Eye Wit (11 page)

“I’m sorry. I’m just so sad that he’s gone. We’ll never see him again, and I don’t know what I’m going to do….”

“We’re all sad, Iona,” Jessica said. “We all miss him terribly. You, me, Sophia—all of us. It’s a shock to all of us.” She gazed at Zoran, then at Yoko. “He was an amazing man, as generous as he was intelligent, and we all loved him.”

I wonder, Yoko thought. She was fascinated by the contrast between Iona Duncan and Jessica Ware. From what Sophia Fellini had said, both assistants had had affairs with Marco Fellini. Presumably, both of them were in love—or in lust—with him at one point in time. Now, it appeared to Yoko that only Iona felt any real loss with Marco gone. If she were to judge based on just her observations of all three women, Iona Duncan seemed the least likely of the three to have killed him, especially cold-bloodedly. In anger or despair, maybe. Certainly in anger if Iona thought Marco had lied about wanting to marry her. Iona had drunk a lot of wine when she had the confrontation with Sophia and was told that Marco would never divorce his wife. Anger and wine could overcome rational thought. A combination of the two might well have fueled a killing rage in Iona.

Was Zoran having similar thoughts? Or was he thinking about the germs on his lost handkerchief? Zoran’s next question gave Yoko no clue.

“Ms. Duncan, if you can, please tell me who was principally responsible for validating the authenticity of the jade figurine when you met with Curtis Schoenfeld and Jamilla Rodrigo on the next morning.”

Iona sighed and tried to compose herself. She looked at Jessica rather than Zoran when she answered. “Both, I would say. Ms. Rodrigo said she’d seen similar carved hunting scenes in a museum in Beijing, and Curtis Schoenfeld said he’d dealt with Bernardem Collections before and he’d always been satisfied with items purchased. So, both of them.”

“Did Mr. Fellini seem satisfied with their assurances?”

“Yes. He called Jessica from Schoenfeld’s gallery and told her to go ahead and arrange payment to Bernardem Collections and to contact several collectors, people that Marco knew would be interested in buying the figurine.”

“It was bought by Miles Freedon and is now in his collection. He has what is probably the finest collection of jade statuary in this city, if not this country, perhaps in the world. Mr. Freedon is a devoted Buddhist as well, so he was delighted to obtain such a fine work, knowing it was a favorite of the 13
^th
Dalai Lama.”

“You’re in luck, Mr. Zeissing,” Jessica said. “You may be able to see it quite soon. The National Arts Club is arranging a showing of some of Mr. Freedon’s pieces, it’s scheduled to follow their current display of Ishi’s bows and arrows. Freedon has at least a dozen exquisite pieces that relate to archery and he’s agreed to display them when the Ishi exhibit is over—about a month from now.”

Yoko interjected. “Speaking of archery, I believe that both of you have had vision therapy. Didn’t you start with Dr. Forrest then go to one of the clinics at the College of Optometry?”

Iona perked up noticeably. “Yes! That’s why you look so familiar. Now you mention it, I think I’ve seen you at the clinic. Do you work there?”

“Yes, I’m at the infants’ clinic several days a week though mostly I’m involved in research, but sometimes I help out at one of the clinics for adults.”

“I don’t know about kids, but vision therapy sure did wonders for me.”

Jessica nodded her agreement. Iona babbled on, obviously unable to stop once she started talking.

“Jessica and me, we’re both way better archers than we were before the therapy. It’s as if I can track the arrow all the way to the target, almost like it’s in slow motion. Before, I had trouble shifting focus from the tip of the arrow to the target, so my aim was always wobbly. Now I sight in on the target instantly.”

Jessica interrupted. “Me too. We got our Ishi Certificates after our vision training. I doubt we could have, before.”

“I am aware of the significance of the Ishi Certificate,” Zoran said and he proceeded to recite how one achieved it. “The Ishi Certificate goes to any archer who can put all 30 arrows in a 20-yard target then get a score of at least 99 on a 40-yard target, plus have one arrow that is on-target 100 yards away.”

