He looked up, expecting to see one of the nurses and was surprised to see Joseph instead. The other man walked in smiling and looking as casual as though they were just sitting down to coffee somewhere.
“How’re you doing?” the billionaire asked.
“Trade places with me and find out,” Mark growled.
“I think I’ll wait for the book. I don’t need to live that particular movie,” Joseph said wryly.
“Nice,” Mark said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey, if you play your cards right I just might be able to get you out of here,” Joseph said.
“I’m listening.”
“I hired some private nurses. They’re setting up a nice, cozy hospital ward for one back at my house. I might consider moving you into it.”
“Yes, please. Get me out of here,” Mark said.
“I’ll talk to the doctors and see what I can do.”
Instead of leaving the room like Mark was expecting him to do, Joseph took a seat. “How are you really feeling?” Joseph asked.
“Not great. I have things to do. I need to get out of here so I can solve the case.”
“I’ve got our top people working on that,” Joseph said with a smile.
“Great. I’m one of your top people. Get me working on it. The sooner we get this thing taken care of the sooner we can get out of your hair.”
Joseph shifted in his seat. “You know, I think Traci, you, and the kids should stay with us for a while. It’s safer. Plus we miss seeing the kids every day.”
Something was wrong and somehow Joseph had been elected the person to break the news. Even through his pain and dizziness Mark was able to figure that much out at least.
“Okay, spill, what’s going on? Why won’t anyone give me a straight answer about anything?”
Joseph cleared his throat. “What do you know about what happened last night?”
“Curtis got killed. I got knocked unconscious and my car stolen. Jeremiah killed the guy who did it. What more is there to know?”
“Well, some of that is accurate,” Joseph said. “Curtis was killed. You were knocked unconscious and your car was stolen.”
“Jeremiah didn’t kill the guy?”
“No, the fire did that.”
“What fire?” Mark asked.
“The one in your car.”
There was silence for a moment as Mark tried to figure out if he’d just heard Joseph correctly. “What fire in my car?”
“I’m sorry, Mark. Apparently, the arsonist targeted you and exploded some sort of device in your car that caused a fire. It, and your assailant, burned up.”
“Burned up?
“Yes.
“My car burned up?
“Yes,” Joseph repeated.
“And the guy who stole it burned up as well?”
“Yes. Don’t feel bad, though. He was a terrible man. They figured out that he killed his father-in-law and stole that motorcycle he was riding. It turns out he was fleeing from the crime when you crossed paths.”
“I don’t feel bad that he burned up. He stole my car! And knocked me out. And was a killer it turns out. There, justice served.”
It was one of the more bizarre conversations Mark had ever had. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he was still asleep, either in the hospital bed or still passed out on the side of the road.
“Good. I’m glad you don’t feel bad about it,” Joseph said.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, are you getting me out of here or what?”
Joseph sat for a moment, just staring at him.
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Mark asked.
“Actually, there is.”
A sinking feeling began to overtake him. “Everyone’s okay?”
“Yes, we’re all just fine. Everyone’s safe now.”
Even through his pounding headache Mark was able to latch onto the last word. Now. Meaning everyone hadn’t been safe before.
“But it’s nothing I want you to worry about,” Joseph said. “Geanie and I will take care of everything.”
“What exactly are you and Geanie taking care of?” Mark asked, squirming slightly in the hospital bed as he tried to get a better look at Joseph’s face.
“Your car,” Joseph said.
“And?” Mark prompted.
“Traci’s car,” Joseph said after a momentary hesitation.
Mark closed his eyes. Traci’s car. The arsonist must have destroyed it, too. It could have killed his wife, his children. But Joseph said they were alright. And he remembered that Cindy had been talking to Traci the night before after she and Jeremiah and Liam found him.
He opened his eyes. Joseph’s face was twisted in sorrow and he was staring at him with pity in his eyes.
There was more.
“And?” Mark whispered.
The silence stretched on forever. Finally, Joseph said, “Your house.”
~
It had been a long, hard day and there was no end in sight. Jeremiah was sitting in the living room of the mansion with Cindy, Joseph, Geanie, and Traci. It was after ten and they’d just finished dinner. Mark was upstairs in his and Traci’s room asleep. The night nurse was upstairs as well keeping tabs on him. It had been an emotional reunion for Mark and Traci and the detective had been horrified when he heard everything that had happened to her.
Joseph had brought out a dry erase board, some markers, and an easel. Cindy had stacks of paper in front of her on the coffee table along with several pens.
“Now, what’s this about finding the arsonist?” Geanie asked.
“We know that Curtis was working on crosschecking the names of the members of the synagogues the arsonist has attacked. I figure we can pick up where he left off. I was able to get the rosters from the two synagogues here in Pine Springs that were burned along with one for Rabbi Ezra’s synagogue. I also obtained one from the second synagogue that was attacked which was in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the first synagogue lost its records to the fire last night.”
