Todd figured that the detective was bullshitting and didn’t have a single suspect. He assumed he said what he did just to get a reaction out of him. In fact, the detective had no suspects at all. Todd, however, did throw one name out to the detective. “I would perhaps take a second look at the Rabbi. You know, he spends hours when no one pays attention to him nor does he conduct any services. There have also been rumors among his congregation that they believe he may be having an affair with the wife of a congregant. He may have even shot some bullet holes at himself just to throw you guys off the track.”
“And what do you think might be his motivation?”
“Well if, and I’m not saying it is happening, but let’s just say the Rabbi is having a sexual relationship with the wife of one of his congregants. Wouldn’t it just fall cleanly into place if he were able to get rid of the husband and then have the wife for himself?”
“And how would you account for his having been shot at too and hit by a bullet that almost killed him?” asked the older detective, with a puzzled look on his face.
“Perhaps to throw the police off his track by hiring someone to shoot him. He certainly wasn’t injured fatally, was he?” he asked ridiculously, as if his theory wasn’t from outer space.
“So, you think it’s the Rabbi?” asked the younger detective.
“Not at all. It was just a guess. You’re right, I should stop playing Perry Mason.”
“Dr. Stern, I would advise that you restrain your conjecture, unless you know more than you are implying.
The older detective narrowed the list down to just one. He soon intended to follow up the one lead he had neglected after Neil was released from the hospital. He just couldn’t believe that a Rabbi would commit attempted murder; but he wasn’t about to rule it out entirely, just in case Dr. Stern might have something. It was certainly something he needed to turn over to Detective Pratt.
The next day, as Todd expected, he received several phone calls from his patients as he did every morning after he opened the office, but three of the calls were from the patients he had told the detective about. Each of the three asked virtually the same question.
“Dr. Stern, why did I receive a phone call from a detective asking me if I was with you on a particular day in February? I told him you were repairing a cavity of mine. Do you mind that I told him that?”
One of the other patients responded practically the same way. The third one, an elderly gentleman in his late eighties named Mr. Gerwig, explained that he answered, “I’m not sure. I just can’t remember everything at my age, but if I remember correctly about the date, then I was there to get my teeth cleaned. Does that help you, Doctor? I want to be sure that I don’t cause you any trouble.”
“No problem, Mr. Gerwig, thank you for your help. You did great and I really appreciate it.”
“Oh good, I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”
“You didn’t, Mr. Gerwig.”
◆◆◆
It was now the beginning of summer when an emergency police operator answered a call. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“This is Dr. Todd Stern. I’ve was just shot at as I was getting into my car. I wasn’t hit but I have two bullet holes on the side of my car,” responded Stern.
“Where are you located, Dr. Stern?” the operator asked in a monotone voice.
“I’m at the Herald Mall parking lot. I’m parked in Row D as it says on the light pole about fifty feet away from me.”
“What kind of car do you have?”
“I have a silver gray 2019 Honda Prelude. I’ll leave my hood and trunk lids open so that they can find me among the hundreds of cars parked here.”
“Did you see who was shooting at you?”
“No, Operator, I was too busy ducking behind my car trying not to get shot to look up and see who was shooting at me.”
“I’ll dispatch a squad car to meet you at your car or would you prefer to just report it to your local police station yourself?”
“No, of course I want a police officer to meet me here as soon as possible,” Stern replied indignantly.
“A squad car should be arriving shortly. Please remain with your car.”
“All right, Operator, but remind them that the longer they take to get here, the more time the shooter has to get away.”
“They know that, sir. Did you see the shooter, or can you describe the vehicle? I’ll send out another car to look for it.”
“No operator, I already told you, I didn’t see any vehicle or any shooter.”
“Do you have any witnesses there with you?” she asked.
“No one came over to me to say that they saw something.”
“All right, sir, the police will be there in a minute.”
The police arrived in four squad cars with their flashing lights on and sirens blasting. Stern could see them a few rows away in the lot. Finally, they saw him waving his arms at them and pulled up to Todd’s car. As soon as one officer got out of his vehicle, Todd shut both his hood and trunk lid. Two of the four came to him while the other two spread out to search the area. One officer nearing retirement age approached while the younger officer stayed in the car to remain in contact with the others who were doing the searching.
“Dr. Stern?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“You say that you or your car was shot at, can you show me the bullet holes?”
“Right here,” he pointed, “on the driver’s door.”
The officer looked at the door and frowned. “You sure were lucky, Doc, those two holes look like a .45 caliber gun was used, which can penetrate a door and hit you inside of your car. I’ll have a detective
