anger rose up inside Hana at the cowardice of anyone who posed a threat to innocent little girls. She closed her eyes for several moments. “We have to let the police deal with it,” she said, keeping her voice steady.
“That’s what I said in the voice mail I left Ben this morning,” Jakob replied. “I encouraged him to return Emily’s phone call and to contact Detective Freeman directly.”
“Okay,” Hana sighed.
“Should we tell Daud about this?” Jakob asked.
“Yes,” Hana answered. “You can tell him on the way to our meeting.”