“This has Gautam’s DNA all over it,” said Octavia. “I checked the archive. This reporter did a profile of Gautam when she was appointed. Look at the heavy-handed portrait of the evidence against the Americans.”
Badu nodded gravely. As the discussion continued, I learned that Badu had felt obliged to advise the president of the Court, one of the judges who serves as the Court’s chief executive, about the document request to NATO. She, in turn, was likely to have informed the other two judges on the Court’s administrative committee, Judge Gautam being one. Furthermore, now that I considered Octavia’s remark, the brief précis of Ferko’s testimony did sound just like Gautam. As Roger said, leaking had a bandwagon effect: Once the story was coming out, everyone wanted to tell it his or her way.
Akemi, with her fright-wig hairdo and heavy glasses, was bent close to the page. As always, she was focused on the details.
“These Gypsies provided Kajevic equipment? What kind of equipment?”
I explained what we knew thus far about the trucks, and the motives both the Americans and Kajevic might have had for revenge in the aftermath of the shootout. Around the table, my colleagues made various approving gestures, intrigued and somewhat impressed by what we had discovered. I was so relieved about the way all this was unfolding that I wanted to hug everyone here.
We took a second to discuss the possible American responses to the article. They did not seem to have good alternatives, except thumbing their nose at the world, which was probably not worth it on what was from a global perspective a minor matter.
Badu laid his large hands on the papers in front of him, uttering that throaty chuckle.
“I would say,” he said then, “dis has worked out rudder well.”
As we adjourned, I suspected that a secret ballot would show that at least half the people in the room believed Badu was the source of the leak.
I had not seen Narawanda since the incident with Esma late Saturday night, and I realized that her scarceness was no accident. When I arrived from work on Friday, she was in her black Lycra outfit, wearing a knit stocking cap to ward off the fierce sea wind that had blown in this afternoon. I’d caught her again with one of her legs stretched on the back of the sofa. Every time I saw Nara getting ready to exercise, she looked like someone else. Today, with her hair completely covered, isolating her round umber face, she resembled a Buddhist nun. Her eyes hit the floor as soon as she saw me.
Half turned, she asked, in the especially stilted way she adopted when she was most uncomfortable, “Shall I await you?”
“Please.” I changed and was back in a minute. She had put on her gloves in the interval.
“Nara, I need to apologize to you again.”
“Oh no.” She shook her head with some force but was still too embarrassed to actually face me. “This is your home. You must do as you please here. If my head was not in the clouds, I would have given a call.”
We could go on with each of us blaming ourselves for quite some time. I raised my hands just to indicate it was a standoff. I started to stretch myself.
“She is the Roma advocate?” Nara asked. “When you gave me her name, I recognized it from the articles about your case I read online.”
I straightened up. There was a lot contained in that sentence. For one thing, I was surprised Nara had been curious enough about me to bother with any research. More to the point, however, was my concern that she understood Esma’s role in my case.
“Do you feel you should report me?”
Nara’s mouth parted. “For fucking?”
Narawanda’s word choice was often amusing, but this time I couldn’t stifle an outright laugh.
“For fucking someone involved in my case.”
Nara wobbled her head to show she didn’t get the point.
“I don’t know the rules of your Court completely, but at our Court she would have no official role right now. And besides, you don’t fully understand The Hague. So many people are away from home for long periods. There are always affairs and sneaking around. You would be surprised what gets ignored here.”
I wasn’t sure other people’s infractions did anything to cure mine, but I took her analysis as kindly. I also noticed how instinctively Nara became a defense lawyer.
“She is very handsome,” said Nara. “With an impressive physique.” This time that tiny ironic grin crept from the shadows for a second. “She has enchanted you?”
“She certainly had. Today I’m very put out with her—and with myself for not staying away.”
“Sex is very potent for men,” she said. “And willingness. A woman who radiates experience and confidence is very sexy, I think. No?”
“Yes,” I answered.
Her face darkened somewhat. “I was a virgin when I married. That was one vow to my mother I could not break. Now of course I regret that.” Her eyes again were aimed at the floor. Then she recovered and said we should run.
Nara’s remark about her virginity was not wholly shocking, since there really was never any anticipating what precisely was going to come out of her mouth. Nevertheless, as we took off, I was struck by her note of retrospective regret about her sexual history.
As we ran, I was happy I’d followed her example and worn a hat and gloves. The wind off the North Sea today was like an ice pick. Nonetheless, we kept up a good pace through the park for nearly an hour. Afterward, given the weather, we found a corner inside at a café on the Plein.
“So how was London?” I asked.
“Well, clearly not very good, if I was home a day early,” she answered. I didn’t know if she was annoyed at me for playing dumb, or simply irritated by the memory, but I explained, somewhat apologetically, that I’d had no idea why she was back early, and thought it might have been due to a change in Lew’s plans. That remark inspired a bitter smile.
“Well, his plans have changed in a way. Lewis asked me to find a job in New York.”
“Ah.” I said no more.
“We talked about that before we married. Now he acts as if all of those discussions do not count.”
“I’m sure he meant what he said when he said it, but it’s hard to be away from home,” I said. “I enjoy The Hague, but I would need to think hard about making a lifetime commitment.”
“He did think hard,” she answered. “And besides, how am I to find a position in the US? The job market for lawyers is still not very good. And I love my work here. If they ever capture Kajevic, and they will someday, I’ll join his private lawyer as senior counsel on his defense team. Mr. Bozic has already asked me.”
“I don’t think I’d count on them rounding up Kajevic, Nara. It’s been what, fifteen years?”
“Of course. My point is that I have more and more responsibility at the Court and I enjoy that.”
Having failed at my own marriage, I did not regard myself as an adept counselor, but she was clearly seeking consolation of some kind.
“People manage marriages in two cities.”
“Separated by an ocean? We decided together that we did not want a life apart.”
“Then you can trade off five-year blocks—five in New York, five here. I know couples who do that, too.”
She moved her head unhappily. Normally stoic, Nara was nearing the point of tears. Despite the frankness of our conversation, there remained some topics that were unapproachable and probably paining her, especially the question of children.
“It is not merely a matter of what or where,” she said. “It is the idea that he thinks he can make an announcement. Lewis has always been very self-sufficient. But he threatens me with that.”