Time Bomb

“Seems to be.”

“Since the break-in, have you and your family had any other problems?”

“Nothing, thank God.”

Milo reached into a coat pocket, drew out the photo he’d taken from Dinwiddie, and held it in front of the rabbi’s baby face.

“Yes, that’s Ike,” said Sanders. “Did his death have anything to do with Sophie?”

“Nothing as far as we know, Rabbi. What can you tell me about him?”

“Not much at all. I barely knew him. We passed each other a few times- that was all.”

“How long had he been living here before he was killed?”

Sanders shook his head. “I don’t know. My feeling was it had been for a while.”

“Why’s that?”

“They- he and Sophie- had a… comfortable relationship. As if they’d settled in with each other.”

“They get along pretty well?”

“Seemed to.” Sanders put his pipe in his mouth, then removed it. “Actually, they debated quite a bit. We could hear it through the walls. To be frank, she was a cantankerous old lady. But she and Ike did seem to have a certain… not rapport- I’d call it ease. He did chores for her, gardening, brought her groceries- I believe he worked at a grocery store. And the fact that she had him living with her, right in the apartment, would imply a great deal of trust, wouldn’t it?”

“Any reason for her not to trust him?”

Sanders shook his head. “No, I didn’t mean that at all. The racial thing has no personal relevance for me. But it is unusual. The old people have had bad experiences with black men- they tend to fear them. Not that there was any reason to fear Ike. From the few contacts I had with him he seemed a very good chap. Polite, pleasant. The only thing I did find unusual about him was his interest in the Holocaust.”

“Unusual in what way?”

“The fact that he was interested in it at all. Someone his age, not Jewish- it’s not a common interest, don’t you agree? Though I suppose living with Sophie made it not that unusual. It was a favorite topic of hers- she may have passed it along to Ike.”

“How do you know he was interested in it?”

“Because of an occurrence, last summer, about a week after we’d moved in. I ran into him in the garage. I was unpacking boxes and he’d just driven in on his motor scooter. He was carrying a huge armful of books and he dropped them. I helped him pick them up. I noticed a title- something about the origins of the Nazi party. I opened it and saw from the bookplate that it had come from the Holocaust Center- over on Pico, in West L.A. So had the others I picked up. I asked him if he was doing a school paper and he smiled and said no, it was a personal research project. I offered to help him if he needed it, but he just smiled again and said he had everything he needed. I thought it unusual, but I was pleased. That someone his age would take an interest. Most people his age have no idea what happened fifty years ago.”

“What did he and Mrs. Gruenberg used to argue about?”

“Not arguments, in the sense of quarreling. When I said debates, I meant discussions.”

“Loud discussions?”

“Lively discussions, but we couldn’t make out the words- we weren’t listening. Knowing Sophie, though, my assumption would be politics.”

“Any idea what Novato’s political views were?”

“None whatsoever.” Sanders thought for a moment. “Officer, do you suspect a political connection to… what happened?”

“No evidence of that either, Rabbi. How was Mrs. Gruenberg affected by Novato’s death?”

“As I said before, I assumed she was upset. But I didn’t see much of her reaction, because she stayed in her unit and didn’t come out much after it happened. In retrospect, I realize that was odd- she used to be out in the yard hanging laundry, or taking her walks around the neighborhood. I only found out about the murder because another policeman- a black man whose name I don’t remember- came by the house and asked me a few questions. About Ike. Did he use drugs? I told him, not to my knowledge. Who did he hang around with? I’d never seen anyone. Then he asked me about Sophie. Did she use drugs? Did she buy expensive things that she couldn’t seem to afford? That, I laughed at. But when he- the black detective- told me why he’d come, I stopped laughing. After he left, I went over to Sophie’s unit and knocked on the door. She didn’t answer. I didn’t want to violate her privacy, so I left her alone. I tried the next day, but she still didn’t answer. I started to worry- with an old person, anything can happen- but I decided to wait a while before using my key. Shortly after, I saw her come out, walking toward Rose Avenue. Looking angry. Very grim. I went after her, tried to talk to her, but she just shook her head and kept walking. The next time I saw her was here at the synagogue. She came to the social. Given her state of mind, that surprised me. But she kept to herself, avoiding people. Walking around the room, looking all around, touching the walls, the seats. Almost as if she were seeing it all for the first time.”

“Or the last,” said Milo.

Sanders’s eyes widened. He held the pipe with two hands, as if it had suddenly grown heavy.

“Yes, you’re right,” he said. “That could have been it. Seeing it for the last time. Saying goodbye.”

20

When we got back to the pay lot, the Ford was in easy-exit position. The Filipino attendant stopped traffic on Speedway to let us out. Milo didn’t acknowledge the courtesy.

I said, “Swastikas on cars, hate messages on walls. What do you think?”

He said, “I think the world’s a kind and compassionate place,” and nudged the car through the pedestrian jumble. The pedestrians weren’t feeling cooperative today. Milo cursed as he inched forward, but his heart wasn’t in it.

I said, “ ‘Remember Kennedy.’ It doesn’t make much sense. Unless it was a warning, not a tribute. As in, remember what happened to Kennedy- we’ll get you too.”

“Who’s warning who?”

I said, “I don’t know,” and grew silent.

He smiled. “Starting to see evil everywhere? Sounds like a peace officer’s perspective.”

“Speaking of peace officers, this Mehan a good cop?”

“Very good.”

“Think he and Smith ever compared notes?”

He gave me a sharp look. “What is this, the Police Review Board?”

“Just wondering.”

“Wondering what? If one arm of the octopus knows what the other’s doing? Usually not. But what if Mehan and Smith did put their heads together. What would they have ended up with? Double dead ends.”

I said, “The dope thing might have led them somewhere. Smith was thinking in that direction- the rabbi said he was asking if Gruenberg had been involved in drugs. Not that that seems likely.”

“Why not?”

“Little old dope granny? She sure wasn’t living the life-style.”

“Alex, most likely Smith was just fishing- working with what he had, which in this case was close to zero. But the way things have turned, you can’t eliminate anyone. All the money to be made- it’s loony tunes out there. We’re getting old ladies packing their supp-hose with the stuff; people cuddling sweet little babies, the buntings crammed full of white powder; cripples using false limbs. And Gruenberg’s profile doesn’t contradict a dope granny- she had radical political views, which means she might not have been so reluctant to buck the establishment. She keeps to herself, doesn’t like company, and has Novato bunking in with her- some kid out of nowhere, with no ID, no past, and she’s got him living in the same unit with her. A black kid. Even for Venice, that’s strange- you saw how the other oldsters thought so. Then, just a few days after he’s snuffed, she’s gone. Maybe he was a commie too- that was the connection between them. Maybe the two of them had some political