“Probably a fraction of the cost, too,” Decker added. “I’m about to redo my kitchen. This is giving me ideas.”

Jill lit up. “If you want, I’d be happy to show you around our plant. We get old cabinets all the time. Beautiful cabinets, Detective, made of solid wood. Not the current processed plywood.”

It sounded very tempting. But not only was it unethical, Decker could just picture how Rina would react, knowing that the cabinets came from the family of a boy who had tattooed the synagogue walls with Hitler should have killed more of you. It had taken Decker a while to convince her to ride in his revamped Porsche.

Carter was offering his business card. “The number on the back is my private work number. Feel free to use it.”

Decker took the card to (a) have the number and (b) be polite.

“Please sit down,” Jill said. “Anywhere is fine.”

Decker decided on a rose-on-the-vine-patterned sofa. It was very comfortable. Carter took up an overstuffed chair and looked around the house as if observing it for the first time.

“My wife has a designer’s eye.” Carter’s smile was open—a slash of solid white among his gray and brown facial hair. “She knows how to put things together. It’s an art.”

The man was acting all too jocular. Thin and short, he was nearly swallowed up by the chair’s ballooned pillows. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No, I’m fine, Mr. Golding.”

“Call us Jill and Carter,” Jill said. Her elfin face had been freshly scrubbed, leaving her skin clear and shiny. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked less stressed and years younger. Both of them wore denim work shirts and jeans. Decker felt stiff in a suit.

Jill said, “It is so fortuitous that you dropped by. It’s so much easier to talk face-to-face.”

“I’d be happy to talk.” But Decker’s mind was on Ricky Moke and Darrell Holt: if they had anything to do with Ernesto and the vandalism. “But if it’s okay with you, I’d first like to have a few words with Ernesto.”

“He’s not here,” Carter said. “He’s with some relatives. All the hullabaloo has left him zapped. More than that, he needs time and solitude to think about the magnitude of his actions.”

“Maybe I can stop by…where he is right now.” Decker smiled. “It would help me out a lot to ask him a few questions.”

Jill sighed. “I’m so sorry, Detective, but his lawyer will not permit you to see him without his counsel. But if you’d like to leave a message, we’ll relay it.”