“Hmm.” There’s a wealth of judgment in Rivi’s voice, and Penina winces and averts her eyes

“I’M

not hunting for clues or whatever you and Gabe do,” Rivi informs Penina. Penina nods obediently. “I don’t care about fake names and secret identities.” Penina nods again. “I just want to—”

“Clean out your father’s house. I know.” Rivi has said it 30 times since she’d first asked Penina to join her. Quietly, Penina suspects this is less about cleaning this house and more about Rivi escaping her own house, but she’s a good enough friend to accept it in silence.

It’s been a quiet week, an unusual thing since Rivi’s father’s death. Penina’s working with Rivi on the Boyd case, too busy with that and her actual job to focus on the Moish Garfinkel situation. Gabe hasn’t been working on it since last Sunday, either, when he and Hillel were followed out of Bearwood.

We’ve hit a dead end. He’d sounded spooked over the phone. We know Abba was in Bearwood. We know he was friends with Avigdor. What more is there?

There’s plenty, but it’s not Penina’s business. Still, she’s left with more questions than answers, and it’s a tiny part of why she’d leaped at Rivi’s request for company.

Just a tiny part.

“Gabe really offered to watch Daniel today?” Rivi pushes the door open. It’s light outside, and Penina shouldn’t feel this wary, but she sees a shadow flicker through the living room and holds her breath.

It’s just the wind blowing through an open window, making the curtains move from side to side. “Was this window always open?”

Rivi frowns. “I might’ve opened it last time. It’s always so musty in here. You didn’t answer the question.”

“Right. Yes. He and Daniel hit it off. And Gabe is transcribing notes for an article on the… Xipaia people, I think. He says it’s mostly busy work.” Penina doesn’t know how she feels about the way Daniel bounced with excitement when she mentioned Gabe.

“Hmm.” There’s a wealth of judgment in Rivi’s voice, and Penina winces and averts her eyes. She stares at a thin layer of dust across one bookcase. One section of it is clear, free of any dust, and she twitches, uneasy.