"Why do you think that was?" I asked, keeping my voice casual, hoping he might let slip why Mira took the murders of Esther and Willie so much to heart.

He disappointed me. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe it was because a child had died. Women are more emotional than men, especially when children are concerned. Or maybe it was because of how they died."

"What do you mean, how they died?"

"Well, I don't know the details, but I remember the papers implying that the murders were brutal. Was that right, do you know?"

"Not exactly," I said. "They died quickly enough, but the maniac disfigured their faces."

He grimaced, shaking his head. "Hard to imagine."

"Be glad you can only imagine it. I've seen the pictures. They're not pretty."

That brought the conversation to a standstill. I crushed out my cigarette. He finished his beer.

"I'm going to have another," he said. "Change your mind and join me?"

I shook first my head and then another cigarette from the pack. I had ignited it and taken a drag by the time he returned from the kitchen, a fresh bottle in his hand.

He dropped onto the sofa and said, "Are you making progress in your investigation? Any suspects?"

"I'm still working on it," I said, taking another drag.

He nodded sagaciously, and I got the impression he understood full well that so far I had next to nothing.

"Well, I'm not sure what help I can be, but I'll gladly answer any questions I can."

"Good. What I'm trying to do is get a clearer picture of who Esther was. I understand you met her on the night of the prison raid."

"That's right. I drove her to the safe house."

"You and Mira," I said.

"Yes."

"You drove them to the Klingers'."

A short pause. "You know about the Klingers?"

"Mira told me."

"I see. Yes, we went to the Klingers' house in Haifa."

"How was Esther that night?"

"How was she? Scared out of her mind. It's perfectly understandable. After all, she was just in the middle of a firefight. I was pretty shaken myself. That damned raid." He shook his head, and his tone became agitated. "The plan seemed solid, but everything went to hell within the first moments. If we had to execute the same plan a year or two later, the results would have been different. But back then we were untrained and inexperienced. We paid a heavy price."

His jaw was tight enough I expected to hear teeth grind. His gaze seemed to be turned inward, to where he stored bad memories. I let a few seconds slither by before asking, "Did you see her after that night?"

He took a quick sip of beer. "I came by with a camera and snapped their picture—hers and the boy's—for the false papers. I later returned when the papers were ready. So I went by there twice, maybe one other time."