“Rabbi, do you have any idea who wanted to kill you?” asked Pratt.
“Kill me? What makes you think someone wants to kill me?” he replied.
Pratt was taken aback by his question: “Well. Rabbi, why else do you think you were shot twice? Do you think someone mistook you for a deer? I’m sorry, Rabbi, I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but your question seems a little foolish after you got shot two times. After all, why would anyone want to shoot you, especially so close to your heart, if killing you was not their intent?”
“Frankly, it never entered my mind,” Neil lied. “I kind of thought it was a drive-by shooting and I just got in the way of the real target.”
“Now, Rabbi, you really have no idea who might want to shoot you? You were coming out of the synagogue on a weekday, located in an up-scale neighborhood in Sedona where we have no drive-by shootings. Those bullets were intentional and were intended to kill you. Luckily, they were off by a hair. Think about it. Is there anyone you might have upset recently?”
Neil replied anxiously, “Look, Detective, there have been rumors among a few members of the congregation that Mrs. Jacobson was having an affair and some people think it might be with me. Perhaps her husband thought so, too, and he possibly decided to make me his target to disrupt the affair. I swear to you, however, there is nothing going on between Mrs. Jacobson nor any other woman and me. That does not mean that I wouldn’t consider her as a possibility if she were single and also interested in me of course. Rabbis are permitted to date and marry, you know. But Rabbis do not cheat on our vows of remaining faithful to God. If Mrs. Jacobson is having an affair, it certainly isn’t with me. I’m also a golfer with three other partners and I know that I haven’t upset any of them nor anyone on the golf course enough to want to shoot me.”
“By the way, Rabbi, we understand that you live in Flagstaff rather than near the synagogue in Sedona,” Pratt said. “That’s why Detective Somerville is here. Why Flagstaff, Rabbi? I’m asking because I thought the shooter may have known where you live and shot you there, instead of at the synagogue where members of the public could have witnessed it. Why live so far away? There are plenty of beautiful homes right here in Sedona.”
“It’s really not that far. My trip usually takes me a half hour. I live in the Forest Highlands community. I picked Flagstaff for a few reasons. I’m not in the synagogue 24/7, though I do have to be there to conduct marriages, mitzvah kids, and attend to funerals. I wanted to have some privacy from the congregants. I didn’t want them to feel that they could drop by my home any time of day.”
“Isn’t that a little unusual, Rabbi, to be so far from your synagogue?” asked Pratt.
“Not really, I do need to have a private life. Where I live, the rear of my home faces a golf course which regrettably I can’t see clearly due to the immense amount of ponderosa pine trees and oaks surrounding the sides and rear of the house. I can however walk through two trees that are just slightly spread apart enough for me to squeeze through onto the second hole of the golf course on the days we four are playing,” he replied.
“Who are the three others on your golf team?” asked Johnny.
“Jack Green, Tony Pilaris and Todd Stern. Why do you ask, Detective? You don’t think one of them could be a suspect, do you?”
“No,” said Pratt, “but they may know something to give us a clue. Okay, thank you, Rabbi, I’ll be in touch again soon. Just rest easy and get back to good health.”
Three
The morning right after her husband Jules left their home to go golfing and just three days after Neil was released, Carol called Neil around 7:00 a.m. She was very anxious. “I think Jules knows. He continues to ask suspicious questions and even hinted that people may be talking about us at the synagogue. If he finds out and can prove the things between us, it will force him to seek out an attorney for a divorce, and I’ll be up the proverbial shit’s creek financially. Maybe we should slow things down between us for a while?”
“Listen, Sweetheart,” he said, “you’d be breaking my heart if we slowed things down. The worst he can do, should he file for a divorce, is to divide your assets in half. If he does, God willing, I’ll be able to take care of you, once we get married.”
He thought about it a little bit further and said, “I could also lose my congregation as well, if Jules makes a mess of this whole thing. Even if all that were to happen, having been single my whole life, I have been able to save a large amount of money, well over two million dollars. If anything were to ever happen to my life, I have left everything to you as my sole beneficiary in my will, which is being held by my attorney Sidney Burr in Sedona. I think we just need to continue being careful. We need to meet in other towns near Sedona where it would be more difficult for anyone to keep track of either of us.”
“Oh, Neil, I love you so much. My heart would also break without you, yet I’m still afraid of Jules for some reason. I believe he can hurt us somehow. I don’t know how but I think he may be the one who either shot you or hired someone to do so,” Carol replied anxiously. “What ideas do you have about when can we see each other again?”
“Don’t worry, Darling. I’ll handle the matter through my
