Securities

December 1989

Discovered on 5 December in a black convertible. ‘They bought the car on Saturday and paid cash for it: twenty thousand three hundred dollars,’ according to Ken P., a Chevrolet dealer.

On the 6th, they left the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood Beach, where they were known under the names of Mr and Mrs Salders, doubtless through a side door, because they succeeded in escaping the reporters who had been following them for two days. On 12 December, the receptionist at the Beachcomber Lodge and Villas tips off the press as soon as she recognizes the former gymnast, but it’s too late: by the time the paparazzi arrive, Mr and Mrs Fonnors’s room is empty.

On 13 December, from his room at the Pompano Beach hotel in Florida, P. offers several phone interviews: ‘I am her manager and am going to help her make films and commercials.’ They live off the interview money he negotiates, the cheques are all made out to him.

Cathy C., a waitress in a diner, explains on a national TV news programme that Nadia ‘is like a kid in a sweet shop. She eats five times a day, orders a steak at seven in the morning and a prawn cocktail at eleven; huh, she’s having fun like she never could back in her own country… The guy with her? She depends on him to pay, to do the talking. She and I chatted a bit, when he was in the washroom.’

Perez D., barman at the Great Western hotel: ‘She ordered a strawberry daiquiri while she was watching Batman on TV. Then her picture came on during the news, and she whispered: “This isn’t what I was expecting. I’m disappointed, so disappointed.”’

Barmaids, waiters, mechanics, curious onlookers, hotel receptionists, cashiers, passers-by, a host of unpaid witnesses, everywhere and always delighted to be part of this fantastic televised trial. Who are happy to note what she eats and in what order as soon as they recognize her in a restaurant. Who scribble down on a piece of paper her car registration number. Who are sure they saw her stagger, drunk, in a casino, or have caught sight of her in a bus, supermarket, square: to them she looked fat and lonely.

Everything was caught on camera, but after being followed by the Securitate for years without ever spotting them, it was refreshing to see who it was who was following me.

– Nadia C.