Disappearance (35 page)

She scanned back two more years and noticed similar patterns. It was an astonishing revelation.  Why would a real estate company keep so many offices country wide for such meager activity and how could they stay in business?  Why would a person want to repurchase a house he had just sold and what interest would Steve Carson, a Nevada resident, have purchasing a house in Nebraska?

A cold chill began creeping down her back and goose bumps spread all over her body as her mind began to grasp what she was seeing.  It was becoming clear Cascade was no ordinary real estate company.  They were a legitimate business, legally incorporated and so forth, but selling real estate was not their primary motive.  People with different motives were apparently guiding their actions and other establishments were financing their activities.

One such establishment may be the people behind Campour, she thought, her mind reeling.  One possible motive may be keeping her sister securely out of the way all these years.  She downloaded the files onto a floppy disc and anxiously waited for a print out of all of Cascade's real estate transactions in the previous four years.

Then she went to see her boss.

CHAPTER 34

It was crowded and noisy at Motti's house as another wild ostentatious party was in swing at his second floor patio overlooking the Jezreel valley.

Eitan stood by Naomi among a crowd of people by the dance floor.   Naomi had a knack for attracting attention but his attention was on the dance floor where Nadav was busy seducing Hasson's daughter.   It was the first time he had seen her and she looked as beautiful as he had imagined her from Nadav's enthusiastic description over the phone.

It had been two weeks since they took it upon themselves to inquire into the Hasson/Arbel family predicament at Moshav Beit-Nirim and Nadav was making exceptional progress.  At the barbecue he had quickly and shrewdly made friends with the two wannabe hunters.   Eitan had lured the two into coming, promising a position in some of his upcoming hunting escapades.

Nadav had gotten himself invited over the following weekend and as luck would have it had bumped into Hasson's daughter at the local club.   She turned out to be a real beauty and looking at her dance, Eitan understood Nadav's enthusiasm. She was exceptionally tall, just a hair shorter than Nadav, her body slender and athletic, tight jeans accentuating her long legs, her shoulders broad and her breasts firm under a thin wool sweater.  Her face was delicately proportionate with a straight nose and high cheekbones and her long black hair came down almost to her waist.  But her most captivating feature was a lively, overwhelming, good natured smile that seemed to transform anyone looking at her.

Her name was Noga; she was nineteen and had just completed her voluntary labor year and was waiting to be drafted.  After meeting her at the club, they had met again the following Saturday for horseback riding.    Then Nadav put in for a special leave of absence, and spent the rest of the week with her.  The couple was now necking on the dance floor.  Eitan had yet to speak to Nadav since he had disappeared with Noga for three days, returning the afternoon of the party, but just looking at them revealed the entire account.

Nadav had succeeded and looked to be greatly enjoying himself.

He drifted for a minute thinking how he had become the most skeptical member of their unit. They all had their doubts but he had been ready give up the search and quit on several occasions.  Why was he ready to give up so easily? What was this indifference that kept him from committing to the cause or worse yet, to Naomi, the love of his life?

Why was he keeping himself so detached?

He knew that part of himself to be his worst enemy.  Naomi was having a hard time dealing with it and he wholeheartedly wanted to change for her, but could not quite bring himself to do so.  He guessed it was a form of protection, a kind of an emotional fence he had built around himself, yet he never forced himself to dig deep enough to understand what it was he was protecting himself from.

Executing the terrorist could have been his way of making up for his skepticism, proving his commitment to his friends but instead he shocked them to the core.  His military and hunting buddies may have approved, but this unit was of an entirely different character and they considered his act barbaric.  No one had said a word but he could still see the reproach in their eyes.  He still believed he had done the right thing, eliminating the obstacle, but he realized that he should have taken care of it more discreetly.

Watching Nadav become involved with Noga Arbel had brought him some enlightenment.  Eitan's initial reaction to such a relationship would have been snubbed since it was certain to end when the truth came out.  Yet it dawned on him that the outcome did not affect to the couple enjoying each other's company on the dance floor.  He realized that it was possible to benefit regardless of whether or not something held a future.

