Selected Detective
SECRETS REVEALED

“Why didn't you say this to us earlier?”

“Because you did not ask,” Tangkis Dr Gilda Nissim, while walking in front of the two in the corridor towards the Isaac Schlegel room. “I'm a psychiatrist, but that doesn't mean I can read other people's minds! And please take care of your language!” Ben-Roi opened his mouth, almost saying hard to him.

Somehow he tried hard to control himself and just let out a sigh of annoyance. Layla sped up her pace, almost on par with the doctor.

“And you said that his sister gave the book to him right before he left egypt?” Nissim nodded curiously, clearly trying to hold back his own emotions. “Mrs Schlegel stopped by here on her way to the airport. spent about fifteen minutes with her brother, gave him a book, and then left. That was the last time he saw his sister. Since then, he has never released the book from his sight.”

“Damn it!” muttered Ben-Roi behind his breath, staring intently at the back of the doctor's head.

They arrived at Schlegel's room. But instead of stopping, Nissim instead took them through the hall and out through a bunch of glass doors on the other side of the unit, while explaining that at this hour every morning the patient likes to sit outside in the sun, they climb a few steps past the rocks overgrown with purple geraniums and lavender flowers, then follow a narrow white cobblestone path to the top of the hospital, where there is a small grassy hill surrounded by pine trees. Very calm and peaceful, the air was filled with fragrant pine needles, the misty forest on Judean Hill widened around. Nissim nods his head at someone sitting alone on a concrete chair on the furthest side of the hill, then throws a glance at Ben-Roi through the top of his glasses, and pulls away. Layla and Ben-Roi continue the journey until they reach the seat, Ben-Roi takes a position behind him, Layla sits next to the old man. The book, as before, was held tightly on his lap. Layla touched her hand gently on the man's arm.

“Hi again, Isaac,” said. Then shut up for a moment. “Can we see your book? The book Hannah gave you. Can we see it? It's okay, ‘kan?” Layla was so worried that she would not show them the book, she would panic at her request. It seems far from that. With a thin *****, as if he was finally relieved to be asked that way, Schelegel slowly let go of his grasp on the book, and let Layla take the book from his lap. Ben-Roi bends forward, sticking out his head to look at the contents of the book.

The book is quite thin, with a hard face cover, very tangled with a green cover over which is printed a picture of a pine tree with a simple black line. At the bottom, it is written in English, Summer Walks in the Berchtesgaden National Park. Layla takes a quick look at Ben-Roi, raises her eyebrows, and opens the contents of the book.

There is a list of ten trips, each with the names Konigsee Trail, Watzmann Trail, Weiss-Tanne Trail and also a color code, the latter corresponding to the colored marker at the bottom of the book. The last section of the book, Hoher Goll Trail, is yellow.

“See the yellow one,” Layla whispered, her heart began to beat. Ben-Roi said nothing, just walked over and sat down next to him. Layla started flicking through the pages of the book, quickly, searching for the relevant sections.

“Hoher Goll Trail,” he called it after a while, straightening the place of the book on his lap.

Like the other nine chapters, this one begins with a simple drawing with a line of black ink, in this case a mountain, its summit flat and steeply rocky, and in this, with a long ridge and sloping to the right before ending on a steep cliff that on the edge looks like a small house.

Then written some basic facts about the road was 19 km long; travel time 5-6 hours; Difficulty Level 3 (from 5) a scaled map on which the data is marked zig-zag dots, and then six pages of text that tell the path in detail, and then, with a few small boxes inserted in it, it provides additional information about local flora and fauna, historical places, and others.

Layla and Ben-Roi exchanged glances, puzzled, uncertain what of all this had to do with Dieter Hoth or Menorah. He turned the page. The box mentioned is also colored. Title “Hoher Goll” Frame. The two looked at each other, then started reading.

In May 1961, at the point marked by this small pile of rocks, six skeletons were found by passing mountaineers, after a night of unusually heavy rain fell sweeping the top layers of soil from the shallow tombs where they were buried. They were all men and all died from gunshot wounds. The remains of the worn cloth reveal that they were victims of the concentration camp although their identities were never known, nor is there any reason about their presence at the foot of Hoher Goll hill. They are now buried in a cemetery in Berchtesgaden. When passing by, the prevailing custom is to add one small stone to the pile as a sign of respect.

A state of silence as they digested this information, then, the two spoke at the same time, “Dachau Prisoner.” Their voices are so excited. Layla gives the book to Ben-Roi and starts reaching for his bag, picking up the notebook and opening the page, the paper makes a rustling sound under his fingertips.

“Jean-Michael Dupont,” he mutters. “He said something, about the Nazis, how they.... “ He found the page he was looking for, his finger ran down while reading.

“At the end of the war, the Nazis either sent spoils of war abroad or hid them in some secret location in Germany, usually in abandoned mines.” Layla looked up again. For a moment they exchanged glances, then the two began to process the information from the book. Layla opened the book again and began to write details about the mining and its location, the writing was so rushed so vigorously that after some disheveled writing she was forced to tear the page apart, squeeze it, and then tear it apart, and start again. Ben-Roi was still standing, talking quickly through his cell phone, his voice sometimes not because he was pacing on the hill, his left hand was moving in the air as if trying to speed things up.

Five minutes later everything was arranged: two seats on the 11:15 flight from Ben-Gurion to Vienna, then a connecting plane to Salzburg, the nearest airport to Berchtesgaden, and a rental car waiting. If there is no barrier, they will arrive in Germany in the afternoon.

“Let's change direction,” said Ben-Roi, down that little hill. “If we miss the plane, there will be no more flights until tomorrow.”

“Khalifa?”

“Fuck him. We know where that thing is. He is irrelevant in this.” It disappeared under the shoulders of the hill. Layla returned to Schlegel, who had remained motionless during the incident, looking away at the forest-covered hill. Holding the man's hand in his hand, he gave the book to him.

“Thank you, Isaac,” Layla whispered. “We won't let Hannah down. I promise.” He hesitated a bit, then pushed his body forward and kissed the old man's cheek. The man nodded small and seemed to mutter something, although it was too low for Layla to catch him “My sister,” perhaps, she was not sure. Layla stroked the man's arm, then stood up and chased after Ben-Roi, both of whom then ran small to the bottom of the hospital area towards the big road.

Layla clutched the scrap of paper that she had torn from the book, and when she got under it she threw it into a roadside litter box before getting into the passenger seat and closing the car door.

Across there, Avi Steiner observed as they drove and disappeared in traffic. Then, speaking through his walkie-talkie, he started his Saab engine, left the garage yard and, turning around the corner, stopped near the litter box and took out the contents.