Vanished Without A Trace (30 page)

Now he was looking at the glass partition, at this man they claimed to be his son. One look was enough for him to know he was his son. He was so much like his mother when he met her. His light-brown hair looked like hers, gray eyes with long lashes which caused him to be trapped in his wife’s net thirty five years ago. Many women wanted him, but one look at Miriam and he was already captured by her. He looked at Daniel while he was doing the tests, thinking about what he had been through. He wanted to know how he lived his life ever since his trace had disappeared. He felt an accelerating pounding in his heart and choking in his throat.

Professor Goldsmith finished the test and found Fisher agitated. "Is everything okay, Mr. Fischer?"

"He is my son." He muttered with wet eyes. He lowered his head and held him with his two hands. "Do you understand?" Tears streamed from Fisher’s eyes. "After twenty five years, twenty five years someone took away from me the most precious of all things, twenty five years they took the peace of mind away from me and from my wife. There was never a night we went to sleep and didn’t think of what was going on with our son. When he was small, we hoped he was killed because we did not want him to be helpless in the hands of some pervert, but when he turned twenty, we started praying again he is alive, maybe somehow he survived his hard life somehow he reached the age of twenty." He swallowed his saliva, which threatened to strangle him.

"You had better wait for the result of the test," Goldsmith said, worrying that in the end Fisher would be wrong and be disappointed.

"I knew I would recognize him the moment I saw him." Fisher ignored Goldsmith’s warning," I knew I would feel something. And it happened to me. I couldn’t be wrong I knew I would recognize him. It was hard for me to stop myself from going to the examination room to hug him." Fisher sipped from the glass of water. "Do you know who is to blame for all the pain I have? It’s my good friend, Moshe Kowalski. Each year, during the special memorial day for Tom, only ten people were allowed to be with us, and he was one of them. He stood there every year. He never missed a single memorial day." Those memories caused Fisher to burst into more tears. All these times, he knew our son is alive, but he kept tormenting us, withholding the knowledge. I am a man who boasts my ability to get to know people quickly and know who is good in business and who is not, yet, all this time he was my son’s kidnapper, a family murderer, and I didn’t realize anything. It's much harder to discover the truth was so close, these two youngsters succeeded in a place where I failed. The truth was so close. I don’t know the whole story, but I will have time to hear everything from my son."

He was hanging on so much hope, until Goldsmith prayed the result would be positive.

"I will go to him." Fisher said.

"No, you can’t do this," Professor Goldsmith quickly reacted.

"Why? What’s stopping me?" Fisher said and got up from his chair.

"Please, Mr. Fisher, you have waited for twenty five years. Wait for few more days." Goldsmith begged him.

"Wait for a few days? I waited for nine thousand one hundred eighty seven days. There was not a single day I didn’t feel the pain. There was no time I started a day without thinking about my son."

Mr. Fisher left the room while the lawyer went after him, trying to dissuade him from his act. Daniel was standing right in the exit of the room when he saw a tall man approaching him with reddish eyes from crying and unable to speak. Daniel approached and hugged him just like he hugged a friend whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, giving him a shoulder to cry on. Tears broke out again. Fisher was unable to stop it. "You are my son," he muttered again and again while hugging Daniel, hugging and crying.

"I know," Daniel whispered. Without believing in it, he found himself crying too, giving an outlet to pain from years of deprivation. They held each other for a long time.

52

Gideon arrived at the Marina in Hertzelia, in the western part which was more peaceful than the crowded east side. He parked his car at the entrance of the dock and walked towards the gate, which could be opened with a slight push. Dimmed side lights slightly illuminated the dock. It was not bright but not totally dark. He approached the yacht with measured steps, looking at Kowalski, standing on the deck and signaled him to come aboard. He crossed the ladder that led from the dock to the yacht and stopped for a moment near Kowalski, who shook his hand. They entered into the inner room, and crossing their way was a large and elegant living room. Gideon was surprised the meeting was held in an internal room and not in the stern or in the living room, But he calmed down when he noticed it looked like more of an office than a guest room and presumed he was invited in this room for convenience. He sat in front of Kowalski, who took hold of his place alongside the outer wall. "I thought you would come with Amos," Kowalski said.

