Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 07

by Sanctuary

  “Fine.” Honey bit her lip. “I’m a little tired. Jet lag, I guess. Thank you very much for sharing your home with us. It’s very special what you’re doing.”

  “It’s our pleasure. Rina’s in the kitchen.”

  Decker started to walk and she followed. Not a bad-looking woman, if you like cute faces—small features and dimples in her cheeks. She had a nice figure, too. But her expression was full of anxiety. She saw her children gathered around the dining table and forced out another smile. “Hi, kids.”

  “Mama!” Pessy bounced out of his chair and began to jump as he talked. “I got to feed the horses!”

  “That’s wonderful,” Honey said.

  “They eat sugar.”

  “They do?”

  “Yes. Big sugar cubes. And carrots, too!”

  “Really.”

  “You want to feed the horses, Mama?”

  “Yes, but later,” Honey said. “Guess what, kids? I got us a car! Now we can go anywhere!”

  Mendel said, “I thought you said we weren’t going to rent a car. That it was too expensive.”

  Honey sneaked a sidelong glance at Decker and blushed. “I changed my mind. Some things are just worth the cost. So we’re mobile now. Let’s just grab us some lunch and then we’re off!”

  “We had lunch, Mama,” Pessy said. “Sandwiches. Peanut butter and jelly. And potato chips too!”

  “Don’t forget the carrot sticks,” Minda said.

  “Yeah, and carrot sticks.”

  “You all ate?”

  “Each and every one of us,” Minda said.

  Honey said, “Bryna, did you eat?”

  The girl nodded.

  “You did?”

  The girl nodded.

  “Really, Bryna?”

  “She had two glasses of milk, Mama,” Minda said.

  Astounded, Honey looked at Decker. “How’d you do it?”

  “Must be vacation,” Decker said.

  Honey’s smile was genuine. “Great. So I’ll just grab something and then we can go to the zoo.”

  “I’d rather watch TV,” Minda said. “I can go to the zoo anytime. They’re spinning this big wheel, Mama, and if it lands on the word ‘fur,’ they win a mink coat. It’s not a joke. Come look.”

  “Beetul Torah,” Mendel said. “Stupidity! What would Papa say?”

  “Papa isn’t on vacation,” Minda snapped.

  “Minda, Pessy really wanted to go to the zoo.”

  “So go without me,” she said without anger. “I’ll be fine.”

  Again, Honey blushed. “The addictive powers of the boob tube. Gershon would be furious.” She shrugged. “I guess a day of TV won’t hurt.”

  Decker wasn’t about to offer an opinion. “Come. I’ll bring you to Rina.”

  Honey followed him into the kitchen and closed the door behind them.

  “There you are!” Rina said to Honey. She placed Hannah in her high chair and belted her in. “I was getting worried about you.” She noticed Honey’s tired face. “Is everything okay?”

  “I rented a car.”

  “You did? Why?”

  “I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “It’s not a bother, Honey.”

  Decker cleared his throat. “I’d better be going.” He stared at Honey’s eyes. Something was off. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

  Wearily, Honey sat down on a kitchen chair. “Just the news, I suppose.”

  “The news?” Rina said.

  “Something about a family that disappeared. The father was a diamond dealer.”

  No one spoke. Then Decker said, “What about the family?”

  “Gershon is a diamond dealer. I hear things like that, I get scared.”

  Again, the room fell silent. Decker broke it. “Why? Have there been incidents like that in New York?”

  Honey’s eyes went to her lap. “Not a whole family disappearing, no. But we’ve had murders. It’s a cash and carry business. Sometimes I worry.”

  Decker sat down. “The family that’s missing? That’s my case, Honey. Anything you might tell me is greatly appreciated.”

  Rina cleared her throat. “Honey’s on vacation, Peter.”

  Decker tapped his forehead. “Anyone home in there? You’re right. Scratch the question.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Honey said, quickly. “What do you want to know?”

  “Forget it, Honey,” Decker said. “I don’t know when to turn it off.”

