The Kabbalist (20 page)

“He was excited by the
lecture and wanted to discuss some details. He said he was conducting a private
research that touched upon some of the issues that were discussed in the
lecture. He sounded enthusiastic.”

“What research?”

“I think it had
something to do with the history of early Christianity. Yeshayahu asked him if
he was going to publish anytime soon, and Diaz was not clear about it.”

“And that’s all?”

“That is all I
remember. I asked Yeshayahu about it later, and he said that Diaz was a
brilliant historian but a bit too mysterious, and that normally, his researches
never ended up with a paper to show for them. These academics can be nasty
sometimes, you know.”

“Can I talk to Orlev?”
asked Luria.

“Go ahead,” said Aryeh.
“I can connect you two, but I doubt whether you will hear a different story
from him.”

L
uria pressed the intercom
button.

“Yes, please,” Ronit
was looking at him through the glass door.

“It’s me again,” he said
to the microphone. “I would like to speak to Mr. Srur.”

He watched her as she
picked up the receiver and spoke a few words into it. She then put it down. “I
am sorry. Mr. Srur is not available at the moment.”

Luria snapped. Somehow,
the pressure of the last few days went to his head. He started banging his fist
against the glass door. “Then ask him to make himself available!” he yelled.

This certainly made an
impression on Ronit. She exchanged a few more words over the phone and pressed
the buzzer. Luria pushed the door and stepped in. “Thanks,” he blurted out to
the alarmed secretary and made his way to Srur’s office.

“Just a moment,” he
heard her calling after him, “you cannot…” but he was already inside the office,
closing the door behind him. Srur was talking over the phone. “He is in my
office now,” he said. “I am hanging up.” He rose from his chair, his face red.
“What do you think you are doing?”

“We need to talk, Mr.
Srur,” said Luria, rolling the ‘Mr.’ on his tongue, so that it sounded like an
insult.

“Who are you, anyway?” snorted
Srur. “Who the hell do you think you are, bursting into my office like this?”

“This is not going to
work this time, Srur. You will not get rid of me so easily. I have a few
questions regarding your conversations with Shlomo Illuz during the week before
the murder; quite a few questions.”

“Have you been
listening to my phone calls?”

“No, not yet, but I
have the list of Illuz’s calls during the last month.”

“I told you all I knew
about Shlomo Illuz.”

“Fine; nevertheless, I
would like to discuss him with you.”

“I am warning you,” said
Srur menacingly. “You are playing with fire. This is going to blow up in your
face.”

“Are you threatening
me?”

“I am just telling you
that if you keep pushing me, you are going to take a painful fall. My lawyer
will eat you alive for breakfast.”

“Can we just sit down and
talk like civilized human beings?”

“Civilized indeed!” exploded
Srur. “I am not talking to you.”

“Do you prefer having
this conversation at the station?”

“Sorry?”

“Do you prefer having
this conversation at the station? Like you once used to?”

“Are you going to
arrest me?” Srur was more surprised than enraged. “Do you have a warrant?”

“I am not arresting
you,” said Luria. “You are a suspect and I can detain you for questioning.”

“A suspect? Suspected
of what?”

“Conspiracy to commit a
crime, aiding and abetting a murder, disruption of police investigation,” said
Luria. “Have I missed something?”

“You are crazy,
completely out of your mind.”

“I request that you
talk to me here or join me at the police station.”

Srur stood up, his face
burning. “OK, Superintendent, I’ll come with you. I am a law-abiding citizen. But
you are going to pay, and this is a promise.”

“If you want to add
‘intimidating a police officer on duty’ to the list, that’s fine with me.”

Srur did not answer. The
two walked out of the office. “Tell Porat I have gone to the police station and
ask him to meet me there,” said Srur to the secretary. “Tell him I am being
detained
by the superintendent,” he added with a sneer.

*    *    *

“He is waiting for you,” said
Anat, avoiding Luria’s eyes.

Luria opened the door
and entered Chief Superintendent Arnon’s office. Arnon was reading a document
and did not raise his head to look at him. “Sit down, Superintendent,” he commanded.

It was all too official
and did not bode well. Luria sat down and waited. Arnon finished reading and
raised his head.

“What the hell do you
think you are doing?” he said, fighting to restrain himself. Luria opened his
mouth to speak, but Arnon raised his hand. “That was a rhetorical question.
When I want you to speak, I’ll tell you. Now listen.”

Luria was stunned. He
had never seen Arnon so angry, not with him, anyway.

“Just two days ago you
sat in this very chair you are occupying now. I explained to you the
sensitivity of this case. I especially emphasized the importance of keeping a
low profile, didn’t I?”

Luria nodded.

