Wednesday the Rabbi got wet

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Friday noon, Chester Kaplan called Safferstein. "That guy that took your coat. Billy., he just brought it back. It was the fellow who came with Cy Perlow. I took the liberty of going through the pockets and I found the envelope with the bottle of pills. You'll be glad to know that the envelope had your name on it, and the label on the bottle also had your name on it, or rather Mona's. So you worried for nothing."

"Thanks, Chet, that is good news, actually, I figured I had given the cop the right envelope because if the name had been wrong, he would have noticed it, then yesterday morning I went into the drugstore to get a refill for Mona. I saw that they put the patient's name on the bottle itself, so I figured even if the Kestlers hadn't looked at the envelope, they'd certainly notice if there was the wrong name on the bottle. I felt pretty sure, but still I was a little uneasy. Believe me. I appreciate your calling me. It's a big relief knowing that I had absolutely nothing to do with Kestler's dying."

"Naturally," said Kaplan. "I'm glad I happened to be home when the coat was delivered. I'm sure Edie wouldn't hava thought to look through the pockets, and I was in the house because we're going up-country to the retreat. How about coming along? I should think you'd be in the right mood for it."

"Gee, I don't think so, Chet, not with Mona sick." "I understand. Remember me to her."

"Will do. By the way, I didn't get a chance to ask you the other night, how does it look, the retreat business, I mean?"

"It looks fine, Billy, just fine, we've got a good majority. Not all of them are interested in the temple acquiring a retreat, you understand, although it's in style these days. But even those who don't like the idea are interested in a campsite where they can come up for a weekend or where their kids can go camping in the summer, actually, the only opposition as far as I can make out is the rabbi."

"Why is the rabbi against it?"

"Well, you know, he's a conservative type guy. Who knows, maybe he's a little jealous of Rabbi Mezzik."

"Yeah, but if Rabbi Small should start arguing about it at the meeting—"

"I doubt if he'll be at the meeting." "Why not?"

"Because this Sunday is Parents Day at the school, so he'll be busy with parents most of the morning. Now, what I'm planning is to hold our meeting at the camp. You know, get everything ironed out, then when we hold our regular meeting Sunday morning, we just put the matter to a vote because we will already have had our discussions, then, we adjourn."

"Gee, that's slick, Chester. I got to hand it to you."

Friday started out badly for Dr. Cohen. Not only was he subjected to Kestler's phone call but he had the embarrassing experience of knowing that Chief Lanigan had overheard the conversation, the day did not improve when his next patient was late, thus disrupting his morning schedule, as a consequence he was still closeted with a patient at noon, and his colleagues went off to lunch without him.

He lunched alone at a nearby diner on a stool facing the wall. No sooner had he returned when the hospital phoned to tell him that a coronary patient he was treating had suffered a relapse and he had better rush over, he stopped just long enough to tell the switchboard operator to call his afternoon patients and reschedule them for next week, as an afterthought, he added, "And Madeleine, call my wife and tell her I won't be coming home."

It was half past two before Dan Cohen was able to leave the hospital, he drove straight to the Kaplan house. But when he arrived, he found no cars in the driveway or parked in front of the house, he had come too late. It seemed a fitting conclusion to the day. Nevertheless, he mounted the steps and rang the bell.

Mrs. Kaplan answered. "Oh, Dr. Cohen, isn't it?" "That's right. I guess they've left already."

"About fifteen minutes ago. Do you know how to get there?"

He shook his head.

"Just a minute. Chet had some maps Xeroxed." She left him and reappeared a moment later. "You won't have any trouble following these directions. It's really quite clear. You might even catch them, they sometimes stop for coffee on the road."