Decker shook his head. “Some may already be in shul, some may still be sleeping, some may be getting dressed. If we catch them after services, they should all be indoors, eating lunch.”

“A good point,” Ezra conceded. “We’ll go to shul first, then I’ll take you to their houses afterward.”

Decker said that sounded fine.

Ezra brushed the floor with the tip of his shoe. “And what do I say if people ask me questions?”

“That’s up to you,” Decker said. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want.”

“They’ll think I’m hiding something.”

“Ezra, at a time like this, you don’t have to worry about what people think. Besides, your neighbors seem like fine people. Rina has already had a dozen offers from women willing to help—”

“What did she tell them?”

“Nothing. She said everything was under control.”

“But it’s not, is it?” Ezra began to pace. “He’s still missing.”

“At least we have a plan.”

“And the police are looking for him?” Ezra asked.

“As much as they can. He’s not top priority, but they’ll keep their eyes open.” Decker paused, then said, “You don’t have any idea where Noam might have gone?”

“I’ve been racking my brain all night,” Ezra said. “He’s never, never disappeared from Boro Park before. Sure, he goes places and forgets to tell his mother, but never like this. As far as I know, he’s never even been out of Brooklyn.”

Part of the problem, Decker told himself. The boy is overly sheltered. Then he thought: Stop being so damn judgmental. This kind of thing could happen in any family. His thoughts shifted to Cindy, how he’d been blessed to have a daughter as terrific as she was. He was a good father, but not a great one. He kept long hours at work when she was growing up, wasn’t home a lot. But he had tried to be there whenever she needed him, whenever she had performed in a school pageant. He had even addressed her class on Parents’ Careers Day. All her schoolmates thinking it was cool when he had taken them for a ride in his cruiser. He remembered her face—her eyes had actually sent out beams.

He returned his thoughts to the present and said, “I talked to a lot of local Brooklyn boys last night. Noam seems unknown outside of Boro Park.”

“Just like I said,” Ezra said. “I just pray and hope that you’re right about him being a runaway. If it’s the other…”

“I can’t guarantee it,” Decker said, “but big strapping fourteen-year-olds are unusual kidnap victims unless it’s a kidnap for ransom—”