by Stone Kiss
Drug dealers usually like to prove a point. Yet this time the kill was done at the hotel, with no evidence of torture.
Clean hit. Donatti’s M.O.
The plane was due to take off tomorrow night at six. By then, it would no longer be Decker’s business. Perhaps he should start having a good time right now. He was taking the entire family out to a very popular kosher steak house, and then afterward, he and Rina would go hear the Harley Mann Quintet at one of the hotels. Initially, Rina felt squeamish about going. How could she go out and have a good time when the Liebers were suffering?
“If being miserable would help them, I’d agree with you. But right now, the best thing we can do for us—you and me—is to try to appreciate our own lives and have a little fun,” Decker argued.
Rina certainly had no comeback for that. Maybe a couple of glasses of wine would put her in a festive mood. At this point, he felt as if he could drink an entire bottle by himself.
He was supposed to meet the crew at six. He arrived twenty minutes early. At five to the hour, Decker spied three-quarters of his progeny—Sammy, Jacob, and Hannah—walking up the street. Two good-looking young men and a squirt—all of them with their entire lives ahead of them. God, just let them be well. Decker felt that instant jolt of parental alarm but quelled it. Then he gave himself a psychic pat on the back for a job well done.
Hannah skipped over to him and took his hand. She was wearing a denim skirt and a green sweater, her red curls bouncing over her shoulders. “Where’s Eema?”
“She’s meeting us here.” Decker bent down and kissed the top of her head. “How was the museum?”
“Very good,” she replied. “I liked the whale.”
“The whale was cool.” Jacob was rolling a carry-on bag. “Very big.”
“We also took her to the old Hayden Planetarium,” Sammy said.
“Sounds like a busy day,” Decker said.
“Yeah, my feet are tired,” Sammy complained. “Can we sit down?”
“Let’s give Eema a few more minutes, okay?” Decker suggested.
The kids weren’t happy with the suggestion, but, for a change, no one argued. The boys were dressed similarly—dark sweaters and jeans. Jacob had on a thick denim jacket; Sammy wore a nappy, flannel plaid shirt that subbed as an overcoat.
“How’s it going?” Sammy asked his father.
“Well, this is certainly the highlight of the trip,” Decker said.
“That good, huh?”
“It’s good to see you guys.”
“There’s Eema,” Jacob announced. “At least, I think that’s her. She’s sort of buried underneath all that cargo.”
“What’d she do?” Sammy asked. “Buy out the store?”
“Lord only knows.” Decker sighed. “Why don’t you two go help her?”
“I don’t know, Dad,” Sammy said. “I think she has a certain balance. Far be it from me to disrupt what might have taken five hours to build.”
Decker glared at him. The boys hurried over to their mother and relieved her of the packages. She gave half to Jacob, half to Sammy. “You’ll take these back for me?”
“I’m not going back to Brooklyn,” Jacob said. “I’ve got a train to catch, Eema.”
“I’ll take them back,” Sammy said.
“The good son,” Jacob countered.
They stopped at the entrance to the restaurant. Jacob smiled at his mother. “Buy anything for me?”
“A couple of shirts,” Rina said. “Most of it is for Hannah.”
“Great.” Jacob pouted. “First you send me to a school that locks me up in a cell and scalps me. Then all I get is a couple of shirts.”
“Such neglect.” Rina threw her arm around her younger son and kissed him ten times on the cheek.
“How about me?” Sammy asked.
Rina kissed him as well. When she reached over for Hannah, the girl pulled away. “Not in public.”
Both she and Decker laughed. It was hard to tell the babies from the adults without a scorecard. Rina said, “I think you both grew.”
“You just saw me yesterday,” Jacob said.
“You grew from yesterday,” Rina said. “Shall we go inside and eat?”
“Yeah, it’s better than being dysfunctional out here for the whole world to see,” Sammy said.
Jacob added, “Besides, this is the best food we’re going to have in the next six months.”
