“The devil.”
“You don’t see yourself. Come to this side of the table.”
“I have to get him out.”
“And that makes it all right.”
“He’ll die.”
“Well, people do,” Mihai said, his voice hard. He went over to the window. “Millions. No deals.” He looked down at the deck. “These people,” he said, waving his hand, brooding. “Who knows what they did to survive?
“Jianu doesn’t matter anymore. They do.”
“And what happens after you get him out? He tells your people things about the Russians. Maybe even true. So they know something for a while. So the Russians change them. And the game goes on. But he’s out of it. He goes free. And you want me to help. That’s the business you’re in now? And what do I get? A boat so old maybe it sinks. But maybe it gets them there.” He stopped, looking down on the deck, the flapping laundry, quiet for a few minutes. “So I answer myself. To get these people to Palestine-what would I do? Is it even my choice?” He picked up the money, absentmindedly flipping the corners, then looked up at Leon. “But I don’t forget you did this. Arranged such a bargain for me. The debt’s canceled. We’re quits.”
“What debt?”
“Whatever debt there was between us. It’s paid.” He put the money in his pocket and reached over for the other stack. “How far past the Princes’ Islands?”
Leon didn’t say anything for a second, dismissed. Mihai waited, the silence a kind of prodding.
“Off Buyukada. We’ll signal. The other ships will be heading for the main channel. Harbor police too. Just have the captain go slow.”
“Don’t worry, that’s the only speed he can go. If you’re not there, we won’t wait, understood? Your friend’s a Turk now?”
“A Turkish Jew.”
Mihai looked up. “You think of everything. I’m assuming the deal is we get him there alive. That’s why you’re going? The bodyguard?”
“No, I have to leave too. The police are looking for me.”
Mihai went still. “Why?”
“They think I shot Frank.”
“Why would they think that?” Mihai said quietly.
“And Tommy,” Leon said, looking at him. “The boat at Bebek? The fisherman turned up. They saw him. He can identify me, put me there that night. So they add two and two and get five.”
“He can identify everyone there that night.”
“But there wasn’t anyone else,” Leon said, meeting his stare. “Just me.” He took one more stack out of his briefcase.
“What’s that?”
“I can explain what happened to Washington. I’m bringing them a witness they’ll believe. My house present. I’m not so sure about the Turkish police. Once they have an idea, they don’t like to be wrong. Especially when our people say they are. So I may not be able to come back. If not, this is for Anna. I’ll make arrangements to move her, but you’ll need this-to handle things.”
Mihai said nothing for a minute. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he said finally. “That it was for you?”
“It’s for both. I need him.”
“You have another witness.”
“No. There was no one else there. I’ll swear to it.”
Another second, not talking.
“It’s interesting how you do this,” Mihai said, looking away. “Draw these lines. This is acceptable, not that. Do you argue with yourself? You should study Talmud. You’d be good at it. You can find anything there. Though maybe not why you should save the butcher.”
“No one else. Or you’d never work here again.”
Mihai looked back, then nodded, accepting this. “And your fisherman? Will he swear too?”
“If it comes to it. He likes the work. It’s easy money. He’d want to do what we say.”
“And when his job’s over?”
“There’s another one. He’s bringing me tonight. Make yourself scarce, so he doesn’t spot you. Trigger any memories.”
“You hired him?”
“This way I know where he is. If he’s with me, he’s not with the police. And if he is someday, the job puts him in a spot. He’s accusing me, but helping me to escape? For pay? How do you build a case around that? And then there’s all the other work, things he’d rather not talk about.”
“In Turkey they don’t need to build a case.”
Leon nodded. “Then let’s not get caught.” He handed over the stack for Anna. “You may not need this. The ambassador makes the right calls, I could be back in no time. In good standing. But just in case. You’ll take care of her?”
Mihai pocketed the money, an answer. He looked at the briefcase. “Is that it or does the money keep coming? Like a magic hat.”
“Just a little pocket change. Traveling expenses.” He touched Mihai’s upper arm. “Thank you.”
“Listen to me,” Mihai said, gruff, but not removing the hand. “Any police, David puts you off. Orders. It’s understood? It’s not for you, this ship. It’s for them.”
“There won’t be any trouble. It’s the last place they’d look.”
“Yes.” Mihai shook his head and turned away. “The last place. Who else has to do such things, just to live? Survive the ovens and-then help the killers. And maybe it’s not even the worst before we’re finished with this.” His mouth turned up slightly, a wry tic.
“What?” Leon said, catching his expression.
“Rabbi Pilcer. If he knew. What I’m taking instead of his menorah.”
He told the cab to take him back to the Pera but then, a hunch, asked to pull up instead to a pay phone near the Koc shipyards.
“Thank God you called,” Kay said.
“The police are there?”
“No. I mean, they may be, I don’t know, but Gulun called, asking for you.”
“And?”
“I told him you made sure I was okay and then went back to the consulate.”
“He buy it?”
“I don’t know. He wants you to call him. He has a few questions. Polite. Well, for him.”
“I can’t come back, then. He must have men there.” And probably at the consulate, the Reynolds office, Cihangir, the door really closing now.
“Where are you? I’ll meet you.”
He looked through the glass at the taxi waiting by the curb, the stretch of empty road by the docks, some cranes moving silently in the distance. Out in the open.
“Kay-”
“You can’t just go. Not like this. Just go. I have to see you. Do you know what it’s like, sitting here? Like a wake. Like his casket’s in the room.”
“Kay. They’ll put a tail on you. I won’t be gone long.”
