“I’m terribly sorry. I forgot in all the excitement. There was a telephone call for you at the studio. A woman—sounded very sexy. She said would you phone this number and said would you phone from the jazz place. I suppose she means Sam’s.”
“Did she say who she was?”
“No. I asked her and she just said that the message was from Jay.” She held out the paper. “Anyway here’s the number. I must go and get ready.”
Aarons looked at the number. He didn’t recognise it and it wasn’t a New York number. He wondered who Jay was. He folded the paper and slid it into his pocket. There was something odd about it. He had never given Tania’s studio number to anyone. He didn’t want her to be involved. And who was it who knew them well enough to know about Sam’s club?
Although it was only early March it was a mild evening and they walked down to Sam’s club. When they had ordered something to eat Anna showed him to the small back office where he could use the phone. He checked the code with the White Plains operator who told him that it was an Israeli number for Tel Aviv. And then he guessed that the mysterious “Jay” was probably Jakob. Jakob Lensky.
He dialled the number and after the usual clicks and buzzes he was through. The voice that answered was a man’s who stated the number without identifying himself.
“Is that Jakob?”
“Who is that calling?”
“It’s Andrei.”
“Hold on a moment.”
A few seconds later Lensky took over. “Hello Andrei. You’re using the phone I suggested, yes?”
“Yes.”
“I want to warn you, Andrei. I want you to take notice of what I say. Will you do that?”
“Of course.”
“You were in Moscow recently?”
“Yes.”
“And you spent time with a man named Rabinovich. Lev Rabinovich?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get on with him?”
“Very well, I thought.”
“But you had some trouble before you met him.”
“Yes. I guess I was arrested. They took me to the Lubyanka.”
“On what grounds?”
“They never really said.”
“You don’t need to cover up, Andrei. They said you associated with a defector. Me?”
“More or less.”
“And you defended me?”
“Of course.”
“Where did you do your talking with Rabinovich?”
“In his office in the Lubyanka and at his dacha at Peredelkino.”
“All his time with you was taped. He’s in a labour camp now. Got fifteen years for association with enemies of the State. And that means you.”
“But they congratulated me, the technical people, on what I was getting for them. They’ve sent me congratulations in the last month or so.”
“Doesn’t mean a thing. Mark my words. Carry on if you have to for some reason but never repeat never go to the Soviet Union or to any Warsaw Pact country.”
“But why this attitude?”
“The people who were the hard-liners hated my guts. They still do. Don’t fall for any story that takes you back there. You won’t come back if you do.”
“How do you know all this, Jakob?”
“I’ve got my sources.”
“What are you doing out there?”
“Thinking, resting, sitting in the sun and enjoying the privilege of talking with people who can think for themselves.” He paused. “You should try it some time.”
“Thanks for the warning, Jakob.”
“And you’ll heed my warning?”
“You bet.”
“Shalom.”
Aarons said “Shalom” softly and hung up.
When Anna found him he was sitting there on the stool by the phone with his head in his hands. She knelt down and put a hand on each of his shoulders.
“What is it, Andrei? What’s the matter?”
He looked up slowly, his eyes closed and he said gently, “I’ll be all right, Anna.” He sighed. “Don’t say anything to Tania, please.”
“Whatever you say. But you worry me, my brother.” She paused. “Bill Malloy and Kathy came in, they’re with Tania now. Do you want an aspirin?”
He laughed despite himself. “No. An aspirin won’t cure my problems.”
“What do you need? Tell me. Maybe I can help.”
“Tell me you’re happy with Sam.”
“Of course I am. I love him and he loves me. Why do you ask?”
He shook his head. “I knew you were happy with him. I just wanted to hear someone say something good came out of my life.”
“Don’t talk like that, Andrei. You’ve spent all your life trying to help people achieve a place in the world.”
He shook his head, stood up, helped her to her feet and kissed her brow.
“Come back with me, Anna.”
When he was with the others she went over to Sam and whispered to him as he played “Mood Indigo.” He moved on into Andrei’s favourites, “Manhattan,” “Love Walked In” and “Love is the Sweetest Thing.”
He left with Tania just after midnight. She had been aware of the pale, drawn face and the flatness of his voice. But she said nothing.
He lay awake beside her through the night, for once the sound of police sirens and the noise of traffic were a comfort. He knew that his life had changed or was going to change. He didn’t know how and he wasn’t even sure why it would change. It wasn’t a time for rushing into decisions. Sooner or later there would be a sign and he’d know what to do.
CHAPTER 53
It was at a weekend at Hyannisport with the Kennedys that Aarons became aware of the efforts they were making, and the political risks they were prepared to take to enforce the laws on integration of blacks into the communities of the southern States.
The daily conflicts were the task of Robert Kennedy and some of his sharpest disputes were with the Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson. The on-going dispute was the charge by Willard Wirtz, the Secretary of Labour, that two thirds of companies holding government contracts didn’t employ blacks, and Johnson was defending the companies’ attitude. They had been playing with the family children and had come back into the President’s study so that he could see the statistics that Wirtz had passed to Bobby and when the President had looked through them he