  Honey blurted out, “I’m worried about Gershon. I’m…”

  Her sentence trailed off. Decker urged her to continue.

  Honey said, “Just that he’s been acting strange. Then I heard the news on the TV. No wonder we don’t have television in the village. All it does is cause heartache.”

  Decker waited a beat, then said, “What does this family have to do with Gershon?”

  “Probably nothing,” Honey said. “But when I heard this story, I went to call him. In Israel. I didn’t want to worry the kids. That’s why I told them I was taking a walk. I didn’t want them to hear their neurotic mother talking about a disappearing family….”

  She paused to catch her breath.

  “He wasn’t in, Rina. It’s after ten P.M. in Israel. Where could he be?”

  “Ten in the evening isn’t really late for Israel,” Rina tried. “People are just getting started—”

  “It’s late for Gershon. He’s not the social type. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t think a thing of it except that things have been…bizarre lately.”

  Honey bit her thumbnail and stopped talking.

  Decker said, “What do you mean by bizarre?”

  “This is so embarrassing,” Honey said.

  Rina said, “Honey, if you don’t want to talk about it…”

  Honey sighed. “Just that…Gershon hasn’t been well lately. He hasn’t been sleeping well. Or eating well. He stopped bathing or changing his clothes. He walks around the neighborhood, talking to himself. Just ask anyone in the village. Even the Rav says there’s something terribly wrong. But Gershon won’t talk about it.”

  Suddenly, Honey broke into tears. Decker and Rina exchanged quick looks as Honey sobbed into her hands. Decker found a tissue box and gave it to her.

  “That’s the real reason…” Honey pulled out a tissue. “That’s the real reason I’m here with the kids. I had to get them out of that environment! You see poor Bryna? She doesn’t eat a thing. And Mendel used to be so outgoing and social. Now he’s all quiet. We’re all nervous wrecks!”

  Hannah started to cry. Rina rescued her from the high chair.

  “Now look what I’ve done,” Honey chided herself.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rina said, bouncing Hannah on her hip.

  Honey dabbed her eyes. “This is terrible. Me bringing my problems to you.” She looked at Decker. “I don’t know if your case has anything to do with him, but I’ll be happy to talk to you if you think it would help. It’s the least I could do.”

  Decker looked at Rina. She shrugged. He said, “Tell me about the murders in New York.”

  “Robberies. Mostly, they’re robberies.” Honey took a deep breath. “But once in a while…”

  She stopped talking.

  “What?” Decker said.

  “You hear about people. About people overextending themselves. Making bad deals, then owing money to the wrong people.”

  “Who constitutes the wrong people?” Decker asked.

  “Gangsters.”

  “Do you think Gershon might be in this kind of trouble?”

  “Maybe. He’s been secretive about his business dealings. He’s always whispering into the business phone. And I know he gets hang-up calls.”

  “How do you know if he doesn’t tell you things?” Rina asked.

  “I’ve lived with him long enough to know when he’s in trouble!” Honey bit her thumbnail. “He told me he had to make a sudden trip to Israel. Now I can’t get hold of him. I have to wonder if he’s running awa
y from something…hiding from someone.”

  No one spoke for a moment.

  Honey said, “Perhaps I’m being overly dramatic.” Her face began to fall. “Look, I need a few minutes to be alone. Please excuse me.”

  She walked out of the kitchen. Decker looked at Rina. “The woman is brittle. What I’m trying to figure out is how much of her story is bullshit.”

  “You don’t believe her?”

  “Not completely, no.”

  “Why not?”

  “A cop’s cynicism. I believe she’s running away from something. And I don’t think it’s gangsters, I think it’s domestic problems. Look, Honey lives in a small town, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Since she’s staying in my house, I want to know what we’re dealing with. I’m going to make a couple of calls to her village and ask about Gershon and her.”

  “Let me do it, Peter. I know Yiddish. I’ll try to call the Rav directly. I’m sure he knows everything that goes on.”

