GD00 - ToxiCity by Libby Fischer Hellmann Page B

wants us to know you can’t get away with tricks like that. Jacob has to pay for his sins. At the most vulnerable time in his life, when he truly falls in love.”
    Altman scratched his beard. “Interesting.”
    Howard folded his arms, as if unsure whether to be flattered or insulted.
    “But I disagree with you,” Altman went on. “Jacob didn’t set out to impersonate Esau. His mother Rebecca put him up to it. Jacob was just doing what his mother wanted.”
    “The good son,” the woman next to Matt said.
    Altman nodded. “I think it was just a case of inexperience. Jacob was naive. He should have been more careful before he made a deal with a man he just met.”
    “But he was in love,” the woman said. “People do all sorts of things when they fall in love.”
    “Jacob paid a stiff price for it.”
    “He did,” the woman nodded. “But in the end, he got her. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
    Rabbi Altman smiled. “Of course it does. Laban deceived Jacob. Unfairly. Which, in part, is why Jacob eventually triumphed. But there are some who claim it’s nonsense to think that Jacob didn’t realize it was Leah, not Rachel, in bed with him that first night. Let’s face it. It’s hard to mistake one woman for another, you know what I mean?”
    A few people tittered. The woman nudged Matt. “If my husband didn’t know who he was in bed with,” she whispered, “he ‘d have a lot of explaining to do.”
    “This scholar goes on to say that Leah was Jacob’s primary wife. She bore him more sons than Rachel, and she—not Rachel—is buried with him in the Cave of Machpelah.”
    “I always thought it was bashert that they fell in love. You know, fate.”
    Altman smiled. “Well, another scholar believes Rachel was Jacob’s intended mate for this world, but Leah was his intended mate for a higher, more spiritual world... the world Jacob ultimately embraced. So, you see this is a very complicated and involved piece of Torah.”
    As the group broke up, Matt and the woman walked toward the front door.
    “I always learn the most interesting things at synagogue,” she said.
    “You have strong opinions.”
    “Why do I sense there’s something missing from that sentence?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “For a woman.”
    Matt laughed. “Not me. My mother taught me better than that.”
    “And you believed her?”
    “The good son.”
    She grinned.
    “I’ve haven’t seen you here before,” Matt said. “Did you just join?”
    “No. I’m not a member. My mother’s Yarzeit is this week. I just came to say Kaddish .”
    “I’m sorry,” Matt said. Both his parents were still alive.
    “Don’t be. It’s been twenty years.”
    “Oh.” He felt suddenly awkward. “Well, I’d better get going.”
    “Me too. Do you always come for evening prayers?”
    “When I can.”
    A lock of hair fell across her forehead. She brushed it back, then gave him a wave. “Well. So long.”
    “‘Bye.” As he pushed through the door, he had the sense they had almost agreed to meet again.

Chapter Twelve

    Before turning in his report, Stone went back to the Feldman site just to make sure the dog shit was gone. As he drove down the shoulder of Willow Road, he noticed a white RV parked at the edge of the field. Figures were moving around inside. He climbed out of the unmarked. A dirty overcast grayed the air, and a damp, earthy scent recalled last night’s rain. He buttoned his jacket and started for the RV, but he’d only gone a few feet when his cell phone chirped.
    “Stone, it’s Matt.”
    He heard the hiss from another cell phone. “Hey, Singer. How goes it?”
    “Could be better.”
    “Yeah I hear. The word around town is you have some ‘esplaining’ to do.”
    “What?”
    Stone bit his lip. Not everyone in the world had been weaned on I Love Lucy . “How you holding up?”
    “Not good.” Matt’s voice was tight. “Doyle convinced the brass not to convene the task force. I’m head dick on the