“Not if I can help it.”
Mary thought of what Lucas Janklow had said to her as she was leaving for the prison. “There’s nothing you can do for her, Madam Ambassador. We’ve tried before. A five-year sentence for a foreigner is standard. If she were a Romanian, they’d probably give her life.”
Now Mary looked at Hannah Murphy and said, “I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
Mary had examined the official police report on Hannah Murphy’s arrest. It was signed by Captain Aurel Istrase, head of Securitate. It was brief and unhelpful, but there was no doubt of the girl’s guilt. I’ll have to find another way, Mary thought. Aurel Istrase. The name had a familiar ring. She thought back to the confidential dossier James Stickley had showed her in Washington. There had been something in there about Captain Istrase. Something about—She remembered.
Mary arranged to have a meeting with the captain the following morning.
“You’re wasting your time,” Mike Slade told her bluntly. “Istrase is a mountain. He can’t be moved.”
Aurel Istrase was a short, swarthy man with a scarred face, a shiny, bald head, and stained teeth. Earlier in his career, someone had broken his nose, and it had failed to heal properly. Istrase had come to the embassy for the meeting. He was curious about the new American ambassador.
“You wished to talk to me, Madam Ambassador?”
“Yes. Thank you for coming. I want to discuss the case of Hannah Murphy.”
“Ah, yes. The drug peddler. In Romania, we have strict laws about people who sell drugs. They go to jail.”
“Excellent,” Mary said. “I’m pleased to hear that. I wish we had stricter drug laws in the United States.”
Istrase was watching her, puzzled. “Then you agree with me?”
“Absolutely. Anyone who sells drugs deserves jail. Hannah Murphy, however, did not sell drugs. She offered to give some marijuana to her lover.”
“It is the same thing. If—”
“Not quite, Captain. Her lover was a lieutenant on your police force. He smoked marijuana too. Has he been punished?”
“Why should he be? He was merely gathering evidence of a criminal act.”
“Your lieutenant has a wife and three children?”
Captain Istrase frowned. “Yes, of course. The American girl tricked him into bed.”
“Captain—Hannah Murphy is a nineteen-year-old college student. Your lieutenant is forty-five. Now who tricked whom?”
“Age has nothing to do with this,” the captain said stubbornly.
“Does the lieutenant’s wife know about her husband’s affair?”
Captain Istrase stared at her. “Why should she?”
“Because it sounds to me like a clear case of entrapment. I think we had better make this whole thing public. The international press will be fascinated.”
“There would be no point to that,” he said.
She sprang her ace. “Because the lieutenant happens to be your son-in-law?”
“Certainly not!” the captain said angrily. “I just want to see justice done.”
“So do I,” Mary assured him.
According to the dossier she had seen, the son-in-law specialized in making the acquaintance of young tourists—male or female—sleeping with them, suggesting places where they could trade in the black market or buy dope, and then turning them in.
Mary said in a conciliatory tone, “I see no need for your daughter to know how her husband conducts himself. I think it would be much better for all concerned if you quietly released Hannah Murphy from jail and I shipped her back to the States. What do you say, Captain?”
He sat there, fuming, thinking it over. “You are a very interesting lady,” he said finally.
“Thank you. You’re a very interesting man. I’ll expect Miss Murphy in my office this afternoon. I’ll see that she’s put on the first plane out of Bucharest.”
He shrugged. “I will use what little influence I have.”
“I’m sure you will, Captain Istrase. Thank you.”
The following morning a grateful Hannah Murphy was on her way home.
“How did you do it?” Mike Slade asked, unbelievingly.
“I followed your advice. I charmed him.”
20
The day Beth and Tim were to start school, Mary got a call at five A.M. from the embassy that a NIACT—a night action cable—had come in and required an immediate answer. It was the start of a long and busy day, and by the time Mary returned to the residence, it was after seven P.M. The children were waiting for her.