Decker didn’t say anything.

Rina said, “An hour later, I came back to pick up the glass. Not more than five minutes before you came home. The guy turned beet red as soon as he saw me. He’d put on his leg, by the way. I tried to ease his discomfort. I told him about this guy I knew in the IDF who lost his leg—legs. And all the phantom-limb pain he had. I guess I was babbling until I heard you pull up the car. I said, ‘Great, Peter’s home.’ Then you come roaring in like some crazed beast. What in the world came over you?”

Decker didn’t answer.

They sat in silence for a minute.

Rina sighed, told herself to forget the whole thing. Peter looked so downtrodden, absolutely miserable. She squeezed his hand and said, “Sit, Peter. I’ll serve.”

“No, I said I would.”

“I know. Relax. I’m sure I had a much easier day than you.”

“Thanks, Rina.” He gave her a weak smile.

“Boys send their regards,” she said while in the kitchen.

Damn, Decker thought. He forgot to call them. He’d been lousy to Rina, lousy to Abel. He’d probably make a lousy father to her sons as well.

Rina came in carrying a three-divisioned platter—veal in the entrée section, potatoes with onions and peppers on one side, fresh asparagus topped with hollandaise on the other.

“I gave them your love as well,” she said.

“I meant to call them.”

“They understand, honey.”

Sure they do. Decker put a slab of meat on his plate. “Rina, I did something very stupid. You asked me about Abel, and I didn’t level with you.”

Rina waited for more.

“I’ve known Abel for a long time,” Decker said. “He’s crazy, eccentric, but I’ve never known him to do anything even remotely violent. So I didn’t want to sentence him before a jury did. But I should have told you this. I bailed him out of jail a few days ago. He’d been booked for sexual assault—rape.”

Rina’s mouth dropped open.

Decker said, “That’s why I became unglued when I saw him with you.”

Rina didn’t answer, just stared at him. Decker threw up his hands.

“Go ahead and say it.”

Rina said nothing.

“Okay, then I’ll say it,” Decker said. “How could I be so stupid? There, now you don’t have to say it. Just give me some ears and a tail and send me off to Pleasure Island.”

Rina cracked a smile. “Well, any man who knows about Pinocchio can’t be all bad.”

“Thanks.”

She fidgeted a moment. “Did he do it?”