Friday The Rabbi Slept Late

'Free will? We have that.'

'Of course, but ours is a little different. You give your people free will, but you also give them a helping hand if their foot slips. You have a priest who can hear confession and forgive. You have a hierarchy of saints who can intercede for the sinner, and finally you have a Purgatory, which is in the nature of a second chance. I might add that you have a Heaven and a Hell that help to right any wrongs in life on this earth. Our people have only the one chance. Our good deeds must be done on this earth in this life. And since there is no one to share the burden with them or to intercede for them they must do it on their own.'

'Don't you people believe in Heaven, or in life after death?'

'Not really,' said the rabbi. 'Our beliefs have been influenced by those around us, of course, as have yours. At times in our history concepts of a life after death have cropped up, but even then we saw them our own way. Life after death means for us that part of our life that lives on in our children, in the influence that survives us after death, and the memories people have of us.'

'Then if someone is evil in this life, and yet is prosperous and happy and healthy, he gets away with it?' It was Mrs. Lanigan who asked the question.

The rabbi turned to face her. He wondered if her question had perhaps been prompted by some personal experience. 'It's questionable,' he said slowly, 'whether a thinking organism like man can ever 'get away with' something he's done. Nevertheless, it is a problem, and all the religions have wrestled with it: how does the good man who suffers get recompense and the evil man who prospers get punished? The Eastern religions explain it by reincarnation. The wicked man who is prosperous merited his prosperity by his virtue in a previous reincarnation and his wickedness will be punished in his next reincarnation. The Christian church answers the question by offering Heaven and Hell.' He appeared to consider, and then he nodded his head briskly. 'They're both good solutions, if you can believe them. We can't. Our view is given in the Book of Job, which is why it is included in the Bible. Job is made to suffer undeservedly, but there is no suggestion that he will be recompensed in the next life. The suffering of the virtuous is one of the penalties of living. The fire burns the good man just as severely and painfully as it does the wicked.'

'Then why bother to be good?' asked Mrs. Lanigan.

'Because virtue really does carry its own reward and evil its own punishment. Because evil is always essentially small and petty and mean and depraved, and in a limited life it represents a portion wasted, misused, and that can never be regained.'

His tone while he was talking to Hugh Lanigan had been conversational and matter-of-fact, but as he spoke to Mrs. Lanigan it grew solemn and portentous, almost as though he were delivering a sermon. Miriam coughed warningly to him. 'We should be getting back, David,' she said.

The rabbi looked at his watch. 'Why, it is getting late. I didn't meam to run on this way. I suspect it was the Tom Collins.'

'I'm glad you did, rabbi,' said Lanigan. 'You might not think it, but I'm very interested in religion. I read bodes on the subject whenever I can. I don't get a chance to discuss it very often though. People are reluctant to talk about religion.'

'Maybe it's no longer very important to them,' he suggested.

'Well, now, that might very well be, rabbi. But I enjoyed this afternoon, and I'd like to repeat it sometime.'

The telephone rang. Mrs. Lanigan went inside to answer it and returned almost immediately. 'It's Eban on the phone, Hugh.'

Her husband, in the midst of explaining the shortest way to the police garage, said, 'Tell him I'll call him back.'

'He's not at home,' she said. 'He's calling from a pay station.'

'Oh, all right, I'll talk to him.'

'We'll find our way,' said the rabbi. Lanigan nodded absently and hurried inside. As he walked down the porch steps, the rabbi was vaguely disturbed.

18

The next morning Melvin Bronstein was arrested.

Shortly after seven, while the Bronsteins were still at breakfast, Eban Jennings and a sergeant, both in plain clothes, appeared at the Bronstein home.

'Melvin Bronstein?' asked Jennings when a man answered the door.

'That's right.'

The policeman showed his badge. 'I'm Lieutenant Jennings of the Barnard's Crossing police department. I have a warrant for your arrest.'

'What for?'

'You're wanted for questioning in the matter of the murder of Elspeth Bleech.'

'Are you charging me with murder?'

'My instructions are to bring you in for questioning,' said Jennings.

Mrs. Bronstein called from the dining room, 'Who is it, Mel?'

'Just a minute, dear,' he called back.

'You're going to have to tell her,' said Jennings, not unkindly.

'Will you come with me?' Bronstein asked in a low voice, and led the way to the dining room.

Mrs. Bronstein looked up, startled.

'These gentlemen are from the police department, dear,' he said. 'They want me to come to the police station to give them some information and to answer some questions.' He swallowed hard. 'It's about that poor girl who was found in the temple yard.'

A spot of color appeared in Mrs. Bronstein's naturally pale face, but she did not lose her composure. 'Do you know anything about the girl's death, Mel?' she asked.

'Nothing about her death,' said Bronstein with great earnestness, 'but I know something about the girl and these gentlemen think it might help them in their investigation.'

'Will you be home for lunch?' asked his wife.

Bronstein looked at the policemen for an answer.

Jennings cleared his throat. 'I don't think I'd count on it, ma'am.'

Mrs. Bronstein placed her hands against the edge of the table and gave a slight push. She rolled back a few inches, and the policemen realized for the first time that she was in a wheelchair.

'If you can be of any help to the police in their investigation of this terrible business, Mel, then of course you must do everything you can.'

He nodded. 'You better call Al and ask him to get in touch with Nate Greenspan.'

'Of course.'

'Do you want me to help you back to bed,' he asked 'or will you sit up?'

'I think I'd better go back to bed.'

He bent down and scooped her up in his arms. For a moment he just stood there, holding her. She looked deep into his eyes.

'It's all right, sweetheart,' he whispered.

'Of course,' she murmured.

He carried her out of the room.

The news spread like wildfire. The rabbi had just returned from a busy morning at the temple and was about to sit down to lunch when Ben Schwarz called to tell him.

'Are you sure?' asked the rabbi.

'Oh, it's on the level, rabbi. It will probably be on the next radio news broadcast.'

'Do you have any details?'

'No, just that he was taken into custody for questioning.' He hesitated and then said, 'Er-rabbi, I don't know how it will affect anything you might be planning to do, but I think you ought to know that he's not a member of