Fire in a Haystack: A Thrilling Novel (Legal Mystery Book Book 1) (4 page)

He looked around him with a penetrating gaze, and then added in a deep, cigarette-scorched voice, “And I’m donating a hundred thousand dollars to your association. I’m also going to pay for all the court-related expenses.”

Igor finished speaking and with a measured gait returned to his place.

Murmurs of surprise and whispers of amazement were heard among the audience.

“Igor has not only promised but has already delivered. The money has been in our bank account since noontime today. So, can we get going? Are there any objections?” Gali inquired with glittering eyes.

Not a single finger was raised.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of the cellar door being thrown open and banging against the wall.

A tall man, his face completely covered by a dark ski mask and brandishing an M16, burst inside and slammed the door shut behind him. The people turned towards him at the noise and were petrified at his sight.

The intruder began firing his automatic weapon. The gunfire echoed loudly in the small room. People threw themselves to the floor in panic. Gali dropped to the floor as well. She was shivering, but her eyes remained open. Through all the chaos, between the scattering people and the moving chairs, she managed to take note of the shooter’s ankle boots and his steady posture.

He shot in silence for several minutes, and immediately after that, the door was opened and slammed shut once more. The shooter had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Complete silence prevailed. Only half a minute later did the shock begin to dissipate and the sound of murmurs and gradually intensifying sobbing was heard.

Gali was the first to rise, pale and terrified. She examined herself and was glad to see she wasn’t hurt. Beyond the empty chairs and the people lying on the floor, she recognized the muscular body of Igor Harsovsky, lying sprawled on his back.

She lunged from her place and ran to him, jumping over the wounded people lying on the floor.

Igor clutched his right shoulder with both hands, blood seeped through his fingers. Holes were torn in his black Armani shirt and they were trickling with thick blood. His face was twisted in pain and had turned as white as the fluorescent lights above his head.

Gali covered her face with her hands and felt the salty tears pouring uncontrollably from her eyes. She leaned towards him on the blood-stained floor and was happy to discover Igor was still conscious and breathing.

“Call an ambulance, quickly…” she shouted.

All of a sudden the noise around her became horrific. People were screaming and rushing with panic towards the exit. She raised her head and looked around, relieved to discover there weren’t many injured people. Giora came over to her, his hand stained with blood, but he was walking by himself and did not seem seriously wounded. The cellar emptied out quickly.

Gali regained her self-control. No point in shouting. As usual, no one was going to do her work for her. She took out her cell phone and made two calls. One for an ambulance, the other to the police.

Her report was brief and accurate. Her voice was steady, “Come quickly. There was a shooting incident in the cellar of 19 Ahad Ha’am Street, Tel Aviv. People are wounded.”

She wiped Igor’s face and told him, “Be strong, you’re going to survive this. They’ll be here to take care of you any minute now.”

Chapter 3

While Ofer searched for a pulse and dealt with the eyelids of the chubby carcass lying on the bed, Natalia remained petrified. She only shivered a bit, perhaps because of the chilly air blowing from the air conditioner.

Ofer went to the other side of the bed, picked up the phone and dialed zero to get the receptionist.

“I’m in room 613 and there’s a body here,” he said, trying to steady his voice.

“I’ll send someone right away,” squeaked the plum-like mouth of the blonde from the other end of the line, as though she were used to receiving such messages.

Rodety’s large testicles, like faded pink tennis balls, caught Ofer’s eye. Definitely not a heartwarming sight.
That’s the nature of testicles
, he thought,
not a very charming sight even when attached to a live person.

He pulled out the edge of the sheet from beneath the mattress and covered Rodety’s groin area. Rodety’s package was as dead as the rest of him, but it seemed to Ofer that any man, alive or dead, deserved a little privacy.

He looked about and realized that he had touched many objects in the room. The empty whiskey bottle, the silver flask, the bed, the sheets, the telephone and especially, the body itself.

Thoughts began to run through his mind. Various questions began to bother him much more than the fingerprints he had left.

“Did you happen to see if someone came in here before me?” he asked Natalia.

“No, no, of course not!” she said without even looking at him.

“Are you sure?” he insisted.

“Are you a cop? Why you ask so many questions?” she raised her voice in anger and turned her back to him.

Ofer did not reply. The bright braid on her back suddenly seemed familiar—was it she who had peeked into the corridor when he had reached the room?

On the nightstand next to the bed, a folded piece of paper lay beneath the phone he had used to call the receptionist. Written on the folded paper was a cellular number. He didn’t need to read it twice. It was his number.