Yoko again marveled at the seemingly boundless store of Zoran’s knowledge. Did the man read Wikipedia for fun? No, not Wikipedia. Zoran was computer-phobic. More likely,
Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

“Then both of you are expert archers. Is Madame Fellini also an expert in archery?”

“Yes, that was important to Marco,” Jessica said. “He insisted that we practice constantly. He was convinced that anyone could become expert with enough practice. I think he wasn’t happy that his wife hardly ever went up to the archery run these days, not since she took up yoga.”

Yoko watched Zoran, wondering what he’d make of the comment. Was it a snide dig at Sophia Fellini or did Jessica have an ulterior motive? Zoran absorbed the statement without showing any reaction. Then he asked, “I assume that both of you use the archery run on the roof?”

“Nearly every day, unless we’re ultra busy,” Iona said.

“Tell me about your normal work schedule.” Zoran turned to Jessica.

“The office is open Tuesday through Saturday, from nine to three. I don’t mean open to the public, but open for business with clients. All of our customers have appointments before they come, but they like to know that we are available by phone during normal business hours.”

“So you start work at nine?”

“Actually earlier. I always stop for a muffin and herbal tea at Pete’s—it’s at the other end of this block—around seven-thirty, but often I sit there for a bit. It doesn’t take me more than a few minutes to walk here from Pete’s. Iona mostly gets here at eight, usually a little before me.”

“What time did you arrive this morning,” Zoran said.

“About eight, just as Sophia stopped by to tell us the awful news about Marco. I got to Pete’s at my usual time and sat for a while, like I often do, then walked over here with my muffin and tea. I try never to be late, here or anywhere.”

“That’s right,” Iona said. “Jessica is the most punctual person. But I was here even earlier than usual and there’s a reason why. I couldn’t sleep after the most awful row with Sophia and Marco last night. I’m sure Sophia has told you all about that.”

“Please tell us your version,” Yoko said, managing to sound confident, although it was the first she’d heard about it. Maybe Dan or somebody else had more information. “Go ahead.”

At first, Iona was hesitant. Perhaps she realized she’d rambled way off the mark when reliving her last fling with Marco. Finally she said, “Look, it’s no secret that Marco and I were having an affair, a love affair. Last night, at the benefit, I spoke to Sophia in the ladies’ room––I went in after her and saw it was empty so I stood with my back to the door so no one else could come in. I told her what Marco had told me, that he was divorcing her and marrying me.”

Yoko asked, “What was her reaction?”

“She laughed in my face. Laughed! She said Marco always had one affair going and that he knew that there was no way she’d ever give him a divorce. She said he wouldn’t even ask her for a divorce because he really didn’t want one. She said that I was just a diversion for Marco, a little game he played for his ego. I was humiliated. Totally humiliated.”

Iona’s face was an angry mask and she hurriedly blew her nose again, shielding the emotion. Yoko looked over to check Zoran’s reaction. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking and his next words tackled a different subject.

“I have a question about this morning,” Zoran said. “Did either of you go up to the roof after Sophia Fellini told you about her husband being killed?”

“Oh Lord, no,” Iona said. “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. All I could do was sit at my desk and bawl my head off. If it hadn’t been for Jessica being here, I’d be even more of a mess than I am. Do you think you can find out who killed him, Detective? Doctor?” Iona looked back and forth between Zoran and Yoko.

“Yes,” Zoran replied. “I am certain we will.”

That’s a good place to end this interview, Yoko decided, before Iona fell apart again. She stood up and gave a slight head bow to Marco Fellini’s two assistants, Marco Fellini’s two lovers. “Thank you both for your time. We will be in touch if we need any more information. We’re sorry for your loss, and we’ll do everything we can to find out who killed your boss.”

Zoran followed Yoko out of the room then turned and went back in. “Pardon me,” he said. “I need to see Mr. Fellini’s study. Is his study through that door?” He pointed to a closed door on the west wall of the office.