“Okay,” Joseph said. “So, you want us to check the names.”
“Right. We’re working under the theory that there is a connection between these synagogues and that it has to do with the members. Curtis was killed and the arsonist also destroyed his computer. I think that sends a strong signal that he was on the right track. So, take a packet. Jeremiah, you keep track of the names we find that we need to do some follow up investigation on.”
“Okay,” he said.
“If we find some likely candidates we can call either the secretary or the rabbi from the other synagogue and run the names past them. Their records might have burned but they should recognize names if we give them to them.”
“Alright, let’s do this,” Geanie said enthusiastically.
Cindy, Joseph, Geanie and Traci each took one of the rosters. Jeremiah set up the dry erase board and waited, marker in hand.
“Okay, let’s go,” Cindy said. “Last name Aarons.”
“Got it,” Geanie said.
“No,” Joseph said.
“Not me,” Traci piped in.
“My next one is Abrams,” Cindy said, glancing up at Jeremiah who just shrugged and grimaced.
“Yes.”
“Me, too.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, put Abrams on the list,” Cindy said.
Jeremiah wrote it down on the dry erase board, feeling awkward as he did so. It was the first time he’d actually written down his own last name in more years than he could recall.
“Before that one I had an Abelman. Anyone else have that one?” Joseph asked.
“Not me,” Cindy said.
“No,” Geanie and Traci both answered.
“Okay. The next name on my list is Arkin,” Cindy said.
“Nope,” Joseph said.
“I have it,” Geanie said.
“Me, too,” Traci said.
“What if that family used to go to my synagogue but doesn’t now, or someone got married, changed a name, whatever?” Joseph asked. “If the name shows up in three of the four should we at least consider it?”
“I’ll make a separate column for ones that show up three places,” Jeremiah said.
“Good idea,” Cindy said. “Two could be coincidence, but three could use investigating. Remember, it might not be the same individual, but it could be family members.”
“What if whoever it is used to go to four of these and isn’t on their rosters anymore?” Traci asked.
“It takes a while for churches to purge their rosters. I’m guessing it’s the same for synagogues. We’re only talking about the span of maybe a year-and-a-half here.”
“Yeah. That’s why I don’t think less than three is worth pursuing,” Geanie agreed.
“Okay, I’m out of A names. You guys have any others?”
“Asher and Avner,” Joseph said.
“Arnold,” Geanie said.
“I’m out as well,” Traci said.
“Great. Moving on to the Bs. Blumberg.”
“Got it.”
“Got it.”
“Got it.”
“Blumberg,” Jeremiah said, writing it down.
~
An hour later they all sat back and stared at the board. There were a few names that three of the synagogues had. There were six last names that appeared on all four rosters, though. Cindy stared intently at the list of names. Abrams, Blumberg, Friedman, Goldsmith, Schmidt, and Smeyne.
“Okay, let’s go back and look at those and see if we can’t get lucky,” she suggested.
She flipped her pages back to the beginning. “Okay, for Abrams, let’s read off the names of the individual family members and see if we have any crossover.”
“Why don’t we write down all of them and then contact the synagogues and see if they can tell us anything about relatives. It’s a longshot, but heck, Marie knows the names of a lot of our members’ family members who don’t go to the synagogue. ‘Family of family are just future members’ is I think how she put it once.”
“Okay,” Cindy said.
They all started rattling off names and Jeremiah wrote them down. There weren’t any obvious crossovers which was disappointing. Still, there was a lot more exploration to do. Jeremiah was right about contacting the synagogues. Members at First Shepherd were constantly asking prayer for siblings, cousins, and other relatives who didn’t even go to their church.
It was going to have to wait, though. She knew she was crashing, hard. Looking around she could tell that she wasn’t alone. The others were just as exhausted as she was. “I think we need to call it a night,” she said. “I can’t keep my eyes open much longer.”
“Me, either,” Joseph admitted.
“I know that I need to get sleep so that I can help Mark, it’s just hard,” Traci fretted.
“You’ve had the least sleep of any of us,” Cindy said gently. “And you’re right, we all need to be at our best if we’re going to figure this out.”
“Agreed,” Jeremiah said. “There’s a point at which you lose so much productivity because you’re tired that anything you do becomes more destructive than constructive.”
“Come on,” Geanie said, dragging herself to her feet. She reached out and took Traci’s arm. “Let’s get you to bed. We’ll all tackle it fresh first thing in the morning.”
“Okay,” Traci said reluctantly as Geanie led her out of the room.
“That goes for you as well,” Jeremiah said, looking at Cindy sternly.
Cindy yawned. “I’ll sleep if you sleep.”
He rolled his eyes. “You do realize that I’m trained to go without sleep for long stretches of time, right?”
“And it’s been a long stretch of time already. You said it yourself, at some point it becomes more hurtful than helpful.”