Without giving it a second thought, taking advantage of the fact that the chambermaid still turned her back to him, he quickly shoved the folded paper into the back pocket of his trousers. From the corner of his right eye, he thought he spotted a shadow. A broad-shouldered figure of a man crossed the corridor. He turned his gaze quickly and managed to see that the figure paused for an instant next to the half open door of the room. It was impossible to distinguish the man’s features. He continued on his way with the same urgency with which he had appeared. When Ofer looked at him from behind, he managed to see a small and rounded bald spot at the center of his head.

“Did you see who it was?” he asked Natalia.

She shook her head. He ran across the room and headed out into the corridor. Only while he was already chasing the balding man did the reason for his action occur to him—who wears a long dark coat on such a warm summer day?

He managed to see the dark back of the man with the bald spot as he turned left towards the staircase. The man was slightly shorter than him but with broader shoulders. Ofer ran after him, opened the emergency exit door and followed him down the staircase but wasn’t able to catch up.

When he returned to the room, panting, Natalia had vanished as though she were never there. He went out to the corridor once more and with wide paces walked to its end to look for her.

Just then, the elevator door opened.

From the elevator came an athletic young man, dressed in a white shirt, his spiky hair stiff with wax. Like all the hotel employees, he had a name tag on his chest, detailing his name and function—“Yoni, Hotel Security Officer.” A tall redheaded man followed him. Judging by his frigid facial expression and jumpy gait, it was obvious he wasn’t a tourist guide. Behind them both trudged a junior police officer who looked like a child wearing too-big clothes.

“Who are you?” asked the redhead. 

“I’m the one who called you about the body,” answered Ofer.

“Come with us,” said the redhead and began to jog towards room 613.

The redhead rushed inside, and the rest of them followed. Not surprisingly, the late Jacob Rodety was lying in the same position, adorned with the same dancing hippopotamuses tie, wearing the same black socks, his genitals covered by the sheet.

The redhead examined the body lying on the bed.

“No need to check for a pulse. I’ve already checked and the man is completely dead,” said Ofer.

The redhead did not accept his diagnosis. He checked the body himself then walked about the room and took a long look in the bathroom while maintaining the same frozen expression.

Yoni, the hotel’s security officer, paced restlessly about the doorway with both hands on his head. Panic was written clearly on his face. There was no doubt he was new at this job. As far as he was concerned, this wasn’t a very promising start. The young police officer lit a cigarette. After a few puffs, he began to cough miserably and it sounded as if he was about to throw up. Apparently, the cigarette had influenced him more than the sight of the dead body that was gradually getting stiffer on the bed.

The redhead seemed to be skilled in handling such situations. He began to give orders. “You make sure no one enters the room. From this moment on, this room is a crime scene,” he said and turned towards the young policeman. “And put out that cigarette, you’re on duty.

“And you, you go and check immediately which of the hotel staff members were present on the floor today from the early morning hours up till now. I’ll also need to use the adjacent room,” he guided Yoni, the security officer.

Then he added in his authoritative voice, “No one touches anything until the forensics people are here.” 

Only then did he find the time to address the man who had led him to the room. “What’s your name?”

“Ofer Angel.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m an intern at the law offices of Geller, Schneider and Associates. I came to take Mr. Rodety to the office. That’s him.” He pointed at the body on the bed. “We were scheduled to meet at six o’clock in the evening. He’s an expert we brought in to help us with one of our clients’ cases. I got here on time. I waited for him downstairs, and when he didn’t show up I came up here. To my surprise, I found the… that thing,” he said and pointed with his finger again at the rounded body whose genitalia were draped with a sheet, “and I covered his—”

“Why the hell did you cover him up? As a lawyer, you should know that nothing is to be touched. So you’re on the side of the law as well, eh?” he asked without expecting an answer and continued right away, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Nir Alush, senior officer at the crime investigation department.”

Ofer shook the redhead’s extended hand and felt as though his fingers were about to snap. He noticed that the vigorous officer did not miss a single opportunity to whistle his S’s.  He decided it must be beyond the policeman’s control.

“Wait for me in the adjacent room I asked the security officer to open up for me,” muttered Alush. With a series of quick movements, he finished the job that Ofer had begun and covered Rodety from head to toe with the bedspread that was rolled up on the floor.

Ofer went into the room the security officer had opened for Alush, sat down on the bed and waited. Twenty minutes later, Officer Alush arrived.

“Routine questioning,” said the police officer. He took the chair next to the writing desk, turned the backrest in a way that separated them, and sat in front of Ofer. “No other choice. You were the first to find the body, so you are awarded the privilege and I am awarded the honor. Or vice versa, take your pick. We’ll start with a few background questions then you’ll slowly tell me everything you know,” he ordered and Ofer nodded.

“Name, age, address, marital status,” he blurted.

