“Who translated the file for you?”
“Laurie Manheim’s mother-in-law. But we didn’t get through all of it. Do you know Laurie? She’s Rabbi Manheim’s wife.”
“I know neither Laurie nor Rabbi Manheim.”
“He teaches at the high school. Yonkie had him for tenth-grade Gemara. I got to know him very well because Yonkie wasn’t doing well in his class.”
“Well, he’s doing well now. The child has hit his stride.”
“Yeshiva life agrees with him.”
“More like college, Rina. But we digress.”
“Indeed.” Rina smiled. “Anyway, as far as Laurie’s mother-in-law could tell, I think this guy at the top of the list-Rudolf Kalmer-was the lead investigator in the case. But this other guy-Heinreich Messersmit-was also involved.”
“Partners?”
“I don’t know. It almost seems that both of them were working on it, but independently. Different handwriting.”
“Who’s this number three guy-Axel Berg?”
“He came in a little later. Berg had been working on two other unsolved homicides, and we think that Kalmer and Messersmit asked him for a consult on my grandmother’s death. Berg later took over.”
“What other homicides?”
“Here… wait.” Rina flipped through the pages of her translated text. “It’s hard to tell, Peter, because they, like you guys here, use abbreviations. Mrs. Manheim thought that this page”-Rina sifted through the faxed copies of the original documents-“here, this over here. They brought in Berg for a consult on the MAK of two women-Anna Gross and Marlena Durer.” Rina read to herself. “Okay… this word-‘tötungsdelikt’-that’s premeditated homicide. ‘Totschlag’ could be like regular homicide.”
“Regular homicide?”
Rina was exasperated as she groped for words. “You know… like defensible homicide.”
“Self-defense?”
“Yeah, yeah. It could mean killing in self-defense.” She hit her head. “ ‘Tötungsdelikt’ implies lying in wait.”
“Okay. So these two women, Durer and Gross, were premeditated murder victims.”
“Yes, we think so.”
“What does ‘MAK’ mean?”
“We’re not sure. Mrs. Manheim thinks itmightbe an abbreviation for ‘mordakten,’ which would be a homicide file. ‘Mord’ is murder. ‘Akte’ is any file. See? They have it in front of my grandmother’s name-MAK Regina Gottlieb.”
Decker regarded his wife’s blue eyes. “Regina? So you’re named after her?”
Rina nodded.
“Ah.”
“I think that Kalmer and Messersmit wanted to know if my grandmother’s murder was related to the murders of Durer and Gross.”
“What? Like a serial killing?”
Rina shrugged. “Beats me. That’s your domain.”
Decker scanned through Rina’s translated notes as he sipped tea. “You translated the autopsy report.”
“Yes, we did. It was gruesome.”
Again he regarded his wife. “Your grandfather allowed the body to be autopsied.”
“He didn’t have a choice because her death was unnatural.”
Reading over the specifics:a white Jewess, well developed, well nourished, 155 centimeters in height, with a weight of 45 kilograms.“They specified her religion?”
“There’s a shock.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised they didn’t write her up as ‘Jewess dog.’ ”
“But 1928 was pre-Hitler.”
“In Germany, yes. He didn’t come into official power until 1933. But Munich was a different story. In the late ’20s, Hitler was a very strong force. Munich was where his family had originally settled from Austria. That’s where he led the famous Beer Hall Putsch in the early ’20s.”
“Sorry. I slept through world history. What’s a ‘putsch’?”
“A ‘putsch’ is like a… It’s like a coup… an insurrection. The Nazis tried to take over Munich. It was unsuccessful. They threw Hitler into jail. That’s where he wroteMein Kampf.Any of this sound familiar?”
“I knew Hitler was from Austria. I also know he was a failed artist. You might have to give me a crash course in prewar Germany.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“No, Rina, it might be important. Maybe the murder was an act of anti-Semitism.” Decker skimmed through the sheets for several minutes.
Rina let him read, then said, “Anything in there to verify your theory?”
“Nothing so far. I have to study this in detail.” He backtracked several pages. “Yeah, definitely this guy Berg was working on several female homicide cases. And they considered your grandmother to be a possibility. Except in these two cases-Durer and Gross-they were strangled… and your grandmother was bludgeoned on the back of the head.” He closed the file and connected with Rina’s eyes. “Do you really want to find out about this?”
“I know it’s weird, but yes.”
“It’s not weird, Rina. But you’re getting into some very strong material.”
“It can’t be worse than the camps.”
“You have a point, but things that are less than horrendous can still affect you deeply.” Decker tapped the ends of the sheets to even them up. “I’m a little tired now. But I’ll read it over carefully tomorrow night and let you know what I come up with.”
“Thank you.”
Decker thought a moment. “Don’t underplay the historical context, Rina. I think the anti-Semitism is going to be very relevant somewhere down the line.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Rina sighed. “And that’s really sad.”
It was after midnight by the time I crawled into bed, but Dad was a night owl. I phoned his business number and he picked up after two rings.
“Decker.”
“It’s me. Did I wake you?”
“No, you caught me just in time. Why are you calling my work line?”
“I thought if I called the private line, I’d scare you.”
“You would have. Good thinking. Thank you. What’s up?”
“A couple of things. First off, can I come over Friday night for dinner?”
“Of course. You don’t even have to ask. The boys are home, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know. What’s the occasion?”
“Summer vacation.”
“It’s only mid-May.”
“Both got their finals over with very early. Lucky me.”
I smiled. “Poor Dad. So beleaguered.”
“Nah, I’m just joking. It’ll be wonderful to see my entire family in one sitting. Any particular reason why you’re coming?”
“Not really.” An out-and-out lie. “But I was thinking about bringing a friend. But if it’s too much work for Rina, we can make it another time.”
A momentary pause. “Of course, you can bring a friend. Is it a he or a she?”
“It’s nobody serious, Daddy. I just met him a few days ago.”
“And already you’re bringing him to your parents’ house for Shabbat dinner?”
“My father’s house. Mom doesn’t know about him because it’s not relevant. I’monlybringing him because he’s traditional. His family lives in Israel and I thought it would be nice for him to have a real Shabbat.”
“An Israeli?”
There was excitement in his voice. I could picture the smile on his face. I wondered how wide it would stay once he saw Koby’s complexion. I should have said more, if nothing else than to prepare him, but then I figured why should I? My parents had raised me without prejudice. Now was the time to test their theoretical tolerance.
“He’s lived here for eight years. This is stupid, Dad. He’s just a friend, all right?”
“I hear you, Princess. Sure. Bring him over.”
“I have another reason for calling.”
“Uh-oh, this sounds more serious.”
“It has to do with business. Imighthave tracked down a good candidate for the baby’s mother.” I told him everything I had found out. “What do you think?”