  Decker thought a moment. “You’re right. You call. Find out about her situation. I’m not turning a blind eye to her problems, but I’m not about to step into the middle of a long-standing domestic battle. And if by some quirk, her gangster story is true, I’m not going to use my house as sanctuary from the mob, either.”

  “Agreed.” Rina kissed Hannah. The baby held out her arms to Decker. “You want to go to Daddy?”

  Decker took the baby and let out a small laugh. “Hey, Hannah Rose. How about a game of chess? I’ll set up the pieces and you can throw them across the room.”

  The baby grinned broadly. Decker smiled back. “At least someone knows how to have fun.”

  According to cousin Sharona Bar Lulu’s phone records, Dov Yalom had made a call at 5:07 to her number from a booth located in front of an ice cream store. The parlor was located in a block-long shopping center on Devonshire, about two miles from the Yalom house.

  Decker started his search there. Three hours later, he ended his search there. He had come up with a big, fat goose egg. Nobody he had talked to had an inkling about the kid. He figured Dov made the call and ran.

  Several theories, each one flawed.

  One: The entire family was on the lam. Dov had momentarily escaped from them to make a farewell call to his cousin.

  Then why would the parents’ passports be left behind when the boys’ passports were missing?

  Two: Dov and Gil were directly involved—as perpetrators—in their parents’ disappearances. They killed the parents and split. Dov made the farewell call before disappearing.

  Then where did they do the killing? No evidence in the house. And where were the parents’ bodies? Furthermore, why was Gil’s car still in the garage if the boys had taken off in a hurry?

  Three: Dov and Gil had nothing to do with their parents’ disappearance. But they knew something bad had happened to their parents. They were worried they might be the next victims. So they grabbed their passports and left, Dov making his final call before blending into the miasma.

  Then why didn’t they use Gil’s car? And wouldn’t they have packed something?

  Four: Dov killed his brother and his parents. That would explain Gil’s car in the garage. Dov wasn’t old enough to drive.

  But why would Gil’s passport be missing, too? And wouldn’t Dov have packed something or emptied out his bank account? He would have needed something to live on.

  Five: Marge’s spy theory. Someone whacked the entire family, parents first. The boys tried to escape, allowing Dov to make his call, but then they caught up with the boys and whacked them, too.

  If this was the case, Decker would never find the bodies.

  No bodies, no evidence.

  If a homicide falls in the forest…

  Tug Davidson sorted through the logs and reports.

  “You got nothing unusual in the bank accounts.” He paged through the papers. “Credit is fine, the Yaloms were current. Looks like the Jew knew how to hold a buck.”

  Decker was impassive. Was Davidson riling him on purpose? Probably not. The statement was made too casually. He’d promised Marge he’d let her do the talking. She wanted it that way and he was happy to oblige her.

  Davidson said, “You got interviews with the neighbors and friends and schools.” He squinted as he read Marge’s synopsis. “The kids were in school the entire day?”

  Marge said, “Their last-period teachers had them marked as present.”

  “When does school get out?”

  “Three-ten.”

  “And then they disappeared.”

  “We can’t trace their whereabouts after three-ten.”

  “Did the older kid drive to school that day?”

  “No one’s sure,” Marge said. “That’s why I’d like a little more time—”

  “To come up with more diddly-squat?” Davidson looked up from the notes and sat back in his seat. “We need evidence of a crime. You got nothing so far.”

  Marge was quiet.

  Davidson said, “Let me give you the lowdown, Dunn. Boys were in school. The parents had lunch with the sister. The wife…what’s her name?”

  “Dalia,” Marge said.

  “Yeah, Dalia. She didn’t go back to her office after lunch, right?”

  Marge nodded.

  “Okay. She doesn’t go back to her office, Yalom doesn’t go back to his office. Lunch ended around what time…” He looked at the papers. “Around two. So we lose track of the parents around two. We lose track of the boys around three-ten. Where would the family go? I vote home.”

  Davidson waited for a comment. He got nothing so he went on.

