They walked upstairs together, and she lay down on the king-size bed and he lay down on it as well.
Before she could say a word, he touched her lips with his finger. “Shush. I promise to behave. It’s a big bed.”
Tobi was too tired to argue and fell asleep instantly.
Chapter 58
Tobi woke up in the morning to the sound of the shower down the hall. For a minute she felt like she was still in a dream, and she found herself thinking about the Shabbat morning prayer: Thank You, God, for restoring my soul to me; how great is Your trust.
There had been something so normal about sleeping next to Troy, as if she had never been away from him. She felt more relaxed than she had in ages, not just since Rufini had started poking around in her life. She closed her eyes and wished the moment could continue forever.
Troy poked his head into the bedroom. “Up?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Not bad, actually,” she lied. She’d slept great.
Troy’s hair was wet and pushed back behind his ears, but he hadn’t combed it through yet. There was something very seductive about the way it was tousled. He had a deep purple towel wrapped around his waist and his chest was still wet, dripping on the carpet. He had gained a couple of pounds from what she remembered, but his muscles still rippled as he moved his arm to lean on the door frame, and the gray hairs on his chest were wirier than the blonde ones had been. He noticed her looking at him and grinned mischievously.
“You promised you’d behave,” she said, but she couldn’t keep from smiling herself.
He laughed. “I haven’t done anything.”
“Yes you have. You’re—there. In a towel. You’re taking unfair advantage of a girl in dire straits.”
“Okay, okay, but it’s the first time I’ve seen that smile in a very long time. It was worth it.”
It might be the first time in a long time that anyone has seen it, Tobi thought.
She went into her own shower and tried to flee from her feelings under the hot spray. She told herself she couldn’t take him back in her life now; she’d been living alone too long to get used to having someone around all the time again. She liked her privacy. Panni was very respectful of her solitude and affectionate in such a non-intrusive way. And she liked that the only mess in the house was her own. She suddenly remembered all of Troy’s mail strewn around the kitchen and dining room tables. Piles of photos and calendars and announcements that overflowed from his office into their common space. She hadn’t had to deal with that in years––even Ben took his stuff with him when he left, so when he was home, she didn’t mind the clutter because she knew it was so temporary. She blew out her hair and headed for the stairs, telling herself her decision was made. She was not getting involved with Troy again.
Her phone pinged with Reggie’s text.
Hey, are you alright? Haven’t heard from you. Coming tonight?
She frowned. How would she ever explain all this to Reggie—or any of her friends? Tonight was Shabbat, and she never missed a service. She was definitely not going to start now, but how would she introduce Troy? It was more complicated than she wanted to go into, and she didn’t yet understand what he meant to her after all this time. She thought about asking him to stay home, but she knew he’d never go for it. The problem with knowing everyone in her community was everyone in the community knowing her. And wanting details!
It looked bright and clear outside and Tobi suddenly needed to get out of the house. She answered Reggie that she was fine and would see him tonight, and considered telling him she’d be bringing a friend, but decided against it.
“I need to get out of the house. Let’s go for a walk somewhere pretty,” she told Troy. “How about Caumsett, we can hike the trail.”
Troy frowned and his left brow puckered. “I’m not sure being in a wooded area is a good idea right now. I’d rather we were out in the open where we can see who’s around us. How about the boardwalk at Jones Beach?”
Troy insisted on making a stop at Citibank and went to his safety deposit box, where he asked for the private room to access his things. Tobi watched him rummaging around and gasped when he pulled out a revolver, loaded it with bullets, checked the safety, and stuffed it in his pocket.
“I didn’t know you owned a gun.”
“Well, now you know. And I have a license to carry, so don’t worry. I just hope it works after all these years; it hasn’t been cleaned in ages.”
“You left a gun here when you left?” Tobi was incredulous. “Why?”
Troy shook his head. “Not really sure. I had the New York carry license, which was a time-consuming application, so I just kept it current. I didn’t know when I might need to come back here ... and I think I always hoped I would come back here ... and find you ... and I guess Reuben’s paranoia got to me. Seems he wasn’t wrong. Is it still called paranoia if they really are out to get you?”
Now Tobi was shaking her head, trying to absorb what he’d just told her. “Yes, actually, it is. Psychiatric definition of paranoia is believing someone or something is after you, whether or not it’s true.”
They headed out to the coast.
It was hard to stay disheartened at the beach. The boardwalk was two miles long, and even in winter, there were a handful of cyclists, hikers, and people just gazing at the horizon, but the crash of the surf was so deafening, it felt like they were all alone in the world. A person could scream their lungs out and not be heard five yards away.
They were both wrapped in boots, scarves, and gloves, and although twenty-one degrees was not quite as bad as expected with the sun shining down on them, the wind had to be at least twenty miles per hour out here. They kept moving and managed to last forty-five minutes before they couldn’t feel their toes and fingers.
They were back at the path to the parking lot and stopped for a last look before leaving the ocean to walk up to Troy’s rented Jeep. Tobi could barely feel her legs anymore but lingered to watch the waves crash violently and tirelessly against the sand in white frothy patterns. It was hypnotic. The sun blazed lazily through the dense winter sky and proved itself to be an unwavering match for the frosty haze and the eternal surf. Instinctively, Tobi squeezed Troy tightly.
