Confluence. Stephen J. Gordon

wait a minute.” I let a second pass as I thought. “Don’t tell me… she ran off with him to the city, and they became involved in protests against the Russian government.”

      “Yes. How did you know that?”

      “Then eventually the Russian government sent the army in to throw all the people out of their homes.”

      “That’s right.”

      “You’re so full of crap.”

      Katie looked at me with innocent eyes.

      “You just described Fiddler on the Roof.”

      “Did not.”

      “Yeah. You switched around the daughters and some other stuff…made one a guy, but that’s the story.”

      “Okay, you got me there, Tevye. I stopped into a Jewish History class at school last week and they were watching the movie.”

      “You’re so full of crap,” I repeated and pulled her close. I looked up at the ceiling for a long moment. I could feel the rise and fall of her torso as she breathed. Katie had deflected my request to tell me about her family, but I let it go for now.

      “Gidon?”

      “Hmmm?”

      “I have a question for you.”

      Uh oh.

      “And you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

      “Yeah?” I said a little hesitantly.

      “I know you’ve had to do really bad stuff over the years to keep people safe.”

      You mean like killing terrorists in Lebanon, in Syria, and even in London, I thought.

      “Do you have any regrets?”

      I pictured a Lebanese village and a guy I shot as he was torturing a young American girl. She was tied into a chair and he was pressing the lit end of a cigarette into her neck. I pictured more recent kills in Baltimore, outside of the IDF work. “No regrets.” My voice came out softly. “Not a one. Why do you ask?”

      “No reason.” She let a moment go by. “You’re a good man. You help people.”

      “You do what you can.”

      “I want to go to Israel,” she said apropos of nothing.

      “You’ve never been.”

      She propped herself up and looked into my eyes. “I want to see what you see. I want to see what you’re always excited about.”

      “My excitement isn’t what it used to be.”

      “Yes it is. There’re just parts of it you have a problem with. Army stuff.”

      “Yeah.”

      “Next time you go, I want to come.”

      “Okay. But I have no idea when that will be.”

      “Doesn’t matter. I just want to be there with you.”

      I didn’t say anything. I looked up at the ceiling again, and closed my eyes, even though I probably wouldn’t sleep.

      7

      “So what do a rabbi, his wife, and two guys with malice in their hearts have in common?” I looked at Shelley Mandel across her kitchen table. It was 10 AM Sunday morning. Josh wasn’t home, but Shelley and their two girls were.

      “I have no idea.” She was back in a T-shirt and jeans – her attire when I first met her on Friday, except her Orioles shirt had been replaced by a Beatles one. Her hands were in front of her, enveloping a cup of tea. “You’re sure it wasn’t a mistake?”

      I nodded, thinking these guys don’t make that kind of a mistake, but didn’t say that. “Let’s start with some basics, and forgive me if you’ve answered these before. Anyone pissed at you?”

      “No.” I could see her mind running through a mental list after she answered. She was double-checking.

      “You’re the rabbi’s wife. Your relationship with the congregation?”

      “Fine. We get along really well. I guard Josh’s privacy as much as I can, and maybe some people resent that, but nothing major. Comes with the job.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Many congregants think they should have 24 hour access to their clergy. They forget they have a family life too.”

      “And you do what?”

      “If anyone calls here on congregation business, I tell them to call Josh. If it’s during the day, he’ll take the call. If it’s outside of reasonable hours and not an emergency, they’ll leave a message and he’ll get back to them.”

      “That was your idea?”

      She nodded. “I have to protect him.”

      “Seems reasonable. Everyone okay with that?”

      “Pretty much.”

      “No crazies in the congregation?”

      “There are always crazies in a congregation,” she smiled. “But not like this.”

      “Anyone make a pass at you that might anger a jealous wife or girlfriend?”

      “No. But thank you for thinking that could happen,” she smiled at me.

      I dipped my head in acknowledgment, then went on. “Owe anyone any money?”

      “No.” She took a sip of tea from her mug.

      “Tell me about your folks.”

      “My parents? What would they have to do with this?”

      “I have no idea, but it gives me context.” Context to what, I wasn’t sure.

      “My dad was the rabbi of a congregation in St. Louis, but he died about five years ago. My mom was a classic stay-at-home mom who took care of the house and the kids. You know what I mean? She’s still in St. Louis.”

      “I’m really sorry about all this, Shelley. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.” And what could possibly have stimulated a hit on the Mandels and killing the surviving killer? No need to be that specific. If I were in her place, I’d be pretty freaked out about all this. Maybe she thought it was over. I looked to the wall that had stood opposite me the other night. A white dot of spackle and a small “X” of the filling compound marked where the bullet had gone in.

      “To say that we’re grateful for your help seems really lame,” she said.

      “Just goes to show how important it is to invite guests for Friday night dinner.”

      Shelley laughed. “We’ll have to get you back so we can actually feed you.”

      “Deal.” I let a moment go by and fished her business card from my pocket. I put it between us. It said Shelley’s Party Planning. “Tell me about this.”

      “It’s just a little business I have with a friend. I used to be a speech therapist before the kids. Right now, I’m focusing on the girls, but I have to do something to stay sane. In a few years I’ll go back to the speech therapy…or I may just grow the party planning business.”

      “Everything’s okay with that? No problems with customers or suppliers or anything.”

      “Nope.”

      “Two more questions and I’m out of here. Have you and Josh traveled recently, maybe to Turkey?” I was thinking of Mazhar’s name.

      “No. Just to Israel a couple of months ago. Both Josh and I have siblings in Jerusalem, Efrat, and Nahariya up north.”

      I had been to all three cities; my last visit to Nahariya