The Forgotten by Faye Kellerman Page B

concentration-camp fodder because I have typical Jewish looks.”
    Decker winced. “That’s awful. Not that you look Jewish, but the Nazi fodder part. That’s absolutely disgusting.”
    “It creeped me out.”
    “I can certainly understand that.” Immediately, Decker was thinking about how this woman might be stoking Ernesto’s sadistic sexual fantasies. Her prodding would be especially potent if Ernesto felt that he was from Nazi heritage. “What’d you say to her?”
    “Nothing. I was too shocked to respond. And, of course, that’s exactly what she wanted. To get attention by being outrageous.” Her eyes were focused somewhere on her bare toes. “Jake wasn’t there. I told him about it afterward. He told me his grandparents were in concentration camps.”
    Decker nodded.
    “But they’re not your parents?”
    “My parents are American,” Decker said.
    “So are mine. And my father isn’t even Jewish. I was very offended by her statement. Then there’s this side of me…I was embarrassed by looking so Jewish, because Jewish girls don’t have a reputation for being hotties. That’s why I got the nose pierce. You probably think that’s awful, right?”
    He did think it was awful. Awful and an awful shame. But he tried to keep his face neutral. “Feelings aren’t awful.”
    She wasn’t buying. “Not true. Self-destructive feelings are very awful.”
    Decker softened his tone. “Do you know where Ruby Ranger lives?”
    Lisa nodded. “With her parents. Are you going to go talk to her?”
    “Definitely,” Decker said. “But it didn’t come from you, all right?”
    “She’ll think it came from Jake. He hated her. Every time she walked in the room, he’d leave. She once confronted him…something about him living an outdated life. That was a mistake! Wow, he got real scar—”
    She suddenly shut down.
    Jake got real scary, she had wanted to say. Decker would bring it up with him, a task he dreaded. The father part of him just didn’t have the energy to deal with another crisis. But the cop part kept pushing him on. He folded his notebook. “Thank you. You’ve been helpful.”
    “Maybe I’ve been helpful to you,” she said. “But I certainly have not been helpful to Jake or to Ruby.”
     
    He was minutes away from the shul . But his head was still spinning from what Lisa Halloway had just told him. He decided to make a quick pit stop at home. Be a concerned fatherand check up on his children. Besides, the longer car ride to his house would give him a few more minutes of thinking time.
    How to approach Ruby Ranger. At twenty-two, she was not a minor, but he imagined that her parents still exercised monetary control over her. If he could get them on his side, maybe that would give him an in with Ruby. Still, if the young woman were so strongly opinionated with such outrageous ideas, it indicated that she wasn’t dominated by her parents. The age, early to mid twenties, was unpredictable.
    It was getting late. The best thing was to wait until tomorrow. Maybe he’d have some other clever idea as to how to approach her. Maybe if she enjoyed baiting people, baiting a cop would be a big kick for her. He’d play dumb. If she hated Jacob, it would be even more of a kick to mess up his cop father.
    Which brought him back to his stepson. After fifteen years of having a no-fuss, no-hassle kid, he was getting paid back in spades. Jacob was moody, sullen, and sarcastic. But scary? The kid never failed to surprise him.
    He opened his front door, then went into the kitchen. Jacob looked up from the kitchen table. He was in his pajama bottoms, eating a sandwich, and reading Beowulf, yellow highlight marker in his hand. “Hi. What are you doing home? I thought you were going to the shul to help out?”
    “I decided to come home first…see if you need anything.”
    “I’m fine. Hannah’s asleep.”
    “Any problems?”
    “Nah, she’s a great kid.”
    “Yes, she is.”
    “You look tired,” Jacob