Novack had finished his sandwich and decided to top off his meal by ordering a cup of coffee and a healthy wedge of apple pie. “What the hell happened to your face?”

Decker gave him the standard line about being punched. Novack looked dubious. “You report this guy?”

“He ran off. I could have chased after him, but my head was spinning.”

“It looks like it hurts.”

“It does, but not that bad. My wife hasn’t seen it yet.”

Novack scratched his cheek. “She ain’t gonna be pleased. Matter of fact, if I was her, I’d be thinking that maybe you weren’t being too truthful. That someone attacked you and you’re trying to protect her-or maybe trying to hide something from her. Or maybe hiding something from everybody, including me?”

An admonishing look.

Decker was casual. “If someone was out to get me, Novack, I would have had a bullet in my head.”

Novack thought about that. It was probably true. “We gotta be honest with each other, Pete.”

“Absolutely,” Decker lied.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Novack’s expression was cynical, but he didn’t persist. “So you just come from the Fort Lee Police?”

“From the Bergen County Morgue actually.” Decker chewed the bread slowly, then swallowed. “Do they know what they’re doing?”

“Yeah, Bergen gets its share of bodies from us cause it’s right over the bridge. I’m not saying the park’s a dumping ground-they got the area under constant patrol cause it’s a popular spot-but it’s a big place, and this ain’t the first time a corpse has shown up.”

“Is there interdepartmental cooperation?”

“In the ideal, yeah. Practicality-wise, it depends on who’s leading the investigation.”

“A guy named Martin Fiorelli.”

“I heard the name, but I’ve never worked with him. I haven’t worked all that much with Jersey Police, but I know a couple of people who have. Now I’m not saying this to sound like sour grapes or nothin’ like that. Just that some of those smaller departments have this complex about NYPD comin’ in and takin’ over. And maybe it’s justified, cause we got some pushy people. But that’s still no excuse for not sharing information. Cause it’ll be of real interest to me to see if Ballistics turns up a match, being as it looks like the same M.O.”

Decker said, “The single shot to the head was visible on the ID, but they also got her in the chest.”

“Really. You saw that?”

“No, I skimmed the M.E.’s report at the scene. I wish I had more time to study it, but I was too busy taking care of my brother.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Not too well.” Decker finished the last spoonful of soup. He felt better. “No one’s doing too well.”

“I can imagine. Losin’ a fifteen-year-old period, but especially like that.” Novack shook his head. “I don’t know how long the body’s been sitting there. I’m wondering if maybe she was popped right at the beginning, at the same time Ephraim was taken in.”

“I believe the report said time of death was somewhere between two hours to four hours before they found her.”

“She was fresh, then?”

“Yes.”

“What a shame. No rigor-”

“Not even close,” Decker said. “No discernible lividity.”

Most of the shock had leached from Decker’s system; guilt had taken its place. Why the hell had he trusted that scumbag motherfucker! Maybe he could get the guy arrested? But on what grounds?

“… natural that the girl had witnessed something, maybe escaped. Then she was tracked down and murdered.”

Focus, Decker! “Or maybe she was in on it in the beginning.”

“She set up her uncle?” Novack’s face said he wasn’t buying.

“Or maybe she was the target,” Decker tried out. “The uncle was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He was the drug addict,” Novack said.

“He’d been sober for more than two years.” Decker finished his coffee, signaled the waitress for another cup. “The thing is we don’t know.”

“We don’t know?” Novack gave him a calculated stare. “So now you’re an honorary member of the two-eight Homicide division? I thought you was leaving. Matter of fact, I thought you already said good-bye.”

“Look, I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes, but I figured as long as I flew out all this distance, maybe I’ll stick around for a bit.”

“How long?”

“I’ll be out by Friday.”

The two men eyed each other.

Decker said, “Honestly, Mick. By Friday, I’m gone. I have to visit my parents. As it is, they’re going to be pissed that I’ve delayed it for two days.”

“So why do it?” Novack scratched his head. “What are you after, Pete?”

“I failed. I want to go back to the beginning and start over now that I know a little bit more about the family dynamics.”

“Share the details with me, Pete,” Novack said. “That kinda thing makes a primary investigating detective very happy.”

“For what it’s worth, here it is. I know that Chaim resented his brother’s presence in the business. But maybe Chaim had a reason for being hostile.”

“First off, how do you know he was resentful?”

“When the news came down about Shayndie, I was in the middle of paying a shiva call to the old man. I was talking to the father about his son. Trying to be nice. Ephraim was dead, Micky, and Chaim still couldn’t think of anything nice to say about him. Also, Chaim was very concerned about people stealing from him.”

“How do you know that?”

“Talking to store workers at Ephraim’s funeral. They told me that Chaim had concerns about theft. Ephraim was in charge of inventory. Maybe Ephraim was stealing. Have you had a chance to look over the papers you took from Ephraim’s apartment?”

“I skimmed through around half of them. Just lists of items. Don’t mean nothin’ to me cause I have nothin’ to compare it to. I don’t know if the inventory’s being monkeyed with or not. You think Chaim hired someone to off the brother because Ephraim was stealing?”

Decker thought about the question.

It wouldn’t be the first time in Jewish history that brother had been pitted against brother. The Bible was rife with attempted fratricide: Cain and Abel. Isaac and Yishmael. Yaakov and Aesav. Joseph and his brothers. In the Book of Genesis, hatred between siblings was more the norm than the exception.

“Sure, why not?”

“Because it would be easier to fire him, Decker.”

“So maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Chaim was stealing from the store, and Ephraim caught him because the old man had put his younger son in charge of inventory. Maybe Chaim resented Ephraim’s do-gooder stance, especially since he’s been working in the stores for years and Ephraim was a latecomer. Besides, Chaim could rationalize the stealing by convincing himself that the store belonged to him anyway. If he was stealing from anyone, it was the insurance company.”

Novack said, “Chaim was putting in false claims?”

Decker said, “It’s easy to check out.”

“True,” Novack said. “If any of the past news items are to be believed, there are certain Jews who have no problems committing fraud. But if Chaim was going to pop his brother, why put his daughter at risk? Why not catch Ephraim at his apartment or as he’s leavin’ his drug-addict place or when the man’s alone? Why do it when he knew that Ephraim was going to take Shayndie out for the day?”

Decker said, “I’ve been thinking about that very question. The only answer I can come up with is putting your daughter at risk deflects suspicion away from you. If your brother’s a victim, police will investigate you especially if you two work together. But if your teenage daughter is also a victim, well, they’re going to tread lightly.”

“You’re telling me that Chaim set up his own daughter to prevent Ephraim from telling his old man that Chaim was stealing from his own store?”

“I’m not saying I have it down or I have it right. I’m just suggesting possibilities.”