'Good?'
'A police story. Do you really want to hear about it?'
He smiled. 'No.'
Finally they pulled apart and kissed. Laura tasted of peanuts. Cinema peanuts. Daniel reminded himself of the reason for the movie distraction, asked, 'Where's Shoshi?'
'In her room.'
'I'd better go talk to her.'
'Go ahead.'
He walked through the living room, down the hall toward the rear bedroom, and passed by the studio. Gene sat hunched over the table/desk, eating and working. With a pen in one hand and a sandwich in the other, he looked like a student cramming for exams. Luanne reclined, shoeless, on the couch, reading a book.
Shoshi's door was closed. He knocked on it softly, got no response, and knocked louder.
The door opened. He looked into green eyes marred by swollen lids.
'Hello, motek.'
'Hello, Abba.'
'May I come in?'
She nodded, opened the door. The room was tiny, barely room to walk, plastered with rock-star posters and photos cut out of tabloids. Above the bed was a bracket shelf crammed with rag dolls and stuffed animals. The desk was piled high with schoolbooks and mementos-art projects, a cowrie shell from Eliat, his red paratrooper's beret and '67 medals, a Hanukah menorah fashioned from empty rifle shells.
Incredible clutter, but neat. She'd always been a neat child-even as a toddler she'd tried to clean up her crumbs.
He sat on the bed. Shoshi leaned against a chair, looked down at the floor. Her curls seemed limp; her shoulders drooped.
'How was the movie?'
'Fine.'
'Eema said it was a police story.'
'Uh huh.' She picked at a cuticle. Daniel restrained the impulse to tell her to stop.'
'I know about the dog, motek. It wasn't your fault-'
'Yes, it was.'
'Shoshi-'
She wheeled on him, beautiful little face suffused with rage. 'He was my responsibility- you always said that! I was stupid, blabbing to Dorit-'
He got up and reached out to hold her. She twisted away. One of her bony knuckles grazed his rib.
She punched her thighs, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
'Come on,' he said, and pulled her to him. She resisted for a moment, then went limp. Another rag doll.
'Oh, Abba!' she sobbed. 'Everything's coming apart!'
'No, it's not. Everything will be fine.'
She didn't answer, just continued to cry, drenching the front of his clean shirt.
'Everything will be fine,' he repeated. As much for his benefit as hers.
Sunday noon, and all was quiet at the Amelia Catherine, medical activities suspended in honor of Christian Sabbath.
Up the road, at the Scopus campus, everything was business as usual, and Daniel made his way unnoticed through throngs of students and professor, up the serpentine walkway, and through the front door of the Law Building. He traversed the lobby, took the stairs to the top of the building, walked to an unmarked door at the end of the hall, and gave a coded knock. The door opened a crack. Suspicious eyes looked him over; then the crack widened sufficiently to admit him. Gabi Weinroth, in shorts and T-shirt, nodded hello and returned to his position across the room, sitting at the window. Daniel followed him.
Next to the Latam man's chair was a metal table bearing a police radio, a pair of walkie-talkies, a logbook, three crushed, empty cola cans, a carton of Marlboros, an ashtray overflowing with butts, and greasy wax paper wrapped around a half-eaten steak pita. Under the table were three black hard-shell equipment cases. A high- resolution, wide-angle telescope equipped with infrared enhancement was set up almost flush with the glass, angled eastward so that it focused on the entire Amelia Catherine compound.
Weinroth lit a cigarette, sat back, and hooked a thumb at the telescope. Daniel bent to look through it, saw stone, wrought iron, chain link, pine trees.
He pulled away from the scope, said, 'Anyone leave besides the watchman?'
The Latam man picked up the logbook, opened it, and found his place.
'The older doctor-Darousha-left fifty-three minutes ago, driving a white Renault with U.N. plates. He headed north-Border Patrol picked him up on the road to Ramallah. Our man Comfortes confirmed his arrival back home. The watchman showed up a few minutes later. Both of them went into Darousha's house and closed the shutters- probably planning a midday tryst. These U.N. types don't work too hard, do they?'
