Chapter 84
Simmons was perhaps disheartened about the fact that Sadir’s name had been confirmed as the name of the person who had sent messages to Lypsick, but there were a few items that hadn’t been discussed, and the defence attorney saw his chance at turning the tables on Talya approach rapidly.
“Ms Kartz,” Simmons said, bowing slightly, “I will not burden you with more questions than necessary, and I will thus come right to the point. You stated that you had known Mr. Meshullam while you lived in Australia, is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Were you romantically involved with Mr. Meshullam at that time?”
“Relevance, Your Honour?” everyone heard Billycan shout from his seat at the prosecution table.
Silverman was quick to answer. “There are two small issues that I’d like you to remember, Mr. Billycan—one: please don’t shout, and two: if you are objecting to Mr. Simmons’s line of questioning, please say so. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly, Your Honour. I’m sorry if I shouted, and, yes, I’d like to object to the fact that I don’t see the relevance in questioning Ms Kartz about her romantic involvement…”
“You’ve opened the door on that one, Mr. Billycan, I’m sorry. I’ll allow the question,” Silverman said, turning a furrowed brow to Simmons, “but although you’ve got some latitude here, Counsel, I wouldn’t abuse it if I were you.”
“Thank you, Your Honour.” Simmons looked at Talya again. She had resented the question and wasn’t looking forward to where this was going. “Now then, Ms Kartz, would you mind telling this court if you were romantically involved with Mr. Meshullam while you lived in Australia?”
“Yes, we were.”
“And then you said that you didn’t meet Mr. Meshullam again until he came to visit you in Vancouver... or Bowen Island, pardon me…, is that correct?”
“No, sir, not quite.”
“But isn’t it a fact that you testified that you didn’t see Mr. Meshullam after he left Australia and that until he came to Bowen Island, near Vancouver? Do you mean to tell this court you’ve perjured yourself?”
“No, sir—I didn’t. If I remember correctly, Mr. Billycan asked me if I had a chance to meet Mr. Meshullam again before today. He wasn’t precise as to the number of times or the timing of my meeting Agent Meshullam…”
“Let me stop you right there, Ms. Kartz. We are not in court to argue your testimony or Mr. Billycan’s questioning, but your answers to the questions we pose—nothing else.” Simmons paused and Talya pinched her lips in disapproval. “So, then, did you or did you not meet Agent Meshullam before he came to visit you on Bowen Island? Yes or no, Ms. Kartz.”
The stubbornness in Talya took over. “You’re right…, I saw a man who called himself Isaac Whittlestein when I was travelling with Agent Gilford and Dr Hendrix in Georgia.”
“But did you recognize him as Samuel Meshullam?”
“I recognized him, yes, but he didn’t seem to remember me or even acknowledge me, when we picked him up on the road to Chattanooga.”
“So you want this court to believe that after knowing—in the biblical sense—a man for nearly ten years and when you meet him again, he doesn’t even acknowledge your name or give you any sign of recognition? Come on, Ms Kartz, why don’t you tell us what is really going on between the two of you?”
“There is nothing ‘going on’ between us, Mr. Simmons. Agent Meshullam had his own reasons for not wanting to acknowledge me when we picked him up—I don’t know. I didn’t want to confront him at the time…”
“And why was that? Did you perhaps want to hide the fact that both you and Mr. Meshullam were involved, as presumed by Mossad, in a conspiracy against the State of Israel? Wouldn’t that be a fair assumption, Ms Kartz?”
“Objection, Your Honour; argumentative,” Billycan said as loudly as he felt the circumstances would allow.
“Overruled!” Without explanation for his ruling, Judge Silverman turned to the witness. “Please answer the question, Ms. Kartz.”
Billycan straightened to the back of the chair—he didn’t know how Talya was going to react.
However, Talya was not to let go of that bone. “Why would I then encourage Agent Meshullam to reach Israel and question the Director of Mossad? Wouldn’t that be a fair assumption, Mr. Simmons?” Tit-for-tat isn’t something you practice in court.
“Yes or no to my questions will suffice, Ms Kartz. So, let me repeat my question, wouldn’t it be a fair assumption were we to say that you didn’t acknowledge Agent Meshullam when you met him on the road to Chattanooga, because you two were conspiring against the State of Israel and you didn’t want anyone to know there was a link between the two of you?”
“No, Mr. Simmons.”
“I see. Would you then tell this court why you did not tell anybody, not even Agent Gilford, that you had recognized Agent Meshullam?”
“Because Agent Meshullam did not reveal who he really was—not even to me—and I thought I wasn’t going to be the one to say anything about something he apparently wanted kept quiet.”
“Did you have any opportunity to talk privately to Agent Meshullam when you travelled with him?”
“No, I did not.”
“Alright, but then didn’t you give him your phone number in Vancouver before he left you?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why did you do that, Ms Kartz?”