The same rationale held for Mikki, he thought. Just to be doing something for Karen's sake made Mikki feel useful in spite of the remote chance of ever finding her.  Satisfaction, Eitan realized, was found in doing, not in the outcome. Both Nadav and Mikki were willing to get involved and risk getting hurt for the remote possibility of emerging happy and he wanted to feel the same.

On impulse he drew Naomi to him, hugged her to him and led her to the dance floor.  She looked at him a little dazed, her eyes wide and questioning.  He had never danced with her before.  The music was upbeat but he just held her to him and they moved around slowly. Then he kissed her on the lips and she returned his kiss with passion as they embraced.

-------

Nadav led Noga off the dance floor, watching his accomplice locked in a tight embrace with his girlfriend.   Noga was watching them too.

He led her to the makeshift bar and ordered two Goldstars. They stood together, cooling off, sipping their beer quietly.  A few rowdy males whose demeanor and shiny new crew-cuts indicated they were on a weekend leave from basic training, were acting quite drunk trying to draw her attention, but she ignored them.

He suddenly saw a familiar face and flinched as he realized it was Malka, the girl he had a fling with. She was looking at him and their eyes locked for a brief moment before she broke off her gaze and concentrated on a young fellow standing by her side.  They had not spoken to each other since her drunken display in Motti's living room, and neither seemed eager to relive the event or renew the relationship.

"Wanna split?" he asked Noga.

She nodded and led the way down the narrow external patio stairway to where Nadav's Jeep was parked.  They left Motti's house and headed south toward Noga's Moshav, taking the scenic route, driving on the narrow strip of asphalt that ran along the Nazareth ridge.  Just before they began to descend she asked him to stop and they got out of the Jeep and stood staring at the valley below.

"I can see my house," she said, pointing at a cluster of lights further below.

Nadav looked at her.   Her black hair had blended into the darkness but her smooth silky profile contrasted distinctly against the dark background.  His gaze appraised her exquisite features; the shapely forehead, the straight nose, full lips and high cheekbones.  She was something out of a modeling magazine, he thought, pure and unscathed, and he was certain he had fallen in love with her.

It was love at first sight, he recalled, something he never imagined would happen to him.

Eita
n’
s buddies were late to arrive at the club and she was there when he came in.  He noticed her instantly, never imagining she was the person he was after.  He discreetly pointed her out to his two friends and to his surprise she turned out to be the only child of Dan and Rebecca Arbel, living alone with her mother since her father had, years ago, ditched them for another woman and was living somewhere in America.

He had cackled within himself at the official cover story but also realized he may have just been given his first clue to where Dan
Hasson may be lingering.  Of course, this was only hometown gossip, he told himself, nothing that could be properly relied upon, but he knew from experience that gossip in such a small community had a way of turning out very close to the truth.   They knew Hasson's involvement with PhotonTek took place in the States and that a car registered in his name was used in the kidnapping, but none of them had any idea where he went from there.

In the club he had worked his way closer to where she sat and casually invited her to dance as soon as all other suitors gave her a break.  She flashed a lovely smile at him and accepted. The rest, as far as he could recall, was a blur of blissful existence. She did not dance with another the rest of the night and he had escorted her to her front door, well into the early morning hours, suppressing an irresistible urge to kiss her throughout.  They had parted with gentle hug that first night, and agreed to meet that afternoon at the stables.

The ensuing week had been pure joy.  During their horseback outing he suggested a three-day trip to the Dead Sea area and she jumped at the idea.  She had no misgivings about herself, he observed.  She was energetic, a quick thinker, and above all an optimist, which seemed quite a feat considering what she must have been through with such a father.  Though she was three years his junior, he felt that in many ways she more mature than he and there was a positive attitude about her that was contagious.

