The month after the murders, I thought, recalling how Moshe had evaded telling me precisely when he and his wife had moved to Netanya from Haifa. Now I got to wondering why they'd chosen to move in the first place.

24

A handwritten schedule posted at the central bus terminal in Netanya informed me that the bus to Tel Aviv would be leaving in half an hour. I went in search of a phone and found one at a grocery store a few doors west of the terminal. The proprietor wanted money in advance. I paid him and rang Reuben's number. He picked up in the middle of the second ring.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Netanya," I said.

"What are you doing there?"

"Interviewing a couple who knew the victims."

"Come up with anything?"

"Not on the face of it, no. How about you? Did you find anything?"

"Yes." I could hear the rustle of papers being moved on his end. "I checked those names you wanted. I'll start with the list of women. All but one are alive and kicking. The one who's dead passed on during childbirth. The child died too, but I guess that has no bearing on your investigation, does it?"

"No," I said, feeling a pang of sadness at the thought of the dead woman and baby.

"I suppose that means Manny Orrin is off the hook."

"It's not proof positive, but I think so. I didn't like him for it anyhow. Does he have a record?"

"No. Neither does Natalie Davidson. Her husband, Alon Davidson, is another matter."

"What did he do?" I said, liberating a cigarette from the pack in my pocket and sticking it between my lips. I struck a match and lit up.

"He was arrested eight years ago on suspicion of assault. He cut up some guy pretty badly in a bar brawl. According to the report, the guy spent a week in the hospital. Davidson spent two nights in jail before being released. He was never charged."

"Why not?"

"The only person who said he saw the whole altercation from start to finish swore the other guy initiated the fight by swinging a bottle at Davidson. Davidson had a knife on him. He's a fisherman, apparently, and he claimed the knife was a tool he used on his boat. He said he acted in self-defense."

"A week in the hospital, that's some defense."

"I'd say."

"He used a knife—that's interesting."

"I thought so too. Think he might be your killer, Adam?"

"I don't know," I said, tapping ash to the gray tile floor of the grocery store. "I haven't seen him yet, and he had an alibi." I took another drag. "Reuben, if this was a bar fight, how come only one witness?"