“Because I was curious; I wanted him to call me if he was in Vancouver. I wanted to know what was going on and why he didn’t say who he was.”
“I see. Again, are we to assume that you wanted nothing else than obtaining an explanation about his presence in Georgia?”
“Yes; because that’s the simple truth.”
“Alright, Ms Kartz, but could you then tell this court if you had an opportunity to talk to Agent Meshullam when he came to Vancouver, supposedly to renew your…, shall we say... friendship?”
“Yes, I had an opportunity to talk to him, but I didn’t take it.”
Simmons stared. “And why would that be, Ms Kartz? Was it perhaps because you knew what Agent Meshullam was planning on doing, and you were trying to avoid him?”
“Objection, Your Honour, my colleague is leading the witness,” Billycan uttered.
“Sustained. Mr. Simmons, rephrase.”
Simmons shot a darted gaze in Billycan’s direction, but resumed, “All right, Ms Kartz, were you trying to avoid Agent Meshullam when he came to Vancouver?”
“Not quite.”
“Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?”
“Yes, Mr. Simmons. CSIS in Ottawa had informed me that I was targeted for elimination and that they suspected Agent Meshullam to be involved. So, I put my personal affairs in order and planned to meet with him at a neighbourhood restaurant that night.”
“When you say that you ‘put your personal affairs in order’, are we to understand that you knew you were going to be shot?”
“No, I didn’t know, and I couldn’t bring myself to believe that Agent Meshullam was the one who would pull the trigger.”
“Is that why you wanted to meet with him privately, and perhaps ask him the hard questions?”
“Yes, Mr. Simmons. I wanted to know if he was really the one who had killed Ben Slimane—I mean Mr. Assor—and if I was next on his list.”
“But, I gather you didn’t have a chance to do that?”
“No, I was on my way home when Samuel shot me.”
“If you knew who the perpetrator was, why didn’t you say so earlier, or divulge your acquaintance with Agent Meshullam before the investigation even started? Could it be that your conspiring against the State of Israel had been discovered and that you knew you had to pay the price for your treason?”
“NO! I am not a traitor, Mr. Simmons. And if I didn’t divulge who Agent Meshullam really was or why I supposed he shot both Mr. Assor and me, is simply because I could not believe the man I loved, would be capabl
e of such acts.”
“And now that you know he is the one who pulled the trigger, why would you insist in accusing someone else of these crimes?”
“Because, Mr. Simmons, Agent Meshullam may have pulled the trigger but he is in no way responsible for ordering these crimes to be perpetrated.”
“Thank you, Ms Kartz,” Simmons concluded, turning to the judge. “I have no more questions for this witness, Your Honour.”
Over the lunch adjournment, Simmons went back to the detaining centre where he found Sadir waiting for him in the visitors’ room. The defence attorney had just finished cross-examining Talya and realized that, even though he had known it for a long time, his client was guilty as charged. The only way out of this mess was for Sadir to get on the witness stand and reveal in open court who was behind this affair—from the beginning. The prosecution had demonstrated that Lypsick was a messenger, and Billycan had now shown that Sadir was also near the issuer of these orders. Simmons was convinced Sadir had only been a link in the chain.
“Well, are you happy now?” was the defence attorney’s opening when he sat down across his client.
“I told you what would happen. Just take your medicine and shut up. I didn’t ask you to come down here to give me a lecture.”
“And I’m not here to give you one either. You had a chance to take a deal when this all started, and you didn’t take it—so, what else can I tell you?”
“You could tell me when I could take the stand, for one thing…”
“Ha! We’re finally getting to it. And you think it’s going to make a difference?” Simmons wanted to prod into Sadir’s reasons for taking the stand. Although, he was convinced it would be another way to introduce doubt in the jury’s mind, he wasn’t yet sure what Sadir planned on revealing. If he wasn’t going to give up the name of the ‘Puppeteer’, the only thing Simmons could do then was to instil further suspicion as to Ms Kartz and Agent Meshullam being traitors.
“Yes, I think so. I figured when you’re going to start your defence, you could put me on the stand. After that you won’t need anyone else to have me cleared of these charges.”
“And I suppose what you’re going to tell the jury is going to convince them that you’re not responsible for these series of felony murders—most of which you ordered personally.”
“Yes, that’s what I plan to tell them.”
“I see. And what about Lypsick? You don’t think he’ll take revenge against your family anymore? What happened to that?”
“Believe me, I haven’t forgotten the bastard. But since he’s been flagged, I don’t think I’ll have to worry about him for much longer.”
“So if you know who the man at the head is, why didn’t you speak sooner and have Lypsick arrested?”
“You know, you’re very good, Simmons, and as any good lawyer you know the answer to your questions before you ask them. And you know the answer to this one as well.”
“All right, I’m tired of playing twenty questions with you. I’m going to have you on the stand—if you want to make a fool of yourself, that’s your choice—but I’m not coming down here anymore. It’s a waste of time anyway.”