Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Raisins and Almonds 181
‘Because we were using holy text for secular purposes,’ concluded
Solly.
‘Oy,’ said Simon. ‘And my lover threw me out this morning
and told me to go away and play like a boy.’
‘You are a boy,’ Abe pointed out. ‘And the pleasures of the
flesh are a snare.’
‘Far too young to have a lover. The strange woman’s kiss goes
down like wine, but her steps lead to perdition,’ quoted David.
‘Shah,’ pleaded Simon. ‘Enough.’
‘What says the sage? “Deliver us from the woman, the strange
woman who flatters with her words, for her house inclines to
death, and her paths unto the dead,” ’ added Isaac Cohen.
Simon was struck with a vision of Phryne, white and predatory
in the half-dark. He could feel her remembered nipples
hardening under his hands. He shifted in his seat and decided
that there were things to be said for the flattering woman, even
if her paths did lead to death. But he had received his breakfast
time orders from the same stranger, and if he carried them out
he might get to spend another night in her bed.
‘I know where Yossi’s formula is,’ said Simon.
‘You know? You didn’t tell us before? Where?’ demanded
David.
‘It’s in the book. Shimeon did as he was told, before he
died.’
‘But how can we get it?’ asked Solly.
‘I should know?’ asked Simon, almost disliking his friends.
They were all leaning forward with identical hungry expressions.
Had one of them set that pitiless trap which had slaughtered
poor Shimeon? Was one of them, gottenyu, a murderer?
Suddenly he wanted to be home, eating kasha and being
scolded for not telling his mother where he was. But he would
go on with his task. ‘The lady who owns the shop, Miss Lee, she’s
giving the unread books away, to the Island Missions. They’ll be
packed up and in the undercroft of the market tonight. And that’s
all I could find out,’ he said, forestalling further questions.