“I don’t believe things like that happened in Palestine.”
“Of course they did, Dominique. After the massacre word spread through the Arab villages like wildfire. The Jews took full advantage of the situation. They mounted loudspeakers on trucks and broadcast warnings. They told the Arabs to get out, or there would be another Deir Yassin. They concocted stories about outbreaks of typhus and cholera. They made clandestine radio broadcasts in Arabic, masquerading as Arab leaders, and urged the Palestinians to take flight to avoid a bloodbath. This is the real reason the Palestinians left.”
“I had no idea,” she said.
“My own family came from the village of Lydda. Lydda, like Deir Yassin, no longer exists. It is now Lod. It’s where the Zionists put their fucking airport. After a battle with the Arab defenders, the Jews entered Lydda. There was complete panic. Two hundred fifty Arab villagers were killed in the crossfire. After the town was captured, the commanders asked Ben-Gurion what should be done with the Arabs. He said, ‘Drive them out!’ The actual expulsion orders were signed by Yitzhak Rabin. My family was given ten minutes to pack a few belongings, as much as they could carry in a single bag, and told to get out. They started walking. The Jews laughed at them. Spat at them. That’s the truth about what happened in Palestine. That’s who I am. That’s why I hate them.”
Jacqueline, however, was thinking not of the Arabs of Lydda but of the Jews of Marseilles—of Maurice and Rachel Halévy and the night the Vichy gendarmes came for them.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“Your story upset me. Come back to bed. I want to hold you.”
He crawled back into bed, spread his body gently over hers, and kissed her mouth. “End of lecture,” he said. “We’ll resume tomorrow, if you’re interested.”
“I’m interested—very interested, in fact.”
“Do you believe the things I’ve told you, or do you think I’m just another fanatical Arab who wants to see the Jews driven into the sea?”
“I believe you, Yusef.”
“Do you like poetry?”
“I love poetry.”
“Poetry is very important to the Palestinian people. Our poetry allows us to express our suffering. It gives us the courage to face our past. A poet named Mu’in Basisu is one of my favorites.”
He kissed her again and began to recite:
And after the flood none was left of this people
This land, but a rope and a pole
None but bare bodies floating on mires
Leavings of kin and child
None but swelled bodies
Their numbers unknown
Here wreckage, here death, here drowned in deep
waters
Scraps of bread loaf still clasped in my hand.
She said, “It’s beautiful.”
“It sounds better in Arabic.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Do you speak any Arabic, Dominique?”
“Of course not. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering.”
In the morning Yusef brought her coffee in bed. Jacqueline sat up and drank it very quickly. She needed the jolt of caffeine to help her think. She hadn’t slept. Several times she had considered slipping out of bed, but Yusef was a restless sleeper and she feared he might awaken. If he discovered her making imprints of his keys with a special device disguised as a mascara case, there would be no way to explain. He would assume she was an Israeli agent. He might very well kill her. It would be better to leave his flat without the imprints than to be caught. She wanted to do it right—for Gabriel’s sake and her own.
She looked at her watch. It was nearly nine o’clock.
“I’m sorry I let you sleep so long,” Yusef said.
“That’s all right. I was tired.”
“It was a good tired, yes?”
She kissed him and said, “It was a
very
good tired.”
“Call your boss and tell him you’re going to take the day off and make love to a Palestinian named Yusef al-Tawfiki.”
“I don’t think he’ll see the humor in that.”
“This man has never wanted to spend the day making love to a woman?”
“I’m not sure, actually.”
“I’m going to take a shower. You’re welcome to join me.”
“I’ll never get to work that way.”
“That was my intention.”
“Get in the shower. Is there any more coffee?”
“In the kitchen.”
Yusef stepped into the bathroom and closed the door halfway. Jacqueline lay in bed until she heard him step into the shower; then she slipped from beneath the blankets and padded into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and walked into the sitting room. She placed the coffee on the table next to Yusef’s keys and sat down. The shower was still running.
She reached into her bag and withdrew her mascara case. She popped it open and glanced inside. It was filled with a soft ceramic material. All she had to do was place a key against the material and squeeze the lid closed. The ersatz case would produce a perfect imprint.
Her hands were trembling. She picked up the keys carefully, to prevent them from making any sound, and singled out the first: the Yale model he had used for the street entrance. She placed it inside the case, closed the lid, and squeezed. She opened the case and removed the key. The imprint was flawless. She repeated the process two more times, once with the second Yale key, then with the skeleton. She had three perfect imprints.
She closed the lid, placed the keys exactly where Yusef had left them, then returned the mascara case to her purse.
“What are you doing there?”
She looked up, startled, and quickly regained her composure. Yusef was standing in the center of the floor, his wet body wrapped in a beige bath towel. How long had he been standing there? How much had he seen?
Damn it, Jacqueline! Why weren’t you watching the door!
She said, “I’m looking for my cigarettes. Have you seen them?”
He pointed toward the bedroom. “You left them in there.”
“Oh, yes. God, sometimes I think I’m losing my mind.”
“That’s all you were doing? Just looking for cigarettes?”
“What else would I be doing?” She spread her arms to indicate the spartan squalor of his sitting room. “You think I’m trying to make off with your valuables?”
