“Would you have any objection to my letting each of these patients know that I obtained their names from you?” the detective asked.
“Not at all, if you don’t discuss the reason other than being a witness for me. I’m sure they’ll all be willing to confirm my alibi again.”
“You often play golf with Rabbi Bloom, Jack Green and Tony Pilaris, don’t you?” asked the younger detective.
“Yes.”
“Did any of them mention that they thought someone must have been pissed at all four of you, or do they believe that anyone might want to harm Mr. Pilaris and Mr. Green?”
“No, they didn’t, but we think we might be harmed every time Neil Bloom tees-off,” Todd replied with a lame joke.
Perplexed by the sound of the questioning, Todd responded somewhat angrily: “Do you think that I have the name of a possible shooter and that I’ve been withholding it from you for some nefarious reason?”
“No need to be caustic, Dr. Stern, we’re here to try to narrow down possible suspects and your sarcasm won’t help.”
“That’s great, you mean to tell me that you already have a few suspects when you say, ‘narrow down’?”
“Dr. Stern, unless you know who the shooter might be, all police investigations must be kept confidential. I’m not at liberty to answer your question.”
Todd figured that the detective was bullshitting and didn’t have a single suspect. He assumed he said what he did just to get a reaction out of him. In fact, the detective had no suspects at all. Todd, however, did throw one name out to the detective. “I would perhaps take a second look at the Rabbi. You know, he spends hours when no one pays attention to him nor does he conduct any services. There have also been rumors among his congregation that they believe he may be having an affair with the wife of a congregant. He may have even shot some bullet holes at himself just to throw you guys off the track.”
“And what do you think might be his motivation?”
“Well if, and I’m not saying it is happening, but let’s just say the Rabbi is having a sexual relationship with the wife of one of his congregants. Wouldn’t it just fall cleanly into place if he were able to get rid of the husband and then have the wife for himself?”
“And how would you account for his having been shot at too and hit by a bullet that almost killed him?” asked the older detective, with a puzzled look on his face.
“Perhaps to throw the police off his track by hiring someone to shoot him. He certainly wasn’t injured fatally, was he?” he asked ridiculously, as if his theory wasn’t from outer space.
“So, you think it’s the Rabbi?” asked the younger detective.
“Not at all. It was just a guess. You’re right, I should stop playing Perry Mason.”
“Dr. Stern, I would advise that you restrain your conjecture, unless you know more than you are implying.
The older detective narrowed the list down to just one. He soon intended to follow up the one lead he had neglected after Neil was released from the hospital. He just couldn’t believe that a Rabbi would commit attempted murder; but he wasn’t about to rule it out entirely, just in case Dr. Stern might have something. It was certainly something he needed to turn over to Detective Pratt.
The next day, as Todd expected, he received several phone calls from his patients as he did every morning after he opened the office, but three of the calls were from the patients he had told the detective about. Each of the three asked virtually the same question.
“Dr. Stern, why did I receive a phone call from a detective asking me if I was with you on a particular day in February? I told him you were repairing a cavity of mine. Do you mind that I told him that?”
One of the other patients responded practically the same way. The third one, an elderly gentleman in his late eighties named Mr. Gerwig, explained that he answered, “I’m not sure. I just can’t remember everything at my age, but if I remember correctly about the date, then I was there to get my teeth cleaned. Does that help you, Doctor? I want to be sure that I don’t cause you any trouble.”
“No problem, Mr. Gerwig, thank you for your help. You did great and I really appreciate it.”
“Oh good, I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”
“You didn’t, Mr. Gerwig.”
◆◆◆
It was now the beginning of summer when an emergency police operator answered a call. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“This is Dr. Todd Stern. I’ve was just shot at as I was getting into my car. I wasn’t hit but I have two bullet holes on the side of my car,” responded Stern.
“Where are you located, Dr. Stern?” the operator asked in a monotone voice.
“I’m at the Herald Mall parking lot. I’m parked in Row D as it says on the light pole about fifty feet away from me.”
“What kind of car do you have?”
“I have a silver gray 2019 Honda Prelude. I’ll leave my hood and trunk lids open so that they can find me among the hundreds of cars parked here.”
“Did you see who was shooting at you?”
“No, Operator, I was too busy ducking behind my car trying not to get shot to look up and see who was shooting at me.”
“I’ll dispatch a squad car to meet you at your car or would you prefer to just report it to your local police station yourself?”
“No, of course I want a police officer to meet me here as soon as possible,” Stern replied indignantly.
“A squad car should be arriving shortly. Please remain with your car.”
“All right, Operator, but remind them that the longer they take to get here, the more time the shooter has to get away.”
“They know that, sir. Did you see the shooter, or can you describe the vehicle? I’ll send out another car to look for it.”
“No operator, I already told you, I didn’t see any vehicle or any shooter.”
“Do you have any witnesses there with you?” she asked.
“No one came over to me to say that they saw something.”
“All right, sir, the police will be there in a minute.”
