“Have Hollander or Dunn pick up his friends on suspicion of murder, while you search for the ritual bath rapist. I don’t want them splitting on us when they get wind of the fact that Cory’s in deep shit.”

“What do we do if the Adler case comes up dry in two days?” Birdwell asked.

“Then we’ll have to see about a deal.” The captain turned to Decker. “Two days, Pete. Starting right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Decker started to walk away.

“Pete,” Morrison called out.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Good job on the Macko collar.”

“Thank you, sir.”

24

Rina waited for Decker in the park.

It had been two days since the capture of the Foothill rapist, a week since they had last talked. Though she would have loved to call him up-to congratulate him on a job well done-she didn’t want to be a nuisance or give him the wrong idea. After all, she’d been so firm about not seeing him socially anymore.

But today he had called, saying he needed to talk to her, and they arranged to meet for lunch. Now she wondered if the rendezvous was wise. They could have spoken over the phone-there was no need to talk face-to-face-yet she had agreed and was excited about it. Being brutally honest, she asked herself whose needs were being satisfied.

He had occupied her thoughts since the first time she’d laid eyes on him. Feeling so vulnerable the night of Sarah’s ordeal, she’d been attracted to his self-assurance and physical stature. And in all the time she’d known him, never once had he taken advantage of her momentary weakness. He was kind to her boys and respectful to her, never mocking her religious beliefs. And she loved when she dreamed about him, the images exhuming sensations in her body that had been buried for so long.

She felt happy when he was around; she missed him when they were apart. It was absurd. Theirs was a relationship that could never be. But she couldn’t help her feelings.

The Plymouth pulled up, and Peter got out. She’d expected him to be overflowing with relief and joy at capturing a man who had plagued him for so many months. But his face was full of tension.

“Hi,” he said, sitting down next to her.

“Congratulations,” she said enthusiastically.

“For what?”

“For catching the Foothill rapist.”

“Oh that.” He took off his jacket and loosened his tie. “It’s old news already.”

Her eyes drifted to his shoulder holster, then stared at the ground.

“Must be a load off your mind.”

“Oh yeah, no doubt about it. Nice to get the bastard behind bars. It’s even nicer that it looks like he’ll stay there for a while. We’ve got a couple of victims who picked him out of a lineup.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said. “How’d you do it?”

“A little routine police work. But mainly, his girlfriend ratted on him after the son of a bitch got tough with her poodle.”

“Poodle?”

“The guy kicked her dog. No telling what’ll bring citizens to their senses.”

A smile spread across his face.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said.

She let out a nervous laugh and smoothed out her silk dress.

“Why are you all dressed up?”

“I met my parents for breakfast. They like it when I dress up.”

“I don’t blame them. I like it, too.”

He thought a moment, then said, “I thought you don’t eat out in restaurants.”

“This one was kosher.”

“I remember a couple of kosher delis in Miami, but I didn’t know there was anything like that here.”

“There’s a great deli in the Valley and a gourmet restaurant in Los Angeles. The one we went to this morning was a new dairy restaurant. We don’t mix meat and dairy products, so restaurants have to be one or the other.”

“How was it?”

She smiled.

“Not bad. They have a few bugs to work out.”

“But you felt comfortable eating there?”

“Yes. I happen to know the rabbi who supervises the place. He’s very particular.”

Peter’s eyes twinkled, but he said nothing. Suddenly his head had begun to throb. He cupped his forehead between open palms.

“What’s wrong, Peter?”

“Oh, it’s only stress-”

“How long have you had these?” she asked with sudden urgency.

He looked at her.

“They’re nothing new. Don’t worry about it.”

Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a bottle of aspirin, tossed a couple of pills down his throat, and swallowed.

She knew she had overreacted because of Yitzchak. Calm down. Not every headache is a brain tumor.

“Would you like something to wash it down with?” she asked.

“Sure.”

She handed him a can of Coke. He took a swig, then winced.

“Your work is hazardous to your health.”

“Speaking of hazards, I’m worried about you.”

“The mikvah is closed,” she said.

“But we don’t have the rapist.”

“So Macko didn’t do it,” she said glumly.

“No. I would have called you immediately if he had. But I do have some other news. We’ve got Cory Schmidt in custody, charged with murdering Florence.”

“Oh God! He did do it. That disgusting little piece of trash!”

“No argument from me there.”

“When I think that he touched me, drew that knife…” She shuddered. “How’d you catch him?”

“He was set up.”

“By whom?”

“I’m not sure. I suspect his friends. Either they were angry at him for ratting on them about the supermarket incident, or the kid who actually did the killing got scared, had Cory’s knife, and found him a convenient scapegoat. That’s not important. What is, is that the murder weapon appeared magically at the station. We obtained a search warrant, and Schmidt’s shoes matched prints lifted from the murder scene. And his motorcycle tires match tracks found outside the yeshiva.”

“Mazel tov. Did you tell Mr. Marley?”

“I can’t say anything until everyone is charged.”

“When will that be?”

“We have to get a couple of things straightened out.”

She was silent.

“Cory said he raped Mrs. Adler, Rina.”

Her eyes widened.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“Because I don’t believe him. It just doesn’t jibe.”

“Then why on earth would he admit doing it?”

“He’s trying to plea bargain. We’re not sure at this point if it was Cory or one of his friends who actually murdered Florence. We think it was one of Cory’s friends. Now Schmidt’s willing to turn state’s witness and rat on his friends if we lessen the charge to assault.”

Rina’s face went red with fury.

“Assault? He raped her!”

“The doctor screwed up-”

“He raped and murdered-”

“We’re not sure he actually murdered, Rina. That’s the problem.”

“He’s trying to get away with a lousy assault charge? The boy killed another human being. He pulled a knife on me, Peter! He deserves a firing squad!”

“If we can find the real rapist, he won’t have the assault to plea bargain with.”

She squeezed her hands together and clenched her jaw.

“The naked truth is we still have the mikvah rapist at large,” Decker said.

Rina pounded her fist against an open palm.

“I know it’s frustrating-”

“It’s damn infuriating! How do you stand it?”

“Who says I stand it? These headaches don’t come from nothing. But I try to ignore the garbage and do my job. The best revenge is to see the bastards behind bars. If I dwelled on the ones that got away from me, my work would suffer. We all have our methods of coping.”

She looked at him. He seemed so tired. She gave his hand a light pat.

He smiled at her gesture and decided to shift gears.

“Kids come back home from the grandparents?”

“Yes. They had a good time but were more than happy to come home. My parents are overprotective-it’s a hundred degrees outside, and they tell you to take a sweater, just in case.”