“It’s humbling,” she said. “We are just two tiny specks of life in this vast universe. The energy of our souls is infinitesimal next to the interminable power of the ocean. We are really quite insignificant to the Earth. When we wipe ourselves out, do you think God will weep?”
“It would not be the first time,” Troy said. “Our planet has had multiple extinction events, it’s nothing new. If we humans do not change our ways, long before the year 2100, temperatures will have risen enough to destroy our farms and melt the arctic permafrost. That will cause regional famine and release dangerous dormant bacteria into the air along with huge amounts of carbon that will further accelerate the warming process. We are already starting to see diseases migrate from the tropics across the globe … eventually, the temperatures will be incompatible with human physiology and we will kill ourselves off, but we will likely starve even before that. Some other species will evolve and thrive, though, something more suited to the environmental changes we create, and the Earth will just start over again. Our planet will adapt––without us. The Universe will go on––without us. God will go on … perhaps God will even weep. Until we become some prehistoric era for the next sapient life form to speculate about. We humans are the only fools who think we matter to the Cosmos. We are as nothing ….”
“Thanks for the pep talk,” Tobi said. “So inspirational.”
Troy wrapped his arms tightly around her and hugged her close. He put his lips against the side of her head. “Except we are not meaningless to each other, and that is what makes life sacred,” he whispered.
“Sounds like you’ve become an at
heist,” she said.
“Never,” he said. “But as I believe God gives us the means to survive, I believe God also gives us the freedom to self-destruct. We have the intellect to understand what is happening, but the human race may be too ensnared in its addiction to power, money, and ostentation to save itself. God promised never again to eradicate life on Earth—but He didn’t promise to keep us from doing it to ourselves. Our lives are but a nanosecond in eternity. It doesn’t matter to the Earth. It only matters to us. So, make way for the next superior life form.”
“I think it will be cats,” Tobi said.
Troy cocked his head at her.
“Felines,” Tobi said, as they started walking again. “They are the most adaptive mammals, more so than wolves, bears, and monkeys. They have survived on more continents and outlived most every other genus. That is, if mammals survive at all. Maybe it will be birds, though, since the land masses are changing. The ones that can fish, that is, like sea hawks. Except they’d have to move to the poles.”
Troy stopped walking and turned to her, undoubtedly to gauge if she were serious or not. Tobi managed to keep a straight face for about three seconds before she burst out laughing. He swatted at her playfully.
“But, seriously, it was an interesting NOVA episode,” she said. “Felines are far more adaptable than canines and most other mammals, and they have survived on six continents over the centuries. I just made up the stuff about the bears and the monkeys.”
“Why not the whales and the dolphins?”
“Because the warmer temperatures are pushing their food supply out of reach. The fish they eat are moving deeper to cooler water, so they are as screwed as we are. Dolphins need to breathe every ten to twelve minutes. Maybe some whales will make it. Sperm whales can go more than an hour without oxygen, but most whales can’t. You know that, Mr. DeJacob.” She laughed. “Ben knew that when he was five.”
Troy’s face was three inches from hers and their frozen breath mingled in the space between them, their breathing synchronized. Tobi’s heart was suddenly racing. He looked into her eyes and at her lips, but at the last minute, he turned away.
“Your nose is frozen,” he said.
“Always the gentleman,” Tobi muttered under her breath as she turned toward the road.
They got back to the Jeep, and Troy circled it carefully, signaling her with his hand to stay back. He looked underneath, inside, back and front, and across the parking lot, all the time with his hand under his jacket on his revolver. Finally, he motioned to her it was safe to get in. All her fears had returned in an instant.
Chapter 59
“Mannya, if you’re sure the toad is going to come here to make the hit, why are we here too? It’s chancy.”
“Because he is an imbecile, so we make sure he does not fail us this time. And since he will be the one they see, he can take the heat. He knows his time is running out. He does not want to end up like his wife.”
Mannfort and Kazi had parked down the road from Tobi’s synagogue and were huddled in the brush at the back of the parking lot.
“Kazi, your aim is still true?”
“You doubt me, Mannya? I practice every week. It’s my favorite sport.”
“But you are using the plastic knife. The one you have not practiced with.”
“Mannya, a gun will be heard and they will know where we are standing. The knife is quiet. Stealthy,” Kazi said. “I don’t see the toad, do you?”
“No. If he does not show, we do the job ourselves, quietly, with your knife.”
Chapter 60
Troy sat next to Tobi in the synagogue, feeling very out of place. He had meant it when he’d said he would never lose faith in God, but he hadn’t been inside a formal place of worship in decades, outside of the High Holy Day services of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when there were so many people that it was easy to be anonymous. Although many people seemed to recognize him and doors opened for him because of the foundation, he was still really more of an introvert, and preferred to just be one of the crowd.