The police arrived in four squad cars with their flashing lights on and sirens blasting. Stern could see them a few rows away in the lot. Finally, they saw him waving his arms at them and pulled up to Todd’s car. As soon as one officer got out of his vehicle, Todd shut both his hood and trunk lid. Two of the four came to him while the other two spread out to search the area. One officer nearing retirement age approached while the younger officer stayed in the car to remain in contact with the others who were doing the searching.
“Dr. Stern?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“You say that you or your car was shot at, can you show me the bullet holes?”
“Right here,” he pointed, “on the driver’s door.”
The officer looked at the door and frowned. “You sure were lucky, Doc, those two holes look like a .45 caliber gun was used, which can penetrate a door and hit you inside of your car. I’ll have a detective come out and investigate it. They may want to tow your car to the station to remove the door and see if they can find any bullets inside the door or car. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine, just a little shook up, but why tow the car? I can drive it to the station.”
“I’m afraid not, Dr. Stern, you see this car is now considered part of a crime scene and you’re getting into it to drive, might disturb any evidence we may find.” The officer then returned to his car, and Todd could see him pick up his mic to update the dispatcher and his partners. He made a verbal report to his superior and asked for Detective Pratt to come to the scene.
A few minutes later, an unmarked car drove up, making Todd somewhat nervous since he did not recognize it immediately as a police car, and thought perhaps the gunman had returned for a better shot.
Pratt got out of his car wielding his police detective’s badge as he approached. “Dr. Stern? I’m Detective Pratt. I understand you were shot at, is that
correct?”
“Yes, Detective, I was returning from shopping and had just started to get in my car. After I got inside and closed the door, I heard two gunshots hit my door and felt my car slightly tilt to the right. I immediately dropped down under the dash in front of the passenger seat. I was trying to figure out what I should do if the person walked up to my car to shoot me.”
“And did you come up with a plan, Dr. Stern?”
“Frankly, I don’t see why that matters now, since it didn’t happen, but I don’t wish to be rude, so I’ll tell you. I moved my left arm to the driver’s door handle and opened the door slightly ajar, so if I did see a person come to my window to look inside, I would be able to kick the door as hard as I could and knock the person backward or at least knock the gun out of his hand.”
“Not a bad plan, Dr. Stern, but his bullets would have been quite a bit faster than your kicking ability.”
“Well, I just thank God that didn’t happen.”
After looking at the car door Pratt asked, “You have two bullet holes. Did you by any chance hear more shots that didn’t hit your car?”
“No, Detective, I only heard the two shots.”
Johnny took out a pen from his pocket and placed it into the holes to try and determine the direction they came from. He noticed they were angled a bit downward and figured they may have come from a slightly higher elevation, like perhaps from a tractor-trailer cab or truck nearby.
Pratt then offered to drive Stern home having explained his car had to be taken by a tow truck to the police station for forensics to inspect. They waited until the tow truck arrived a minute later. He presumed the first set of officers had already requested the police tow truck to come and pick up his car and that’s how it arrived so fast. This time he saw the two bullet holes on the inside of his car and realized that the bullets were somewhere inside, perhaps embedded in the seat.
Stern accepted Pratt’s offer for the ride and tried to get into the locked car. The detective then entered his unmarked car and reached across to open the passenger door for him to get into. Police cars have automatic door locks up front to prevent a handcuffed suspect sitting in back from escaping. Todd sat down in the passenger seat and Pratt immediately began questioning him again while driving out of the lot.
“Dr. Stern, do you have any enemies, or do you know of anyone who may want to shoot you?”
“None that I can think of,” Todd replied. “The only person that hates me that much would be my ex-wife. But we divorced seven years ago and shooting me would get her no financial gain or any inheritance. No, I don’t believe she did it, nor do I think she hired someone to kill me. She wasn’t that type and her hatred for me wasn’t that strong. She caught me cheating with another woman after I caught her doing the same thing. Yes, you heard me right,” Stern said, reacting to Pratt’s look of surprise. “My wife turned out to have been a closeted lesbian all along. I just can’t think of anyone else who might have shot at me today.”
“Dr. Stern, I believe you know Jack Green, Tony Pilaris and Rabbi Neil Bloom, right?”
“I sure do, they’re my foursome golfing partners. I can also guess why you’re asking me that question. We’ve each been shot at for no apparent reason.”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking you. Have you gotten together to discuss why all four of you were being targeted?” asked Pratt. “Why do you think that you all know each other and never mentioned it to the police? Each of you being shot at didn’t prompt a thought that perhaps you needed to explain your friendship to the police?”
“Honestly, Detective, I’m sure that once my friends find out that I was shot at today, we will all undoubtedly get together as soon as possible,” Todd replied. “There must be some connection.”
“All right, Dr. Stern, I hope you gentlemen will come up with something. I would certainly like to be at your meeting, if you fellows will tell me where and when.”
“I’ll mention your request to the other three, but I don’t believe they would want you present until we discuss it among ourselves. Thanks for the ride, Detective,” said Stern through the open passenger side window when they arrived at his house, looking all around to make sure no one was aiming at him before he got out of the car.
