Suddenly, Honey broke into tears. Decker and Rina exchanged quick looks as Honey sobbed into her hands. Decker found a tissue box and gave it to her.

“That’s the real reason…” Honey pulled out a tissue. “That’s the real reason I’m here with the kids. I had to get them out of that environment! You see poor Bryna? She doesn’t eat a thing. And Mendel used to be so outgoing and social. Now he’s all quiet. We’re all nervous wrecks!”

Hannah started to cry. Rina rescued her from the high chair.

“Now look what I’ve done,” Honey chided herself.

“Don’t worry about it,” Rina said, bouncing Hannah on her hip.

Honey dabbed her eyes. “This is terrible. Me bringing my problems to you.” She looked at Decker. “I don’t know if your case has anything to do with him, but I’ll be happy to talk to you if you think it would help. It’s the least I could do.”

Decker looked at Rina. She shrugged. He said, “Tell me about the murders in New York.”

“Robberies. Mostly, they’re robberies.” Honey took a deep breath. “But once in a while…”

She stopped talking.

“What?” Decker said.

“You hear about people. About people overextending themselves. Making bad deals, then owing money to the wrong people.”

“Who constitutes the wrong people?” Decker asked.

“Gangsters.”

“Do you think Gershon might be in this kind of trouble?”

“Maybe. He’s been secretive about his business dealings. He’s always whispering into the business phone. And I know he gets hang-up calls.”

“How do you know if he doesn’t tell you things?” Rina asked.

“I’ve lived with him long enough to know when he’s in trouble!” Honey bit her thumbnail. “He told me he had to make a sudden trip to Israel. Now I can’t get hold of him. I have to wonder if he’s running away from something…hiding from someone.”

No one spoke for a moment.

Honey said, “Perhaps I’m being overly dramatic.” Her face began to fall. “Look, I need a few minutes to be alone. Please excuse me.”

She walked out of the kitchen. Decker looked at Rina. “The woman is brittle. What I’m trying to figure out is how much of her story is bullshit.”

“You don’t believe her?”

“Not completely, no.”

“Why not?”

“A cop’s cynicism. I believe she’s running away from something. And I don’t think it’s gangsters, I think it’s domestic problems. Look, Honey lives in a small town, right?”

“Right.”

“Since she’s staying in my house, I want to know what we’re dealing with. I’m going to make a couple of calls to her village and ask about Gershon and her.”

“Let me do it, Peter. I know Yiddish. I’ll try to call the Rav directly. I’m sure he knows everything that goes on.”

Decker thought a moment. “You’re right. You call. Find out about her situation. I’m not turning a blind eye to her problems, but I’m not about to step into the middle of a long-standing domestic battle. And if by some quirk, her gangster story is true, I’m not going to use my house as sanctuary from the mob, either.”

“Agreed.” Rina kissed Hannah. The baby held out her arms to Decker. “You want to go to Daddy?”

Decker took the baby and let out a small laugh. “Hey, Hannah Rose. How about a game of chess? I’ll set up the pieces and you can throw them across the room.”

The baby grinned broadly. Decker smiled back. “At least someone knows how to have fun.”

According to cousin Sharona Bar Lulu’s phone records, Dov Yalom had made a call at 5:07 to her number from a booth located in front of an ice cream store. The parlor was located in a block-long shopping center on Devonshire, about two miles from the Yalom house.

Decker started his search there. Three hours later, he ended his search there. He had come up with a big, fat goose egg. Nobody he had talked to had an inkling about the kid. He figured Dov made the call and ran.

Several theories, each one flawed.

One: The entire family was on the lam. Dov had momentarily escaped from them to make a farewell call to his cousin.

Then why would the parents’ passports be left behind when the boys’ passports were missing?

Two: Dov and Gil were directly involved-as perpetrators-in their parents’ disappearances. They killed the parents and split. Dov made the farewell call before disappearing.

Then where did they do the killing? No evidence in the house. And where were the parents’ bodies? Furthermore, why was Gil’s car still in the garage if the boys had taken off in a hurry?

Three: Dov and Gil had nothing to do with their parents’ disappearance. But they knew something bad had happened to their parents. They were worried they might be the next victims. So they grabbed their passports and left, Dov making his final call before blending into the miasma.

Then why didn’t they use Gil’s car? And wouldn’t they have packed something?

Four: Dov killed his brother and his parents. That would explain Gil’s car in the garage. Dov wasn’t old enough to drive.

But why would Gil’s passport be missing, too? And wouldn’t Dov have packed something or emptied out his bank account? He would have needed something to live on.

Five: Marge’s spy theory. Someone whacked the entire family, parents first. The boys tried to escape, allowing Dov to make his call, but then they caught up with the boys and whacked them, too.

If this was the case, Decker would never find the bodies.

No bodies, no evidence.

If a homicide falls in the forest…

Tug Davidson sorted through the logs and reports.

“You got nothing unusual in the bank accounts.” He paged through the papers. “Credit is fine, the Yaloms were current. Looks like the Jew knew how to hold a buck.”

Decker was impassive. Was Davidson riling him on purpose? Probably not. The statement was made too casually. He’d promised Marge he’d let her do the talking. She wanted it that way and he was happy to oblige her.

Davidson said, “You got interviews with the neighbors and friends and schools.” He squinted as he read Marge’s synopsis. “The kids were in school the entire day?”

Marge said, “Their last-period teachers had them marked as present.”

“When does school get out?”

“Three-ten.”

“And then they disappeared.”

“We can’t trace their whereabouts after three-ten.”

“Did the older kid drive to school that day?”

“No one’s sure,” Marge said. “That’s why I’d like a little more time-”

“To come up with more diddly-squat?” Davidson looked up from the notes and sat back in his seat. “We need evidence of a crime. You got nothing so far.”

Marge was quiet.

Davidson said, “Let me give you the lowdown, Dunn. Boys were in school. The parents had lunch with the sister. The wife…what’s her name?”

“Dalia,” Marge said.

“Yeah, Dalia. She didn’t go back to her office after lunch, right?”

Marge nodded.

“Okay. She doesn’t go back to her office, Yalom doesn’t go back to his office. Lunch ended around what time…” He looked at the papers. “Around two. So we lose track of the parents around two. We lose track of the boys around three-ten. Where would the family go? I vote home.”

Davidson waited for a comment. He got nothing so he went on.

“Say they all met at home around three-thirty. Then we don’t hear from no one in the family. Except the younger kid, Dov, calls his cousin around five that same day. That was three days ago and you’re still no closer to finding them.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Marge said.

“You got another way to look at it, Dunn? Show me your fancy footwork, huh?”

Decker couldn’t control himself. “Someone else might call it a comprehensive initial investigation.”

“Yeah, well, I ain’t someone else and I call it shit.”

Marge said. “My gut tells me something happened.”

“That’s just great, Dunn. My gut tells me something happened, too. Problem is guts aren’t admissible evidence to a grand jury. You don’t even have a suspect, let alone a perp. You don’t even know if you have a crime.”