Heroine: California Dreamin' (24 page)

The phone rang. The display showed Daniel’s name. Hastily I picked up and was glad to hear his voice. I could drive home now. There was somebody who would protect me.

At supper my husband was unusually silent at first. I asked him to tell me about his day. He had spent all day in meetings in which they continued the meetings from last week in New York.

“I have a surprise for you”, he said at some point awkwardly. “Actually I’ve been knowing about it for quite a while but now it has been decided. Are you sitting down alright?” he mumbled with his boyish smile. I got nervous. What was going to happen now? I had enough excitement in those last few weeks.

“Darling, we are going back to Europe. Our bosses decided to open a branch in Switzerland and Mei Li will be manager there.” First I was happy about the news because subconsciously ‘Europe’ equaled ‘Cologne’ for me. That Switzerland was supposed to become our new ‘homeland’ - that sobered me up.

“Where exactly are we going then? Zurich perhaps?” I asked.

“No, we are going to Geneva. Our firm owns already a huge office building there and the new subsidiary will move in with them. I am totally enthusiastic. That is a giant chance for me to climb the corporate ladder.” He gleamed happily and I was happy with him.

“Does Ingvar tag along? You haven’t mentioned him at all.”

“No, I must disappoint you. Your lover has other plans. You’ve got to deal with it. That means he’s forced to do something else. During the last two weeks he has started a downright guerilla war with management. He doesn’t want to leave from here under any circumstances. Therefore our management offered the job in Switzerland to Mei Li. She has enough experience to run the business successfully. That is good for me because it will give me better chances to climb the ladder. Ingvar must look for a new job.” Daniel grinned.

I was angry once more that Daniel implied again that I had sentimental ties to Ingvar. When will he finally understand that I had started this affair with his boss at Daniel’s request? Even more difficult to swallow was that this Miss Gibson would come with us to Europe. Hopefully Daniel didn’t want to accelerate his career with her in his very own way. I kept silent not to stir the wrong ideas in him.

“Did they fire Ingvar?” I asked though I didn’t value our relationship at all. I was still fond of Ingvar; he was personable. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone through with our bed stories.

“Not directly. He has the option to leave the company at his request – voluntarily, of course – or to accept a job in Sweden. They offered him the subsidiary management in Stockholm. He probably has to bite that bullet. Namely, if he leaves voluntarily, the company will save a settlement. He had gambled too high and he lost.” Daniel giggled complacently.

“I thought you guys are friends?” I insisted dismayed.

“And we are. But when it comes down to the job we are competitors. If there is another one above me disappearing - it’s only good for me. More opportunities!”

I didn’t understand that. How could one exchange a friendship for a better job?
‘Men probably think this way. Sometimes honestly and sometimes brutally”,
I pondered in my head.

“And when do we move?” I directed the subject to a new field.

“I don’t know that exactly. But at any rate within the next three months. The preparations will take that long. Perhaps even earlier.” After all, that would still give me some time. I would have to say good bye to a lot of people.

I started feeling sad when I thought of the people who were close to me. Daniel interrupted my pondering. He wanted to know further details from me how I held up in jail. But in particular he wanted to know how I got the job with the FBI as an agent. He couldn’t believe it. I finally convinced him that Irene had only made it up to get me out of jail. That was sufficient enough for Daniel.

He also believed me that I had no bloody idea why I had been abducted when he asked about it again. He had another swig of whiskey. I declined gratefully when he offered me some.

Later in bed he asked quietly whether I would still make love to him despite his rude behavior from the night before. I gave him a big hug and told him that I’d love him. He was so gentle and tender like he hadn’t been for a long while.

During the night I was startled several times because I had heard some noises. But those came from far away. The next morning I was awakened by the loud sound of the siren to which I got used in jail last week – but that was only in my dream. Relieved I nestled close to Daniel.

Irene had already arranged an appointment with the FBI office in San Francisco the day before. She would drive me there so that I could answer the officers’ questions. Daniel went to work already at seven in the morning. When I was alone angst befell me again. Our property could not be looked in from the road and if anybody would climb the fences in the garden the agents who were sitting in the car outside wouldn’t even notice. I had to get out. If that continued it would be impossible for us to stay in that house. I thought I would die from fear. Without knowing where I should go I drove my car across the El Camino Real shortly thereafter pursued by a black van. But I was familiar with the faces in the car. A young man and a woman with dark sun glasses.

The shops hadn’t opened yet and therefore I sat down in a café. In kind of a bad mood I pondered the news that my husband had revealed to me yesterday. At the time I had only just ‘acknowledged’ all of that. But by now I didn’t like the idea any longer
at all
. To swap California with Switzerland! Ha! High mountains, narrow valleys and people with a hardly legible dialect who make special efforts to stay in hiding in particular from foreigners. That was my imagination of Switzerland. Here I had friends, a great climate, plenty of liberties and I loved the candor of the people here. On the one hand. On the other hand I had faced some great dangers here. I sighed. In my assessment I’ve dealt with these ‘obstacles’ quite well. Except for the last one. But I was certain that I would get to grips with that as well, sooner than later. I was convinced of that. I awakened from my deep thoughts when my cell phone rang. I recognized Pete’s phone number. Alarmed I picked up. I had missed answering the calls from yesterday.

