“There’s this case that Rivi wants to take,” Ezra admits. “I can already tell that it’s going to take over her life”

“B

orn 1959. Died 1994, we think, aged thirty-five. I don’t know what else the police discovered from the body, so that’s all we have to go on,” Penina reports. “Ephraim Cohen, his father, was pretty involved in local government. He has some medal displayed in Town Hall, if you want to check that out.”

“Eventually. I think we’ll probably get more out of investigating Avigdor himself.” Gabe disconnects his phone from Rivi’s car as he parks, switching it to speaker for a minute. “Did you find anything else about his schooling?”

“Just that he graduated from elementary school at Yeshivas Ner Mordechai here. High school… high school….” Penina pauses.

Over the phone, Gabe can hear the sound of fingers against a keyboard, then a few clicks before a sudden breath of victory. “He didn’t graduate from high school in Lenape Falls,” she says. “At least, I don’t see him on any online records. But what I did find is that one Avigdor Cohen spearheaded a local yeshivah’s food drive in Bearwood, New York.”

Gabe’s hand jolts against the steering wheel, and the car lets out a loud honk just as a woman walks past with her son. She gives him a dirty look. He raises a sheepish hand in apology. “He was in Bearwood? That can’t be a coincidence. It’s where—”

“Where you were born. Right. But Avigdor didn’t stay there. He was back in Lenape Falls when he passed away.” Penina is thoughtful over the phone. “I wonder what you’ll be able to find.”

“Not as much as you’ve been able to sniff out,” Gabe says. Penina is like a force of nature when she’s determined, unstoppable until she’s destroyed every barrier in the way.