Kevin felt weak in the knees as he walked outside to his bicycle.

Would Judge Davidson dare to put him in jail?

CHAPTER 10

Two hours later, Kevin was in jail, visiting Draga. Kevin had picked up Chinese food, and the two men sat in the interview room, eating out of cartons with chopsticks.

“I’ll reserve a cell for you next to mine,” Draga said after Kevin brought him up to date on his legal difficulties.

“That’s a comforting thought.”

Kevin passed the chow mien to Draga. “Trade you for the fried rice.”

Draga dug at the rice one more time before handing the carton to Kevin.

“Want me to defend you at the hearing?” Draga asked.

“Oh yeah, you’ve really impressed Judge Davidson with your courtroom decorum. You’re the perfect choice.”

The two men laughed.

Talking to Draga made Kevin feel better, even if the man was absolutely no help.

“I called my contact at the Embassy,” Kevin reported, “and asked him to get your brother-in-law here for Monday’s hearing. I’m probably going to need him to testify that I had hired him as my investigator.”

Draga nodded, passing the chow mien back to Kevin, and digging into the pork.

“He’s supposed to be bringing me some reports of the investigation he’s done on your kidnapping. The version in the prosecution’s discovery just doesn’t make sense. If you were just unexpectedly handed over to the U.N. at the Romanian border, how did Allen Jacobson, the chief investigator for your case, get on the scene to try to interview you within two hours after you were found?”

“I didn’t say a word to that jerk.”

“There’s more to the story than we’re being told,” Kevin said.

“I have some business to discuss with you,” Draga said.

Kevin perked up. Had Draga changed his mind about assisting in his defense?

Draga pulled out a torn piece of newspaper. “Here’s the odds for this weekend’s NFL football games. Let’s see if you can pick the teams better than I can.”

Kevin looked sideways at Draga. “You want me to help you bet on football?”

“No, I want us both to bet on the games against each other. We can do it all season. Then, at the end, the winner pays off.”

“I’m about to go to jail for contempt and you’re facing life in prison and you want us to bet on football games?”

“I can pick the winners in your own country better than you.”

Kevin eyed his client. “No, you can’t. I follow football all year.”

Draga handed Kevin the paper. His picks were already circled.

Kevin studied the point spreads while Draga dug the remains out of the cartons.

“How much are we betting?” Kevin asked.

“How about a hundred dollars a game?” Draga replied.

“Are you crazy?”

“How about a hundred Euros, then?”

“Where would you get that kind of money? Wait, I don’t want to know.”

Draga smiled. “Okay, let’s just play for sport. Ten Euros a game.”

“That’s more like it. I’ll win enough off you this season to take my family out for a nice dinner.”

Draga laughed. “The Chinese was great. Thanks for lunch.”

“Let’s hope we’re not cell mates by Monday. Who would bring in the take-out?”

“See you in court, counselor.”

Sunday was Diane’s birthday, and Kevin, determined not to spoil her special weekend, decided not to mention the contempt order.

On Saturday, he and Ellen took the bus to The Hague and then shopped for presents. Ellen picked out matching orange sweatshirts for Diane and herself with Queen Beatrix’s family’s coat of arms on them. Ellen always managed to receive presents on other people’s birthdays. At the Royal pottery factory in Delft, an old city just south of The Hague, Kevin bought Diane a blue and white serving plate with a scene from one of their favorite Rembrandt’s, “The Night Watch.”

On Sunday afternoon, Kevin and Ellen took Diane to the Madurodam, an outdoor museum in The Hague where the scenes of cities and towns all over Holland were elaborately displayed in miniature.

“We know you like to stay close to home, Mommy,” Ellen explained thoughtfully. “This way you can visit all of Holland without leaving The Hague.”

They walked along the canals of Amsterdam, past the famous spire of the Dom church of Utrecht, and the busy port of Rotterdam. Ellen’s favorite spot was the Mars candy factory. There, if you deposited ten cents, a miniature truck would take a piece of candy from a conveyor belt and deliver it to you.

Every child visiting the Madurodam was given a passport, which contained a challenging game of locating various buildings throughout the museum. Diane and Kevin tried to keep up with Ellen as she raced around answering the questions in her passport. As they were leaving, Ellen turned in her passport at the front desk. She had gotten all the questions right, and was awarded a stamp in the passport.

Just as Ellen ran over to show Kevin and Diane the stamp, she bumped into a man walking into the Madurodam.

“Don’t I know you?” the man asked.

Ellen thought she recognized him. “You’re helping my dad, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

The man followed Ellen over to where Kevin and Diane were waiting.

“Mr. Anderson, I have just run into your lovely daughter. Or should I say, she has just run in to me,” said Zoran Vacinovic of the Serbian Embassy.

“Hello, Mr. Vacinovic. I hope Ellen wasn’t too rough with you.”

Vacinovic smiled. “Not at all. I was coming to show Mr. Golic some of Holland.”

Kevin saw his huge investigator coming up behind Vacinovic. They shook hands.

“Thank you for coming back to Holland, Mr. Golic,” Kevin said.

Golic turned to Ellen. “And how are you, young lady?”

“Great!” beamed Ellen. “I got all the questions right in my passport. Want to see?” Without waiting for an answer, she whipped out the passport and showed it to Golic.

“I just received some reports from Mr. Golic,” Vacinovic told Kevin. “I will bring them to court tomorrow. I think you will find them very interesting. And I’ve arranged for an attorney from Belgrade to be in court tomorrow as well.”

Kevin nodded. He turned to Golic. “I’m sorry to take you away from your family.”

“It is no problem.”

“How are you related to Draga anyway?”

Golic hesitated. “How do you say it in English?” he asked. Then he answered, “I am the brother of his wife.”

“The movie star?” Ellen piped in.

“Yes,” Golic said with a smile.

“Cool!”

“I don’t want to keep you and your lovely family on such a day,” Vacinovic said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.” He and Golic waved goodbye and melted into the crowd.

“What’s happening tomorrow?” Diane asked.

“I’ll tell you later.”

Diane frowned. “That guy shows up at the strangest places. First he came to our house at night, now he’s at Madurodam – a children’s place – with his big friend and no kids. I don’t trust him.”

“Do you think he’s following us?” Kevin asked, open to the possibility.

“I don’t know.”

“I know one thing. Mr. Golic is not my client’s brother-in-law.”

“How do you know that?” Ellen asked.

“Do you remember how he said he was the brother of Draga’s wife?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, when I asked Draga how they were related, he said that Golic was married to one of his sisters.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, there’s two ways you can be a brother-in-law. You can be married to somebody’s sister, right?”

“Yeah,” Ellen said, following Kevin so far.

“Or you can be the brother of somebody’s wife.”

“I get it. Golic and Draga gave you two different stories?”

“Right.”

“You’re smart, Daddy.”

“Coming from you, that’s a real compliment.”

Kevin put his arm around Ellen as they walked back to their car.

On Monday morning, Kevin was seated at his usual place at the defense counsel table when Judge Davidson swept into the courtroom.