Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Desperate Mother

It was 6:30 when Pileg came to see Andrew.If they wanted to stop that John Capetta guy, the theology professor at NYU, they'd better be at his door before he left for work. The taxi dropped them off at the intersection of 101st Street and Amsterdam Avenue.These low-rent houses belong to the municipal government.On the twentieth floor of Building 826, you can just overlook the basketball court and a small park surrounded by railings for children to play. Pileg and Andrew sat down on a bench facing the exit of the building. The visitor was wearing a coat with a canvas bag under his arm. He hunched over when he walked, as if the weight of the whole world was on his shoulders.Andrew immediately recognized Capetta, the man he'd seen countless times on a driver's license, the man he'd once wondered what he'd done to him, and driven him into a fit of rage.

Pileg winked at Andrew, who nodded, indicating that this was exactly the man they were looking for. So the two stood up and quickened their pace, stopping the visitor before he reached the bus stop.When he saw Andrew's face, his face turned pale all of a sudden. "You wouldn't object to us having a cup of coffee before work, would you?" Pileg's tone was non-negotiable. "I'm going to be late for class," Capetta replied dryly. "Let me go, or I'll call for help. The police station is less than a hundred meters away." "What are you going to say to the cops?" Pileg asked, "Tell them you attacked this gentleman with a baseball bat a few months ago, smashed his antique car, and all that was just Your little pastime during the holidays?"

"Let me go!" Capetta looked at Andrew with contemptuous eyes, "Are you bringing bodyguards here today to take revenge?" "Thanks for the compliment," Pileg shot back. "At least, you didn't deny what I just said. I'm not this gentleman's bodyguard, just a friend. Given what your Excellency did when you last met, I think You have no reason to accuse him of having friends this time around." "I didn't come here to retaliate against you, Mr. Capetta." Andrew interrupted him. "how did you find me?" Andrew returned the wallet to Capetta.

"Why did you wait so long to come to me?" Capetta said, putting away her wallet. "Okay, now let's go get a cup of coffee," Pileg suggested as he stamped his feet on the sidewalk. The three of them walked into the Roman Cafe and found a table deep in the hall to sit down. "What do you want?" Capetta asked. "A cup of weak coffee," Pilleg replied. "I want to know why you attacked me," Andrew continued. Pileg pulled his notebook and pen from his pocket and pushed them toward Capetta. "Before you drink your coffee, I want you to write the following in this notebook: 'Roast beef, four kilos of potatoes, two red onions, one can of 50% cream, one bag of mustard powder, two bags of grated cheese, A bunch of asparagus, oh yes, and a cheesecake.'”

"Why am I writing this?" Capetta asked. "Because I'm asking you very politely," said Pileg, standing up. "What if I don't want to?" "Seriously, I don't really want to tell the dean of personnel at NYU what your professors did over the Christmas break, I think you know what I'm talking about! Come on, let's get started! I'm going Order food, I'll be back later, what would you like to order, how about a cup of tea?" Andrew and Capetta looked at each other in astonishment.Capetta accepted Pileg's request, and when he wrote down the words Pileg just read, Andrew eagerly asked him a question.

"What the hell have I done to you, Mr. Capetta?" "Are you feigning ignorance, or are you an idiot?" "Maybe both." "Did your dog just say a bag or a jar of mustard? I don't remember." "A bag, I think." "You've completely ruined my life," Capetta said, before continuing. "Is that enough, or do you want more details?" Capetta looked up at Andrew. "Of course you want to know the details! I have two children, Mr Steelman, a boy of seven and a girl of four and a half, Sam and Leah. The birth of Sam brings some health to my wife The doctor told us we couldn't have any other children. But we've always wanted Sam to have a baby brother or sister. Polina, my wife, is Uruguayan. For her, a baby is Her life. She is also a teacher, mainly history, and her students are much younger. When we finally determined that there was really no hope of adding a brother or sister to Sam, we began to consider the adoption process. Needless to say you We also know how lengthy and cumbersome the process is. Some families have to wait for years before realizing their dreams. We know that in some countries in Asia, there are a lot of abandoned babies every year.

