Gold rubbed his hands. “A long time ago, there was a little boy of five who escaped Nazis by skin of the teeth. The boy had parents, the boy had a brother. The boy was not taken by Nazis because he was hiding when they came to the door. They simply missed him. But the boy remembered very good the look on mother’s face when the Nazis took away family, especially part when they took away younger brother from the mother. It was terrible, you understand?”

Decker nodded.

“Good. I thought you would understand. I remember you tell me that you were in war for America, right?”

“Right.”

“See, I have a memory, too.”

“What happened to the little boy?”

“Somehow he made it through the war. He was very young so he doesn’t have much memory. But he made it. Then somehow he goes to Palestine and grows up into young man. And Palestine becomes Israel. Young man becomes an Israeli. At last, he has family of sorts. So many now had big family called Israel because so many lost all family in the war.”

Gold licked his lips.

“One day, the young man sees a list in the paper. There are many lists, he reads them all. But this is a very important list. It tells him he still has a mother. She did not die like father and the brother. She still lives. He feels joy in his heart. He finds mother.”

There was a pause.

“You cannot go backward,” Gold said. “The man sees mother but she is not the same. She is very scared. She never goes out of house. She has remarried a man very rich who is older than she. For protection. The young man is worried. He is worried that if he comes back to his mother’s life, her new husband may not want him. And the new husband may not want her. And the young man does not want to see mother in any more pain.

“So they make deal. They don’t tell husband. The young man moves close to be with mother, the young man helps mother when she get pregnant. The young man even baby-sits the new little girl. And they grow close, the young man and the baby. They grow so close that young man learns trade of her father.”

“And the husband still doesn’t know.”

“No, he still does not know. And neither did the little girl. Never! The man was just a friend.”

“Then…” Gold swallowed hard. “Then one day the little girl is murdered. And the young man, who is now older man, goes to see his mother, to comfort her in her pain. And what does he see? He sees in her eyes that same look when they took his first, younger brother away.”

Gold clenched his fists.

“We still hunt Nazis, Detective. Because there are things in this world that are so bad that there is no city of refuge. There is just no sanctuary for pure evil, you understand?”

“I understand,” Decker said. “But I don’t agree. I believe in a system of justice.”

“And I just believe in justice.” Gold stood. “Anything else, Detective?”

Decker stood. “No. Nothing else.”

About the Author

FAYE KELLERMAN introduced L.A. cop Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, to the mystery world eleven years ago. Since that time she has written nine Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels as well as a historical novel, The Quality of Mercy. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, author Jonathan Kellerman. There are close to three million copies of her books in print.