It seemed the entire congregation came over to them, their curiosity piqued by seeing Tobi show up with a man, but everyone was friendly, including Rabbi Lilly. While Tobi pulled Chloe aside and confirmed that Larry had not signed up for Kordec insurance and never would, Rabbi personally welcomed Troy, asked where he was from, and wished him a Shabbat Shalom, a peaceful sabbath. The rabbi had no idea how hard he was praying for just that.
There was an oneg following the service, with challah, fruit, and little cakes and cookies, where he had to answer a thousand questions. Tobi had introduced him as CEO of Executors for Our Earth, knowing it would strike a positive chord with her community and turn the conversation to less personal matters. At least a dozen people came over to meet him, including the cantor, whose singing had been nothing less than divinely inspired, like a conduit from Earth to Heaven. Troy understood why Tobi loved this place so much.
Finally, all the questions had been either answered or dodged and he felt like he had met everyone, and they walked out and into the parking lot. The air was fresh and clean, but Troy felt immediately that something was wrong. The hairs on the back of his neck were raised and his chest felt heavy when he inhaled. He tried to look around casually, but Tobi was having her own premonition. She whipped her head around twice, peering into the darkness, her hand clutching his elbow.
“I feel it too,” he said. The lights were on in the lot but spaced several yards apart, and groups of congregants said cheerful farewells as they got into their cars. When Troy stopped in front of the Jeep, he could not bring himself to open the door for Tobi. It was like some invisible force blocked his way.
Tobi looked at him, and he nodded. They both backed away from the car, and Troy knelt down to look underneath it. As soon as he stooped, he heard a whizzing sound fly over his shoulder and Tobi shout out.
“Stay down, Troy! Don’t get up!” she yelled.
He turned and looked at her and saw the knife lodged in her left shoulder. She had fallen and was sitting on the ground, her eyes wide.
“Tobi!”
Tobi pulled the knife out of her jacket and held it out in front of her like she didn’t understand what it was.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, I think it just buried itself in my jacket. It looks like … what is this?”
But Troy did not have time to examine it. He sensed movement behind the car, then turned to see someone leveling a pistol at Tobi. Troy pushed Tobi flat and rolled behind the Jeep, then rose to his knees and lunged at the fat man. Troy grabbed the attacker’s hand and pointed the gun upward just as it went off. Troy twisted the man’s arm behind his back, making him drop the gun, and the fat man wailed in pain. Troy turned him face down on the icy pavement and sat on him, wrenching the arm tighter.
Shouts and screams came from the temple entrance, and Tobi’s friend, Reggie, came running over with his wife Lynn and with Chloe right behind them. Reggie assessed the situation in a second, grabbed the fat man’s other arm, and twisted it back as well.
“Rabbi! Call 911! And grab some rope or something to tie his hands up with,” Reggie called out. “Where is our security guard?”
Jimmy, the off-duty cop who worked Friday nights at the temple, was at the other end of the lot. At the sound of the gunshot, he’d turned and started running toward them.
Troy berated himself for not having enlisted Jimmy’s support when they first arrived. He had noticed the officer standing off to the side, greeting congregants as they came in, but looking slightly out of place. He hadn’t seen the security logo on his jacket until they were walking into the sanctuary, and he hadn’t doubled back to speak with Jimmy because he knew Tobi wanted to keep their situation quiet. What a mistake! Troy pressed the fat man’s face hard into the ground, and he whined pathetically.
�
�Who are you?” Troy demanded. “What’s your name?”
Tobi came over, absently rubbing her shoulder, with Reggie’s wife, Lynn, and several others. “That’s Ismar Rufini. What the hell do you want from me, you bastard?” She kicked him in the ribs, and he yelped. “Why are you after me? Who sent you?”
Ismar seemed paralyzed with fear and grunted incoherently. Rabbi Lilly came over with Leo, one of the temple maintenance workers, who had brought a spindle of twine. Troy yanked Ismar’s arms back hard and wrapped the twine tightly in a figure eight around both wrists, getting underneath his gloves and cutting into his skin, and then tied it off with a double constrictor knot. “Let’s see you get out of that.”
Jimmy was at their side. “I’m so sorry! I thought I saw movement in the bushes at the edge of the parking lot, and I went to check it out,” he said. He looked from the bushes to Tobi, still unwilling to completely turn his attention from them. He holstered his gun and took out his cuffs and stooped down to examine the constrictor knot. “You know, it would be a shame to cut that off in favor of ordinary police handcuffs,” he chuckled, and he tucked them back in his belt, but he kept looking around and back at the bushes. “It almost looked like that knife was thrown from that direction.”
Troy hauled Rufini up into a sitting position. “Who sent you? Tell me who, right now!”
Reggie was at Tobi’s side. “Are you alright, kiddo? You’re rubbing your shoulder. What happened, what is this all about?”
“Am I?” she asked quietly. “I think so. It aches a little. He threw a … a knife at me. It’s weird looking.” She held the knife up, like she didn’t know what to do with it yet.
“Oh my God! Are you bleeding?”
“I don’t know, it’s too cold to take my jacket off and find out.” Troy was sure she didn’t want to know.
Chloe put her arm around Tobi. “Come, sit down.” She opened the door of the Jeep so Tobi could sit on the back seat. “Are you alright?” she asked Troy.
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