Sammy said, “Ain’t that the truth.”
“Go in and get our table, boys,” Decker said. “Take Hannah with you. I need to talk to your mother for a moment.”
“Do I really have to carry all this stuff?” Sammy held the bags aloft. “Can’t we just check it in at a bank vault or something?”
“Go now, please!” Decker toughened his voice.
“Uh-oh…” Jacob took his sister’s hand. “We don’t want to hear this.”
Decker waited until the two of them were alone. He said, “You’re going to make fun of me, but I’d like to stay another day. They’re releasing the body tomorrow, which means the funeral will be on Tuesday. I think we should go.”
And Decker’s last conversation with Donatti had been promising. He was hoping that Chris might come through with something.
Rina said, “Far from making fun of you—although it is tempting—I admire your flexibility and your compassion. It shows what a true man you are. I will, once again, change the tickets.” She threw her arms around Decker’s neck and kissed him hard on the mouth. “It’s not religiously modest, but it is heartfelt.”
“I like that!” Decker said. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“Just for being you. Now, we should go inside so the kids don’t think we’re fighting.”
It took them ten minutes to be seated. The tables were so close to one another that Decker could have lap-danced with his neighbor’s Cornish hen. With all the packages and Jacob’s valise, they were as tight as pack animals. The tables were covered with red-checkered paper and there was sawdust on the floor. It was loud and noisy and smoky, but boy did it smell good.
It took another five minutes to get menus from a waiter wearing a blue denim shirt, white jeans, and sneakers. All the servers were dressed alike. They scuttled and scurried as if their job consisted of aerobic exercise. Another five minutes produced five glasses of ice water and bread and margarine.
Next everyone got up to ritually wash so they could break bread.
The bread was gone five minutes later.
They had been in the restaurant for a half hour, and all they had to show for it were crumbs and ice cubes. Prison could have done just as well.
“Hey, Sammy,” someone called out.
Sammy turned around. “Ari!” He got up and talked to Ari for five minutes. He made introductions. Rina and Decker smiled. Hello, hello. Ari left; then a busboy came, holding more bread. He took orders for drinks, then left.
Rina asked Decker, “How hungry are you?”
“I was hungry when I started out. Now I’m ravenous. And no, I don’t want to split anything.”
“Boy, someone’s blood sugar has taken a nosedive,” Sammy said.
“Eat the bread,” Rina offered.
“I don’t want bread!” Decker groused. “I want meat!”
The waiter finally came back, pad in hand. “Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready for forty minutes—”
“Peter—”
“Chateaubriand for two for one,” Decker ordered.
“It’s big,” the waiter remarked.
“So am I.” He handed the waiter the menu.
The boys decided to split the Chateaubriand. Rina chose the rib steak. Hannah ordered a hot dog and fries. Jacob heard his name called out, then turned around.
“Reuven! What are you doing here?”
“Probably the same thing you’re doing here,” Reuven answered. “Bumming a meal off my parents. These are your parents?”
Jacob said, “These are my parents.”
Reuven smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus.”
“Actually, it’s Mr. Decker,” Decker answered. “I’m his stepfather.”
“Yeah, but he pays all the college tuition, so that qualifies him as a dad,” Sammy answered.
Reuven’s father broke into laughter. He offered his hand to Decker. “Shragy Miller.”
“It’s Rav Miller,” Jacob told him.
Decker shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Rav Miller.”
“Shragy, please! This is my wife, Rivka, my daughter, Rachel.”
Miller was squat, dressed in rabbinic black. His wife was tall and bone thin, and was wearing a shaytl. Her features were as pinched as her husband’s were round. The daughter’s face had combined the best of her parents—regular features, sparkling hazel eyes, and hair the color of chestnuts. She was very pretty, and Decker wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Sammy had made eye contact with her. Now he was looking at his napkin.
