“No’ to me,” Marta said. “He same to me.”

But the man was looking somewhere over Decker’s shoulder. “Señor?”

Luisa said, “Teddy, he is talking to you.”

“Me?” Teddy answered.

“Did Mr. Ephraim seem preoccupied?”

“He is beeg man with responsabilidad.” Teddy pulled a cigarette pack out of his pocket. He lit up. “I thin’ maybe he worried that Mr. Jaime don’ think he’s doing a good job.”

“Did they fight?” Decker inquired.

“No’ too much. No’ too loud. Sometimes he don’ like Mr. Ephraim talking to the womens.”

“Mr. Ephraim likes all the womens,” Luisa stated. “He nice to the girls, but he was berry nice to the old womens. He makes jokes with them, and they laugh. He es berry nice to everybody. Always with a smile… big smiles.”

“Did he have a girlfriend?” Decker asked. “Ephraim?”

Luisa thought for a moment, then shrugged ignorance. She turned to the other woman. “¿Que piense, Marta? You see Mr. Ephraim with a girlfriend?”

“No, never. I don’t see him with a girl. Es berry sad that he don’t have a wife. Mr. Ephraim loved the kids.”

“Yes, I heard he was close to Shaynda—his niece,” Decker said. “La hija de Señor Jaime.”

“He nice to all de kids from Mr. Jaime,” Marta answered. “If Mr. Jaime… If he bring the kids to the stores, Mr. Ephraim plays the games with them. He likes Street Fighter Two.”

“It sounds like he was a nice man,” Decker said.

“Berry nice.” Luisa’s voice cracked. “It is no good for the father. My heart is very heavy for him—Mr. Lieber. Ten years ago, his wife… she died.” She leaned over and whispered, “Cancer.”

“Oh, he cry and cry,” Marta answered.

“Berry sad,” Luisa concurred.

Decker turned to Luisa. “You said that Mr. Jaime watches you like a hawk.”

“He don’ mean nothing bad.” She furrowed her brow. “There es lots of stealing in the stores. We have alarm…a sensor with the bars that you stick on the packages. Then you swipe the bars at the cash register, and that turns off the sensor. But bad people don’t care. They run into the streets. It is berry bad.”

“Very bad,” Decker agreed. “But why would Mr. Jaime watch you, Luisa? You’ve worked for Mr. Lieber… how long?”

“Twelve years.”

“Exactly. Why would he think that you would steal from the store?”

“I don’ think he think I steal,” Luisa clarified. “He is just a careful man.”

Or the store was having a big theft problem, Decker thought. Maybe that’s what the fights were about.

Teddy was talking. “… worked for Mr. Lieber for seven years. I never take nothin’. Not even a battery.”

“No one say you steal,” Marta said. “Why you get so excited?”

Teddy took a deep breath. “Mr. Jaime talk about inventory to Mr. Ephraim. I hear them say that someone was stealing. It’s not me.”

“Not me, either,” Marta said.

Decker remembered the boxes of inventory lists found in Ephraim’s apartment. Was Ephraim checking up on someone, or was he covering his tracks? Decker said, “Any idea who was stealing?”