Three to four rumbling sounds in two minutes. Trucks roaring by. And a medium amount of whooshing traffic noise at two-thirty A.M. A concentration of cars driving fast. It seemed logical that Noam had placed the call close to a freeway. There were no freeways in West Hollywood or in the heart of downtown San Francisco. No thoroughfares or highways in either location. But there were plenty of freeways in the downtown L.A. area.

“Noam said he had a gun,” Decker repeated.

“Yes.”

“But he didn’t use it?”

“Exactly.”

“Did he mention any shooting?”

“No…no shooting. Just that he had a gun and he didn’t use it.”

Decker stopped a moment. Sounded to him like Noam and Hersh had rolled a gay. Used a gun as a prop and robbed him. With any degree of luck, it was just a simple robbery. But Decker was dubious. Noam kept using the phrase “a terrible aveyrah”—a grievous sin. Would a kid like Noam consider simple robbery with no one getting hurt a grievous sin?

“Did he mention blood?”

“No, nothing like that. Just that he did a terrible aveyrah.” Miriam stopped talking. Then she said, “I haven’t called my brother yet. I called you first thing.”

“You did right,” Decker said. “I’m going to work on it right now.”

“Should I phone my brother?”

Her voice was very hesitant. Decker said, “I’ll make the call if you want. But Ezra’s going to call you anyway. He’ll want to talk to you directly.”

“You’re right,” Miriam said. “I’ll call him myself. I dread it but I’ll do it. Why didn’t he call his parents?”

“He was probably too ashamed,” Decker said.

“Why me?” Miriam was talking more to herself than to Decker. “Why me? Oh well. At least he called someone. If only I would have handled it right…”

“You did fine,” Decker said. “Miriam, I want you and all your family to go out and buy a phone machine that can record conversations—”

“Oh, my goodness!” Miriam exclaimed. “We have that kind of machine! I didn’t even think of it. How stupid!”

“Well, I forgot to tell you to use it,” Decker said. “So I won’t berate me if you don’t berate yourself, okay?”

“Okay.”

Decker then gave her very specific instructions on what to do if Noam called again. What to say, what to ask, what to listen for. How to calm him down. Then he told her to pass all the information on to the rest of the family. He also suggested that the family consider consulting with an attorney. Those words of advice were met with silence. Finally, Miriam agreed it was a good idea.

When Decker was done, she said, “Akiva, I can’t tell you how much my family appreciates—”

“My pleasure,” Decker said, cutting her off.