The adjacent table had just opened up. The obvious thing to do was invite them to sit down. Rina did exactly that. She introduced herself to Rivka, and after a few disorganized minutes, everyone was seated. The girl actually managed to speak with Sammy without looking at him. A pretty neat trick; Decker supposed that she had learned it in Being Frum 101.
She asked, “So where do you go to school?”
“One guess.”
“YU.”
“So what else is new?”
“YU and Columbia,” Jacob added.
“Ah,” Rachel said. “One step above the riffraff.”
“I am the riffraff,” Sammy said. “YU was a little weak in my major, so they let me do a joint program.”
“What’s your major?”
“Neuropsychophysiology…premed. But I didn’t want to take the YU premed major. I actually wanted a real major.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to do that with Stern, but I’m getting a little resistance.” There was tightness in her voice. “I don’t suppose you had problems, being male and all.”
Sammy was quick with the comeback. “I’m sure some of the older rabbis at Stern have some antiquated notions of what girls can and can’t do.”
“If you come from a black-hat religious family, they have definite ideas.”
“You have to know where to finagle.”
“Any pointers?”
“A few if you want them.”
“That would be nice.”
Rina said, “You know, kids, why don’t you all sit on one side, and let us sit on the other side?”
Another several minutes of reorganization; this time, Rachel and Sammy sat next to one another.
“Lucky me,” Rav Miller announced. “I get to sit next to this motek.”
“Say hello, Hannah,” Decker said.
“Hello.”
“And what are you learning in school?” the rabbi asked.
“Right now, the dinim of Pesach. And the Haggadah of course.”
“And what can you tell me about the Haggadah?”
“I know that Hashem had to take the Jews out of Egypt very fast.”
“Yes, and why is that?”
“Because the Jews were so bad that if Hashem didn’t take them out real fast, they would have been stuck in the lowest level of Tumah—sin. That’s why Hashem took them out after two hundred ten years and not four hundred years.”
Everyone burst into laughter. Rina blushed. “I think the rav was referring to taking the Jews out quickly before Paroah changed his mind about letting the Jews go.”
“Oh,” Hannah said. “Yeah, that too.”
“You’ve got a real thinker,” Miller told Rina.
“She’s… unique.”
Decker succumbed and devoured another piece of bread. Rivka stared at the kids. To Rina, she whispered, “If the body language was any closer, they’d be nose-to-nose.”
Rina said, “Wonder when they’ll work up the courage for eye contact.”
Rivka sighed. “I suppose it’s better than the Shiddach Directory. I’m surprised. Rachel is usually very reserved.” She looked at Rina. “How old’s your boy?”
“Almost twenty.” Rina looked at the girl. “She’s eighteen, nineteen?”
“Just turned nineteen. What yeshiva did he go to in Israel?”
“Gush.”
The mother nodded.
“And your daughter?”
“Midreshet Lindenbaum.”
“Oh. Bravender’s,” Rina answered. “Very progressive.”
“She’s got a mind of her own.”
“That’s good.”
Rivka asked, “How old were you when you got married?”
“Seventeen. And you?”
“Eighteen.”
Silence.
Rivka turned to her husband. “Shragy, enough with the questions. You’re driving the poor little girl crazy.”
“She’s very bright. She doesn’t mind.”
“How do you know?” She waved him off.
Finally, finally, the food came. By the time everyone had finished, they had twenty minutes to catch the first set. Rina regarded Sammy. There was still a blush in his cheeks. His food was barely touched. She elbowed Decker and whispered, “You look a little tired, Peter. How about we give the tickets away, and you and I take a nice romantic walk instead?”
Decker’s face registered surprise. “Are you sure?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.” He was thrilled with the idea. He had just demolished half a cow. A walk sounded good for the soul, good for the waistline. And there was this part of him, this obsessive little voice that kept telling him to take one more crack at finding Shayndie. Rina was giving him an out, and he took it.
“It’s absolutely fine with me, darling.” Decker took his wife’s hand. “We can make our own music.”
