Avraham Azrieli - The Jerusalem Assassin

“ Ouch!” Itah stepped back. “How can you mess with your son’s remains?”

“ I don’t believe in life after death. I need to know if these bones belonged to Lemmy.”

“ But how?”

He turned the skull around. The grinning jaws, hollowed nose, and empty eye sockets faced them in eerie whiteness. “Point the light at the jaws.”

Itah complied.

“ Ah!” Rabbi Gerster probed the gaping mouth, toward the rear. “This guy has all his teeth!”

“ So?”

“ My Lemmy was missing this one.” He tapped a tooth with a fingernail, producing knocking sounds.

“ How can you be so sure? It’s been decades!”

“ I held his hand while the dentist pulled it-upper jaw, second molar from the back. Lemmy cracked it on an olive pit just before his Bar Mitzvah. You should have seen that boy. He didn’t make a sound while that two-left-handed dentist labored with his pliers.” Rabbi Gerster tossed the bones back into the grave. “This poor bastard is not my son.”

“ What now?”

“ Now?” He began to shovel the dirt back into the grave. “Now we’ll go back to Meah Shearim for a good night’s sleep.”

“ And then?”

He leaned on the shovel. “In the morning, we’re going to see an old friend and squeeze him until all the lies drain out of him.”

*

Sunday, October 29, 1995

Lemmy had not expected Metz amp; Co. to be so busy on a Sunday morning, but shoppers kept coming in. Two female models dressed as tulips stood just inside the automatic glass doors, bowing their heads, adorned with red and yellow petals, and waving their green arms.

A security camera was mounted at the corner under the ceiling. It was aimed at the glass doors, but Lemmy estimated that the lens wasn’t wide enough to capture him. At any event, with his fedora and winter coat, there was little risk of identification, even if someone bothered to examine the video footage.

Attached to the wall was a pay phone, which Lemmy could use while enjoying a clear view of the opposite street corner, where a green phone booth stood close to the arched bridge. Tanya had not arrived yet. He picked up the receiver and asked the operator to place a collect call to Zurich.

Christopher was at his desk. “Herr Horch?”

“Sorry to drag you to the bank on Sunday morning.” Lemmy sheltered the receiver. “Regarding the inactive account, I want to try a few things.”

“We first need an account number. Only then will the computer let me try a password.” The sound of fingers hitting the keyboard came through the receiver. “I’m ready.”

“Try this date: January one, nineteen twenty eight.”

“ One. One. Nine. Two. Eight.” The keystrokes were quick. “No good.”

“Try the opposite order: Eight. Two. Nine. One. One.”

Rapid keystrokes. “Yes! It’s asking me for a password!”

Lemmy breathed deeply. Tanya’s birthday did the trick. Would her name finish the job? He glanced over the two tulips, toward the green phone booth on the other side of the street, by the arched bridge. “Try this: T-A-N-Y-A.”

Again the keys clicked. “No good,” Christopher said.

Lemmy bit his lips. A group of teenagers walked in, chatting happily. When they passed, his eyes caught sight of the petite figure across the street, her head held up, her hair flowing free now, casting a silky shadow over her shoulders.

“Try the reverse order: A-Y-N-A-T.”

The rattling of the keyboard was followed by Christopher’s cheer. “I’m in!”

“ Tell me!”

“ The account owner is Klaus von Koenig. First name is spelled like your son’s name.”

Lemmy wiped the sweat from his face. “What else do you see?”

“The entry page. It’s asking for Gunter’s personal pass code.”

“That’s required if you wanted to conduct transactions in the account. There should be an icon for View Only. It’ll let you see the history of the account, such as deposits, withdrawals, and balance.”

“ I’m clicking on View Only.”

The keys rattled again. Then there was silence.

“Christopher? Are you there?”

A long whistle came through. “Jesus Christ Almighty!”

Lemmy turned to the wall, the receiver pressed to his ear.

Christopher’s voice trembled as he read from the screen. “Client Name: Klaus von Koenig. Authorized Officers: Armande Hoffgeitz, Gunter Schnell.”

“Go on.”

“ List of deposits. The last one was received on January 1, 1945. That’s fifty years ago!”

“ The amounts?”

“ Deposits are in goods. Primarily diamonds, rubies, pearls, and other gems. And expensive wrist watches. The goods were sold over the first two decades. Now it’s all in financial assets, mainly stocks of large American corporations. There has never been a withdrawal.”

“ What’s the current balance?”

“ It’s in U.S. dollars.” Christopher cleared his throat. “Twenty-two billion, eight-hundred and forty-seven million dollars.”

*

Rabbi Gerster waited for Itah in his alcove off the synagogue foyer. She had slept in Benjamin’s apartment and arrived after morning prayers were over. She pointed at the narrow cot. “Did you have the best sleep in three decades?”

He laughed. “I couldn’t sleep at all. And you?”

“ Like a baby. And Sorkeh forced me to eat the biggest breakfast of my life.” Itah burped. “Excuse me!”

“ I wrote a letter to my son.”

“ Can I see it?”

“ I’ve already hidden it in a place that only he would think of.” Rabbi Gerster didn’t mention the risk, of which they were both aware, that Shin Bet agents would arrest and interrogate them. It was safer for her not to know. “Are you ready?”

“ Yes.” She raised the plastic shopping bag in her hand. “Sorkeh lent me shoes, a headscarf, and a dress.”

“ You told her we might not be able to bring it back?”

Itah nodded. “What about the butcher shop?”

“ They slaughtered a cow yesterday, so we got everything we need right here.” Rabbi Gerster pointed to the icebox by the door. “It’s a bit heavy.”

They picked it up by the handles, one on each side, and carried it together. On Shivtay Israel Street they flagged down a taxi.

A half-hour later, they arrived at Hadassah Hospital. Itah left him at the entrance. She returned a few minutes later, dressed in a white coat, her hands in latex gloves, pushing a wheeled gurney.

They loaded the icebox on top of the gurney and rolled it through the lobby to the elevator. Up on the fourth floor, Itah lingered in the elevator with the gurney while Rabbi Gerster walked down the hall, past the nurses’ station, the waiting area, and several ICU rooms. Next to the last door on the right, two young men in civilian clothes sat at a desk covered with books and papers, likely catching up on school work while making hourly wages. One of them glanced up, saw him, and nudged the other one, who whispered a comment that caused them both to snicker. Secular Israelis loved to poke fun at black hats for their odd garb and dangling side locks.

Rabbi Gerster didn’t mind, especially today, considering what these two guys were about to experience. “Is the patient back from the operation?” He pointed at the closed door.

One guard lounged back in his chair, ready for fun. “What’re you saying, Hassid? ”

Ignoring the mocking tone, the rabbi smiled. “I was coming to pray with him after the operation.”

“ What operation?” The guard smirked. “A nose job?”

“ Heaven, no!” Rabbi Gerster struggled not to laugh. “They had to remove most of his intestines-the AIDS is eating him up from within.”

The mention of that dreaded contagious disease drained the blood from the guard’s face. “Nobody told us he has that! ”