Murder At The Mikvah (42 page)

He didn’t respond. It was then that Judith noticed Lewis. He was standing off to the side, studying the scene intently. She had nearly forgotten he was there.

“She has something to hide, Yehuda!” Judith said, returning her attention to the matter at hand. “Why else would she be sneaking around here?”

“Sneaking around? What are you talking about?” Yehuda asked.

“For one thing, why would she move out this morning only to come back a few hours later?” Judith barked. “I'll tell you why! She knew the house would be empty… and… and I caught her going through Hannah's things!”

Yehuda leaned back on the couch, covering his eyes with his hands.

“I knew there was something
not right
about that girl!” Judith said, looking directly at John, in her opinion, the wiser looking of the two detectives. “Girls lose their minds when it comes to men… especially men they can't have!” She shook her head. “I tried to warn my son, but…”

Yehuda popped up suddenly and held up his hand. “Mom, stop! Enough!”

But Judith ignored him and continued talking. “See, even now, it's hard for him to accept…”

“I
asked
her to come back!” Yehuda blurted out. “And, I
asked
her to go through Hannah's things!”

Judith’s jaw dropped.
Was it true then? Did Yehuda actually have a thing for Lauren too?

Yehuda sighed. “She did such a terrific job organizing the kitchen, I wanted her to do the same with Hannah's clothes. I thought it would be a nice homecoming surprise for her.”

Judith's felt a bit off kilter from this new information, but she wasn’t about to be side tracked. “Well, okay, so she was organizing Hannah's clothes… but that still doesn’t explain what she was doing at the mikvah.”

“I don't believe you, Mom! Yehuda said, shaking his head. Do you honestly think Lauren would
kill
a woman?” Yehuda knew his mother could be stubborn and opinionated, but this was an entirely new level she had stooped to.

“Yes, I do,” Judith said pointedly, turning her back on him. “I think that girl's capable of a lot more than you'll ever believe! Why do you think she started dolling herself up for you all of a sudden?”

“
Dolling herself up
? You mean the skirts?” He shook his head. “Lauren was wearing them as a favor to me… out of respect for the way Hannah dresses at home!”

“Bullshit!” Judith screamed. “That girl is a liar… she’s manipulative, and if I were you, I’d keep her the hell away from your children!”

Yehuda shook his head in disbelief. “You have it all wrong. You have
Lauren
all wrong.”

“No!” she came back at him, her finger pointed. “You're the one who…”

But what Yehuda said next stopped Judith in midsentence. “Lauren's like Sunny, Mom.”

“
What?
” Judith crossed her arms. “What did you just say?” Her face had gone completely white.

Yehuda took a deep breath. “Lauren's like Sunny, Mom.”

“But… but how… how do you…” Judith stammered.

“Pardon me,” Ron began, glancing over at John who seemed to be thinking deeply about something. “Who is
Sunny
?”

“Her daughter,” Lewis said. It was the first thing he'd said since Yehuda walked through the door.

Judith leaned back in the couch, biting her lip. “My daughter—Yehuda's sister…”

“Sunny's a lesbian,” Yehuda said suddenly.

The room went silent except for the sound of Lewis taking a deep breath.

“With all due respect, Mrs. Orenstein,” Ron said, “you've told us repeatedly over the past couple of hours that Lauren Donnelly had a romantic interest in your son—that she was
pursuing
him.”

“No. That's not true. I wasn’t pursuing Yehuda—ever.”

Yehuda spun around. “Lauren!”

Judith's hand flew over her heart in surprise. Lauren had returned? No, this didn’t make sense! Guilty people usually kept running!

I'm sorry,
Yehuda mouthed to Lauren. He looked genuinely ashamed that he had disclosed something so personal.

Lauren stepped through the doorway. She straightened up and looked Judith directly in the eye. “What Yehuda said is true. I am a lesbian… I came back because I realized I have nothing to be ashamed of,”—she paused—“except, that is, for the way I spoke to Hannah.” She turned to the detectives. “It's also true that I was at the mikvah the night Estelle was killed. I was. And I'm sorry…” One by one, she looked each of them in the eye. “I realize there might be some legal consequences, but I swear, I had nothing to do with what happened to either Estelle
or
Hannah!”

In the kitchen, Lauren slowly recounted everything for the detectives, with Yehuda standing by at her request. Lewis and Judith remained behind in the living room, but were able to hear every word.

“Hannah asked me to come and watch the kids for a few hours on the evening of October 24th,” Lauren began. “Yehuda was teaching a class and she had to get ready for the mikvah… Hannah took her bath while I put the kids to bed. Later, she started up about Jonathon, chiding me for not giving him a chance. It seemed Hannah was
always
on my case about men! She accused me of being too picky, told me again that I wasn’t getting any younger… Anyway, Yehuda came home from the center a little after 9:30 and I left. It was pouring outside and I walked up the block to where my car was parked. It wouldn’t start…
again
. I was so upset I sat there for a minute and just bawled my eyes out. Normally I would have just stayed over at the Orensteins, but I didn’t want to deal with Hannah when she got back from the mikvah. I've stayed over at Janine's before—her apartment is within walking distance—but I knew she was away with Howard for two days. Then I remembered that I had a copy of her apartment key… I had never used it before, but I figured I would stay there for the night. When I got to her apartment I saw her car keys on the kitchen counter. I thought about driving home, sleeping in my own bed, and then just returning the keys in the morning. I really wanted to get as far away from Arden Station as possible.”

“And then what happened?” Ron asked.