"These are not a few children whose fate is to be sent within the walls of an orphanage, to receive a limited education, and to live a life without much hope. Misfortune is nothing but the arrangement of the Lord, in the hope that we will be able to open our eyes to see the misfortune of others, in the hope that we can become the parents of an abandoned child. Through the relevant departments of the authorities, I can assure you that this is the most legal in the world Department, we finally got lucky to complete all the formalities and realize our dream. That's how it happened. We accepted the investigation of the US government department, and then we were allowed to adopt this child. We paid the orphanage five thousand dollars, for us It was not a small sum, but we finally had the greatest happiness since Sam's birth. We went there to meet Rei on May 2, 2010. According to the documents we received, she was exactly two years old. You can imagine Sam's delight when we took Leah back home. He was going crazy with joy. We were the happiest family in the world all year. Of course, it wasn't easy raising Leah at first. She didn't Crying and terrified of everything, but the love and tenderness we gave her finally led her to call mom and dad after a few months, and she gave us an incredible gift. Please sit down," Capetta said over her shoulder. "I don't like having you standing behind me," Pileg said.

"I don't want to interrupt you." "But you interrupted me anyway," Capetta replied. "Please continue, Mr. Capetta." Andrew begged. “Towards the end of last fall, I took the bus home one day as usual, like every evening. I sat in the back seat and started reading the morning paper as usual. "I don't need to tell you that night, do I, Mr. Steelman? My attention was drawn to a report on the sale of children. Your report was quite sharp, Mr. Steelman, especially when You write about the hopelessness of mothers when they are deprived of the most precious thing in the world—their children. 'They wait for death as if they were waiting for a friend to visit.' This is Your exact words. I'm not easily moved, but I cried tears reading this, Mr Steelman, I folded the newspaper in tears, and I fell asleep in tears after kissing my daughter that night of.

"It immediately occurred to me that she might also be one of these children who were taken away. The timing, the location, the handling fee for the orphanage, everything fit. I knew it all, but in the weeks that followed Here I would like to pretend that I have never read this report. If a person's faith is sincere, it will not allow you to violate your personality. We must take responsibility for our personality before the Lord, because that is the Lord What was given to us when life was given to us. Sometimes it is only a moment of wandering, weakness, cruelty, and we lose our dignity forever. Some believers fear the abyss of hell after death, and I, as a professor of theology, such thoughts can only Makes me laugh. Hell is all around us, and when people lose their rationality as humans, the gates of hell open beneath their feet. These thoughts torment me day and night. How can I be complicit, how can I be against All this is indifferent? When I know that somewhere in the world, Lei Ai's biological parents are crying her name in despair, how can I continue to listen to Lei Ai calling us mom and dad with peace of mind? We just want to share all of us More love for a little girl abandoned by her biological parents than for a pair of parents harboring a stolen child.

"I ended up telling my wife all this, driven by guilt. Polina didn't want to hear anything. Leia was her daughter, and of course mine. Leia was already our child. Here she can live a better life, receive a better education, and have a better future. On the other side of the ocean, her biological parents may not be able to satisfy her food and clothing and ensure her health. I still I remember a violent argument between me and Polina. I contradicted her logic, that according to her, then all the poor people in the world could have their children taken from them! I told her that her words made no sense and neither Kwon thought so. At that time I hurt her deeply, and the discussion about Leie was completely over.

