Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet (20 page)

Lanigan did not answer immediately, he tilted back in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling. Jennings’ eyes were focused on him expectantly, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbling in his scrawny neck. Finally, Lanigan spoke, his face still turned upward. “Maybe it was a mistake sending you to the FBI school and assigning you last year to that course in Boston. You’ve taken on big-city ways, Eban, and big-city attitudes. Something like this, if it had happened in Boston, I suppose they would immediately have brought Aptaker in for questioning, a couple of cops would have gone down to his store and taken him into custody right then and there. If there were customers in the store, too bad. If he was alone at the time, he’d have to close up for the day, and then, after they questioned him, if they found they couldn’t charge him, they’d let him go, maybe they’d say they were sorry, and the poor bugger would go back to his store, happy that he’d been cleared.”

He sat up straight and looked directly at Jennings. “But then he’d find out that he didn’t have a store anymore. Word would have got around. Dammit, it’s a drugstore. If there was the slightest suspicion that he might have made a mistake on a prescription, who’d bring in one to be filled? But this is a small town, Eban, the people here are our friends and neighbors. What’s more, they vote our salaries every year at the town meeting, we can’t take a chance hurting the innocent while chasing after the guilty.”

“But you said yourself you were going to talk to Marcus Aptaker.”

“Sure, but I wouldn’t have had him picked up and brought here. I planned to drop in on him when no one was around, we would have a friendly conversation and I would explain the situation to him, then if he made an admission, I’d charge him. Or if he didn’t, if he couldn’t come up with an explanation, then I’d check the whole thing through first and make sure I had an iron-clad case before I’d go ahead. I wouldn’t be afraid he’d leave town.”

“Well, McLane –”

“McLane is different.” the chief interrupted.

“Why?”

“Because he just works there,” Lanigan said. “It’s not his store. It’s no skin off his nose if the store is ruined, he just gets a job someplace else, and if I were to have McLane brought in, or even if I went down there and spoke to him, even if he were cleared, he’d talk, he’d complain about dumb cops every chance he got, and that’s the difference: because Marcus wouldn’t talk, knowing it would hurt his business, and he knows me well enough to know that I wouldn’t talk.”

“So what are you going to do?” Jennings asked.

“Oh, I’ll manage to see McLane, but I’ll try to arrange it so that it’s accidental-like,” Lanigan replied. “In the meantime, I want you to go back to Revere and get whatever you can on McLane. Trace him back to his baptism, and the Kestlers, too. See Captain O’Day –”

“He’s retired.”

“I know.” Lanigan said, “but he still hangs around headquarters and he can get a lot that you couldn’t, as an out-of-town cop, all they’ll give you is official stuff, with him in your comer they’ll open up. Because I want everything – rumors, gossip, the works. I’ll work this end. I’ll see Safferstein –”

“Why him?” Jennings asked.

“Because he got the pills from the drugstore, and I want to check the movement of those pills right back to when they were put up.”

“But look, Hugh, you start asking him questions about the pills and he’ll start wondering about Aptaker’s. What’s to keep him from talking?”

“You’re right. I’ll have to play it cozy. I’ll have to figure out some reason for seeing him, something that has no connection with the drugstore.”

Is it that time of year again, Chief?” Safferstein asked, smiling as he reached for his checkbook.

Lanigan looked puzzled, then he remembered the last time he had come to Safferstein’s office. “You mean the Policeman’s Ball? Oh, we won’t be around selling tickets for weeks yet. No, this is a matter of personal business.”

“Let me guess. Your wife is tired of taking care of a big house where there are only two of you now, and she wants to sell and move into a modern apartment.”

“Wrong again,” said Lanigan, grinning. “She wants to go into business, open a store, a card and gift shop. I can’t say I’m crazy about the idea, but –”

“Why not? It will keep her busy, and it could net her a little income.”

“Well, these days, any extra income –”

“Sure, and I’ve got just the place, or I will have in a couple of months. Market Street in Lynn. What’s the matter?” as Lanigan shook his head.

“She’s already picked the place.” said Lanigan. “She’s interested in the vacant store in the Goralsky Block. I hear the temple sold it to you.”

