LITMIR.BIZ

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tried to hold back a smile and was unsuccessful.

      “So how long is this friend coming out for?” Sammy said.

      “I think she said a week.”

      Magda said, “She was a very strange girl growing up. Always very nervous.”

      “She was okay,” Rina said.

      “Meaning she’s weird,” Sammy said.

      “She’s not weird,” Rina said.

      Magda said, “Didn’t her mother pass away when she was young?”

      Rina stared at her mother, then whispered yes. Magda instantly realized her faux pas and glanced at the boys. They were quiet. They had accepted Akiva as their father so completely, she had momentarily forgotten about Yitzchak. She clasped her shaking hands.

      “I’m a stupid old woman,” she muttered behind tears.

      “Oh, forget it, Omah,” Jake said, patting her hand. “We love you.”

      Sammy kissed his grandmother’s cheek. It had become quite bony over the past year. Like always, Omah was decked out. “Stop worrying, Omah. You can mention Abba here. We do it all the time. Even Dad talks about Abba.” He took the spatula out of her hand. “Here. Take some more of Eema’s lasagne. Even if it isn’t as good as yours.”

      Magda wiped her eyes. “You are such good boys.” She suddenly stood and hugged her grandsons fiercely. “I want you to know that I loved your abba.”

      “Of course you did, Mama,” Rina said. “Just enjoy the meal and relax.”

      “It’s just I get stupid with my words.” Magda sat down.

      “Yitzchak is not insulted,” Stefan said. “He knows we all loved him. Believe me, he knows. Now the important question. Who is Honey, Ginny? I don’t remember her.”

      “She had blond hair,” Magda said. “Very nice hair. She married a very religious man, didn’t she, Ginny?”

      Rina nodded. “A Leibbener Chasid.”

      “Terrific.” Sammy’s smile was snide. “Another fringy Chasid.”

      “Shmuel, show some tolerance,” Rina said.

      “The Leibbeners are weird,” Sammy said. “They don’t use phones.”

      “What you mean they don’t use phones?” Stefan asked.

      “Just that,” Sammy said.

      “That’s ridiculous.”

      “I think it’s true,” Rina said.

      “Why?” Stefan asked.

      “Because they’re weird,” Sammy said.

      Jake said, “I really don’t mind sleeping in the attic.”

      “Is the baby crying?” Magda asked.

      The room fell silent for a moment. Rina shrugged and went back to her lasagne.

      “If your friend has a husband who is diamond dealer,” Stefan said, “maybe he knows the family that disappeared.”

      “What are you talking about, Stefan?” Magda asked.

      “The case that Akiva’s working on,” Stefan explained. “The family that is missing.”

      Rina said, “I think there’re a lot of diamond dealers in the country, Papa.”

      Jake said, “Why’s she coming out with her kids?”

      “You usually travel with your kids,” Rina said.

      “In the middle of school?” Jake asked. “Do they have vacation or something?”

      “I don’t know.” Rina paused. “There’s no holiday that I can think of right now.”

      “So she’s pulling them out of school?” Sammy grinned. “Sounds like my kind of mother.”

      “Just eat your lasagne, Shmuel, and stop opining.”

      “Why does she come out now, Ginny?” Stefan asked.

      Rina thought about that. It was a good question.

      9

      Marge opened the passenger door of the unmarked and slid in, kicking off her shoes.

      “It’s great to get off my feet.” She rubbed her toes.

      “I drew blanks,” Decker said. “Neighbors said the family seemed nice, but nothing beyond that. What about you? Did you get anything for your fallen arches?”

      “Matter of fact, I did. The next-door neighbor …” Marge paged through her scribblings. “Mindy Herrero … she did say that there was a black Lexus parked outside during the day at least twice a week for years. This made me curious.”

      “I’ll bet.”

      Marge smiled. “The Yaloms don’t own a black Lexus. And neither does Orit Bar Lulu. But guess who does?”

      “The partner—Shaul Gold.”

      “Right on, Rabbi. He and Yalom may have hated each other, but Gold was here a lot. It could be that Gold and Mr. Yalom were doing business at the house. Or it could be Gold and Mrs. Yalom were doing monkey business. I saw the missus’s photos in the family room. Dalia’s a good-looking woman.”

      “In a quiet, shy way.”

      “It’s the shy ones you have to watch.”

      “Interesting,” Decker said. “All right. Suppose Gold and Dalia Yalom were having an affair. That still wouldn’t explain why the whole family disappeared. If Gold wanted Arik out of the picture, only Arik would be gone.”

      The car was quiet for a moment.

      Marge said, “Maybe he whacked the husband, then told Dalia to take the kids and run.”

      “Then why would he stick around?”

      Marge said, “Somebody’s got to earn a living.”

      “And the kids?” Decker said.

      “Hey, Sharona implied they hated the father. Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

      “I don’t like it, Marge.”

      She paused. “Okay, try this. Suppose Arik found out about the affair and went crazy. He killed his wife in a rage, then killed his kids, who weren’t turning out like he had wanted, took his diamonds stashed in the silver case posted on the doorframe, and split the country. Maybe he even forged some documents and created himself a new identity. It could be another case of List.”

      Decker thought about her theory. John List was a man who murdered his entire family and disappeared, taking on a new identity and eluding the police for about twenty years. He was finally caught after a nab-your-own-fugitive show aired the case on prime-time TV.

      “It’s possible,” Decker said. “But we’ve got some major differences. First off, the bodies of List’s wife, mother, and children were found butchered inside the house, making him a prime suspect. Here we don’t have bodies, only an entire family that vanished.”

      “Maybe Daddy lured the crew somewhere into the boonies.”

      “Except the cars are still in the garage.”

      “So he rented a car.”

      “Could be,” Decker said. “You want to check out local rent-a-cars?”

      “I’ll put it on my list—no pun intended.” Marge wrote it down. “What other differences do you see between this and the List case?”

      Decker said, “John List was swimming in debt. The

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