"Just as Polina was trying to get her life back on track, I started my own investigation. I was admired for my courage by several Asian colleagues at the school who gave me a lot of great help. Letter after letter , one person turned to another, and finally all the information came to me. I quickly figured out what happened. Leia was taken from her parents when she was fifteen months old. About this One thing you know as well as I do. In August 2009, a small team of corrupt policemen broke into several small villages and forcibly took away some young children. When they arrived, Lei Ai was playing outside the house. The policemen The child was snatched away in front of her mother, and her mother came to stop her and was pushed to the ground by them. "I must thank a colleague who teaches in the school's Oriental Languages ​​Department, William Huang, who has some strong connections. I gave him a photo of Lei Ai, and when he returned to China, he brought me an amazing News. The high-level police have arrested the criminals involved in this incident, and they have also found Lei Ai's biological parents. They live in a small village 150 kilometers away from the orphanage. "At the beginning of December last year, Sam and his mother went back to Uruguay to visit his grandparents. It happened that Leah and I were left at home. After my colleagues returned to China, the truth of the matter was beyond doubt, and I made up my mind at that time Something to do. I started planning one of the scariest things of my life. “The day after my wife and son left, Leah and I flew to her birthplace. Given Leah’s birthplace and my motivation for the trip, we had no trouble getting visas. Government High-level officials received us at the airport and accompanied us to the village where Leai was born. "You can't imagine, Mr. Steelman, how tormented I was during this twenty-five-hour journey. Many times I wanted to just turn around and go back, when Leia smiled at me, when the plane seat back The cartoon on the small screen surprised her when she called me daddy and asked me where we were going now. I told her the truth when the plane landed. I told her we were going now to her birth Suddenly, I saw a mixture of surprise and joy in the child's eyes. "Then we went to her hometown. It was far away from New York, the streets were all dirt roads, and many stone houses hadn't been connected to electricity. Everything there surprised Leah. She grabbed my hand and shouted with joy. .When we are four years old, the world is always beautiful to us, isn't it? "We knocked on the door of a farmer's house, and a man came to open the door. When he saw Leia, he was so surprised that he couldn't speak. Our eyes met, and he immediately understood why we were there. His eyes There were tears in my eyes, and I was no better than him. Lei Ai looked at him, maybe wondering why a little girl could make this gentleman cry. The man turned around and called his wife's Name. The moment I saw his wife, my last ray of hope was shattered. She was so similar to Leah. Leah was literally a miniature version of her mother. Have you ever gazed at nature in spring, Mr. Steelman? We sometimes wonder if winter never existed. This woman has the most tangled face I've ever seen in my life. She knelt before Leah, trembling, and held out her hand to the child Go, the most indestructible force in life held their hands tightly together. Without a moment of fear, without a moment of hesitation, Leia took a big step towards her mother. She put her little hand On her mother's face, stroking her cheek as if trying to recognize the look of the one who brought her into this world. Then she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. "The woman was so thin, but she picked her daughter up from the ground and held her close to her body. She was crying and kissing her baby. At this time, her husband came slowly. , opened his arms and hugged them together into his arms. "I stayed with them there for seven days, and during these seven days, Lei Ai had two fathers. In this short week, I slowly let Lei Ai understand that now that she has returned to her home, her life should be It belongs there. I promised her that I would come back to see her, and one day she could fly across the ocean to America to see us... It's a pious lie, but I can't think of any other way, I've already Do your best. "Our guide is also our interpreter. He understands my situation. The two of us talked for a long time. On the sixth night when I was crying alone in the dark, Lei Ai's father approached my bedside, He invited me to come with him. So we went out, outside, and it was cold, and he put a blanket over me, and we sat on the front steps, and he handed me a cigarette. I don't smoke , but that night, I accepted. I hoped that the smell of tobacco would make me forget the pain in my heart. The next day, we agreed with the guide to leave in the afternoon, just when Lei Ai was taking a nap. I couldn’t talk to her Say goodbye in person. "After lunch, I put her to bed for a nap for the last time, I said many loving words to her, told her I was going on a trip, told her she would be happy, told her we would see each other again one day .She fell asleep in my arms, and I kissed her forehead one last time, and smelled her scent, which I will never forget until I die. Then, I started to leave." John Capetta took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his eyes, folded it up, sighed deeply, and went on with his story. "When I left New York, I left Polina a long letter in which I confessed to her everything I wanted to do, and I told her that since we didn't see eye to eye, I could only be alone. Do it. I told her that with time, we would surely get through this difficult test. I begged her forgiveness, and asked her to think about the future that awaits us if I don't. Do we Is it okay to watch our children grow up without knowing it, every day in fear that it will be revealed one day? An adopted child will one day want to figure out the mystery of his own life experience. And those who can't figure it out will suffer from this problem for life. There is nothing we can do about it because it is human nature. But how do we explain it to her? Tell her we actually knew how to find her real parents all along? Tell her we caused her An indirect accomplice to the separation of flesh and blood? Tell her that our only reason is because we love her? When we do this, there is only one final result, that is, she must completely sever ties with us at that