The second day out on the Ein-Geddy gorge, climbing a rocky cliff over a gushing waterfall, they had kissed for the first time. She had slipped a little, sliding between his legs and he, stooping to break her fall found himself looking into her dark playful eyes from an impossibly close distance. They froze for a brief second, eyes locked,
then he bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.  She did not resist so he kissed her again and again, then he lay on top of her and they became entangled, kissing one another hungrily.

That night, at the little caravan they had reserved on the outskirts of Kibbutz Ein-Geddy, they slept together enjoying each other's bodies as if nothing else existed.

He had learned that she and her mother were regarded as outcasts in their community.   Her mother was an attorney with a private practice in Haifa.  She had never remarried or hinted at any interest in other men and people naturally assumed she still carried a flame for her disreputable husband.  She lived alone with her daughter on her husband's property which encompassed five acres of farmland which was leased away.  The farmers at the Moshav, who had long ago settled in the area for the purpose of farming, did not consider it an appropriate attitude.   The land was for cultivating, cows were for milking, and chickens for laying eggs, and they expected anyone who owned farmland in their farming community to carry on the tradition or live elsewhere.

Noga's mother, described by her daughter as extremely dynamic and independent, did as she pleased.   She was out most of the day and ignored her neighbors bickering.

Noga, however, spent most of her day at the Moshav and felt uncomfortable with the rumors surrounding her father abandoning them and why her mother was still waiting for him to return.

So far he had not learned anything significant. She had not talked much about him, making Nadav wonder how much she really knew about her father. Falling in love with her had confused matters and every scheme he had devised of extracting information withered away when she hugged him or kissed him.  It became difficult to discern between the
girl he was in love with and the daughter of the person involved in Karen's abduction.

Standing next to her on the wind-swept ridge, he wanted to delay carrying out his primary objective for as long as he could, not
wishing to spoil the pleasure of being with her.  But he knew he could not avoid it much longer.

"Is it difficult not having a father around?" he asked gently, intently studying her face for a reaction.

"Why do you ask?" she queried, her gaze still fixed on the valley below.

"Oh, I don't know," he said, "I was just thinking what it must be like and how I would have felt if my dad wasn't around."

"It's like missing a part of your body; having one eye, or one leg, or one arm. Nothing ever feels complete."

"Will you ever see him again?"

"I may, but it'll never make up for what's been lost," she said and turned to him.

"I'm sorry," he said gently, hastening to embrace her.  He had touched the chord and felt guilty for it.   He kissed her face, licking a salty tear.

She giggled at his gesture. "It's OK Nadav, I'm allowed to cry. It's healthy sometimes."

"It wasn't fair asking you about him," he reasoned. "I should have waited for when you were ready to tell me."

"It's OK, honest; you have the right to know.  I
t’
s not every day you get involved with a girl whose dad disappeared."

He looked at her somberly.

"Disappeared?"

She nodded. "He never left with another woman like those
assholes think.  He simply vanished one day; something to do with his job.  He was working part-time for the Foreign Service.  Occasionally they would send him on diplomatic assignments for lengthy periods.  Four years ago he left on one of those assignments and never came back."

Diplomatic assignments in the Foreign Service, Nadav mused. It had some truth to it, he had to admit.

He studied her face.  She did not project grief for a lost parent. There had to be more.

"And do you know what happ…"

She pressed her long index finger against his lips, shutting him up.

"We know," she said with a crafty grin on her face. "Now take me home."

They got back in the Jeep and drove in silence to her house. "Wanna come in?"   she asked playfully as they walked to her front door "Mom's in Tel Aviv today."

He flashed a conspiratorial smile at her and followed her in. Noga prepared tea and they nestled on the large living room sofa in front of the TV.  After an hour of harmless foreplay she drew him to her room and they fell onto her bed.  As he reached for her, she sprang up again, went to her dresser and fished around one of its drawers.

"Remember I told you we knew what happened to my father?"

Nadav nodded, careful not to appear eager.  She came over and sat by his side, leaning against the pillows to switch on the bedside lamp.