Monday the Rabbi Took Off

Chapter Eighteen

Ish-kosher studied the list in front of him. "You questioned each of them personally?" he asked.

"Everyone except the Smalls." said Aaron, consulting

his notes. "They weren't home. I could go back and speak to them if you think it's worthwhile. But they just arrived from America. It's not likely they'd be expecting anyone the first day."

"And what does the family consist of?"

"There's a husband and wife. He's a sort of rabbi. And they have a little boy. Oh, yes, and according to the neighbor, they arrived with an aunt of Mrs. Small's, a citizen who lives in Tel Aviv who drove up to the city with them to see them settled in."

"Aha!"

"You think the aunt—"

"No, but she's already not someone who just arrived.''

"She's no longer there. She left the next morning."

"On the Sabbath?" Aaron nodded.

Ish-Kosher shook his head— in annoyance, in disapproval. Then he sat back squarely in his chair and said. "Listen Aaron. There's probably nothing there, but it might be worth your while to check. In the next couple of days if you're in the vicinity, you might look in on them."

Aaron nodded. Then he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "You don't think that maybe Adoumi is on the right track—"

"Of course he's on the right track. There's no doubt it's terrorists. The type of bomb shows that. But which terrorists? Was it Al Fatah, or the Palestine Liberationers. or the Committee for Arab Nationalism, or the Arab Commando Battalion? They've all claimed responsibility. They always do. as you know. So Adoumi pulls in all whose names he has in his files and questions them. Most of them are young and inexperienced— and nervous and let something drop. That's the Army and the Shin Bet method. And it works because it's based on the assumption that the terrorists attack blindly, anyone — women, children. The purpose is to strike terror, not to achieve some definite military objective. On that assumption, their method is probably the only logical procedure."

The inspector leaned back in his chair. "But suppose one of the terrorists has a grudge against a particular Israeli citizen. Then their attack can be directed just as easily against him. Do you see? Now this time the victim was a professor at the university. Suppose they were after him in particular. That suggests the possibility that it was an Arab student group. And the Shin Bet system doesn't work so well with Arabs at the university. They tend to treat them with gloves— government policy. So. if we can pinpoint the group or the individual, we might be able to do what perhaps the Shin Bet can't."

"But we questioned his colleagues and his students, and they all were agreed he was a mild, inoffensive old man who never harmed anyone, who never failed a student."

"Just a minute, Aaron. You're quoting. Wasn't that in one of the reports— 'mild, inoffensive old man'?" He shuffled papers on his desk. "Ah, here it is: Professor Robinson's statement. 'Yacov Carmi was a mild, inoffensive old man who never harmed anyone. Arab no more than Jew. Why, just the other day, he told me of some project he was engaged in for the Arab farmers in the Jericho area, something that could increase their yield fourfold.' What do you think of that?"

"Well, sure I read the statement, but—"

"But what does it mean. Aaron?"

"Well, it means that he was a mild, inoffensive old man—"

'Tcha,' said the inspector. "It means that Yacov Carmi had an idea that would perhaps mean extra income to the Arab farmers. And there has been no formal announcement of it, but it was known around the university. And that means. Aaron"— he held up a forefinger to emphasize the significance of what he was about to say—"that if what he was planning to do was contrary to the policy of the terrorists, only somebody at the university was apt to know about it."

"But if it was to help the Arab farmers—"

"This is precisely what the terrorists don't want. Who has suffered most at their hands? Not the Jews. We’ve been able to protect ourselves. It's been the Arabs, ten to one, twenty to one. Those poor devils in Gaza— they're the ones that have got most of it. And why? Because the terrorists don't want their people to cooperate with us. They don't want them to be prosperous because then they might decide that they are better off with us than with Arab masters."

He sat back and teetered in his chair as he studied the swarthy face of his assistant. He came to a decision. "Look. Aaron, that American couple at Five Victory Street, you can forget about them for a while. Or let one of your men check them out. For the next few days. I want you to hang around the university. No uniform. Talk to some of the Sephardi students; they're closer to the Arabs. At least, they speak Arabic and may have overheard something. Do you know any of them?"

"My sister's boy."

"Excellent. See him and get him to introduce you around. And you might see Professor Robinson and find out all you can about this project Carmi was working on."