“We call it the law of diminishing returns,” Joseph said as he stood up. “I’ll check on Clarice and her guests and then I’m off to bed.”
Joseph left the room and Jeremiah shook his head.
“What?” Cindy asked with a yawn.
“I’m imagining him providing turn down service for the dog beds. We should have it so good as those dogs.”
Cindy laugh-snorted. “That’s a good one. All we’d have to do is become Joseph’s pets.”
“Aren’t we already?” Jeremiah asked mischievously.
“Then where’s our turn down service?” Cindy asked, barely stifling another yawn.
Jeremiah chuckled and stood up, holding his hand out to her. She took it and let him pull her to her feet. Hand-in-hand they walked toward the stairs then up them to the second floor.
Cindy’s feet were dragging and she practically tripped on the last step. It was a good thing they were turning in. She really was no use to anyone in the condition she was in.
“You okay?”
“I’m even more tired than I thought,” she admitted.
“I know.”
They made it to the hallway where their rooms were, and Jeremiah turned to her. He tucked a stray piece of hair back behind her ear and smiled gently at her. He looked sad and far away.
“We’re going to find this guy,” she said.
“I know.”
“And tomorrow night we’ll celebrate our first night of Hanukkah together. It will be fun.”
“Yes, it will,” he said, sounding even more tired than she felt.
She squeezed his hand. “Even if it takes a holiday miracle.”
“Yes,” he said, squeezing her hand back.
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.
He bent down and gave her a quick kiss before turning and heading toward his room.
Cindy sighed and then headed into her room. She hadn’t made it more than half a dozen steps when she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Jeremiah!”
18
Jeremiah spun on his heel and ran into Cindy’s room. She was standing in the middle of it staring toward the bed.
“Cindy, what is it?” he asked.
She pointed. “Look.”
Her sheets had been turned down and there were two chocolates on her pillow.
She looked up at him and her lips were quivering. “It’s official. We’re Joseph’s pets,” she said.
She broke into a fit of giggling and after a moment he started laughing, too.
~
Cindy felt a bit better in the morning. She got up early and went with Jeremiah to the synagogue. She had decided to attend the early morning Shabbat service. It was their typical weekly service since the Hanukkah Shabbat was not until the following week.
Stepping foot in the synagogue she started worrying about the arsonist and she found herself jumping as each new person entered the building. She was sure that she was going to be on pins and needles throughout the entire service.
Instead, to her embarrassment, she fell asleep. The elderly couple sitting next to her found it hilarious as they were happy to tell her once she woke up at the end. As soon as they were alone she apologized profusely to Jeremiah.
“Do you fall asleep in your church services?” he asked.
“Sometimes,” she admitted.
“Then no offense taken,” he said with a smile. “Just don’t yell at me if I do the same.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Good.”
“Well, with my eyes closed I certainly didn’t see anything or anyone suspicious.”
“Neither did I. And that was with my eyes open,” he said. “I didn’t really expect to. With the exception of the fire we stopped, our arsonist seems to only strike under cover of darkness. That one time he went against pattern was the one time he failed.”
“I know, but I figured if we got too comfortable with the thought that he’s more likely to show up at night then he’d be sure to show up this m
orning.”
“I understand your reasoning. Given what little we do know of him, though, I fully expect him to attack tonight.”
“Do you plan on being here tonight?”
He nodded. “We’re doing the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah and the prayers at sundown. Most people will just stay home, but a few like to be here. They were doing it this way long before I arrived.”
She thought of the menorah she had seen earlier. “I thought menorahs had 9 candles. I only saw 7 earlier.”
“Ah, I can explain that,” he said with a smile. “Menorahs have 7 candles except for the ones used during Hanukkah. The menorah was part of the temple complex and was supposed to be kept lit. When the Jews retook the Temple and rededicated it they only had enough oil to keep the lamp lit for one day, but it was going to take many days for them to obtain fresh supplies. The miracle was that the small amount of oil burned eight days until they could get more. That’s why the Hanukkah menorah has 8 candles plus the one used to light the others.”
“So, the 7 candles, or 7 branch lamp is the traditional one.”
“Yes, but most non-Jews think of the special holiday one that we only use for the 8 nights of Hanukkah.”
“That makes sense. Thank you.”
Jeremiah laughed. “You’re welcome. Don’t worry. I know there are a lot of customs and it can seem overwhelming sometimes, but I promise it will all make sense eventually.”
She smiled at him. “I’m counting on it.”
~
Saturday morning Mark felt much better. Against the wishes of his nurse he got up and went downstairs, determined to have breakfast at a table in a civilized fashion instead of being forced to eat it in bed. Halfway down the stairs he thought he might have made a mistake when the world started tilting around him. He paused, trying to decide what to do.
If he wanted to go back up it entailed trying to turn around without falling over or yelling for the nurse to come and get him. Neither option was appealing.
Anointest My Head With Oil Page 14