“I thought we
understood each other, and yet what do you do? You go wild like a bull in a
china shop. What is this obsession with Srur? Please explain to me. What the
hell were you trying to do?”

“Illuz was working for
Srur. I am sure of it.”

“He is sure…” said
Arnon to the ceiling. “This is unprofessional. Srur is an intelligence target
of the police and what do you do? Drag him out of the closet and make him aware
that he is in our sights. How is this supposed to help Israeli Police’s war on
organized crime?”

Luria tried to open his
mouth but Arnon silenced him with an angry gesture. “Now I have to deal with
this sleek lawyer of his, Porat, whose mouth I just barely managed to keep
shut. Otherwise, it would have made headlines in all the papers, and the media
would be running another of their ‘police brutality’ stories. Is this your idea
of a low profile?”

Luria tried to speak up,
but Arnon ignored him. “The Chief of Police and the Haifa Station Chief require
that I explain what’s been happening here under my nose. What can I tell them?
Should I tell them that I have a detective who is waging a private war behind
my back and against my explicit directions? I do not look very good in this
story, Luria; actually, I look exceptionally bad. It looks like I am not in control,
that I have no idea of what my men are doing.” He took a deep breath. “In fact,
this is the plain truth. I don’t know what you are doing, because you never
bother to tell me. The only thing I know for sure is that you consistently
disobey my orders.”

“Disobey your orders?”

“Sure you do. And don’t
give me your innocent act. I asked you to work alone on this case and what do
you do? Have Inspector Danny Raviv all over the place.” Arnon raised one finger
on his left hand, counting.

“But I told you I needed
at least an assistant…”

“Arnon raised his right
hand to silence him. “I asked for a daily report. I never got one.” Arnon
raised a second finger.

“But…”

“I asked to be informed
about any progress in this case. I required that you discuss with me moves you
were planning. You did nothing of the sort. Had you done that, I would have
spared you this Srur fiasco.” Three fingers were up already. “There is a
standing order to get the chief’s approval or mine for any contact with Srur,”
fourth finger.

“But chief, you were
unavailable for days…”

“Luria, this is not one
of those regular cases. It is true that sometimes I go along with your whims,
even after the fact… but this time you have crossed a red line.”

Luria looked into the
eyes of his superior. The fury he saw there before was now changing into
something else; sadness?”

“Please understand,
Luria, this has gone way above my head.” Arnon was calmer now. “I have to suspend
you. You are off this case starting now.”

“I don’t understand.”
Luria could not believe it. “Off the case? But I am on the right track!”

“You do not understand and
you are nowhere near the right track. I am not suspending you just from this
case. I am suspending you, period. You are on a forced leave as of this
minute.”

Luria did not want to
believe this. “Ehud, please don’t do this to me,” he pleaded. “I admit I was
carried away a bit, but I am going to bring you results, like I always do. Have
faith in me.”

“You still do not
understand.” Luria could now clearly hear sorrow in the chief’s voice. “This is
beyond me now. You are going home for the time being. Let’s wait two or three
weeks and then see what I can do.”

Luria felt dizzy. He
did not remember rising from the chair. His feet carried him to the door, and
he opened it. “I am sorry, Luria,” he thought he heard Arnon’s voice behind
him.

He left the door open
and stumbled out of Arnon’s office, numbed. In the fog that surrounded him, he
vaguely saw Anat, the secretary, looking at him worriedly.

She said something, but
he did not hear a word.

L
uria was on his way to
the office when his car phone rang. “What’s up Aryeh?” Following the latest
developments, Luria asked his cousin to probe his sources for a clue as to what
Pascal de Charney might have discovered in Safed.

“I found something,”
Aryeh sounded restrained but Luria could feel his excitement.

“I am listening.”

“I went through some of
the journals in my friend’s archives. If you remember, after the occupation of
Safed by General Murrat, he left a small garrison there under one, Captain
Simon.”

“I remember,” said
Luria. “This was the garrison de Charney joined.”

“That’s right. And then
there was an attempt by the Turks to retake the place. The French, if you
recall, retreated into the fort and let the Turks occupy the town for a short
while.”

“Yes,” said Luria. “De
Charney mentioned in his letter that Rivka and her adopted family had enjoyed
his protection at the time.”

“Correct. Well, I found
a reference in one of the journals in the archive to the damage caused by the
Turks before they were driven away. There is a short and somewhat enigmatic allusion
to something which might fit in with de Charney’s story.”

“What does it say?”

“Listen to the
following excerpt,” said Aryeh. “…The Turks broke into town, massacred many,
desecrated synagogues and scriptures and destroyed property. In the synagogue
of the Holy Ari and Elijah,
‘Or Haganuz’
was lost.”

