go home and get some rest.'
'Okay, put him on. Bye.'
'Bye.'
'Danny,' said Gene. 'I've been following up this Terrif thing and-'
'Terrifs a name used by Richard Carter,' said Daniel. He filled Gene in on the night's events. Talking to a fellow policeman after excluding his wife.
Gene listened, said, 'What a mess. Terrible about your man.' Silence. 'Carter, huh? Sonofagun. Everything I've got on him spells clean. The records from McGill check out-the med school transcripts clerk said the guy was an honor student there, did very good research on tropical diseases. The Peace Corps said he continued that research with them, saved plenty of lives. With the exception of a bust for marijuana when he was in high school, no one has a bad word to say about him.'
'I do,' said Daniel. 'The records are probably falsified. It would be the least of his sins.'
'True. I've got more info for you. Got a minute?'
'Sure.'
'I started thinking about the American murder sites-your point about nice weather, vacation spots. Vacation cities are also popular with organizations when it comes to locating their conventions-as in medical conventions. I've managed to get through to the chambers of commerce in New Orleans and Miami, convinced them to go through their '73 and '78 convention records, respectively, and found one common thread: The Society for Surgical Pathology held conventions in both. It's a relatively small group of hotshot doctors, but the conventions are attended by lots of people-scientists, technicians, students. I called their headquarters in Washington, D.C. The 73 roster had been tossed out, but they still had the one from August 78. Sure enough, a D. Terrif attended the Miami convention, registered as a student. The convention began two days prior to the murder and ended five days after. My info on Richard Carter is that he was still a student in 78-got his M.D. in 79. But he was doing his first Peace Corps bit in Ecuador that summer.'
'How do we know he didn't leave Ecuador and fly to Miami for a week? Used the Terrif name to conceal his identity, then returned to doing good deeds as Carter.'
'Dr. Carter, Mr. Terrif. Split personality?'
'Or just a clever psychopath.'
'Yeah, it would fit with something else I came up with. After we found that D. Terrif reference in the Shehadeh file, I called one of my buddies at Parker Center, asked him to check all the files for someone by that name. He came up empty, even in the social security files. No such person ever received a card-which is just about every adult who pays taxes in America. Now, Carter's a Canadian, so it wouldn't apply to him, but my buddy said something interesting: that Terrif didn't even look like a bona fide name, that the first thing he thought of was that it was an abbreviation for Terrific.'
Daniel thought about it. The kind of linguistic nuance that he'd fail to catch, working in a foreign language.
'D. Terrific,' said Gene. 'Maybe the D stands for some other name or maybe it stands for Doctor.'
'Doctor Terrific.'
'Like a superhero. Scum takes on an alter ego when he goes out to kill.'
'Yes,' said Daniel. 'It feels right.'
'Doesn't seem immediately helpful,'said Gene, 'but when you get him to trial, it could be.' He started to yawn, stifled it.
'Absolutely,' said Daniel. 'Thanks for doing all of this, Gene. Now please go back to the hotel and get some sleep.'
'Soon. First I want to look into Canadian Terrifs, then see if I can find an old Ecuador-to-Miami plane reservation made out to any Carters or Terrifs. A very long shot, because it was seven years ago, but you never know what pays off. Where you going to be?'
'In and out,' said Daniel. 'I'll check in with you at the end of the day, if not before.'
'Okay. Good luck. And be sure to call me when you catch the scum.'
Monday, five P.M. One of the local members of Al Biyadi's terrorist cell continued to avoid capture, no word from Paris, and Mossad was still stalling.
Richard Carter had been spotted sixteen times throughout the state of Israel, as far north as Quneitra, as far south as Eilat. Sixteen fair-haired, ginger-bearded men were pulled off the streets for questioning, all eventually released: five Israelis, four Americans, two Britons, two Germans, a Swede, a Dane, and one unfortunate Canadian tourist detained for five hours by Tel Aviv detectives and left behind by his tour group as they boarded an excursion flight to Greece.
Two Volkswagens matching the one Avi Cohen had driven were located and impounded, one on Kibbutz Lavi, the other in Safed. Both owners were interviewed intensively. The Safed car belonged to an artist of wide reputation and mediocre talent who protested loudly that he was being harassed because of left-wing political views. Verification of ownership and registration of both vehicles was obtained.
At six, Daniel and Amos Harel reviewed the written logs of the Amelia Catherine surveillance:
Six-thirteen A.M.: A blue Renault panel truck from the Al Aswadeh Produce Company in East Jerusalem drove around to the rear of the hospital. The chain-link gate was locked. One man got out, walked to the front. Sorrel Baldwin's secretary, Ma'ila Khoury, came out, spoke to him, went back inside. Minutes later, Khoury unlocked the gate and signed for the groceries. Delivery completed, the truck departed six twenty-eight A.M. License plate number recorded and verified as registered to Al Aswadeh.
Seven-ten a.m.: Zia Hajab arrived at the East Jerusalem bus station on the Ramallah-to-Jerusalem bus. He bought a cold drink from a street vendor, walked from the station to the hospital. By eight a.m. he was sitting at his post.
