He was able to keep his job and his equilibrium because he was working twice as hard as he should have been. He’d get through it—he had no choice, his family needed the money—but it would take a while. Rina’s confession had helped, but Decker knew she wasn’t being completely honest with him. By and by, it would all come out.

“How much longer?”

Decker jerked his head up. Rina was dressed in black sweats. With no makeup and her hair down, she could have passed for her twenties.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Eleven-thirty.”

“Did I say something about coming in at eleven?”

“You did.”

“Sorry.”

“S’right.” Rina stood behind him and began to massage his neck. “You look tense. Maybe this will help.”

“Oh man, that feels good. What’s the catch?”

“I’ve got another file for you to look at.”

“Now?”

“It’ll take you five minutes.”

“Nothing ever takes five minutes anymore.”

Rina gave his back a slap. “Thank goodness for that. Now I’m going to make some tea while you clear the desk.”

“Yes, ma’am. Do I get tea, too?”

“You do.”

He smiled, watching her sway as she went. By the time she returned from the kitchen, the desktop was visible. She was carrying a tray with a pot of tea, two mugs, and a Pendaflex folder. She set the tray down and pulled up a chair.

“How about you pour and I explain what I’ve done?”

“Are you ever not organized, Rina?”

“It’s part of my job description. I don’t see you pouring.”

Decker took up the steaming teapot dressed in a quilted cozy, held the lid, and poured two cups of steaming, brewed tea. “One lump or two? Or three if you count me.”

She kissed his cheek. “You are far from a lump. And you know I take my tea plain.” She pulled out three neat stacks of typewritten pages. “Maybe you’d like to take notes?”

Decker laughed and held up a pen. “I’m ready, Professor.”

“Very funny. This sheet has the names of all the people in the file.”

“Who translated the file for you?”

“Laurie Manheim’s mother-in-law. But we didn’t get through all of it. Do you know Laurie? She’s Rabbi Manheim’s wife.”

“I know neither Laurie nor Rabbi Manheim.”

“He teaches at the high school. Yonkie had him for tenth-grade Gemara. I got to know him very well because Yonkie wasn’t doing well in his class.”

“Well, he’s doing well now. The child has hit his stride.”

“Yeshiva life agrees with him.”

“More like college, Rina. But we digress.”

“Indeed.” Rina smiled. “Anyway, as far as Laurie’s mother-in-law could tell, I think this guy at the top of the list—Rudolf Kalmer—was the lead investigator in the case. But this other guy— Heinreich Messersmit—was also involved.”

“Partners?”

“I don’t know. It almost seems that both of them were working on it, but independently. Different handwriting.”

“Who’s this number three guy—Axel Berg?”

“He came in a little later. Berg had been working on two other unsolved homicides, and we think that Kalmer and Messersmit asked him for a consult on my grandmother’s death. Berg later took over.”