Rina offered the tickets to the parents. The rabbi said, “I’m not much for jazz—too many notes. How about if you give the tickets to the boys?”
Jacob said, “I’ve got a train to catch.”
“I’ll go,” Reuven said.
Jacob kicked him under the table.
“On second thought, I’ve got to go pack.”
Sammy said, “I’ll take them if no one else wants them.” To Rachel, “Do you want to go?”
“Yeah, I’ll go.” Rachel blushed. “Why let the tickets go to waste?”
“You two better bentsh and get going,” Rina told them. “It’s late.”
“We have mezumin,” Rav Miller stated.
The three men necessary to say extra prayers before the Grace after Meals. Decker said, “Then let’s all bentsh and get going. Rav Miller, would you like to do the honors?”
“You do the honors.” Miller punted back to Decker.
“No, I insist.”
“But you provided the tickets for the children.”
Rachel was exasperated. “Somebody please start or we’re going to be late.”
Rav Miller led the group in the Grace after Meals. Afterward Decker turned to Jacob. “Do you mind taking Hannah and the packages back to Brooklyn?”
Jacob held up his carry-on.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re leaving.” So much for his hunting down Shayndie. “Okay. So we’ll see Jacob off and go back to Brooklyn.”
Rina stepped in. “You look like you have a few pickup items to do here in Manhattan before you go back. I’ll take Hannah and the packages back.”
“What about our walk?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Then she whispered, “We have our exercise later on tonight.” She turned to her daughter. “Come, Chanaleh, let’s say good-bye to your brother.”
Everyone took turns saying good-bye to Jacob. By the time her younger son left, there were tears in Rina’s eyes. Then she said, “Now the hard part. Finding a cab that’s willing to take us across the bridge.”
Rivka spoke up. “Nonsense. We’ve got a car. We’ll take you. Where are you going?”
<
br /> “Boro Park. Where do you live?”
“Englewood.”
“It’s way out of your way.” “It’s fine. Shragy’s parents live there. We should stop by so Reuven can say hello. Shragy, help her with the bags.” Rivka said to Rina, “We’ll go bring the car around.”
“Thank you,” Rina answered.
After the Millers left with Reuven, Decker held his daughter’s hand and smiled at his wife. “I’m not really doing anything in the city. Just bumming around.”
“You want to try one more time,” Rina said.
“You know me too well.”
He seemed so demoralized. Rina squeezed his hand. “You’re not responsible for saving the world, Peter.”
“Yes, I know. It only seems that way.”
17
Heading downtown from Forty-eighth Street, Decker started walking, hands in his pockets, coat wrapped tight around his chest. Twenty blocks later, he was in front of the address of Ephraim Lieber’s chapter of Emek Refa’im. It corresponded to a basement somewhere in the Garment District. During daylight hours, the area was teeming with people, many of them pushing steel racks of clothing from one location to another. Blocks of stores and marts, showcasing one line after another, the rag reps promising their buyers exclusives on the newest items in the fickle world of fashion. At this time of night, the streets were dark and quiet, its huge monolithic structures casting shadows over the pavement, filmy moonlight breaking through the steel clouds. Artificial lights illuminated an occasional window: Someone was working overtime, getting the jump.
With nothing to keep him in the area, he retraced his steps uptown. Maybe he could reach Sammy and accompany him back to Washington Heights in a cab. Then, because he wasn’t too far away, he could swing by Donatti’s on the way back. He got to the hotel a little after nine, but the jazz set still had forty minutes to go. Since there was a café nearby, Decker stopped in and ordered a pot of herbal tea. He might as well keep warm.
Five minutes into his Lemon Zinger, he realized how ludicrous his idea had been. Sammy was on a date, for goodness’ sake! Decker’s was probably the last face he’d want to see. He took a final sip, then put down a fiver and left. At Forty-fifth and Eighth, he hailed a cab.
“Share a ride?”
Decker whipped around.