“She mentioned that she had thought about him, but they didn’t have any special relationship at that time.”
“But she started one pretty soon after you two broke up, right?”
“I guess so.”
“How did you feel about that?”
“I love Tammy. I mean I loved her. But I didn’t have any claim on her. I just told her she had to do what she had to do.”
“So you didn’t bear a grudge against the rabbi?”
“No,” Craig said crisply.
“But it would be perfectly natural for you to . . .” Mihdí began.
“Look,” Scott interrupted, “I told you I didn’t bear a grudge, and that’s the end of it, OK? I wasn’t happy about Tammy breaking up with me, but it wasn’t Klemme’s fault. He was a nice guy. I liked him. End of story.”
Mihdí gave him a moment to settle down, then asked, “Can you tell me a bit about other young people at the Temple? Obviously there’s you and Tammy, but who else?”
“Um, there’s Judy David, Tammy’s best friend, and Jesse and Sam Gutman, and Hannah Pollack. I can’t think of any others right now. Those are the ones I know the best.”
Mihdí decided he had gotten all that he was going to get from Craig for the time being. He wished him good day and returned to his car. He stopped in the office and found the names that Scott Craig had given him in the Beth Shalom directory that Sam Schliebaum had given him. He compared those names to the ones that Kurt Childs had already spoken to. He didn’t think he’d learn too much from most of these people and decided not to follow up at that time. But he thought it might be useful to talk to Tammy Ornstein’s friend, Judy David. He called the number listed for her and arranged to come to her home the next morning before Judy left for work. It was already after 5:00 by that time, so he headed home for the evening.
Following Andrea’s family’s tradition, the Montgomerys usually had just popcorn for dinner on Sunday evenings. It was an easy thing to fix, everybody liked it, and they could sit and eat it in the living room while watching a movie together. Since the previous night had been a Feast night, they had postponed their popcorn night until Monday. It was nearing the holiday season and eggnog was available at the supermarket, so they each had a small glass as an appetizer. Mihdí made the popcorn on the stove while Andrea got the kids bathed and in pajamas so they could go straight to bed when the time came. They inserted a movie into the DVD player and sat back and watched while eating their popcorn. After Andrea and Mihdí put the kids to bed, they finished the popcorn and chatted until their own bedtime.
Tuesday, Day 7
After dropping off Enoch at school and Lua at her daycare, Mihdí drove to Judy David’s house to keep their appointment. She lived in University Park, about a half-hour drive from Pine Bluff. She answered her door immediately and ushered Mihdí into her living room. As he was sitting down, she offered him a cup of coffee.
“That’s very kind of you, Ms. David, but I gave up caffeine some years ago. If I had some now, I would probably stay awake for a week.”
“I have some herbal teas if you’d like.”
“No, thank you, I’m fine.”
“I’ll get some for myself, if you don’t mind.”
“Please, make yourself at home,” Mihdí joked. They both laughed.
When she had gotten her coffee, she sat down in an easy chair facing Mihdí.
“I talked to that young detective last week,” she began.
“Yes, I know. Detective Childs. I saw his notes. I don’t know if there’s anything to add to what you said then, but sometimes I get different ideas just from hearing things myself. Have you been a member of Beth Shalom for a long time?”
“You could say that. My parents attended when I was growing up, so I went along.”
“Do your parents still go?”
“No. My Dad was killed in an industrial accident six years ago. Mom was from out east originally, so after Dad’s death, she moved back to New Jersey. Her parents are there, and she’s able to look in on them and do things for them now and then since she’s close by.”
“Have you been attending regularly since childhood?”
“No. I’d come sometimes, like during the High Holy Days and things like that, but I wasn’t regular until just recently. Tammy told me about Jacob and how cool he was, and I started coming most weeks since then.”
“Do you think you’ll keep going now that . . . ?”
“I will for a while at least. Tammy’s really broken up about Jacob, of course, and she has lots of friends in the congregation. We’ve both been finding it fulfilling being more observant, so I think it will be good for both of us to keep going.”