“Or Haganuz?”

“This is a Kabbalistic
term that refers to the light of the seven days of Creation.”

“And where is this
synagogue of the Holy Ari and Elijah?”

“There are two
synagogues in Safed, which carry the name of the Holy Ari. This probably refers
to the Sephardic synagogue of the Ari, considered to be the oldest synagogue in
Safed. It was built in the beginning of the 16
^th
century as a
synagogue for North African Jews, and was named after the prophet Elijah. It
was the Ari’s favorite synagogue. He prayed there and used to occupy a small
chamber in the eastern side of the synagogue, studying the secrets of Kabbalah.
Tradition has it that on that spot, the prophet Elijah revealed himself to him.
Most of the place was destroyed in earthquakes, which devastated Safed in 1759
and then in 1837, but it was always rebuilt.”

“Do you have any idea
what
‘Or Haganuz’
could mean in this context?”

“Hard to say…” Aryeh
contemplated this. “If I had to guess I would say some sacred script, perhaps
an old Torah scroll or, considering this was the Ari’s favorite workplace, some
Kabbalistic writings associated with him.”

“A script written by
the Ari?”

“Well, the Holy Ari
never wrote a thing. His teachings were recorded by his followers, mostly after
his death.”

“So,” summarized Luria,
“a sacred document
was
lost. I wonder why an old Torah scroll or a Kabbalistic
script would mean so much to de Charney, but we will probably not know that
until we find out what it was.”

“Do you really believe
you will find it?” Luria heard the skepticism in his cousin’s voice.

“I don’t know, Aryeh.
Thanks, anyway. I appreciate it very much. I’ll be in touch. Bye.”

“Bye, Yossi.”

Luria went over this new
piece of data in his head. It was a confirmation that Pascal de Charney’s
scrolls were very valuable to the Jews of Safed, a fact already acknowledged by
de Charney himself, but now Kabbalah was added to the equation. He navigated
his way into a parking place and cut the engine, calculating his next move.

*    *    *

“Good morning, Luria,” welcomed
him Noga. “Eitan is looking for you.”

Luria, still lost in thought,
nodded and headed toward Eitan’s office. Eitan was sitting behind his desk
studying a document. He raised his head when Luria entered.

“Good morning, Luria. I
was looking for you. I wanted to brief you on the Porat case.”

“I am listening.”

“I checked the list of
calls you gave me. I also looked at Porat’s calls since the day his wife flew
to London.”

“Did you find the guy
in the cellular company cooperative?”

“Yes, but his fees are
exorbitant.”

Luria waved his hand
dismissively. “He is worth every shekel. You must remember he is taking a huge
personal risk.”

“Anyway,” Eitan went on,
“the number of incoming calls this guy receives is huge. I had to use some
intuition to filter out irrelevant calls and, of course, I needed some luck.”

“And…”

“On the very day
Porat’s wife left, he received a few long calls from a fixed-line number. I
went on a hunch and traced the number and the woman behind it. I crossed some
information and found out she was calling him from her cell phone as well. I then
managed to enter her place and bug the fixed line. I now have recordings.”

“And what have you got
there?”

“Everything you could
ask for. Your gut feeling was right. Porat did not want to meet her, but she
became a nuisance. He tried to calm her down and keep the calls short, but she
became very upset. She mentioned intimate stuff, and he tried to explain why
they must not see each other for a while. She, of course, blamed him for trying
to evade her and for messing with other women. After a few days, she became
almost hysterical, and he had to set a meeting with her in a hotel.”

“And you have
pictures?”

“Sure.”

“Were there more
women?”

“There were also calls
from the woman you have already traced.”

“Good,” Luria rubbed
his hands in delight. “This will do for now.”

“What are you going to
do about Porat?”

“I have not decided
yet, but I am certainly not going to bow to his or anybody’s pressure. I need
everything I can get on him. I want this stuff.”

“Here it is,” said
Eitan. He slid an envelope across the desk towards Luria.

Luria opened it and
retrieved a DVD and some printed stills. Eitan watched him closely, waiting for
his reaction. Luria examined the first picture and suddenly sat up in his
chair, startled.

He bent forward again,
moved to the next picture and flipped to see another one. He then raised his
head and looked at Eitan.

“This is… is she who I
think she is?”

Eitan nodded. “Yes. This
is heady stuff.”

“This is pure dynamite!”
Luria was overwhelmed. “I am speechless.”

Eitan hesitated. “If I
were you, I would give it another thought before using it, if at all,” he
remarked.

Luria thought a moment.
“Do you have copies of this material?”

“Of course.”

“Please destroy
everything you have and forget you ever saw it. I will keep the only copy with
me.”