The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2003

moved to clear off the dirty dishes. “Captain Lauer made a mistake by letting the under secretary’s delegation fly back to the States,” I said. “They were the ones who worked with Fleet. If we detested him after knowing him for just a few days, they must have been desperate.” “He checked — they all had alibis. The security peo- ple were in the front lobby with the local guards. The rest of the staff was busy catering to the under secretary’s every whim. Everyone was in full public view at the time Fleet was murdered.” “Except for me.” “And me,” Jay grinned, as he speared another piece of meat. “But neither of us has a motive. And we don’t have the expertise either. Captain Lauer said the mur- derer had to be experienced — he had to know where to put the knife. The stabbing caused almost instantaneous death, and the wound hardly bled.” “Talking about such distressing events is not appro- priate at a meal,” said Dr. Tordorov as he came up behind us and placed his tray down on the table. “I’m sorry,” apologized Jay, immediately contrite. “I didn’t know you were friends with Eric Fleet.” Tordorov snorted. “We were not friends. Mr. Fleet was a horrible man and I regret the murderer didn’t kill him earlier. When we are at the dinner table, however, we should think of our digestions.” Jay and I fell silent as he began to eat. C aptain Lauer wasn’t nearly so patient the third time around. He kept me for almost an hour in his makeshift office going over my previous testimony as he chain-smoked. “You were there when it happened; you must have noticed something!” he accused me. “Are you going to tell me about it or not?” When I was finally allowed to leave, I sank down on a bench just outside the door. I was in a bind. If the Swiss police were focusing back on me, it meant they were in the dark about the murderer’s identity. I watched as the committee chairman was escorted into Lauer’s office by a police officer. Poor Dr. Tordorov — to have had such F O C U S 24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 3