Day 2: Contact with Mary
The next morning brought little action. A guard came in and took our bucket of water used for bathing and flushing, filled it and then returned it around 9am. It was still quiet outside. No gunfire yet. Around 11am Chef Jeff came in and gave me my phone and told me to call my negotiator. I hadn’t realized it but the role of negotiator is a terribly heavy burden to carry. It’s horrible thing to ask of someone. I hadn’t thought of Bill as my negotiator because I was hoping he was simply going to make a few calls and get me out of this place. So when Chef Jeff told me to call my negotiator, I called Bill. He answered and I told Bill that Chef Jeff wanted to talk with him. Bill responded sheepishly - that was unexpected - something I would think about again and again. Was Bill simply insecure about his language skills or was it his inability to help me? The latter being far more consequential. I handed the phone to Chef Jeff who proceeded to demand $2million immediately or they would kill me. Bill said he understood but then said he’d call us back. Chef Jeff disappeared. I was still hopeful that Bill might still come through for me but was losing confidence fast.
Around lunchtime, Chef Jeff opened his own door but only a crack so we couldn’t see his face. He told the Toussaints that they had a ‘rendezvous’ scheduled. That meant that the kidnappers had a ransom agreement with their family negotiator and they had agreed to a meeting to deliver the money. Once the money was delivered, the gang would bring the money to the Chef’s boss to count it. If all was in order then they would be put into a vehicle and driven down the hill to the main road through Martissant to meet their family representative and presumingly driven to safety. “How do you guys know if anyone gets out alive? How can you be sure that they don’t take the money and just shoot you out back without us knowing”? I asked. We’ve spoken to other captives that have left before us on the phone after they were set free. With that, I was assured.
When the Toussaints explained this to me, I was thrilled for them. They were getting out! After a month in miserable captivity they were going to be free in a matter of hours! But they did not seem more than mildly pleased. I inquired why. They had been here before. About two weeks earlier their family paid a ransom to someone and the gang claimed that it was a thief that intercepted the money. They blamed the mishap on the Toussaints currier and demanded the ransom be paid again. The Toussaints were heartbroken. So this time they were hopeful but not convinced that they were getting out this time.
Sometime around noon Chef Jeff cracked the door again and handed a phone to Jean Toussaint. It was his negotiator on the other end trying to verify that they were meeting the correct gangster this time rather than giving the money to a thief again. By talking with Jean on the same call as Chef Jeff, he could be sure that he was meeting with the right person. Chef Jeff claimed that his phone was getting hacked by employees at Digicel and that they were listening to his calls and then giving the negotiators phone number to thieves that would then posing as the kidnappers and taking the ransom money. I never bought that explanation but rather presumed it was an inside job by one of the other members of the gang. I would later realize that it was all just a ruse to get families to pay twice. Jean spoke with his negotiator for about ten seconds and then handed the phone back to Chef Jeff. The door quickly shut and Jean and Abby looked at each other and breathed deep. We all did the same. We were all hoping for their release. Partly out of genuine desire for their freedom but also because of the hope it gave us all that perhaps we would be next. The time went by slowly for us all but I know it was excruciatingly long for the Toussaints. While we waited Jean asked if there was anything I wanted him to do for me when they got out. I asked him to call my wife and tell her that I was okay, I was being treated well and not to worry. We didn’t have anything to write on so I taught him the same little jingle I used to teach my young children how to remember Marys phone number in case of emergencies. It worked. He got it quick. Sometime in the early afternoon Chef Jeff knocked on his own door and yelled “Mete soulei ou”! Which means “get your shoes on”. They were getting out! Jean and Abby popped up and began gathering their things and hugging and shaking hands with everyone. You could see that they were not yet celebrating. A month of captivity seemed to have stolen their optimism. They gave me their mostly empty 32oz. water bottle on their way out. I didn’t appreciate it yet but I would come to depend on it.
And then there were four of us. We were all very high following their departure but it was short lived. Kervin was on his 23rd day. He too had his money ‘lost’. He was hopeful that his family would find the money again but knew it would be at least a few days before they could scrape it together. Stefanie was hoping for a second call to her family and I was hoping to hear back from Bill. Instead Chef Jeff returns with street food and water bags (8oz. plastic bags of drinking water popular in Haiti). He’s being generous. He also brings in another fan. It has a built in battery to allow it to continue blowing for a few hours after the generator stops at the end of the evening. That means that we can have a fan blowing during the heat of the day until the power comes on at night. He nails the fan up to the door jam surrounding the door to his room and points it toward our beds. This could be a great help. Then really outdoes himself when he comes out with three clean bedsheets! The significance of these two upgrades can not be overstated.