As Todd entered his front door, he immediately took out his cell phone and called Jack who was flabbergasted at hearing the news. Todd asked him to call the other two and agreed to meet at El Hombre’s Diner the next day at 11:00 a.m. Jack agreed and said unless he hears back differently, they’d all meet.
After the police cars left the mall and Todd’s Prelude was lifted onto a flatbed tow truck, a man in an old green pickup pulled out of his spot in Row F, completely unnoticed by the police or detectives previously on the scene. He drove out of the mall’s parking lot in the opposite direction.
Seventeen
The next day at 11:00 a.m. the four golfers met at the diner. The Rabbi was early and had a cup of green tea while sitting at the counter waiting for the other three to arrive. Todd took an Uber, since the police had towed his car, but the other two friends came together in one car and walked in at precisely eleven o’clock.
“What the fuck do you guys think is happening to us? Each of us have been shot at, and two of us were seriously wounded. Who the fuck could be doing this?” asked Jack.
“Jack, please don’t curse, especially in a public place like this,” Bloom responded briskly.
“Is that all you’re worried about, Neil, my saying fuck in public? What about the fact that somebody is trying to kill us, doesn’t that bother you a little more?” Jack asked.
Todd interrupted by using his best respectable tone. “Gentlemen, we are in a corner booth and no one is near us. We need to talk about why we are being shot at and by whom. I assume you’ve all been interviewed by the police and have met Detective Pratt?”
“I did,” said Tony.
“Me too,” replied both Jack and Neil, sounding like a duet.
Todd now took over the meeting. “Do you guys have any ideas about what’s going on? I thought about it intensely and came up with nothing so far. I can’t believe we upset another group of golfers and now they’re trying to scare us away from the course. I just can’t make any sense of it at all,” he said.
“What about the fact that only two shots were taken at each of us? That must have some meaning, don’t you think?” Bloom asked.
Tony retorted, “Well, I for one don’t believe that we are the only ones who are being shot at. I’ll bet within a few days, someone else who is not in our group will be shot at too. And obviously, they’re not shooting just at you Jewish guys, because they came after me too. Maybe they just hate Jews and Blacks.”
“Whatever, they are certainly scaring the shit out of me,” Todd offered.
Bloom now entered the conversation again. “And me too,” adding “but gentlemen, please, I am a man of the cloth. Can’t you show me some gosh-darn respect by not cursing in my presence, you assholes!”
The others cracked up at this comment. They took him seriously at first about their use of profanity, until he used it. But they soon sobered up to the serious matter at hand, all agreeing they were scared too.
“Ever since I got out of the hospital, I’ve been afraid to leave my house,” Neil said.
Tony added his thoughts with rising anger. “Why would someone want to shoot any of us, Rabbi? I’m asking you again, why? Nobody shoots Rabbis or priests. They may want to shoot us Black guys, but you guys are White, what the fuck?”
They were all silent for a minute; then Todd came up with an idea. “How about we all agree to be interviewed together by our local paper? We’ll let them ask all their questions, and then we’ll say that we intend to meet again in front of this diner next week. Once we agree on the day, we’ll see if that draws out the shooter. Obviously, Detective Pratt will have to agree with this plan, and if he does, he’ll have enough undercover officers there to assure our safety.”
They eac
h agreed it was a promising plan. Bloom even suggested that he should have some influence in getting the Sedona Times Herald to interview them, since its publisher was a member of his congregation. Jack volunteered to call Detective Pratt and make sure it was okay with him. They picked next Thursday afternoon at 4:00 for the interview, hoping it would be published the following weekend.
The reporter assigned to the “Shooter” case met with them together, as planned, interviewing each one about what they knew to date They agreed to meet again in a week to discuss the people they suspected might be after them, just happening to mention that they would meet at 2:30 p.m. next Thursday outside of El Hombre’s Diner. The time was picked to minimize the possibility of ‘collateral damage,’ because they knew that the diner closed at two p.m. after the lunch hour, while the higher-end restaurants in town were open for dinner too. They also knew that the reporter would be tempted to print what she overheard.
The reporter, believing she might have an award-winning scoop on her hands, took the bait and wrote exactly what they hoped she would. The paper was published that weekend, and on the following Thursday the four met as planned in front of El Hombre’s Diner at 2:30, with several undercover cops nearby. They waited for two hours and nothing happened.
Detective Pratt, observing from his unmarked car, came over to them and said, “Nice try guys, but whoever this asshole is, he either didn’t read the newspaper or suspected a trap. I’ll get back to my investigation and keep you all informed if I make any progress.”
After Pratt left, Tony shared a crazy notion with his friends. “Let’s play eighteen this Sunday and see if any of us gets shot at.”
“Great idea, Tony,” Bloom said mockingly. “That way, if the shooter succeeds and does kill one of you guys on the course, I’ll be able to hold your funeral service right near the hole in a sand trap.”
A Hole In One Page 9