Gideon had to admit the last statement certainly confused him, but more than that, he was worried it might confuse the police detectives who were waiting outside with the surveillance unit. "Actually, I was trying to get hold of Amos since noon , but apparently, he is missing. His wife said he has not come home for two days already!"

"Would you like us to wait for a bit?" Kowalski asked.

Gideon had to salute Kowalski. If he continued like this, Gideon would have to take off the mask and speak openly, otherwise he would make a fool of himself of bringing the undercover unit here for nothing, and most of all, Kowalski would turn out innocent on all charges and Gideon would turn out to be completely stupid in this whole story. "There's no point to wait for him. It seems to us something happened to him. His wife says he came to meet you three days ago. And since then, she has not heard anything from him. When did he leave you?"

"After he finished talking to you on the phone," Kowalski said.

"Well, let's move forward. You know I'm investigating the case of Daniel. Do you want to shed light on the case?"

"Tell me where you stand." Kowalski said.

"Honestly, what we think is not very flattering to you. We think Daniel is your grandson and you murdered Julia, his mother, because you were afraid she might reveal he is your illegitimate grandson."

"So, then kill someone because she slept with my son and bore a child?"

"Exactly," Gideon said, "This thing really bothered me, this is why I’m busy right now in finding the real reason that caused you to murder her. It must be something she knew about you. C’mon, tell me what you wanted to confess."

Kowalski got up from his place and looked at the small window of his room, and from there, he looked at Gideon, "Let’s be frank and lay the cards down, both of us are not stupid after all. From the moment Amos informed me you were in the United States, I understood you found out all about the case. You did not go to see my son but you went to meet Mr. Fisher. I’m not stupid."

Kowalski pulled a gun from the drawer of his desk and played with it. "Anyway, I have nothing to lose anymore." Gideon was pressured by the appearance of the gun, especially because he also knew Kowalski had nothing to lose, but on the other hand, he did not want to imply to the police outside he was threatened by a gun until he had enough time to extract a confession from Kowalski. If the surveillance unit realized he was being threatened, they would barge in and Gideon wouldn’t have enough time to get a confession about the disappearance of Amos and about the case of Daniel. Therefore, he didn’t say a word about the threat hovered over his head. "If you already knew I exposed you and the whole case, why did you kill Amos? You killed him, right?"

Kowalski released a ridiculous smile. "You know, Amos’ last wish was really stupid. I promised him I would do this, but c’mon, to burn his body and disperse it into the sea? Where did he get those stupid ideas? And where would I be able to burn the body without arousing any suspicion? Oh and the dirt…" Kowalski crumpled his face.

"Then where did you put his body?" Gideon ignored the outrageous behavior Kowalski got himself into.

"Wait a minute, are you in a hurry to go somewhere? We have all the time in the world. Now we are sailing to Haifa, and we will wait there until the morning to stamp our passports and we will take a trip to Cyprus. You will of course go down in the middle of the trip and I will continue all the way to Cyprus."

"You are planning to throw me in the middle of the sea? Is Amos also in a place waiting for you to throw him somewhere along the way?"

Kowalski breathed heavily and focused on Gideon’s face. "What’s your stake in it? Anyhow, you won’t be able to help him anymore. You can’t get out alive from here." Kowalski looked at Gideon’s terrified eyes.

"Just for full disclosure," Gideon said, "Do you think I came here alone, and it must be obvious to you there are taps?"

"Just for disclosure, I am a communication genius, and if your friends are here, they will not be able to hear anything, because I blocked the communication with a very advanced measure. In simple words, I destroyed their taps. Second, if they are indeed here, both of us won’t get out of here alive."

"I won’t get out from here alive, but the truth will come out. My partner is in the United States at the moment waiting for the test result of Mr. Fisher and his son Daniel. He was the one who exposed the whole case and he was the one who believed your son was a partner in the crime. Only you or I can clear him, but no one will believe you, and until Naor will prove his innocence, and there will be nothing left of his family or of his big communication company."

"He is not connected with this. Naor doesn’t know anything about this!" Kowalski yelled furiously.