“Julie, how are you? I was so concerned about you when Ron told me that you were in jail. Thank goodness you are free again. How are you?” Pete started blabbering after I said hello. How did Ron learn about my incarceration? Ah well, he had been talking to his mom and they do share everything. I couldn’t help it but that triggered another queasy feeling in my belly. My bad conscience based on Robert’s assassination.

“Everything is just fine, Pete. Now you know why I didn’t have time for you.” The good man was totally beside himself and complained for about ten minutes what injustice it would be to lock up such an angel like me.
‘Angel! My dear man if you’d only knew’
one of my thoughts corrected him – but I kept it to myself. He begged me long enough until I promised to visit him as soon as possible. His kindness and compassion did indeed feel good.

“What’s happening with Ron?” I then carefully asked. Pete first hesitated but then literally burst out:

“Couldn’t you tell Ron to leave you the hell alone? I’d like to have you all to myself. I love you so much that I don’t wonna share you with him any longer.”

“Aren’t you forgetting that I am married”, I reprimanded him.

“I don’t care about that. I will make you happy to a point that you will eventually also give up your husband for me,” Pete promised. That he was so attracted to me flattered me on the one hand but also made me feel uncomfortable. That was asking for trouble.

“I will talk with Ron later. Perhaps he’ll let go of me. But I will not leave my husband.” I tried to draw a line. I continued listening to Pete’s love declarations for a while then I said good bye. For today. I would have to visit him the next day. That was a given. Now it was time to drive to Irene. Before that I still followed my obligations as a daughter and called my dad just to assure him that everything was okay.
In Irene’s huge vehicle we reached the high-rise building in the north of San Francisco shortly before ten o’clock. While we were driving I didn’t tell her about our plans that we would move away soon. I didn’t think the car was the right place to do it. After signing in we went up to one of the upper floors.

I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the far distance through one of the large windows in the corridor. I had always enjoyed the ride over the bridge on our rare trips with Daniel. I would surely miss this view once we were in Switzerland, I thought sadly.

An elderly woman in a tight knit black dress welcomed us. Three men casually dressed awaited us in a large room – ‘business casual’ as it was called over here – and two women in some loosely knit costumes. One wore a flowery dress, the other a dress in a soft green pastel color. The women’s body measures tended to be more ‘voluptuous’ but their tasteful fashion choice made them appear rather neat. I was somehow relieved that they didn’t appear too formal here because the initial reception had so far been quite intimidating. Here Irene enjoyed rather great respect too but she was also greeted warmly. The officers introduced themselves to me one after the other then the interrogation began. Irene sat beside me. That alone was great moral support for me. We had to fill out a few forms whereas I paid attention that I did write everything correctly. A section ‘Previous convictions’ was not given but this time I would have completed it truthfully. After all I had already two mishaps. A woman in a white coat joined us. With a cotton swap she took a saliva sample of me and then disappeared again. If they wanted to unsettle me they had finally succeeded now at the latest.

Then the questioning started. In the course of the day I was connected to a strange device twice, probably a kind of lie detector. After I told them everything about my arrest by the police in Prado, one of the women left the room to verify that actually two FBI agents had been present. At first they were rather skeptical but after their field office confirmed it they became a bit nervous – because there was no report. I was relieved when I learned that they knew about the temple with the blue cross close to Prado. Even more unease arose when I repeated what the fat guy had told me.

“Miss Noula, we suspect that your house had been bugged. We would like to search your house with our specialists. Please give us your keys”, demanded the group leader. I was shocked. When Soto and the other two had eavesdropped on all my talks with Daniel …! Especially in bed we told one another things and stories that were certainly not suitable for other ears! Feeling rather anxious I agreed and one of the men left. Around lunch time he returned and put three microphones onto the table. I turned pale and my knees were shaking. Now we found the reason why the kidnappers knew so much about me.

The same agent disappeared again when I talked about Diego. To be on the safe side I only told them that I had met him when I went shopping and that it was him who identified me for the kidnappers. That he had given me a package was to remain my secret. The officers however mistrusted me, they just didn’t want to buy my story. Why would these people kill a simple sales person if he knew me only superficially? This was the first time they hooked me up to the lie detector. But the device seemed to take my side. Quite unhappy they carried on. At a later point in time another coworker of this office burst into the meeting; I had never seen him before. Whispering he bent down to the boss of the group and presented him some papers which he then studied calmly.

“This Diego did really work in that store you were telling us about. The owner had hired him illegally and only after we had put the squeeze on him he admitted that he was there. But Diego hasn’t resurfaced for more than a week. His personal description also fits yours,” said the leader of the group in a serious tone of voice.