“I got into Janine's car and headed for the expressway. I was thinking about Hannah, getting more and more angry… I decided to finally put an end to all the matchmaking business—confess the truth,
my
truth to her—and let the chips fall where they would. Do you have any idea how hard it is living a lie, Detective?”

“So you drove to the mikvah?” John prompted.

“Uh huh. I changed direction and drove to the mikvah. It was a little after ten when I got there. The door was locked so I rang the bell. Estelle Ginsberg answered. I told her I needed to see Hannah, that it was urgent. I stood in the waiting area and Estelle tapped on one of the bathroom doors. About a minute later, Hannah came out in her robe. She looked very concerned. Of course she thought something must be wrong at home or why else would I be there? She asked me if the kids were okay. I told her everything was fine… I began having second thoughts about being there, but it was too late. For a minute, we just stood there in the hallway, staring at each other, and then finally, I just blurted it out.”

“What did you say exactly?” Ron asked.

“I said, 'Hannah, I have something to tell you'.” Lauren shook her head, remembering. “Then it was like the levee just broke… all those years of keeping it bottled up, I guess. I just lost it! I remember speaking really loudly, really fast…. something like, 'I'm a lesbian! I've known since elementary school… I like
women
… so you can stop all the bullshit about trying to find the right guy for me… there
isn't
one!' I could see Estelle out of the corner of my eye. She was staring at me with what looked like a combination of confusion and disgust. I'm sure Hannah saw it too. She told me I should leave, something about the mikvah not being an appropriate place for this discussion. Then I left. I drove the car back to Janine's apartment and stayed there for the night, although I didn’t sleep a wink. The next morning—Tuesday—I took the 6:40 train into the city and went home. I didn’t learn anything about the mikvah crime, or what had happened to Estelle and Hannah until Rachel called me Thursday morning.”

“October 27th was the first time you spoke to Yehuda?” Ron asked.

“Uh huh. I was totally surprised by the call. After what I told Hannah Monday night, I didn’t expect to hear from any of them ever again.”

Yehuda, who had been quiet during the entire discourse, finally spoke up. “You thought Hannah disapproved?”

“Of me being a lesbian?” Lauren snorted. “Of course she disapproved! She's an orthodox Jew!… It didn’t even occur to her that not everyone is… that some of us are… that I could be gay.”

It wasn’t long before the detectives had all the information they needed. A few more questions confirmed that indeed, Hannah and Estelle were both alive and well when Lauren arrived at the mikvah. But, unfortunately, other than Mickey Landis and his Dalmatian, Charlie, she had seen no one else in the area.

“You're right. It didn’t occur to her.” Yehuda said after the two officers had gone. “Hannah called me that night… after you left the mikvah… and told me what you had said.”

“And?”

“And to be honest, she was very surprised.”

Lauren shook her head in disbelief. “I can't believe you've known the whole time.”

“Yes. But only because after she found out, Hannah felt terrible about how she had carried on all those months.”

“The whole husband search…”

Yehuda nodded. “All along, she thought you were hesitant because you had been hurt in a past relationship.”

“Well, in a way, I was. It just wasn’t the kind of relationship she assumed it was.” Lauren took a deep breath. “Her name was Maxine, but everyone called her Max. She was already involved with someone—one of my supervisors at work actually. There was a commitment ceremony and everything and I kind of stole her away for a while. It was wrong, I know… and it ended up blowing up in my face.”

“That was the real reason you left your job?”

“Pretty much. But I've known for a while PR wasn’t for me,” Lauren said. “Yehuda, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“You say that Hannah felt bad when she called you from the mikvah, but then why did she seem so
angry
when I told her?”

Yehuda thought for a moment. “Honestly, knowing Hannah, it was probably more that she was caught off guard. She probably didn’t want Estelle—or anyone else—hearing something so private. When she called me, she told me she was going to talk to you the next morning and apologize… Unfortunately, she was never able to do that…”

Lauren shivered at the sudden realization that within minutes of leaving the mikvah, a killer had struck. For all she knew, the guy could have been hiding in the bushes, waiting for his opportunity.

“And what did
you
think when you heard?” Lauren was surprised to hear herself speak the question out loud. She couldn’t deny that his opinion of her mattered. “Were you completely shocked?”

Yehuda didn’t need time to contemplate his answer. “No. Actually I wasn't.” He smiled. “Now when my sister Sunny came out, it was a different story. That was years ago, right around the time when I earned
shmita
—my rabbinical credentials.” He smiled at the memory. “Lets just say my opinions were a bit more black and white back then. I didn’t see a whole lot of gray.”

“And now?”

“I'd like to think I'm a bit wiser, and a lot more accepting.”

“But doesn’t the Torah say that I'm an
abomination
?”

Yehuda sighed. “Yes, but it also says it's an abomination to eat non-kosher food.”

He noticed that she was tearing up. “Anyway,” he continued, “how could a so called
abomination
bring such light into the lives of children? He looked directly into her eyes. “Lauren, you've been a God send to us, you've helped us get through this difficult time… my children, my wife, and I… we're all tremendously grateful.”

“You have to know that I would have never
chosen
to be like this,” she continued “For years, I prayed that God would change me… make me normal.”

“Look,” he said gently, “we do not understand why God created some individuals with homosexual preferences… The Torah doesn’t discuss whether sexual orientation is genetic or environmental. But what the Torah
does
assure us of is this: without exception, we are all beloved in the eyes of God.”

To her surprise, he took her hand. “We’re all climbing the ladder, Lauren, trying to be better people. Isn’t that the point? One step at a time, we move up. The Jewish rituals are there to help us along this path, but it’s not
all or nothing
. To say that one’s sexuality negates their place on the ladder to begin with… well, I don’t believe that.”