Free The Jerusalem Puzzle by Laurence O’Bryan

optimist.’
    ‘That’s what I said.’
    ‘You should get your own show.’ She pressed the button beside the elevator.
    I pushed at the door to Kaiser’s apartment. We were out of luck. It didn’t open. I checked the ledge above the door, another one above a small window nearby. Someone might have left a key behind. I even checked under a dusty aloe vera plant on the window ledge. No luck.
    The elevator arrived. As we got in, Isabel said, ‘Do you really think this will help us to find Susan?’
    ‘I don’t know.’ The doors closed. There was a smell of cleaning fluid.
    ‘You remind me of a Yorkshire terrier we once had. When he got something between his teeth he was a demon for hanging on.’
    She was right, of course. We shouldn’t be here, pushing our luck again. We should be back in London, especially after what we’d got ourselves into in Istanbul.
    But a stubborn part of me said, to hell with all that; you sat back once, Sean, before Irene died. All that’s over for you. You’re not the guy who sits on his ass anymore.
    And I didn’t care what it brought down on me either.
    ‘Maybe I’m just a sucker for drama,’ I said.
    We went outside.
    ‘No, you’re a sucker for trying to do the right thing.’ Isabel’s tone was soft. ‘And you blame yourself for way too much.’
    She was right. But it was like I needed someone saying it over and over for it to go in.
    I touched her arm. ‘Look, that’s where they keep the garbage,’ I said. I pointed at a row of black plastic bins in a corner under a wooden cover. They each had a number on them.
    ‘Have fun,’ she said.
    I went to the bin marked three in white paint on its side. There was nothing inside it. The police must have taken the rubbish.
    A door slammed, footsteps echoed. I felt like a criminal standing by the garbage cans. I started walking back to where Isabel was waiting near the road.
    ‘Can I help you?’ said a reedy voice.
    I turned. There was an old man standing there. He had white hair and looked dishevelled. I made a split-second decision.
    ‘We came to see what they did to Max’s place.’
    He turned and looked up at the front of the building.
    ‘Yes, it was terrible,’ he said. ‘Mr Kaiser didn’t deserve that. He was always so friendly when we met him.’
    He started walking back to the house.
    Isabel was beside me. ‘Did he tell you where he was working in the city?’ she asked.
    He stopped, turned. ‘Who are you?’ he said.
    ‘We worked with Max on a project in Istanbul,’ I said. We were forced together briefly by circumstances was the truth, but I wasn’t going to say that.
    I pulled my wallet out, took out one of my cards and handed it to him.
    He looked at it as if it was dirt.
    ‘We’re trying to work out what happened to Max.’
    ‘He never told me where he worked. I can’t help you. Good night.’
    There was a woman by the door of the apartment block watching us. She had a black cat in her arms.
    ‘Maybe he told your wife,’ I said.
    He shrugged. I went after him. He stopped at the door, turned.
    ‘Sorry to bother you,’ I said. The woman was staring at me with a suspicious expression. ‘We’re trying to find out what happened to Max Kaiser. Did he ever tell you where he was working here in Jerusalem?’
    She looked at her husband. He shrugged.
    ‘It was so terrible what happened to him,’ she said. ‘You know, you are the first people to come by here, to take an interest in him. How did you know him?’
    ‘We met him in Istanbul. I used to work for the British Consulate there,’ said Isabel.
    The woman smiled. ‘My mother fled to England during the war,’ she said.
    I wanted to press her again, but I decided to wait.
    She put her hand to her cheek. ‘We used to meet Mr Kaiser on the stairs. He was always covered in dust, always in a hurry.’
    ‘Did he say where he was working?’
    ‘No.’
    I was about to turn and go when she said. ‘But I heard him saying something about Our Lady’s