Everyone tries to beat the heat throughout the day and through the night. I do it by laying on the mattress that the Toussaints vacated. There is a six inch gap between the mattress and the painted cement wall. I lay along the wall with one shoulder on the mattress and one on the wall so as to allow the air to circulate under my back and the occasional cool air breeze to come through the window, hit the thick red curtain draped over the window above me but then hopefully fall on my face and chest.
During down time my thoughts oscillate between negotiation strategy and my wife and other loved ones. I couldn’t imagine my wife’s terror. I wanted so badly for her to know that I was okay. The hardest part about being kidnapped was imagining the grief of my wife and family. If I could just convince her that I was okay then she would be okay, and if she was okay, then I would be okay.
It wasn’t until nearly 7pm that Chef Jeff returns to the room with several phones in hand and gives me mine. Chef Jeff is at this point behaving far more civilly than the day before, allowing me to think far more clearly. I am grateful.
At 6:54pm I call Bill through WhatsApp. He gives me the number of someone he trusts in Haiti and tells me “He’s going to help you”. I try to get him to elaborate. Who is this guy? Is he a gang leader? Is he a negotiator? Bill won’t elaborate. I give the number to Chef Jeff and ask him to test the number to confirm. He calls it on the kidnapper phone (not his personal), no one picks up. I call Bill to confirm. Bill says to try again. Chef Jeff tries again and a Haitian male with a deep voice answers, he is calm. Chef Jeff tells him he will call him back later and hangs up. I am hopeful for progress but it’s clear to me at this point that nothing will be happening soon. I will likely be here for a few days.
Chef Jeff lingers for a moment, I ask if I can call my wife. He pauses and then agrees. He’s not being kind, he has clearly calculated that Mary needs confirmation of my kidnapping. When she picks up, she is clearly panicked. I try to calm her and assure her that I am okay. I try to convince her that the conditions are similar to other uncomfortable places from previous projects in Haiti and that I am prepared to endure it. I tell her to be patient. She asks if they are feeding me. I say yes, in fact, we had received two meals and water that day - a luxury that would never happen again. She’s difficult to convince and has clearly presumed I’m being treated poorly. I attempt to convince her. I mention the other good people that are with me and are good and kind. I mention that we now even have clean sheets. In an attempt to cue her to the likelihood that I would be there a while (thinking a week or more), I mentioned “my favorite Masterclass” and the need for patience. I knew that we couldn’t pay a ransom too quickly as that would give the gang the understanding that there was more cash available for additional ransom. I wanted Mary to be ready for that game.
I would later learn that call to have created all kinds of confusion. Nothing I said was believed. Some believing that I was trying to deliver a coded message that everything that I said was the opposite of the truth. This was the beginning of what would become a pattern of miscommunication between me and everyone else on the outside.
From Mary:
Waking up to my new reality is soo jarring. I barely slept. Unsure of what I will find outside my bedroom door I walk out and face the kids. The younger 4 are up and watching tv. We are playing "hooky" so they are enjoying the extra tv time, or so I tell myself, at least something is distracting them!
I remember that jeffs brother that lives 2 hours away is heading to our home that morning. His wife has had a baby the night before, the same day Jeff was taken, and I'm a little concerned he is on his way while leaving his wife and new baby behind in the hospital. I can tell when he arrives he just wants to be useful, we all do, but it seems impossible, we have no real solutions yet, and unfortunately wouldn't for a long time!
Jeffs parents who are serving an LDS mission in Charleston SC are also on their way, driving most of that day to get to us by the evening. The knowledge that they are coming is bringing me some peace. The need for me to be completely available for phone calls all hours of the day is beginning to be obvious and daunting because of the needs of my 7 children, so the fact that grandma and grandpa are on their way is a big relief. It's also comforting to have them to counsel with as I'm not used to making huge decisions alone, Jeff and I always did all of that together. I would soon learn to become very good at it and have to make more huge and scary decisions that I ever thought I possible!
That evening my phone rang and the number was jeffs, my heart stopped and I ran into my room to take the call, not telling anyone who it was so that I would be left alone to focus. I remember he sounded so weird, very high pitched voice as if he was trying to pretend to be him. It threw me off and I immediately felt like he was being listened to and was not able to say what he really wanted to say. He told me about the Toussants that were there with him and others that were taken the same way day as him. He said he was fine and being well taken care of, all of which seemed like a big lie to me. He mentioned the master class we had been watching recently by Voss and how what we are going through is just like that.
I remember him saying it could be a few more days still and at the point in time I wasn't even sure how I would survive even one more day, gosh how little we knew then!
