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with a man. But in my book, religion comes second
to personal safety. I m sure he can give you dispensa-
tion.
Rina said nothing.
Decker knew he was wasting his breath. She wasn t
listening. Goddam Hollander and his fucking ball
game! Decker didn t want to be here. He didn t want
this case. It was going to dead end, and he d have an-
other unsolved rape on his hands.
But that was just part of it. Some force was sucking
him into this place. He knew he d be returning here in
a professional capacity. And that worried him.
5
Rina sat at her desk in the stuffy basement classroom
and looked out at a sea of bobbing yarmulkes. Heads
down, her students were busy scratching away at the
test. She d thought the exam would be challenging,
but the kids seemed to be whipping through the pages
in record time. It was getting harder and harder to
challenge them, she realized with delight. It was a
pleasure to teach such a bright group of kids. Her only
major complaint about the job was the poor facilities.
In the summer the room became a sauna, and the two
large floor fans did little to mitigate the heat.
Her eyes returned to the open pages of the Chumash.
She d finished studying parsha the biblical portion
of the week and was on the haftorah. Sunday was
the new moon, so the reading would be the story of
the friendship between David and Jonathan. It was
one of Rina s favorites a tale of unswerving love and
trust. She d never had a relationship like that with
anyone, including Yitzchak. Theirs had contained some
of those elements, but
53
54 / Faye Kellerman
Yitzchak s first and true love had been the Torah.
The rabbis had regarded his brilliant mind as a gift
from God. He was their prize pupil, one of the few
young men who was a real tal-mid chacham. They d
showered him with attention, but it had never gone to
his head. He wasn t interested in adulation, just in the
acquisition of knowledge.
Rina had been astonished by Yitzchak s intellect
when they first met. He was a living, breathing genius,
and she was willing to put up with his idiosyncracies
for the privilege of being around him. He d turned out
to be a warmhearted man and a good father, but their
relationship had always been a bit distant.
It was cruelly ironic that his brilliant brain cells
eventually led to his demise.
Rina felt melancholia nibbling at her gut. She looked
up from the text, and her eyes landed on the sandy-
haired boy in the corner. His expression hadn t
changed since he d entered the room. Usually one of
the quickest thinkers, today he gazed at the chalkboard
as if it contained some magic words of comfort. Yossie
looked just like his father, Zvi, and his face bore the
painful, numb expression that his father s had last
night. Rina was sure they hadn t told him, but he
knew. Oldest children always knew when something
wasn t right.
A few of the best students had handed in their ex-
ams. Rina would grade them, but really didn t have
to bother. She knew they d be perfect. Soon the rest
of the boys followed,
THE RITUAL BATH / 55
until Yossie was the only one left. He continued to
stare blankly, not even moving when Rina was stand-
ing right next to him. She looked down at his papers
and found them untouched.
 Yossie, she said gently.
The glassy hazel eyes inched their way upward.
 Yossie, you re having an off day.
He nodded.
 Take the test home. I trust you. Finish the exam
when you re in better spirits.
 Thank you, he whispered.
He got up, stuffed the papers in his overloaded
briefcase, and left the room.
Rina was the last of the trio to enter the room. She
had last-minute chores before Shabbos and hoped the
faculty meeting wouldn t take too long.
Three times a semester she and the two other secular
teachers got together to discuss the curriculum. She
was the head of the math department and its sole
teacher. The men were the departments of humanities
and physical sciences.
Matt Hawthorne taught history and English. He was
a jovial man in his mid-twenties, a little on the short
side, with a puckish face and dark curly hair. Quick
with a joke, he got along extremely well with the
rowdier boys.
 Want to close the door, Rina? he asked her.
 I d prefer to leave it open, she replied au-
56 / Faye Kellerman
tomatically. Hawthorne had a gleam in his eye.  You
don t want all the students to hear our trade secrets,
do you?
Rina sighed. It was an old story. Matt knew she left
the door open for religious reasons, but insisted on
teasing her about it anyway. Ordinarily she took it in
good humor. Today she wasn t in the mood, and the
expression on her face reflected it.
 What trade secrets? asked Steven Gilbert, coming
to her defense.  Leave the door open. It s hot enough [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]