Stone Kiss (23 page)

“What about Mr. Jaime? Is he a nice man, too?”

“Berry nice,” the shorter woman said. “But not with the jokes. Not like Mr. Ephraim. He’s with the jokes. And Mr. Ephraim
always gives me
mucho ayuda
.”

Ayuda
meant help. Decker felt the air turning even colder, his breath a wisp of mist in front of his nose. Daylight was receding
quickly. Within a couple of hours, it would be dark. “You two work together.”

“
Sí, sí
. We stock the shelves together. Sometimes I go on top, sometimes he go on top.”

The man said, “You can go on top of me, Luisa.”

Luisa shot back a gesture that was less than kind. Then her face saddened. “He talk to me, Mr. Ephraim. He ask about my children.
He once give me money for a parking ticket. Fifty dollars. I pay him back, but he don’ ask me for the money.” Her eyes watered.
“
Es
berry sad.”

Decker nodded his agreement.

Luisa rubbed her hands together. “
Es
cold, no?”

“You want to borrow my gloves?” Decker asked. “I have pockets.”

She looked at the leather accoutrements enviously.

“Honestly, I’m fine.” He gave them to the woman.

Reluctantly, she put them on. “
Gracias
.”

“
Por favor
.” Decker stuck his hands in his overcoat. “That was Mr. Ephraim’s job? To stock the shelves?”

The man spoke up. “Mr. Ephraim? He do everything. He stock the shelves, he work at the cash register, he sweep the floors.
I see him two, three times cleaning the toilets. Nothing is too small for him. He is berry nice man. He never complains. He
don’ yell. Every time I see him, he
es
happy. Big smile.” He looked down. “I will miss him. It is terrible.”

“Yes, it is terrible,” Decker said. “Was Ephraim resentful to be doing all the small stuff?”

All of them shook their heads no.

“Ephraim was happy for any job,” the man said. “He
es
lucky the old man loved him so much.”

Marta burst into tears. “It is berry bad! Poor Mr. Lieber.”

“It is terrible!” Luisa concurred.

Decker nodded, then waited before he spoke again. “Did Ephraim seem preoccupied lately?
Preocupado?
”

The trio exchanged innocent glances.

“No’ to me,” Marta said. “He same to me.”

But the man was looking somewhere over Decker’s shoulder. “
Señor?
”

Luisa said, “Teddy, he is talking to you.”

“Me?” Teddy answered.

“Did Mr. Ephraim seem preoccupied?”

“He is beeg man with
responsabilidad
.” Teddy pulled a cigarette pack out of his pocket. He lit up. “I thin’ maybe he worried that Mr. Jaime don’ think he’s doing
a good job.”

“Did they fight?” Decker inquired.

“No’ too much. No’ too loud. Sometimes he don’ like Mr. Ephraim talking to the womens.”

“Mr. Ephraim likes all the womens,” Luisa stated. “He nice to the girls, but he was berry nice to the old womens. He makes
jokes with them, and they laugh. He
es
berry nice to everybody. Always with a smile… big smiles.”

“Did he have a girlfriend?” Decker asked. “Ephraim?”

Luisa thought for a moment, then shrugged ignorance. She turned to the other woman. “
¿Que piense, Marta?
You see Mr. Ephraim with a girlfriend?”

“No, never. I don’t see him with a girl.
Es
berry sad that he don’t have a wife. Mr. Ephraim loved the kids.”

“Yes, I heard he was close to Shaynda—his niece,” Decker said. “
La hija de Señor Jaime
.”

“He nice to all de kids from Mr. Jaime,” Marta answered. “If Mr. Jaime… If he bring the kids to the stores, Mr. Ephraim plays
the games with them. He likes Street Fighter Two.”

“It sounds like he was a nice man,” Decker said.

“Berry nice.” Luisa’s voice cracked. “It is no good for the father. My heart is very heavy for him—Mr. Lieber. Ten years ago,
his wife… she died.” She leaned over and whispered, “Cancer.”

“Oh, he cry and cry,” Marta answered.

“Berry sad,” Luisa concurred.

Decker turned to Luisa. “You said that Mr. Jaime watches you like a hawk.”

