“A little. Fill me in.”

“Several members of the Jewish community who were on the school board were indicted for commingling public-school funds with the bank accounts of their religious schools. There were also some allegations of inflated enrollments to get more money from the school district. Finally, something about welfare fraud and food stamps. You’re working with some real fine fellows up there.”

“Not most of them.”

“Enough of them to make it look bad.”

“You said several members. What are you talking about? Two, maybe three people? I’d say that’s less than par for the course in city politics.”

“Don’t get defensive.” A long pause. “You’re probably right, Pete. It’s just that they’re visible and hold themselves up to something better. Makes you fair game for getting shot.”

Decker conceded the point. “What can you do? People are people.”

“It feeds into the stereotype. If I didn’t know Rina, I would think you are absolutely out of your friggin’ mind to be associated with them. Even with Rina, I sometimes think you’ve gone overboard.”

“That’s Mom talking.”

“No, Mom thinks you’ve gone overboard for different reasons. She’s worried you’re going to go to hell.”

“Tell her I’m used to warm climates. You know, Jews don’t hold a monopoly on dishonesty. Some of the most religious Baptists have not been paragons of virtue, either.”

“That’s true, but right now you’re not involved with sleazy Baptists. But you may be involved with sleazy Jews.”

“You just said that the Liebers didn’t produce hits.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re clean. It could mean they haven’t been caught. Anyway, let me finish, all right?”

“There’s more?”

“Yes, there’s more. Quinton produced a couple of hits in my district. For what it’s worth, several teens who were vacationing in Miami with their parents were arrested during a rave raid. The kids were popping ecstasy. I believe they were originally slapped with drug possession, but the charges were knocked down to the lesser misdemeanor of disorderly conduct. Negotiations obviously. Someone got paid off.”

Decker’s brain took off. The lone pill in Ephraim’s hotel room.

“Bro, are you with me?” Randy said into the receiver.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Ecstasy, huh?”

“Yeah, ecstasy. That’s usually the drug of choice at the raves.”

“What happened to them?”

“They were juveniles. The records are sealed.”

“When was this?”

“Recent. Six months ago.”

Around the time Shayndie was hanging out at the mall.

“Sealed, huh?” Decker questioned.

“Like a drum. I have no idea who they are. However, if Ryan Anderson and Philip Caldwell turn up as problem children in Quinton, well, no one would be surprised. Helpful?”

“Very. Thank you, Randal.”

“You can thank me by keeping your promise.”

“I swear—”

“Yeah, yeah. By the way, you must know that ecstasy is a vice of your brethren.”

“What are you talking about?” Decker asked.

“Israeli Mafia. The Oded Tuito case up in New York? You do know about that, don’t you?”

Decker didn’t. Even as a lieutenant in charge of the detectives’ squad, he had little if nothing to do with either Vice or Narcotics. They were in separate divisions. Plus, he had lived almost all his police life three thousand miles away from the East Coast. “Tell me about it.”