“That’s very thoughtful and kind of you. Have you and Tammy been friends a long time?”
“Yep. Her parents were members at Beth Elohim in Joliet for a while, but they left there after some kind of row with the congregation. Tammy and I knew each other from Hebrew school and other stuff, so when her family started coming to Beth Shalom, we became best friends. We were probably around fourteen then. She didn’t attend regularly until just recently, either, although she came more than I did. She lives as far north from Pine Bluff as I live south, but we both work in Midlothian for the same company. We’re in different departments, but we see each other just about every day.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that. Did you see her last Tuesday?”
“Oh, yeah. That was the day she and Scott got into it at her office.”
“Oh, right,” said Mihdí, deftly covering his surprise. “Tell me about that.”
“Well, she and Jacob were going to announce their engagement over the weekend, so she gave Scott a call that morning to let him know, so he wouldn’t be blindsided.”
“Tammy and Jacob were engaged?”
“Well, it was under wraps so far. They were going to make it official on the weekend. Anyway, at lunchtime, Scott came over and was trying to talk Tammy out of it. She told him to leave, and he started shouting at her. He’s got a bit of a temper sometimes. Eventually, he left, but Tammy got in trouble for disturbing everybody anyway. And it wasn’t her fault. It was so unfair!”
“It sounds a bit unfair, doesn’t it?”
“Tammy told me all about it that afternoon when we had coffee together. But she hasn’t really talked about it since then. In fact, I asked her about it the other day, and she didn’t really answer me; she changed the subject or something.”
“So you don’t know any more details?”
“I think I’ve told you pretty much everything I know about it.”
“Tell me more about Tammy and Scott’s relationship.”
“Hmm. Well, they’ve known each other since they were children. They had already kissed before I met Tammy, when she was fourteen. They had periods of hot and cold, I guess, but really they were always a couple. They had talked about marriage, but neither of them seemed in a hurry about it. They’d been engaged for about a year when Tammy broke it off, but they’d never set a wedding date.”
“Interesting. How were they together?”
“I don’t know. I never felt that Scott was all that special. He’s really into football, and he works like twelve hours a day, so they didn’t spend all that much time together. And he has a really short fuse. He’d blow up at the drop of a hat. Scared me. I didn’t try to talk Tammy out of marriage with him, but I can’t say I was particularly encouraging, either.”
“And Tammy’s relationship with Jacob?”
“That was pretty different. Tammy and I haven’t spent as much time together recently because she was with him. They had dinner together often, and she’d go early to Temple to help set up and would stay late sometimes. They saw each other a lot on Sundays. When we had lunch or break together, she talked about him all the time.”
“A bit more spark there, then, eh?”
“Definitely. They were just ready to announce their engagement, and I think they probably would have gotten married sometim
e next year. They were looking at possibilities for May and June.”
“Since you, Tammy, and Scott all attended Temple together, you must have seen Scott and Jacob interact at some point.”
“I suppose so. Scott kept his distance from Jacob when he could. He was courteous, you know, but not friendly. More than once, I thought that he kept coming so he could keep an eye on Tammy.”
“Any other thoughts?”
“Not really.”
Mihdí stood up. “I think I’ve got what I need. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. I hope I didn’t make you late for work.”
“I don’t go in until one today.”
Judy walked Mihdí to the door, and they shook hands before he left.
Mihdí sat in his car for a few minutes trying to make up his mind whether to talk to Scott Craig or Tammy Ornstein first. Tammy had downplayed her relationship with Klemme, while Judy had said that they were planning to announce their engagement. Tammy certainly had not mentioned her call to Scott about the upcoming engagement announcement and had apparently lied to Mihdí when she said she hadn’t spoken to Craig or seen him for a few weeks. And neither Scott nor Tammy had mentioned their argument to him, so he would have to follow up with both of them. He decided that they must have agreed to keep this quiet to try to protect Craig from the suspicion that would naturally fall on him. It made sense to him to talk to Tammy first so he would have more information when he talked to Scott. He checked his phone for directions and started driving towards Midlothian, where he hoped to find Tammy at work.