She stood and picked up her handbag. “Are you finished in the bathroom?”
“Yes, but why are you bringing your purse to the bathroom?”
She thought:
He suspects something.
Suddenly she wanted to get out of the flat as quickly as possible. Then she thought:
I should be offended by questions like that.
“I think I may be getting my period,” she said icily. “I don’t think I like the way you’re acting. Is this the way all Arab men treat their lovers the morning after?”
She brushed past him and entered the bedroom. She was surprised at how convincing she had managed to sound. Her hands were shaking as she collected her clothing and entered the bathroom. She ran water in the sink while she dressed. Then she opened the door and went out. Yusef was in the sitting room. He wore faded jeans, a sweater, loafers with no socks.
He said, “I’ll call you a cab.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll find my own way home.”
“Let me walk you down.”
“I’ll see myself out, thank you.”
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting this way?”
“Because I don’t like the way you were talking to me. I had a nice time, until now. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
She opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Yusef followed her. She walked quickly down the stairs, then across the lobby.
At the front entrance he grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, Dominique. I’m just a little paranoid sometimes. You’d be paranoid too if you’d lived my life. I didn’t mean anything by it. How can I make it up to you?”
She managed to smile, even though her heart was pounding against the inside of her ribs. She had no idea what to do. She had the imprints, but there was a chance that he had seen her making them—or at least that he suspected she had done
something.
If she were guilty, the natural impulse would be to reject his invitation. She decided to accept his offer. If Gabriel believed it was a mistake, she could make up an excuse to cancel it.
She said, “You may take me out for a proper dinner.”
“What time?”
“Meet me at the gallery at six-thirty.”
“Perfect.”
“And don’t be late. I can’t stand men who are late.”
Then she kissed him and went out.
24
MAIDA VALE, LONDON
When Jacqueline arrived back at her flat, Gabriel was seated on the couch drinking coffee. “How did it go?”
“It was lovely. Bring me some of that coffee, will you?”
She went into the bathroom, closed the door, and began filling the tub. Then she stripped off her clothing and slipped beneath the warm water. A moment later Gabriel knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
He came into the room. He seemed surprised that she was already in the bath. He looked away, searching for a spot to place the coffee. “How do you feel?” he said, eyes averted.
“How do you feel after you kill someone?”
“I always feel dirty.”
Jacqueline scooped up a handful of water and let it run over her face.
Gabriel said, “I need to ask you some questions.”
“I’m ready when you are.”
“It can wait until you’re dressed.”
“We’ve lived together as man and wife, Gabriel. We’ve even
behaved
like man and wife.”
“That was different.”
“Why was it different?”
“Because it was a necessary part of the operation.”
“Sleeping in the same bed, or making love to each other?”
“Jacqueline, please.”
“Maybe you won’t look at me because I just slept with Yusef.”
Gabriel glared at her and went out. Jacqueline permitted herself a brief smile, then slipped below the water.
“The phone is made by British Telecom.”
She was sitting in the cracked club chair, her body covered in a thick white robe. She rattled off the name and model number as she worked a towel through her damp hair.
“There’s no telephone in the bedroom, but he does have a clock radio.”
“What kind?”
“A Sony.” She gave him the model number.
“Let’s go back to the telephone for a moment,” Gabriel said. “Any distinguishing marks? Any price tags or stickers with telephone numbers on them? Anything that would give us a problem?”
“He fancies himself a poet and a historian. He writes all the time. It looks as though he dials the telephone with the tip of a pen. The keypad is covered with marks.”
“What color ink?”
“Blue and red.”
“What kind of pen?”
“What do you mean? The kind of pen you write with.”
Gabriel sighed and looked wearily at the ceiling. “Is it a ballpoint pen? Is it a fountain pen? Perhaps a felt-tipped pen?”
“Felt-tipped, I believe.”
“You believe?”
“Felt-tipped. I’m sure of it.”
“Very good,” he said as though he were speaking to a child. “Now, is it fine point, medium, or bold?”
She slowly raised the long, slender middle finger of her right hand and waved it at Gabriel.
“I’ll take that to mean bold point. What about the keys?”
She hunted through her handbag, tossed him the silver mascara case. Gabriel thumbed the release, lifted the lid, looked at the imprints.
She said, “We may have a problem.”
Gabriel closed the lid and looked up.
Jacqueline said, “I think he may have seen me with his keys.”
“Tell me about it.”
She recounted the entire chain of events for him, then added cautiously, “He wants to see me again.”
“When?”
“Tonight at six-thirty. He’s meeting me at the gallery.”
“Did you accept?”
“Yes, but I can—”
“No,” Gabriel said, interrupting her. “That’s perfect. I want you to meet him and keep him entertained long enough for me to get inside his flat and plant the bugs.”
“Then what?”
“Then it will be done.”
Gabriel left the building through a back service door. He slipped across the courtyard, scaled a cinder-block wall, and leaped into an alleyway strewn with beer cans and bits of broken glass. Then he walked to the Maida Vale Underground station. He felt unsettled. He didn’t like the fact that Yusef had asked to see Jacqueline a second time.