“At least you said please.” She punched him in the arm. “Don’t worry. I’ve thought about this on the ride over. I have it all worked out.”

“Great.”

They went inside. The front hallway was lit by a gleaming bronze chandelier hanging from a plaster-cracked roof. That was as good as it got. The rest of the room was in the process of renovation—raw drywall, the baseboard around the floor full of nails from recently pulled-up wall-to-wall carpet. Off to the side, manning the reception area, was a fifty-year-old woman with a pencil behind her ear and bosoms that could feed India. She was wearing a brown suit and a Buster Brown wig. She sat at a card table, stacks of papers to one side, a phone and Rolodex on the other. Her eyes fell first on him, then on Rina.

“Can I help you?”

Rina smiled pathetically. She had a worried look on her face as she pulled out a picture of Noam. She spoke in a pitifully small voice, explaining that this boy was missing and she was a close friend of the family. That was as much as Decker could understand. As Rina laid it on thicker, she began to speak in Yiddish.

Decker stood there, trying to look like something more than an ornament. Stupid of him to think he could have pulled this off without an insider. But he conceded himself one pat on the back: An ordinary PI would have really flubbed it. He was hog-tied, forced to stay on this case, until it resolved or at least moved out of the religious Jewish community.

As Rina spoke, the woman responded with grave nods of her head. Rina finished her plea and the woman said something in Yiddish, stood up and walked away.

“Voos?” Decker asked. Voos meant “what” and it was the only Yiddish word he knew.

“She’s calling in the big boys,” Rina said.

“What’d you tell her?”

“The truth,” Rina said. “Which is sad enough. When I stop and think about it, I start to feel sick all over. Poor Breina. She must be dying inside.”

“Well, you’re doing your bit to help out.”

“How are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…you know. Do you think about Mrs. Levine much?”

Decker gave her a sour look. “Not unless someone brings it up.”

“Sorry.”

He put his arm around her, remembered where they were, and quickly removed it. “Sorry I snapped at you. This whole family thing makes me very anxious. Someday I’ll figure it all out. But now’s not the right time.”

Rina gave his hand a quick squeeze. He liked that.