Jessica Ware answered by walking over and opening the door in question. “Right through here, Detective. Do let us know if we can be of any further assistance.”

18

Thanks to a week’s worth of surreptitious sulfa shots in June, Luludji had cured Punka Jansen and Yanko Teikin of typhus, and she h
ad kept their twin brothers, Nic
u Jansen and Tobar Teikin free of the disease. She felt grateful for her own courage—it had been too late to help Hadji, but four young Romani would have a chance to survive because of her actions.

Now on August 1, 1944, after a month in the sanitation barracks, both pairs of twins were healthy enough to be quartered in Luludji’s ba
rracks, which
held only
women and children at the moment.

All four boys had gained strength, though they were still badly ma
lnourished, lik
e everyone in the Family Camp. Back i
n May, Luludji knew, there had been many more Romani crowded into the barracks, as many as four per bunk, the bunks stacked end to end in tiers
three
bunks tall. But at the moment, mercifully, the barracks were less crowded. Each pair of twins
shared
a bunk, and Luludji had her own bunk, as she had since Hadji died.

Other inmates had told Luludji that on May 23, only three days b
efore she and Hadji had arrived at Birkenau, more than 1,500 Gypsies were transferred out of the Birkenau Gypsy Family Camp to the gas chambers and ovens at Buchenwald. Just one day before their arrival, another 240 to 250 Gypsies had been removed to Flossenburg and Ravensbrueck camps. She knew that, by now, those transferred members
also
had been greeted by God.

Fewer than 3,000 people remained in the Birkenau Gypsy Family Camp on August 1, 1944. L
uludji wondered how long it would be before they too would leave the camp. Would any of them survive? Nicu and Punka Jansen? Tobar and Yanko Teikin? Herself? Would the Russians arrive in time to liberate them before they were exterminated?

My grandmother did not have long to wait for her questions to be answered.

On August 2
^nd
, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler ordered all Gypsies at Birkenau confined to barracks. During that night and into the next day, all
of
the men, women, and children in the special Gypsy Family Camp at Birkenau were loaded onto trucks and driven to nearby Auschwitz, where they were exterminated in gas chamber V, their bodies burned in Auschwitz’s crematoria.

My grandmother, along with the four twins whose lives she had saved and 2,892 other Roma and Sinti, was gassed and burned during that hideous Zigeunernacht (“Night of the Gypsies”).

My grandmother Luludji Krietzman’s journey was finished.

Mine had not yet begun.

19

After Zoran and Yoko had finished their initial interview of Sophia Fellini, the widow had gone first to her yoga studio to try to relieve her headache then to her bedroom for a nap. So Yoko and Zoran were alone in Marco Fellini’s study, just off his assistants’ office.

Zoran paced thoughtfully around Marco Fellini’s study. Yoko watched him move slowly, almost reverently, around the graciously appointed room that was filled with Fellini’s private collection of art and oddities.

“Is there anyone else to whom I ought to talk, now that I have seen Mrs. Fellini and the two assistants?” Zoran said. “I will want to get back to each of them at some point but what about a housekeeper? Is there a resident person? This is a really large place, yet it is so clean and tidy.”

He stopped in front of an original Picasso. Apparently the picture was not hanging on the wall in true geometric straightness. Zoran adjusted the picture frame and ran his fingers over the top edge, visibly surprised not to find any dust. Yoko hastily interrupted. If she wasn’t careful, Zoran would be checking all of the forty or more pictures to find out if they matched his high standards of cleanliness and square-ness with the world.

“A cleaning service comes in twice a week, Monday and Friday,” she said. “Dan told me the chief had someone check with the service. A couple of officers have already talked to the crew. They’re all regulars. Apparently, the Fellinis are valued customers. They tip well, never forget holiday bonuses. In return, they get good service. None of the people with the cleaning service wants to lose such a good contract.”

“What about the residents of neighboring buildings?” Zoran asked. “It is possible someone saw the victim at his archery practice and the subsequent attack.”