“He don’ mean nothing bad.” She furrowed her brow. “There
es
lots of stealing in the stores. We have alarm…a sensor with the bars that you stick on the packages. Then you swipe the bars
at the cash register, and that turns off the sensor. But bad people don’t care. They run into the streets. It is berry bad.”

“Very bad,” Decker agreed. “But why would Mr. Jaime watch you, Luisa? You’ve worked for Mr. Lieber… how long?”

“Twelve years.”

“Exactly. Why would he think that you would steal from the store?”

“I don’ think he
think
I steal,” Luisa clarified. “He is just a careful man.”

Or the store was having a big theft problem, Decker thought. Maybe that’s what the fights were about.

Teddy was talking. “… worked for Mr. Lieber for seven years. I never take nothin’. Not even a battery.”

“No one say you steal,” Marta said. “Why you get so excited?”

Teddy took a deep breath. “Mr. Jaime talk about inventory to Mr. Ephraim. I hear them say that someone was stealing. It’s
not me.”

“Not me, either,” Marta said.

Decker remembered the boxes of inventory lists found in Ephraim’s apartment. Was Ephraim checking up on someone, or was he
covering his tracks? Decker said, “Any idea who was stealing?”

Teddy shook his head vehemently. “Mr. Lieber gave Mr. Ephraim the inventory because Mr. Jaime hated to do it. It is boring,
counting this and that. Ephraim don’t mind it. That was Mr. Jaime. He always gave Ephraim the long and boring jobs.”

“Why not?” Marta questioned. “Mr. Ephraim only work mebbe two years. Mr. Jaime worked years and years when Mr. Ephraim was…
well, you know.”

“He do the drugs,” Luisa whispered to Decker.

Decker nodded. “Was Mr. Ephraim angry about doing inventory?”

Just then, the Community Hall doors opened, the black glob of human mass splitting like a dividing microbe. From the opening
yawn came the pallbearers, lumbering through the crowd, hoisting a pine casket on their shoulders.

Decker pointed to Jonathan. “That’s my brother. The one in the far left corner.”

“Vaya con Dios
,
”
Luisa whispered. Then she started crying.
“Vaya con Dios
.
”
She found Marta, and the two of them hugged each other as they wept together.

Decker spotted his wife, sobbing into a handkerchief. “I’d better go to my family.”

“Your gloves,
señor
.” Luisa began to peel them off her hands.

Decker stopped her. “You can send them back to me when you get home. Mr. Lieber will send them to my brother. He knows my
address.”

“You are berry nice.”

He thanked her, then thanked them all. He pushed his way through the thickness and went over to comfort Rina.

I
t was after five by the time
Ephraim was laid to rest, the sunlight withering like yesterday’s prom corsage. The experience was emotionally wrenching,
and Decker needed a good stiff scotch before meeting with Donatti. Plus, he had yet to find the exact location of the meeting
spot because all Donatti had given him was an address. It took him over an hour just to deduce that the place was in New Jersey.

Decker had suggested a quick dinner before he went out, but Rina had other things in mind. The proper thing to do was to make
a shiva call, to personally express condolences to Emmanuel Lieber and his four remaining children, one of them Decker’s sister-in-law.
As much as Decker wanted to talk to the old man—he wanted to get the father’s perspective on his son’s new life as a sober
man—he couldn’t deal with Chaim and Minda Lieber
and
Christopher Donatti in the same evening. Because Shayndie’s welfare outweighed protocol, he told Rina to go without him.

“But Jonathan’s expecting you.” They were outside the cemetery gates, at the ritual washing fountain. The sky had turned from
ashen gray to deep charcoal, and the temperature had dropped even further. As Rina poured ice-cold water over her hands, her
fingers turned ketchup red. Silently, she recited the traditional prayer made upon exiting a graveyard.

“It can’t be helped.” Decker took the washing cup from her. “With
the new scheduling, I’ll have time to pay a shiva call to the family tomorrow. Can you bum a ride from Jonathan?”

“That’s not a problem.” Rina dried her stiff hands with a damp paper towel. “If I can find him.”