“Ofer Angel. Twenty-five, almost six. Single, 23 Nahalat Binyamin Tel Aviv, intern at a law firm. I’ll be taking my bar exam in a few weeks and hope to get my license then.”

“What do you know about the body you’ve found?”

“Not too much,” said Ofer.

Alush raised his eyebrows. “Tell me, did you just happen to come here, or were you about to meet with someone you know?” he asked, keeping both eyebrows at the center of his forehead.

“He’s an Israeli who’s been living in… as far as I know, in London for the past few years. His name is Jacob Rodety. He came here to serve as an expert witness for some businesses a client of my law firm owns.”

“What businesses and what client?”

“International commerce. The client is Yitzhak Brick. One of the firm’s most important clients,” answered Ofer.

“How many times did you meet with him?” hissed Alush.

“Only once.” He decided to skip the memories from his father’s funeral and mourning period.

“When?” Alush continued to question him.

“Last night. I took him out to show him around Tel Aviv after all the years he’d spent abroad.”

“What’s your area of specialty?” Alush changed the subject.

“Trade law. Contracts, companies, that sort of stuff.”

“You prefer the commercial to the criminal, eh? Too frightened to get your hands dirty in the juices of life?” Alush finally smiled a bit.

“Not exactly. I’m just not so sure I’m fit for this type of job,” explained Ofer with a feeble voice. A rage bubbled up inside him. This police officer was toying with him as if he were in the middle of a job interview.
What did he know about the law? The commercial field didn’t have enough “juices of life”? And anyway, I don’t owe him any explanations
, he thought.

“Why did he come to Israel?” Alush changed the subject once more.

Ofer was happy Alush dropped the subject of why he didn’t want to get his hands dirty in the juices of life. He wasn’t too hasty in his reply “He came for business. As an expert. Brick’s company is participating in a large privatization tender for a factory Rodety used to manage. Viromedical. Rodety is an expert in the field and came to help with the preparations for the tender. Last evening, I was asked to take him out, and today I came to take him for a meeting in the office.”

“And… what happened?”

“He wasn’t waiting for me in the lobby. I called the room and he didn’t answer, so I came up here and the chambermaid opened the door for me. Then we both found the body…just like that…I later saw someone passing quickly by the room and peeking inside. He wore a dark coat. I don’t know if it’s related. I ran after him but couldn’t catch up. I went back to the room and the chambermaid was gone.”

“I don’t get it. What chambermaid?” asked Alush.

“The chambermaid who works on this floor. I think her name is Natalia.”

“How do you know her name?”

“It was on the name tag she wore on her chest.”

“Can you think of anyone who might have killed him?” asked Alush.

“I haven’t a clue. Maybe he just died,” answered Ofer.

“You really are a novice. You seriously believe that such a man came especially from London to die here in the Holy Land in a room that looks like this?” He marked the disorder in the room with a wide motion of his arm. “We’ll look into it, and trust me, in the end, we’ll know if he killed himself or if someone else gave him a hand.”

“You’re right. The truth is, I have no idea. You do your job any way you think it should be done.”

“Wait here please, I’ll be right back,” said Alush and headed out of the room with an agitated gait. A few minutes later, he returned to the room, even jumpier than before. “Listen, kid. Are you sure you went into the room with the chambermaid?” he asked sternly.

“Of course. You can ask her.”

“Thanks for the advice,” he hummed. “I already looked for her. She’s gone. It’s now seven o’clock. According to the hotel’s time clock, she finished work at four o’clock in the afternoon. Maybe she wasn’t here at all? Maybe your feverish mind simply invented her?” His voice rose an octave when he wanted to impress his listeners.

“That’s impossible. You need to look harder for her. You’ll see that I’m not lying right away,” said Ofer, sensing his voice beginning to quaver.

“Listen, I’m sorry, but I’ll need to detain you. You’ll need to come to the station with me to continue the investigation. We’ll need to verify your version of events and wait for results from forensics,” Alush announced without leaving any room for appeal.

“What do you mean detain me? You need a tangible reason or an actual suspicion.”

Alush didn’t even bother to answer.

They took the elevator down to the hotel parking lot. Ofer wanted Alush to say something, but the police officer was silent.

“Can I come to the police station with my motorcycle?” asked Ofer.

“No,” answered Alush, “you’re coming with me in the patrol car.”

Ofer reluctantly obeyed. He abruptly recalled that he hadn’t called the office to let them know what was going on. It was already getting late. Yitzhak Brick and Gideon Geller were waiting for him and Rodety in the office and they had no idea what just happened to Rodety. Perhaps it was selfish, but what bothered him most of all was the thought that his career at Geller, Schneider and Associates was possibly drifting away from him.