I took Kassian straight home and made sure he got settled in. We hadn’t talked much in the car. Actually, I’d talked in my most soothing voice, but he’d just grunted a few answers, still plenty upset at me for what I’d done. Either that, or he was offended by both Carol and me for treating him like an unwanted child, passing him back and forth, custody going to the biggest loser. After apologizing again and swearing I’d never touch him in anger, I left him in his room, in his chair reading his magazine. Nice to get back to routine.

It was a little after three o’clock, and I needed to get going if I was going to meet Rachel at her school. She didn’t know it, of course, but I thought she might appreciate the surprise gesture. A sign of caring. On the other hand, she might accuse me of stalking her. At this point, what did I have to lose?

Twenty minutes later, I pulled into a spot reserved for the Principal’s Secretary, according to the white letters stenciled on the asphalt. There were about a dozen cars left in the lot, one of which was Rachel’s Prius. I hopped out and took a position near the back door to wait for her. I leaned against the side of the building, one foot on the ground, the other flat against the red brick. All I needed was a cigarette dangling from the corner of my mouth and a surly sneer to make my juvenile delinquent pose authentic.

A couple teachers passed, eyed me with disdain, and hustled to their cars. Hopefully, Rachel would come out before one of them called the cops. I waited against the wall for about ten minutes, watching the vapor from my breath rise before my eyes in wispy streams. Then the door swung open and Rachel came striding out, carrying a tote bag overflowing with papers. She ducked her head against a gust of wind and when she raised it, she saw me and stopped walking. After a couple seconds, she came my way.

“Hey, good looking,” I said in a tough-guy accent. “Wanna go to the malt shop and get a shake?” The idea that I watched too much Happy Days on TV Land crossed my mind.

A smile flirted with her lips. “Hello, Josh Handleman. How are you?”

I slicked the hair back behind my ears with my hands. “I’m cool,” I said. “Real cool.” I dropped the accent. “Actually, I’m freezing. Can we go somewhere and talk?”

She nodded and her smile grew.

We drove to a nearby Starbucks and parked our cars next to each other. I wanted to hold her hand as we went into the store, but I kept my hands jammed in my pockets. So did she.

We sat in the back while we sipped our coffees.

“I tried calling you over the weekend,” I said.

Rachel stared down at her drink, and spoke without looking at me. “I know. I’m sorry. I was …”

“Listen, about the other night—”

She held up her hand. “I’m sorry, Josh. I shouldn’t have come over like that without calling. That was rude.” She reached out and touched my hand. “Please forgive me.”

I wasn’t expecting this. I’d been the one who’d been a jerk. “No, it wasn’t—”

“Josh. Please. I need to say a few things.” She stopped and waited for me to nod before continuing. “After we went out on New Year’s Eve, I thought I’d finally met someone …” She choked up a bit and took a sip of coffee to clear her throat. “I thought I’d met someone who I could really get to know. Develop a relationship with. I know we’d only gone out a couple of times, but … well, it was really great. And I thought you—”

“I felt the same way, Rachel. Really. I wanted—”

She didn’t let me complete my sentence. “Please, let me finish. This is hard for me.” Another sip of coffee. “I thought you felt the same way. And I think you might think you do, but …”

I nodded. I’d heard a lot of this Dr. Phil talk from Dani, but I never really understood most of it. I didn’t know what to say, so I simply nodded again.

“Josh, when you got that call from your ex-wife, I was jealous. How ridiculous. I mean, we’d just started dating. I hated myself for feeling that way.”

My father’s well-worn adage, Save Your Hate for Hitler, sprang to mind. As a teen, every time he said it, I peppered all my conversations with the word hate. “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing going on with me and Dani. Nothing.” I put as much reassurance behind my statement as I could.

She shook her head. “That’s not the point. I don’t want to be so wrapped up in a guy that little stuff sets me off. I’m ashamed of how I’ve behaved since then. Not returning your calls, barging in.”

“Come on. I’d really like to get to know you better, too. Think about New Year’s Eve.”

Instead of the smile I thought the memory would elicit, her eyes flashed. “What about Cyndi? You seemed like you wanted to get to know her the other night.”

“Believe it or not, she came on to me.”

Rachel gave me a come on, get serious look.

I held my hands out. “Really,” I said. “Nothing going on there either. Not my type.”

Her look intensified and she all but harrumphed. “So you don’t like gorgeous women?”

“Just one, at the moment.” I grinned, hoping to break her barriers down.

Her lopsided smile made a brief appearance. “I’m not sure it’s wise for me to get involved. We’re both on the rebound, and …”

“Why don’t we start from scratch? Start all over. And this time we’ll go real slow.” I closed my eyes and brought both hands up in front of my face like a screen. Then I parted the screen and opened my eyes. “Why, hello there. I’m Josh Handleman.”

She glanced at me, then stared at the ceiling, lips moving wordlessly, as if she were working out some calculus problem. After thirty seconds, she threw her hands up. “What the hell? Why not? Nana likes you, and she’s got pretty good taste.” She extended her hand. “I’m Rachel Rosen. Nice to meet you, Josh Handleman.”