He had just started driving when he got a phone call. He saw that it was from Kurt Childs, so he pulled over to the side of the road and answered it.
“Mihdí,” Childs said, “I just got transferred a call from Ahmad Muhammad at the coffee shop. He says there’s someone there you need to talk to urgently.”
“He didn’t give any more details?”
“Nope. Ahmad wanted to talk to you, but he agreed to talk to me when they said you were out. But he wouldn’t tell me any more than that. Do you want me to go over there?”
“No, I can go. I’m about a half hour away, but I’m already in the car. I’ll give you a call once I get there if I need your help.”
“Sure thing, Mihdí. Good luck.”
Mihdí changed course and headed back towards Pine Bluff. As expected, it took him about half an hour to get to Uncommon Brews.
When Mihdí entered the shop, he greeted Ahmad in Arabic, “As-salamu alaykum!”
Ahmad Muhammad smiled and gave the appropriate response, “Wa alaykumu as-salam!”
They shook hands, and Ahmad asked Mihdí about Mihdí’s health. Mihdí answered politely and asked about Ahmad’s health in return. They exchanged a few sentences about their families, and Ahmad asked how the investigation was going. Mihdí told him he was pursuing several lines of inquiry and left it at that. He asked Ahmad how his business was going and whether the worsening weather was affecting it. Mihdí knew enough about Arab culture to recognize that this exchange of pleasantries and news took precedence over the urgency of the phone call, so he waited until Ahmad brought up the reason for the call.
“I would like you to meet my cousin, Hamdi, Detective,” said Ahmad after the traditional greeting ritual had been observed. “He’s one of my suppliers, and he is in the back, stocking some shelves.” Ahmad led Mihdí to the cramped back room, but nobody was there. They proceeded through the open back door to the alley behind the shop. A delivery van was parked there, and a man was rearranging some supplies in the back of the truck.
“Hamdi!” Ahmad called.
The man turned around and smiled. He hopped down out of the truck.
“This is the detective I was telling you about, Hamdi,” Ahmad said. “Mihdí Montgomery.”
Mihdí extended his hand, and the other man shook it.
“This is Hamdi Sellimi,” Ahmad continued. “He is married to my uncle’s—my father’s sister’s husband’s—sister. His company supplies disposable goods for shops like mine all around the south suburbs.”
“I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance,” Mihdí said.
“Please,” said Ahmad, “let’s go inside and talk.”
The three of them filed through the back room and back into the coffee shop proper. Ahmad insisted that his two friends sit down, while he made them all some coffee. There were no other customers at that moment, so they could speak privately.
“Decaf cappuccino for you, Detective?” Ahmad called over as Mihdí sat down.
“Yes, thanks! Good memory.”
Ahmad smiled and nodded.
Hamdi Sellimi, like Ahmad Muhammad, was thin but not tall. Despite his thinness, or perhaps because of it, the powerful muscles of his arms and legs were apparent. While Ahmad was making the coffees, Mihdí chatted with Ahmad’s “cousin.” He could tell that the Tunisian understood only about half of what Mihdí said to him, but Sellimi had a sunny smile that remained on his face no matter what. He seemed excited to be helping the police on a case. Despite Sellimi’s poor English, Mihdí learned a bit about his business and tried to straighten out the relationship between him and Ahmad. They were still working on that when Ahmad joined them.
“What’s this about, Ahmad?” Mihdí asked.
“I was telling Hamdi about the rabbi’s murder and the ongoing investigation you’re conducting. He hadn’t heard anything about it, since he lives in . . . Where is it you live, cousin?”
“Harvey,” Hamdi answered.
“Tell him the story, Hamdi.”
Hamdi turned to the detective. “I am come here on Tuesdays, like last Tuesday. Since Ahmad my cousin, I am stay here longer. Last week I am moving things around in my truck. Young guy come out of back door that way.” He pointed in the direction away from the synagogue.
