“Is that what you’re telling me to do?”

“Of course not, Yonkie. This must be absolutely shocking to you even if you didn’t know him all that well.”

Jacob made a face. “I’m also upset about Eema finding out about the parties. Apparently, she knew about it all along.”

“Apparently.”

“Did you know that she knew?”

“Not until a few hours ago. She’s also good at hiding things.”

“She said all the right things,” Jacob said. “But deep down, I know she doesn’t trust me.”

“Jacob, she loves you so much. She’s much more concerned about your future than your past.”

“I know. She wants me to be happy.”

“Yes.”

“You want me to be happy.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure Ernesto Golding’s parents wanted him to be happy.”

Decker’s eyes clouded with sadness. “Yes.”

“Did you talk to them?”

“Yes.”

The boy looked down. “Was it awful?”

“Yes.” Decker drummed his fingers on the table. “Before this happened…had you ever heard about either of the Baldwins from any of your old party friends, Jacob?”

The boy looked up. “Of course. Everyone knows the Baldwins. It wasn’t only that group, Dad. Several kids from the yeshiva had seen them. They’ve got a real racket going.”

Decker’s interest was piqued. “What kind of racket?”

“I don’t mean racket.” The teen searched for the right words. “Just that he was very successful in getting kids into prestigious universities.”

“Did he tutor kids for their entrance exams?”

Jacob thought a moment. “His wife—the other Dr. Baldwin—did a lot of college counseling. You know, schools are supposed to have guidance counselors. But a lot of them are not very good, so parents hire out private college counselors.”

“Private counselors…” Decker thought a moment. “At big fees, no doubt.”

“I guess.”

“What ever happened to kids just reading the catalogues?”

“It’s a tough world out there, Dad. Lots of universities and lots of competition. The key is to match the right kid to the right counselor, because certain counselors have more pull with certain colleges.”

“What do you mean by pull?”

“Just what it sounds like.”

“To me, it smacks of nepotism…or something illegal.”

“Not any more illegal than the old boys’ networks that excluded blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians—”

“Discrimination is illegal, Yonkie.”

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The top universities are private and can basically do whatever they want to do. You know about legacies, right? If you’re a legacy and pay full tuition, that’s better than a 4.0 for lots of private universities. It’s different in the public universities like UCLA. It’s totally based on points on the first round.”

“Points?”