LITMIR.BIZ

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      “As if you can resist her requests? I noticed the other day she was playing with your gold cuff links—”

      “She likes shiny things,” Decker interrupted. “I like how you skillfully changed the subject, darlin’. What happened to the newspaper?”

      Rina set a dish of eggs in front of Hannah and poured her orange juice. She shrugged helplessly. “What can I tell you?”

      Decker felt nauseated. “Bastard struck again.”

      Rina nodded.

      Decker said nothing. But Rina could see his jaw working overtime. She said, “Cindy called this morning. She asked me to hide it from you. I shouldn’t have done it. But she sounded so desperate for an ally. She couldn’t handle you and her mother’s hysteria at the same time. Besides, there’s nothing anyone can do—”

      “What do you mean, ‘There’s nothing anyone can do’?” Decker snapped. “I can do something. I can bring her back home out of that hellhole.”

      “LA’s not a haven from crime—”

      “It’s better than New York.”

      “Not all of New York is like the area around Columbia, Peter.”

      “Well, that’s just fine and dandy except Cindy happens to go to Columbia.” Decker got up from the dining-room table and walked into the kitchen, staring out the back window at his acre’s worth of ranchland. The riding corral was now a foot-deep mud pit; the stables had been battered from the recent storms. Behind his property line stood the foothills bleeding silt. His house was fine so far, the gunk at least five hundred yards away. But who knew? He had plenty of garbage to deal with here. He didn’t need problems three thousand miles away.

      “Did you talk to her at all?” Decker asked.

      “For a few minutes,” Rina answered.

      “How’s she doing?”

      Rina glanced at Hannah. “You want a video, muffin?”

      The little girl nodded, licking egg-coated fingers. “Mickey Mouse.”

      “You’ve got it.” Rina slipped the tape into the VCR, then walked into the kitchen. To her husband, she whispered, “How’s she doing? She’s shaken up, of course.”

      “Goddamn police! This is the third one and they don’t seem one ounce closer to finding this maniac. What the hell are they doing?”

      “That’s an odd thing for you to say.”

      “I know incompetence when I see it.”

      “So what do you propose to do, Peter? Go out to New York and handle the investigation yourself?”

      “I’ve seriously thought about it. I was in sex crimes for over a decade—”

      “Peter—”

      “Maybe I’ll call the principal investigator—”

      “You don’t have enough work at home?”

      “It’s been a slow month.”

      “Baruch Hashem,” Rina said, blessing God.

      “Baruch Hashem,” Decker repeated. “Besides, this is my daughter we’re talking about. I want to make sure everything possible is being done.”

      “I’m sure they’re working overtime. Just like you’d be doing.”

      “Right. Overtime on doughnuts.” Decker grimaced. “I know I’m not being fair. Frankly, I don’t care.”

      Rina sighed. “Peter, why don’t you go visit Cindy? I’m sure she’d be thrilled to see her six-foot-four detective father. She and all the other girls in the dorm. But go out as a protective father, not as a cop.”

      Decker drew his hand across his face. “Son of a bitch! Preying on young girls like that. God, I swear, Rina, if I come face-to-face with that sucker, I’m gonna shoot off his you-know-whats.” He looked at his wife. “Was the latest one hurt? Of course she was hurt. I mean, was she beaten or anything?”

      “No. Same MO.”

      The MO. Bastard sneaked up on the girls, brought them down from behind, placed a large paper bag over their heads, and raped them from the back. The victims had described the violation as strong and painful but mercifully fast. Before they could utter boo, the monster had been upon them. Equally quickly, he seemed to vanish into the miasma. Cindy was a big girl, almost five nine, and in good shape because she worked out. But a five-nine girl could easily be bested by a five-six man in equally good shape. Daughters. Thank God his other two teens were boys—Rina’s sons. Not that he didn’t worry about them. At nearly fifteen, Sammy had height but he was still thin. Jake still had some growing to do, but he was just thirteen.

      Decker’s head hurt. Thinking about his kids always gave him a headache. “I need to go out there, Rina.”

      “I understand. I love Cindy, too. I think it’s a great idea.”

      “Come out with me.”

      “It would probably be better if she had you all to herself.”

      “So go out and visit the relatives in Borough Park. The boys haven’t seen their grandparents in over a year.”

      The boys’ grandparents, Rina thought. Her late husband’s parents. It was always a heartache to see them. But the boys meant so much to them. And then there were Peter’s recently discovered half siblings. “Everyone’s going to want to see you. At least to say hi.”

      “Scratch the thought from your mind!” Decker paced. “You’ll just have to explain why I’m not there. I can’t handle Cindy and your little religious crowd at the same time.”

      “They’re your relatives.”

      “But they were your friends before they were my relatives. Don’t push me on this, Rina. Oh, just forget the whole thing. Stay home!”

      Again, he glared out the back window, hands leaning against the kitchen tile. Welcome to Decker’s mud baths. He should sandbag the ground again, anything to sop up the moisture. On top of that, the sky looked threatening.

      Seven years of drought followed by two years of floods. Not to mention earthquakes, fires, and riots. Decker wondered what plague was next. City was getting too damn biblical for his taste.

      Rina walked up to her husband, slipped her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his back. “What do you want, Peter? Tell me.”

      “Make it stop raining.”

      “No can do. Next?”

      He turned around. “What do I want?” He took his wife’s hands and kissed them. “I want you to come with me. I miss you terribly when I’m away from you and long plane rides make me depressed. So come with me to New York. But once we get there, leave me alone so I can deal with my daughter and my own anxiety.”

      “So I’m to be your therapeutic escort.”

      “And a damn pretty one, at that.”

      Rina laughed. “I’ll come with you.”

      Decker said, “Thank you. And … if I’m up to it … if I have the energy … I’ll come visit the relatives.”

      “You look like you just sucked lemons.”

      “It’s been a rather sour morning.”

      Rina stroked her husband’s cheek. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, that we have to go through this. I’m very concerned, also. Kids. A life sentence in terror if you think about it. I’ll be happy to help you out. And yes, it has been a while since the boys have seen their grandparents. It’s very considerate of you to think of them.”

      “I’m just a saint.”

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