“Why there, Chief? It’s not much of a location.”

“It’s on the Salem Road and there’s lots of traffic.”

“Yes, but people on their way to Boston or in the other direction, up-country, don’t usually stop to buy a greeting card or a gift item. For that type store you need a lot of local traffic,” Safferstein pointed out.

“Well, Amy seems to think that a lot of people come there because of the drugstore. It’s been there for over half a century and in the same hands. It’s a kind of institution. Even folks from my part of town go there. You shop Town-Line, don’t you?”

Safferstein shook his head. “Almost never. I was in there the other night, you know, the night of the storm, because I figured all the other places would be closed, but normally I don’t trade there. By the way, I want to thank you for the courtesy your man in the patrol car showed me. You know what happened, don’t you?”

“Oh sure, the sergeant reported it.”

“I was planning to write a note complimenting the police force. Would it do you people any good?”

The chief grinned. “It wouldn’t do any harm to have a letter like that in the files, especially come town-meeting time when our budget is up for review. You know. I never really understood how you came to have those pills.”

“Just that I happened to be there talking to Aptaker when the doctor called in the prescription, the other pharmacist answered the phone and asked Aptaker if they could deliver it, aptaker said no, but I’d heard the name and address – you could hear him all over the store – and since it seemed to be an emergency, I offered to drop it off.”

“You knew Kestler?”

“Never met the guy, but it was on my way home, so why not?”

“You heard what happened to him?”

Safferstein nodded. “Yeah, I was over to Chet Kaplan’s. I thought I’d wait until the storm lightened instead of going straight home, the doctor called Al Muntz while I was there and he told us. Tough break!”

“Yeah, well it happens all the time,” Lanigan said philosophically.

“Well, about that empty store. I don’t think I can rent it to you.”

“Why not?” the chief asked. “I have other plans for it.”

Lanigan had all the information he needed, but he felt he ought to pursue his original approach lest Safferstein, thinking it over, might decide it was Aptaker he was really interested in. So he said stiffly, “If you’re worried about my wife paying the rent –”

And Safferstein, aware of how important it was for his business that he should remain on friendly terms with the town officials, raised both hands in protest. “Believe me. Chief, it’s not that.”

Lanigan pressed him. “Do you have another tenant for it?”

He could lie, of course, and say that he had in fact already rented the store, but then when it turned out that he hadn’t, Lanigan might feel that he had not been candid, and why shouldn’t he tell him? Everything was set, and it would be common knowledge in a few days anyway, he laughed shortly. “Look, Chief, can you keep a secret?”

“Sure.”

“I mean even from your wife.”

Lanigan chuckled, “That’s a little harder, but I do it all the time. I don’t ever tell her about anything that comes into the office unless it’s already public information.”

“Well,” Safferstein confided, “the fact is I can’t rent that store to you because I’m planning to tear down the building. I own or I’ve got options on all the land in the area, the Goralsky Block was the last parcel. I’m going to build the biggest shopping mall in New England right there along the Salem Road.”

“I see,” the chief smiled. “You know, another reason the wife was interested in that store was that she figured if you took it over, you’d improve it the way you have other places around.”

Safferstein smirked with satisfaction. “Just luck, Chief. I’ve been lucky.”

“Pretty consistent though.” said Lanigan. “So maybe it isn’t just luck.”

Rose Aptaker was too tired to prepare a proper meal for herself, so she boiled a couple of eggs and afterward heated up the morning’s coffee, she had opened the store at half past eight and operated it herself until nine, when Ross McLane arrived. Fortunately, no one had asked to have a prescription filled. If a customer had come for a prescription, she would have had to tell them that the pharmacist would not be in until later and that they would deliver it in the afternoon.

At noon she took half an hour off and went home for a sandwich and a cup of coffee; then back to the store, where she was on her feet all day until six; then to the hospital to see her husband and to assure him that everything was fine; then back to the store until they closed, she had not felt like eating at six, but had stopped off at a coffee shop for more coffee and a doughnut, and that sustained her until she returned home. But now she was too tired to broil the lamp chops she had bought for her supper.