time, and then she wants to recognize her real relatives It's too late. "I told my wife in the letter that we did not adopt this child so that she would be orphaned again when she grew up. "My wife loved our daughter very much and treated her like her own. The love wasn't genetic. They were separated only once, when Polina took Sam to Uruguay. "You may think that it is a disgraceful behavior for me to separate them roughly like this. But, Mr. Steelman, when Lei Ai came to our house for the first time, she kept repeating a word, At that time we thought it was just a baby murmuring. She was looking at the door all day and crying. It was not until I asked my colleague that the word she cried every day was 'mama' Meaning. Leah called her mother for weeks and we didn't understand. "We have lived with her for two years. Maybe when she is seven or eight years old, or even younger, she will completely erase us from her memory. And me, even if I can live to be a hundred years old , and I will never forget her face. To the last moment of my life, I can still remember her voice, I can still smell the smell of her round face. People never forget their children, even in the strict sense Said she was not my child. "When I got home, I found the whole apartment was empty. Polina left only our bed, the dining table and a chair. Not a single toy was left in Sam's room. And on the dining table, just Where I left a letter asking her to forgive, she wrote 'never' in red ink. "I don't know where they went, if she left the US, if she came back to Uruguay with our son, or if she just moved to another city in the US." The three men fell silent for a while. "Did you go to the police station?" Pileg asked. "Ask what? Tell them that I took our daughter and my wife took our son in revenge? Then ask the police to arrest her? Let the judge solve our problem after the police find her and put the Is our son sent to foster care to await a verdict on his future? No, I won't do that, everyone has their share of pain. You see, Mr. Steelman, desperation sometimes turns into Anger. I wrecked your car, my family, and my life." "I'm sorry, Mr. Capetta." "Of course you're sorry now, because you're feeling sorry for my pain right now, but tomorrow morning you'll be telling yourself it wasn't your fault, you were just doing your job , you are proud of your profession. You did report the truth, and I agree with that, but I have a question for you, Mr. Steelman." "Ask whatever you want." "In your report, you write that five hundred American families, maybe even a thousand American families, were involved in this case without their knowledge. Before you published your report, did you ever Have you considered what unfortunate tragedy this might lead them to?" Andrew lowered his gaze. "Same as I thought." Capetta sighed. Then he gave Pileg what he had just written. "Here's the stupid dictation you asked for." Pileg pulled the copies of the three threatening letters from his pocket—Andrew had retrieved them from the newspaper security—and put them on the table. "The handwriting doesn't match," he said. "It's not from the same person." "What are you talking about?" Capetta asked. "Mr. Steelman has received three death threats letters. I want to confirm whether you are the instigator of one of the letters." "Is this why you came here today?" "It can be one of the reasons." "When I was in the parking lot, I wanted revenge, but I didn't have the skills to do it." Capetta picked up the letter on the table and read it. "I can never really kill someone," he said, putting down the letter. But when he saw the second letter, his face suddenly turned pale. "Do you still have the envelope of this letter?" he asked tremblingly. "Yeah, why do you ask that?" Andrew asked back. "Can I see it?" "You have to answer the first question we just asked," Pileg interjected. "I recognize the handwriting," Capetta muttered. "It's my wife's handwriting. Do you remember that the postmark on the envelope is a foreign postmark? I think a Uruguayan stamp would stand out." "I'll check it out tomorrow," Andrew replied. "Thank you, Mr. Steelman. This means so much to me." Pileg and Andrew stood up to say goodbye to the theology professor.When the three of them walked towards the gate, Capetta stopped Andrew again: "Mr. Steelman, I told you just now that I would never be able to kill someone." "You've changed your mind now?" Pileg asked. "No, but based on what I know about Polina, I can't guarantee that she won't do this. If I were you, I would definitely not take her threats as a joke." Pileg and Andrew walked into the subway station.At this point in time, this is the fastest way to get back to the newspaper office. "I should admit that you have a way of winning sympathy, my old friend." "Why didn't you tell him you were a cop?" "If he knew that I was a policeman, he would probably have said nothing, he would have kept silent and asked for a lawyer to be present. Trust me, it would clearly be in his interest to make him think I was your bodyguard, although the misunderstanding is not a one-off a compliment." "But you're retired now, aren't you?" "Yes, that's right. What else do you want, and time cannot be turned back." "Using dictation to identify handwriting, I never thought of this method." "Do you think police work can be done on the corner of a desk, Steelman?" "But what you asked him to write was silly." "I promised my friends who were lodging me to cook for them tonight. Those stupid things you just said are my shopping list that I will use later. It doesn't look stupid like this, um, Mr. Reporter ?This Mr. Capetta is too confused right now. Have you ever considered that your reporting might affect the lives of others?" "Have you never made a mistake in your long career as sheriff? Have you not disrupted the life of an innocent person in order to prove your beliefs and complete an investigation 100 percent?" "Of course there are. To turn a blind eye or to turn a blind eye is a daily dilemma in my profession. Whether to send a criminal for a petty crime to spend his life in prison, Or do you pretend you didn't see it and just write the report? Every crime is a special case. For some, they dream of a bullet ending their lives, while for others, they long for another. One more chance, but I'm just a cop, I'm not a judge." "Do you often close your eyes and pretend not to see?" "Here you are, Mr. Steelman, and you're going to miss the mark any further." The subway slowed to a halt.Andrew shook hands with the sheriff and got out of the car.