Case of Lies

As he turned a corner, he pulled out his cell phone to call Silke and tell her everything, get her advice.

No answer. She was in some tiny town on the Rhine more than six thousand miles away. She couldn’t help.

I’ll hide it, he thought. The notebook came first. Silke had told him the night before that he should stay home and keep his guard up. Was it all he could do, stay home knowing they would have to come for him, like Hippasus?

“Hallo?”

“Hello? Is this Silke Kilmer?”

“Who’s calling?” the voice responded in English.

“Ms. Kilmer, this is Nina Reilly, calling from California.”

A pause. “Sorry, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Are you represented by counsel?”

“A lawyer? Not anymore, since we came here.”

“Then please, give me a moment of your time.”

“How did you get my number?”

“You told me you came from Heddesheim. You’re staying with your parents, I take it.” It was eleven at night, and Nina lay on her bed in her kimono, practicing law. Germany was nine hours ahead.

Silke Kilmer said in a voice so low Nina almost couldn’t catch it over the transatlantic static, “Do you know what happened to us? Why we left the U.S.?”

“Yes. An explosion. You weren’t hurt?”

“A miracle. The car smelled wrong. Like a bad aftershave. I don’t know. I said, ‘Raj, someone’s been in here.’ He panicked, thank God, and dragged me out and we went ru

“I’m very glad you’re all right.”

“So. You can understand, this lawsuit of yours-so long as the man is at large, we ca

“He’ll stay at large unless you do help. Another person has died. One of the people who helped bring this lawsuit.”

“Why are you pushing this?” Silke said. “I don’t understand people like you. This thing is ruining my life. I had to leave school.”

Nina said, “You don’t have to understand. There is a court order requiring your presence at a deposition in ten days here at Lake Tahoe. I am calling to offer you and Mr. Das traveling funds.”

“You make me laugh. We’re not going anywhere. We’ll be killed. Your police are letting this man run amok.”

“Then help us get him.”

“You have the head of a mule, Miss Reilly. I admire you for staying there yourself. But I’m not brave like that.”

“Elliott’s been served too,” Nina said. “Are you going to let him travel here all alone?”

“He won’t come.”

“Then I’ll get a judgment against him and you and Raj that will compromise your futures for years to come,” Nina said. She wasn’t too sure she could do that, but it wasn’t completely impossible.

Another pause. The faint crackling continued. Nina imagined phone cables laid across the still, freezing floor of the Atlantic, her words flung like pellets toward the woman in Germany.

It was probably all done by satellite anyway. Who could keep up with technology?

“Elliott isn’t well,” Silke said finally. “He has had some psychiatric problems. He doesn’t deal with stress very well. Please don’t harass him.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I’d rather not go into it.”

“If you don’t come, what can I do?”

“We aren’t coming! Our lives are in danger!” Yet she was still talking. Nina thought, She’s torn, she’s looking for a way to help.

She thought, What if I do drag them here and something happens? For a moment, the whole effort of overcoming the obstacles in the case seemed insuperable.

“I’m getting off the line now,” Silke said.

“What if I come to you?” Nina said. “I might be able to persuade the court to allow me to take your depositions in Germany, where you feel safer. Don’t say no without thinking, Ms. Kilmer. This may be the only way out for both of us.”

“You would come to Heddesheim?”

“If I can work out the legal details.” It would be expensive. Nina tried not to think about that. It was, in fact, highly irregular. But it had been done, in cases where people were too sick to travel, for instance.

“What about Elliott?”

“I have to depose him, too. He may have seen something you and Raj didn’t see.”

“What if Elliott comes to Germany, too? Could you take all of our statements the same day?”

“It’s a possibility,” Nina said.

“He’s in danger in the States.”

“What do you all know that is causing you to live in fear? The sooner it’s known to everyone, the sooner you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t know what we know! We had money, he wanted it. What else is there to say? He killed a bystander, now he has to kill us so we can’t testify about him.”

Nina said, “You were very close to him. You saw some identifying feature.”

“Then come here and help us figure it out. I’m going to call Elliott and tell him not to say anything until he is with us.”

“You seem to care a lot about him.”

“He’s my friend, okay? I watch out for him. You don’t understand. Elliott is brilliant. Brilliant, but very fragile.”

“You won’t be safe in Germany, either, until you have been deposed. From that point forward, I can’t see what use it would be to hurt you and your friends. The deposition transcript could still be used in court, if you were… unavailable.”

“You make me feel so much better.” Sarcasm, in one so young.

“Anyone can get on a plane to Europe. I’ll call you tomorrow, Silke.”

A sigh. “If you have to.”

When Nina came downstairs, she found Bob sitting at the kitchen desk, text on his computer screen.

“I hope that’s your homework,” Nina said.

“Me and Dad are instant-messaging.” Some new words popped up on the screen and Bob started typing back.

“Dad says hi,” he reported shortly.

“You know, Bob, sometimes I think someone up there is rooting for us,” Nina said. “Could I, uh, type to your dad for a couple of minutes?”

“Sure. It’s easy.” Bob showed her, then left for the kitchen.

Hi, Kurt. It’s Nina.

Hey there! You!

Sorry to interrupt.

No problem. How are you?

Frazzled. You?

Hands still bad. Otherwise can’t complain.

Sorry. How’s the weather in central Germany?

Rainy. It’ll be better when the snow comes in December.

Same here. Rainy.

So. Is this about Bob?

Actually no. It’s about a case.

Okay.

I need to come to Germany.

No kidding! When?

Quickly. Some paperwork first. I have to do some depositions with witnesses in a place called Heddesheim.

That’s not far from Heidelberg. It’s only about an hour, hour and a half from here.

Problem is, I don’t speak German and I’m worried about getting around.

Don’t worry. They all speak English. Anyway-

It’s just tha-

– you’ll be with me.

Don’t get that.

I’ll help you, Nina.

I could use help.

Please bring Bob. Can you?

It’s business.

I’d love to see him. Thanksgiving holiday for him soon?

Coming up.

It’s a deal then? You’ll love my car.

What is it?

A surprise.

He had added a smiley face. Nina stared at it, shook her head, smiled back at it.

Now all she had to do was wade through red tape even Kafka had never imagined.