She heard the car pull into the driveway but was too tired to move. Only when the doorbell rang did she go to the door. It was Arnold, he was flanked on either side by a large suitcase. “I’m here, Mom,” he announced.

“So you’re here,” she said, she offered her cheek as he embraced her and then stood aside for him to enter.

It was not as he had expected it would be, as he drove through the night, he had imagined her hugging and kissing him, murmuring “Thank God, you’ve come back to us.” He concealed his disappointment, however, and brought his bags into the hallway. It occurred to him that they had never been demonstrative with each other and that it did not mean that he was not welcome.

“How’s Dad?” he asked. “He’s all right. Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, I ate on the road.”

“So a cup of coffee, maybe?”

“All right.”

“It’s from this morning,” she warned. “I cook up a whole pot in the morning and then –”

“Fine, as long as it’s hot. This morning’s coffee will be fine.”

His mother turned up the flame, the coffee did not take long to become hot, since she had heated it for herself only a little while before, she poured him a cup and sat down heavily opposite him.

“You’re tired,” Arnold said.

“Yes, I’m a little tired. I’ve been on my feet the whole day. It was busy today, thank God.”

He sipped at his coffee in silence and then he pushed it away from him.

“You don’t like it,” she declared.

“I like it fine but I’ve been stopping on the road every couple of hours, drinking coffee. I guess maybe I’ve had too much. Now what’s the story on Dad?”

She took a deep breath. “What can I tell you? He’s had a heart attack. You know what that means, he’s got to take it easy, and he’s not supposed to fret or worry, that’s what the doctor says. How a man in business lying flat on his back while his wife tries to operate the store is not going to worry he doesn’t say. When I go to see him, the first thing he asks me is how’s things at the store, and each time I tell him we’re getting along fine. So who’s kidding who?”

“Well, I’m here now, and he can relax. I’ll go see him tomorrow and tell him that I’m here for as long as he needs me. I moved out of my apartment and sold my furniture. I brought all my stuff.”

“It will help, I’m sure. But –”

“But what?”

Suddenly, the anxiety and the weariness were too much for her, although she compressed her lips to keep from sobbing, she could not prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

“Aw, Ma. What’s the matter?”

She wiped away the tears with her fingertips and then abruptly went to the hallway table where she had left her pocketbook, to get a handkerchief.

“What is it. Ma? What’s the trouble? Is there something you’re holding back from me?”

“I – I know I shouldn’t say anything. I should be thankful, but –“Suddenly her vexation overcame her weakness. “Look at you,” she cried out. “You’ll go to your father and tell him that you’ll take charge, and he’ll see you with the hair and the beard and the patched clothes, where he is so neat and clean. You’ll tell him he can relax now, like the doctor tells him he shouldn’t worry, that’s all he’ll need to relax is your telling him.”

“Look here, my beard and the way I dress, that’s my business.”

“Sure, I know, the beard you’ll tell me is for religion, and the clothes, that’s for freedom and independence, and the boots? My grandfather, I got a picture of him from the old country, and he was wearing boots, but it was because of the mud and the snow, and if your father tells you he doesn’t want you working in the store dressed like that and with a beard, you’ll come home maybe and tell me that you gave him a chance and that he didn’t take it and that you’re going back to Philadelphia. Or maybe he’ll think of how hard I’m working and won’t say anything but just lie there and worry about it.”

“All right, all right,” he shouted. “I’ll go to the barber tomorrow and tell him to cut my hair like a bank clerk. I’ve got regular clothes; I’ll put them on. Even a white shirt. I’ll go there in a tuxedo if you like.”

“Oh, Arnold. It’ll be like medicine to him.”

In response to his ring, Leah opened the door the width of the chain and stared at him, then she recognized him. “Akiva!” She closed the door enough to slide the chain off and then, opening it wide, she asked. “Why didn’t you call me first?”

“I didn’t want to wait. Besides, I was afraid you’d – you’d –”

“Refuse if I had a chance to think about it? Suppose I was having company? Did you think of that?”

“I thought I’d take my chances. I felt lucky.”