“Wait, wait, wait… what was this?”

“About two years ago. Ephraim was very excited. He felt that more stores would mean more responsibility, more chances for him to prove his mettle.” Schnitman blinked several times. “Don’t you people do your homework?”

“I just got out here last Friday. I’m not with the NYPD. Talking to you is doing my homework. Now go on.”

“That was rude. I’m sorry.”

Decker looked as his watch. “You have around six minutes. I don’t want to make you late.”

“It’s all right. It’s an old story, Lieutenant Decker. Old man works up the stores from nothing; then the son gets in with grandiose ideas to make it bigger and better. It appears that Chaim took out loans for expansion; then the recession hit. If that wasn’t bad enough, the city was hit with the terrorist attacks. Business fell drastically. So not only was the expansion put on hold, but now Chaim was facing the more pressing question—how to pay back the bank?”

“Chaim stole from the coffers,” Decker said.

The Chasid shook his head. “Chaim was in charge of the coffers. Stealing from your own store’s inventory would be like stealing from your own wallet. You need a third party to rip off.”

“Insurance fraud.”

“Exactly. You put in claims for stolen items that you’ve never owned. Or you steal your own items out of warehousing, put in claims for them, then resell them on the black market—double-dipping. The problem is that it’s all penny-ante stuff—pocket change. Plus, you do too much of it, red flags go up. When you’re in real trouble—and I don’t know if Chaim was or was not in real trouble— then it’s time to hire the professional fire starter.”

Decker regarded the Chasid. “You seem to know a lot about this kind of thing.”

“Emek Refa’im is a haven for those of us addicted to drugs. Many of us had big problems that led to drug addiction.”

“Things like guilty consciences.”

“Precisely,” Schnitman said. “Ephraim appears to be no exception. Maybe that’s what he was conflicted about, wondering if the store was going to burn down—”

“No,” Decker interrupted. “I think if Ephraim knew that Chaim was planning to burn the store down, he would have definitely gone to the old man.”

“Yes, you’re probably right about that.”

“It had to have been something else,” Decker said. “You’re sure it was business practices that were troubling him?”

“I’m not sure of anything. I’m just repeating what someone told me.” He looked upward. “I probably shouldn’t have even done that.”

“I’d like to talk to the sponsor.”

“The truth is, I don’t know where the person lives. I don’t even know the last name. Some people are like that, I’m a little more progressive, but even I play it really close to the bone. It’s not for my sake—I’m not ashamed of what I’m doing—but if it got out—my problems—my children would suffer greatly, especially in the future. It would be hard for them to find a shiddach.”