“We were among the first to leave. He has to stop here first, right?”

Rina nodded.

“So you’ll be able to find him.” Decker rinsed his hands and muttered the Hebrew words. “Just tell him that I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“That’s his van. It might be nice if you told him yourself—”

“For goodness’ sake!” Decker grumbled. “All right,
I’ll
tell him!”

Red-eyed, Jonathan got out of the vehicle and shuffled, stoop-shouldered, over to the washing area, his arm linked about his
wife’s arm, both of them weathered by the tragedies of the past few days. Raisie had fresh tear marks on her cheeks, her nose
pinkened by cold and sorrow. Decker tapped his brother on his shoulder. Jonathan pivoted and looked up, a stunned expression
on his face. Decker crooked a finger, and Jonathan broke away from Raisie.

“Can you take Rina to your in-laws, then back to Brooklyn?”

“You’re not coming?”

“I can’t, Jon. Something came up—”

“What?” The rabbi’s pale face instantly filled with color. “Are you on to something?”

“No, not at all,” Decker lied. “Just tying up loose ends with the detective.”

“You wouldn’t miss shiva for that,” Jonathan snapped back. “You’ve got a lead.”

Decker pulled him aside, away from the open ears. “Jonathan, listen up, because this is important. I’m going to make myself
very clear. This stays between you and me.”

The rabbi nodded eagerly.

“No, I have nothing to tell you,” Decker insisted. “You’ll have to trust me. Still, you can’t talk about me to anyone—not
your brother-in-law, not your father-in-law. If they ask where I am, tell them I’m not feeling well.”

“Yes, yes, I understand!” He grabbed Decker’s jacket. “I’m your clergyman, Akiva. Just tell me! You’ll have confidentiality.
I can’t and
won’t breathe a word of it to anyone. It’s not fair to shut me out! Please! Now more than ever, I need to know.”

“Stop right there!” Decker tried to control his temper. “Let me try again.” He looked at his brother with stern eyes. “I’m
not telling you anything, and you don’t say a thing to anyone! If you shoot off your mouth, if you even give someone the wrong
impression with a little tiny look, you’re going to
fuck
everything up! Is that
clear
enough?”

The rabbi recoiled at the obscenity.

Decker ran his hand over his face. Dealing with Donatti was turning him into a bastard. “I’m sorry.”

“I understand.” Jonathan put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I have no idea what you’re dealing with, Akiva, but obviously
it’s something or somebody dangerous. Don’t give it another moment’s thought. I know how to make excuses and make them believable.
They’ll never suspect a thing.”

Decker exhaled loudly. “Jon, you’ve just got to trust me.”

“Of course I trust you. I’m very sorry to intrude.”

Decker tried to calm his rapid breathing. “I’ll go get Rina.”

“Akiva.”

Decker waited.

“Thank you.” He reached out toward his brother. “Thank you for everything.”

Sealing the deal with a bear hug.

It took Decker over three hours to find
a
place, and after so many twists and turns and dead ends, he wasn’t even sure it was
the
place. It was underneath deserted elevated train tracks, a few blocks from the numbers that Donatti had given him. He had
followed instructions, but Chris had given him right and left, instead of east and west. Decker was somewhere out in Jersey,
that much he knew, away from anything populated, away from anything civilized. The last city that he remembered driving through
was Camden—a poverty-stricken, blighted, poorly lit area of deteriorating brick tenements and boarded-up, abandoned buildings.
Some time ago, Decker recalled reading an article about urban renewal in the city. From what he had seen, it wasn’t evident.

It was almost eleven. Standing in dirty, damp mist that chilled him down to the marrow, with only a tire jack at his feet
for protection, he rocked on his soles and rubbed his bare hands constantly to keep sensation in his fingertips. Why the hell
did he give his gloves to Luisa? Ah well, maybe he’d pump her later on and she’d remember his act of chivalry… give him something
juicy to work with.

His car was parked fifty yards away—as close as he could get to the spot. Distant highway sounds could be heard—a roar of
a motorcycle, the rumble of a big rig, an occasional honk. Beyond manufactured noise, the area was eerily silent.