I asked Rachel to dinner, but she declined, saying she had some exercise plans with her iron-woman-in-training friend. I wondered if her plans included running on a treadmill next to a fitness maniac named Terrible. But we settled on going out tomorrow. It would be difficult, but I could wait another day.

On the way home, I stopped at the store and picked up a rotisserie chicken, some already-steamed broccoli, and a baguette for a “welcome back” dinner with Kassian. If I was going to live with the guy, I might as well try to make it as pleasant as possible. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt sorry for him.

When I pulled up, Lev’s RX300 was parked in the driveway. I left the Taurus on the street, grabbed my grocery bag, and jogged to the door, girding myself for some kind of altercation.

Good thing.

I heard Lev yelling as I turned the key in the lock. I threw the door open and found them in the kitchen, Kassian sitting in a chair in the corner, Lev looming above him with his back to me, still in his coat, bellowing in Russian. Kassian’s eyes were wide with fright, but to his credit, he hadn’t run off. My arrival hadn’t done anything to suppress Lev’s rage.

Maybe they hadn’t heard me above the din. “Hey. Cut it out,” I shouted at them. Lev whipped around, and when he saw me, he took a small step away from Kassian. The fury drained from his face and his breathing slowed. Two seconds later the stone-faced scowl returned to its customary place.

“Hello, Joshua,” Lev said, voice calm. He acted like I’d just dropped in from Jupiter without witnessing any of the tirade.

“What the hell is going on?”

“We were having a small discussion, Kassian and I,” Lev said, as if it were the most logical, most reasonable thing in the world. Never mind he was shouting and had Kassian pinned in the corner, cowering. I thought of how I’d bullied Kassian and felt like a jerk. Again.

“A discussion? Sounded more like you were about to tear his head off. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Yes, a discussion,” Lev said, shrugging. No big deal.

I addressed Kassian. “What’s the problem? Lev was screaming at you.”

Kassian eyed Lev, but was met with studied impassiveness. I wouldn’t want to face Lev in a poker showdown. Kassian didn’t answer me, but his eyes kept pinballing between Lev and me. I knew Kassian feared Lev. Up until now, I hadn’t known why. Of course, I still didn’t really know why, but with what I’d just seen, I figured Kassian had reason to be worried.

I set my groceries on the kitchen table and moved closer to Kassian. Lev drifted away and I planted myself between the two combatants. “Kassian, why did you let him in?”

Another timid glance at Lev. “I didn’t—”

Lev said, “It was a misunderstanding.”

I glared at Lev. “I’m trying to talk to Kassian. Please let me.” I turned back to Kassian. “Why did you let him in? I told you not to answer the door.”

Kassian mumbled something under his breath.

“What? Speak up.”

Kassian cleared his throat and spoke to me, although his eyes didn’t leave Lev. “He threatened to burn down your house if I did not let him in.” Kassian’s lower lip trembled.

“It was a misunderstanding. I meant no harm,” Lev said. He bowed his head slightly to Kassian and spoke through clenched jaw. “Please forgive me. I need to be going now. Perhaps we can continue our conversation in the near future. In the meantime, you should think about what we have discussed. Remember, you are a Russian Jew. It is never too late to begin acting like one.” With a curt nod, Lev started toward the door.

I held up my hand like a traffic cop. “Hold on. No one’s leaving until I know what’s going on.”

Lev stopped moving and faced me. There was something behind his stoic face that I’d never seen or felt before. Something I couldn’t quite make out, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to. He didn’t speak, but turned and left the kitchen. I glanced at Kassian, who still looked like a critter in the headlights, and followed Lev.

I caught up to him just as he was opening the front door. I grabbed his coat sleeve. “Lev, hold up. We need to talk.”

Lev didn’t move his body, simply swiveled his head. “Joshua. Please unhand me.” His voice was low and steady, but I could tell he was fuming inside. I let go and he faced me full on. “I have given you many chances to serve justice for your father. And you have not chosen to do so. Instead, you harbor the man—the animal—responsible for his death. I do not know what runs through your mind as you are doing this. But I am sure that Abe did not raise you to behave in this fashion. He would not even recognize you.” As Lev talked, his words came out more rapidly, with more force.

“Kassian did not kill my father.” I was sick of saying it, just as I was sure Lev was sick of hearing it. But the truth was like that sometimes.

Lev straightened. “There are many things you do not know about Kassian. And about your father. Things you would not understand even if you did know.” His eyes had focused elsewhere, and now they came back to me. “But you have failed, so I shall take care of things in my own way. Goodbye, Joshua.” He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

“Wait, Lev,” I called out.

He drew up and turned, the light spilling out of the front door illuminating his face, like a body-less ghoul at the haunted house. “I have already waited too long, Joshua. Now it is time for action.” A small, sinister smile formed on his ghostly face as he disappeared into the pitch-black night.