Farewell, My Babylon : A Hardboiled Detective Novel (Erez Brown Series Book 1) by Davidy Rosenfeld

Author:Davidy Rosenfeld [Rosenfeld , Davidy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raven Like a Writing Desk
Published: 2023-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Two weeks passed. There was too much work, so I hired another intern. Abe was twenty-two, smart, thin, long black hair. I told him he needed a haircut. He said no problem, but looked a bit sad and timid when he got to the office on Sunday with his hair neatly trimmed. I dumped him on Yossi, who wasn’t too thrilled, but kept his mouth shut and took Abe with him. I hoped they’d get along.

At four o’clock I was back in the office after a successful surveillance. Mazal pointed at my office, silently indicating I had someone waiting for me.

“Who is it?” I whispered.

“Rebeca Rubinstein,” Mazal whispered back.

I opened my office door. Rebecca sat in the chair in front of my desk. She turned around and said, “Hello.” She’d gained at least sixty pounds since I’d last seen her. Her face was rounder and had grown a million chins. The gold rings had dimmed and had sunk into the chubby fingers; and her belly had swollen to the size of a small dinosaur. A large black bag rested under her chair.

“Hello, Rebecca, how are you?” I asked and sat behind my desk.

“Not good, I’ve gained too much weight. My doctor says I’ll need to have an operation if I won’t stop eating. I can’t stop. Eating is the only thing that makes me happy,” she said and sighed. “How are you?”

“All right,” I said.

“Didn’t think you’d see me again?” She looked me straight in the eyes.

I didn’t answer.

“I was sure I’d never see you again. But last night I got a phone call. I don’t want to tell you it was my daughter, because I know you won’t believe me, but she sounded exactly like my daughter, and she told me things… all sorts of things… only my daughter would know.”

“So why didn’t you call me last night?”

“I can’t call you from home.”

“I’ll send someone to try to trace the call. I think someone is trying to trick you, Mrs. Rubinstein. Have you spoken to your husband about this?”

“I haven’t. I know what he’d say. Lea is dead—but she’s not. I spoke to her.”

I sighed. “Let’s assume for a moment that she’s alive, what exactly can I do about it? Sorry, but I’ve no intention of looking for her. I don’t want to waste my time and your money.”

“She told me she’s going abroad and that she needs help. We bought apartments for all our children. I told her, ‘Lea, I’ll buy you an apartment, and I don’t care what your father says.’ She doesn’t want to stay here, she wanted money. I want to give her money, but I’m afraid someone is trying to trick me, just like you said. I’m confused, and I’ve no one else to talk to.”

She was silent for a moment, then continued with a bit more confidence, “She wants me to bring her the money in cash—sixty thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money. I can’t just walk around carrying sixty thousand dollars. I was shaking like a leaf all the way here.

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