“It was the bookstore,” Ahmad said. “Hamdi showed me earlier.”
“He walk down alleyway past me. Not see me. Pass truck, and I am not see where he go. I am get last load for Ahmad and get off truck. Same guy run out of Jew house. Run back to his door—bookstore?” Ahmad nodded to confirm this.
“Can you describe this man, Mr. Sellimi?”
“Young, twenty? Wear red shirt. Long sleeve. Light hair.”
“You said a red shirt?”
Hamdi nodded. “Dark red.”
“You say he ran out of the synagogue back to the bookstore? Did you see his face? Did he look scared or angry or happy or . . . ?”
“Scared, maybe. No, maybe angry.” He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“How long would you say he was in the synagogue?”
“Few minutes. Not more.”
“Do you happen to know what time all of this happened?”
“Three, maybe. Ten after, maybe.”
“Did you notice anything else about him?”
Hamdi shook his head.
“Well,” said Mihdí, “this is very helpful information. Ahmad, thanks for calling me. I’m sure it will make a big difference.”
Mihdí got Hamdi’s contact information so he could call him back if he had more questions.
Although Mihdí felt that he needed to follow up quickly on the new information he had received about Scott Craig earlier that morning, he was closer to the HisStory bookstore, so he decided to interrogate Matthew Skefton again. He looked into the store window and saw that Skefton was there. He called Kurt Childs and asked him to meet him there with a few officers.
Mihdí entered the store without waiting for the others to arrive. There were no other customers inside, and Skefton was putting new stock out on the shelves. Skefton got up to greet his customer but frowned when he saw who it was.
“Sorry to bother you again, Mr. Skefton, but I was just wondering if you had remembered anything else about the day of the rabbi’s murder.”
Matthew stared at him for a few seconds. He seemed to be processing Mihdí’s sudden appearance in the bookstore and considering how he should answer. Fin
ally he said, “Nope.”
“What was it that caused you not to like Rabbi Klemme, Matthew? I understand that he helped keep you out of court.”
Matthew looked at him with some surprise but didn’t ask how Mihdí had learned that. “I guess. I had to do all the work. He just did a lot of talking.”
“And do I also recall correctly that he was the one who suggested you find a church?”
“He might have said something like that. But he was a Jew, so he must of had some reason for telling me that.”
“Yes, I’m sure he had a reason. Probably that he cared about you. But why didn’t you like him?”
“I didn’t trust him. He didn’t make sense, and he acted like I owed him somethin’ but I didn’t owe him nothin.’”
“Okay. When did you say you last saw him?”
“I don’t remember. I think it was a few days before he was killed.”
“So, when you went to the synagogue last Tuesday, you didn’t see him?” Matthew stared at him. “What do you mean? I ain’t never been in that place.”
“Matthew, I have an eyewitness who puts you in the synagogue during the time period when the murder took place. Start answering my questions truthfully, and I can determine whether I need to arrest you right now. Tell me about going to the synagogue on Tuesday.”
Skefton walked to the counter and sat down behind it, with Mihdí following very close behind. Mihdí took a chair as well. Skefton avoided returning the detective’s gaze, mostly staring at his feet. He was obviously reluctant to talk, but knew he was backed into a corner.
“My church wants to find a new building, ‘cause we’re gettin’ too big for our current place. I thought that Temple might be a good spot, if the Jews cleared out of it. I just wanted to look around a little and see for myself.”
“That sounds reasonable enough.”
“So, I went over there after I had my lunch. I went in the back door, because I thought I could kinda sneak in and not be seen. There was some offices and restrooms and stuff like that back there. No sanctuary. So I kept walking. Then I looked in another door, and Klemme was sitting there at a desk, doing something on the computer. I don’t think he saw me, but I didn’t want to talk to him. I high-tailed it out of there and ran back here. I didn’t kill him. He was alive when I left.”
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