Ellen and Anna made sandwiches for everyone and they sat at the kitchen table.
“I have a job for you,” Hans said when they were seated. “I want you to write a short letter to your parents. Tell them that you’re okay. You can’t tell them anything about where you are, what you’re doing or about any of us. Just tell them that you’re fine and that you miss them.”
“Okay, I’ll do that as part of my homework tonight.”
Ellen was determined to give her parents a clue to help them find her. She didn’t know where she was, just that she was on a farm. She thought all day about what she could write. Finally, she wrote a note and showed it to Hans. He did not spot her clue.
She hoped her parents would.
When court adjourned after his cross-examination of Witness A, Kevin rushed to his office and called Diane. There had been no new developments at home. Next, Kevin headed down to the holding cell in the basement where Draga was kept when he was not in the courtroom.
Draga had loosened his tie and taken off his blazer. He looked like an executive at the end of a tough day at the office.
“I owe you, big time,” Kevin said, shaking Draga’s hand warmly.
“Maybe you’ll forgive my football debts.”
“What are your football debts?”
“Well, the Raiders lost the AFC Championship yesterday. Didn’t you hear? I owe you 70 Euros. But the Super Bowl is in two weeks.”
“I’ve been a little preoccupied,” Kevin said, sitting down on the wooden bench bolted to the wall of the bare cell. “You sure know how to take advantage of a guy when he’s distracted.”
Draga laughed. “I learned that in the army. Act decisively when your opponent is at his weakest.”
“Thank you for what you did today. You’ve done more to get my daughter back than anyone.”
“Any word yet?”
“Nothing.”
“You did good with that witness.”
“Thanks. Only about ninety-nine more to go.”
“Old Stone face over there didn’t look too happy. I think you neutralized their best witness.”
“Why did you round up civilians?” Kevin asked, wondering if Draga might break his rule and talk about the case now that he had seemingly broken his other rule and spoken up in court.
“Our orders were to detain all military-age Muslim males. It was up to the Bosnian Serbs to figure out who was a soldier and who was a civilian. We couldn’t take a town and leave people there to attack us from behind.”
That made sense to Kevin. “Will you help me win your case and get my daughter back?”
“I’ll do anything I can to get your daughter back. But winning the case? I don’t think that is possible, with or without my help.”
“I can’t believe they would hold my daughter for the whole trial. It’s going to take at least a month. She’s never been away from home for more than a week.”
“Maybe they’ll see that you’re doing the best you can and let her go. I’ll do what I can to pass the word in Serbia.”
Kevin left the lockup and headed for home. The news crews were awaiting him outside the Tribunal guardhouse.
“Any news on your daughter?” one reporter shouted.
“Nothing.”
“How do you expect to win Draga’s trial? Nobody has ever been acquitted at the Tribunal.”
“Draga’s case is unique,” Kevin replied. “I’m convinced that he’s innocent.”
Kevin realized that he sounded like a zealous defense lawyer. After twenty years as a prosecutor, he didn’t know he had it in him.
When he arrived home, Diane was sitting on the couch in the living room. Kevin took off his coat and sat down next to her.
“This is so hard,” she said to Kevin. “To sit here all day doing nothing while Ellen is being held somewhere.” Tears streamed down her face.
Kevin hugged his wife tightly. “This is a nightmare.”
“When is it going to end?” Diane sobbed.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
“Do you think she’s alive?”
Kevin closed his eyes. “I think so. What would be gained by killing her? Then their game would be over and they would not have accomplished anything.”
“What are they trying to accomplish?”
“Make the Court release Draga. Make me fight harder for him. Or maybe it is the CIA – trying to make it look like the Serbs. I don’t know. It’s insane.”
“Will they hold her for the whole trial? I don’t think I can take this much longer.”
Kevin put his arm around Diane’s shoulders. “Why don’t you ask Detective Weber if there is something you can do to help, like going around with Ellen’s picture or organizing volunteers?”
Diane pulled back. “I’m not good at that stuff. That’s something you would do. I just want my daughter back.” She burst into tears again.
Kevin felt Diane’s resentment. He knew that she was unbelievably angry with him and blamed him for what had happened. There would be a time when that wound would have to be healed, or their marriage would not survive.
Although he was hungry and exhausted, Kevin sat with Diane on the couch for the next hour, talking out all of the possibilities.
“At least you have a purpose,” Diane finally said. “You can go to court every day trying to win Draga’s case. I haven’t been out of the house since this happened.”
Kevin knew that Diane was not really expecting a solution to their nightmare from him; she just wanted to talk, and express her feelings. But he couldn’t help himself. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you come to court with me and help on Draga’s case?”
Diane frowned. “I haven’t practiced law for more than eleven years.”
“So what? You know a lot about Draga’s case from listening to me. You don’t have to handle any witnesses – just read the reports and give me some ideas. It’ll look good to the kidnappers, like we are trying everything. It will get you out of the house, and we’ll be together.”
Diane was quiet. She looked down and squeezed her hands together.
Kevin knew she never liked the confrontation that took place in a courtroom.
“What would I wear?” she finally said, smiling.
“Let’s go up to your closet and have a look.”
They got up from the couch and went upstairs.
Kevin was pleased that Diane was considering helping at trial. The more he thought about this spur of the moment idea, the better he liked it. It would give Diane something to do, and it would help him as well.
“I would just be doing this for Ellen,” Diane said, opening her closet door. “I never liked being in court.”
“I know. But this is the best way we can help Ellen now. Let’s go for it.”
Diane stood looking in her closet, pulling hangers to the side and examining her garments critically.
“You’ll be wearing a robe in court,” Kevin said. “You just need a nice pair of shoes.”
Diane frowned. Then she began going through her assembled shoes.
“I’m going to make myself something to eat,” Kevin said after a few minutes. “Come join me when you’re done.”
When Diane came downstairs, she was still undecided.
“I don’t really know what to do,” she said. “I am such a mess – I can’t decide what shoes to wear. How in the world am I going to be any help in court?”
“Why don’t you sleep on it? You don’t have to come tomorrow. Think about it for awhile.”
Kevin ate his dinner alone while Diane went back to sitting on the couch. When he looked in on her, she was reading a novel. It was almost ten o’clock.
“I’m going to bed,” Kevin said. “I can’t stay awake any more.”
“I’ll be up in a while.”
When Kevin’s alarm went off the next morning, there was an empty space in the bed next to him. He got up to look for Diane. He found her downstairs, sitting at the dining room table wearing a blue skirt, cream-colored blouse, and black pumps. She was reading one of Kevin’s files from his briefcase.