“You said that the Prado’ police had searched the premises but didn’t find anything. We will therefore send our specialists there once more. We want you to accompany us.” Without awaiting my approval they collected their papers. Irene took me in their arms and squeezed me.

“You have no need to worry. They are all on your side. The officers here want to process everything as diligently as possible, after all we are dealing with a capital offence here.”

Other than suggested by her all possible chaotic thoughts raced through my head. What if they found Diego’s corps? Would they make me co-responsible for his death? Shouldn’t I have attacked Soto and try to take his weapon from him? Or were they searching for traces that might lead to Robert? Did they suspect something? On the one hand my brain told me that these were all illogical phantasies driven by fear but that was not important for my subconsciousness.

While I reclined into the rear seat of a big black limousine I felt my heart pounding up to my neck.

Outside I found it somewhat amusing as the three cars raced with flashing lights and whaling sirens through the city. And neither did the drivers observe the speed limits on the highway and thus we reached the eastern city limits of Watsonville in a short time.

Astounded I registered that the cars didn’t make a turn towards the beach but rather took an unpaved dirt road leading into a large pine forest. After another ten minutes we reached some plain field close to the peak of a mountain behind the city.

A flat building looked familiar to me. The cars drove around it with high speed and we came to a large yard.

Now I recognized the silo tower. The blue cross reflected brightly in the light sunshine. We got out of the cars and I looked around.

In front of the empty stables or whatever it once was, parked other black vans and a truck with the label FBI on it. A man in black uniform was holding a leash attached to a brown German shepherd dog that ran back and forth restlessly. In the far distant I saw the beach far below us. It felt even more insecure than I was before due to the fact that my memory had so deceived me.

“Now Miss Noula let’s walk the same way that you took then. Please describe to us exactly what you experienced when you arrived here. Do everything in exactly the same way as you did last week when they brought you here,” the officer told me. I started walking slowly and led the group to the corridor which then again led to the big hall. It was open and there in the room stood other men in white overalls with their hoods over their ears and big suitcases in their hands.

“Are you done?” called out the agent who accompanied me. They nodded and went outside. I stood in the hall in which Soto and Andrew had guarded me almost all night long. Shivers ran down my back. Angst.

“We waited here until this fat guy came. Then we left.” I turned around and went to the yard.

“This Soto and Andrew grabbed Diego and then they walked with him over there.” I pointed in the direction of the stables.

“Where were you?” somebody asked. “Here, I had to wait in the car.” I had already explained all of that this morning during the interrogation but it seemed they took their job really seriously. The leader of the group gave his people a signal and they set in motion together. In front of the stable he said something to the officer in uniform whose dog jumped up enthusiastically on the approaching person. Its paws left gray dust marks all over his dark suit. Angry he dusted himself off and then followed the dog that ran in front of them on a long leash, its nose close to the ground. It took almost thirty minutes until they came back. The agent stepped up to me.

“The dog couldn’t find anything. If there had been a corps on these premises during the last five years the dog would have sniffed it out. But here we have nothing. There is no dead body. I suspect that this Diego is somewhat in cahoots with the kidnappers and they staged the whole thing as if they had killed him. Let’s drive back.” In the car I pondered about what he had said. I didn’t believe him. Diego was dead. I firmly believed that. Irene was very silent and looked out of the window frequently when we raced along the highway.

“We found hair on the armchair in the prayer room or whatever you want to call it and its DNA fits Miss Noula’s DNA”, the group leader announced abruptly without long introduction when we had sat down again.

“That verifies that you have indeed been there. But there are plenty of other traces. If that is truly a church probably hundreds of people go in and out here every Sunday. Thus it will not make much sense to search for notable imprints then. It borders on a miracle that we could identify those here”, he shrugged his shoulders in resignation.

“Now to the next open point. The sheriff in Prado conducted an interrogation this morning regarding the alleged rape in his prison. You can really assume that he took your allegations very seriously. He found out the following: in the night of question no male was on duty at this station. Two female officers were responsible for that tract. But there was definitely no man on site. The male nurse who took your blood pressure supervised – he emphasized that – confirmed that you had asked him whether he wanted to have sex with you. You yourself knew why you were in solitary confinement. Oh well, you noticed for yourself that he is not really inclined in contact to women. Miss Noula, this is another implausible statement from you. Could it be that you suffer from the consumption of drugs or that you hallucinate occasionally?” His tone of voice had become aggressive.

Irene didn’t know anything of the offer that I had made to Michael in jail, I had kept that to myself. So far she had been sitting beside me almost apathetic. Now she sat herself totally upright and rebutted.

“You will not insinuate any drug problems with my client nor direct any suggestive questions to her. Bring this questioning to an end without trying to pass on your own failures to Miss Noula. Did you understand me?” The officer opposite from us bit his lips and mumbled something hardly audible:

“I am sorry I withdraw that.” As it turned out Irene was not here as my friend but rather as my attorney, this is what I concluded from here words. It dawned on me that I was in danger. These officials wanted to put pressure on me because of lack of proof.