"I believe you, but I’m sure the police don’t. I can promise you, if you get out of here and admit it, I will support your version Naor was not involved."

Kowalski went back to sit in his place, thinking.

"You know you have nowhere to run," Gideon continued in his persuasive efforts. "You are trapped. It’s not only that I know. The moment Fisher will know, you are finished. At least, save your son."

Kowalski held his face in despair, while playing with the gun in his hand all the time. Then he reached for the device was in his desk and neutralized the electronic blocks. "It has to be clear to everyone that Naor is innocent."

Gideon nodded in agreement.

"I always asked myself how I would feel if I told my story. It’s not about make it easier for me, it has never hampered me, but I wonder if it will make something of me." Kowalski opened the confession:

"It was a bidding held by the U.S. Army, a bidding I was really interested in, because it would give me recognition as one of the best companies. Business in Israel is nice, China is even nicer, but doing business in America is already a different league, it is like touching the sky. But unfortunately, Mr. Fisher was a favorite. He was supposed to take the big bidding. He was known and they trusted him. When they say they don’t intend to undertake the low bid, they mark people like Fisher, people who pay them more in order to get the job. They have good names and they stand in time. With them, you don’t take the risk. Somehow, they had a problem with me. They don’t have any experience with me, so I should win at least one bid to prove myself and then I'll be on the horse. But I had no chance against Fisher. All night long, I was thinking of a way how to win the bidding. I bribed lots of people in the army, and they said they could try to help, but they can’t guarantee. Then the idea of kidnapping flashed into my mind, to kidnap the son of Mr. Fisher. Do you know how many children disappear every year in the U.S.? No one would suspect me. At first I thought of hiding him for a few days, but just like anything else, you know how to start, but not how to end. Then the moment came for executing the plan. The nanny of Tom, or Daniel, arrived to take him from the kindergarten. While she was out of the car, I went into the back seat and when she came back with the child and began to drive, I ordered her to go into the woods, where I left another vehicle. I knew the mother would not be worried the boy was not back yet. Based on what I saw during the days I followed them, it was just normal for the nanny to go for a walk with him. I pointed the gun on the nanny and asked her to write a note from the kidnapper, asking that no information would be leaked to the media, otherwise he would kill the child, and asked to wait for the ransom demands in an expected way. Of course, I did this in case the search began immediately or they discovered the body before I was be able to smuggle the child from America. After she did this, I shot two bullets in her head. Then I pointed the gun at the boy, but he looked at me in a way that scared me. He was always a special child, so small, but smart. I gave him a sedative and hung the letter with the nanny’s handwriting on the car window. Then, I bought a huge suitcase and put the sedated child inside. From there I went to my yacht in Manhattan. No one thought there was a child inside the suitcase. They didn’t know yet the child was kidnapped.

After sailing for several hours, I anchored in Connecticut. The whole time, no one was permitted to enter my room. This little bastard, who was with me in my room, and who barely saw me twice but remembered my name, was forcing me to get rid of him. All the way to Connecticut I was worried I had made a mistake by not shooting him along with the nanny, not to mention he was sedated the whole way. I arrived at the port of New Bedford in Connecticut and I called my son Naor to tell him the whole story and ask for his help, but Naor didn’t answer the phone. I thought it would be best that way. I was not even sure in my heart if I had to involve him in the story.” Just a bit of a pressure on him and he might tell everything to the police.

"That’s when I called Julia. She was not Naor’s mistress, but mine. That was your mistake in the story. I asked her to fly to me. I explained to her Daniel was my grandson, Naor’s illegitimate child. I told her his mother died and she asked Naor to take care of him, but Naor was worried about his wife and didn’t want her to know about it, or their marriage would be over, as well as, my business, because fifty percent of the company belongs to Naor’s wife. I offered Julia a large settlement to take my grandson away, probably to Romania, and take care of him. Julia was happy to go back to Romania and get a monthly payment. I arranged the papers for the child, I called him Daniel, a common Romanian name, and I flew them to Romania. Julia bought herself a house there and the money came to her as I had promised. When the media released news on the abduction of Fisher’s son, Daniel was already in Eastern Europe, thousands of kilometers away from America.