  “Say they all met at home around three-thirty. Then we don’t hear from no one in the family. Except the younger kid, Dov, calls his cousin around five that same day. That was three days ago and you’re still no closer to finding them.”

  “That’s one way to look at it,” Marge said.

  “You got another way to look at it, Dunn? Show me your fancy footwork, huh?”

  Decker couldn’t control himself. “Someone else might call it a comprehensive initial investigation.”

  “Yeah, well, I ain’t someone else and I call it shit.”

  Marge said. “My gut tells me something happened.”

  “That’s just great, Dunn. My gut tells me something happened, too. Problem is guts aren’t admissible evidence to a grand jury. You don’t even have a suspect, let alone a perp. You don’t even know if you have a crime.”

  “Whole families just don’t disappear,” Marge said.

  “Sure they do, Dunn,” Davidson said. “It’s called the Witness Protection Program. Did you get a good look at this guy’s passport?” He thumbed through Yalom’s official document. “If the Feds have them stashed somewhere, you ain’t going to find them.”

  Marge said, “Then why would the boys’ passports be missing and the parents’ passports be left behind?”

  Davidson said, “Parents had to stick around for the Feds to testify for something or other. But they shipped the kids off to Israel. How does that sound?”

  “The sister has spoken to her parents in Israel,” Decker said. “The boys aren’t there.”

  “If she’s telling the truth,” Davidson said. “You notice she’s not bugging us like she was.”

  “That’s because we’re doing something,” Decker said.

  Davidson was quiet for a moment. “Look, we all know something isn’t right. I vote spy.” He plopped Yalom’s passport on the desk. “Yalom’s something covert. If the family’s in hiding, we’re not going to find any of them. Nor am I interested in finding them.”

  “So you’re saying we should fold our tents?” Marge said.

  Davidson was quiet. Then he said, “You can keep this in the active files for a few more weeks. But don’t spend all day on it.” He drummed his fingers on his desk. “Take a couple hours a day, but no more. Unless, of course, something new pops up.”

  Marge said, “Sir, that s
ounds reasonable. But if it’s all the same to you, if you could just give me another whole day—”

  “And what do you think you’ll accomplish in another day, Dunn?”

  Marge fidgeted. “I’d like another day to scour the house for possible crime evidence.”

  “You already scoured the house. Another full day would just be a waste of department’s time and money. It’s time to move on to current affairs.”

  Marge clenched her jaw, but said nothing. In vain, she waited for Decker to say something but he remained quiet. Did he actually agree with Davidson’s assessment or was he just keeping his mouth shut? Damn, he was unreadable.

  Davidson turned to Decker. “You got a court appearance or something this afternoon?”

  “The Williams shooting.”

  “That was the Saturday-night bar thing?”

  “Yep.”

  “Then I’ll give this to Dunn.” Davidson took out a note and handed it to Marge. “This came through dispatch ’bout fifteen minutes ago. You literally got the smoking gun.”

  Marge unfolded the note and read the details. A shooting at a local college—a lovers’ quarrel in the science lab. The boyfriend knocked off his woman in front of twenty students. Blues already at the scene. A rookie could have taken this call. All she had to do was fill out the forms.

  Marge pocketed the information and stood. “I’ll get right to it, sir.”

  “Right attitude,” Davidson said. “I like that. You’re learning. I know you want the Big One, Dunn. And you was hoping this Yalom thing was it. No harm in that. And maybe it taught you something in the process. You can’t eat steak before you cut your teeth.”

  Decker allowed himself a fleeting smile before his expression turned flat. But Davidson caught it. “Did I say something funny, Decker?”

  “Are you saying a more experienced person could have come up with more evidence in this case?”

  “Yeah, maybe that’s what I’m saying.”

  “I’m experienced.”

  “Obviously not as much as you think.”

  Decker said nothing, his eyes still on Davidson. They were locked in an old-fashioned staring contest. G-rated wienie wagging. Decker had an almost irresistible urge to make a funny face.

  Finally, Davidson said, “I’m pissing you off, Decker?”