Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
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00 Kerry Greenwood<br />
‘Good, <strong>and</strong> I don’t need to clip your ears, either. Do I get a<br />
second pair for the attempted theft of my h<strong>and</strong>bag?’<br />
‘Not me,’ said Yossi.<br />
‘Who was your co-offender?’ asked Phryne gently.<br />
Yossi’s mouth, which had softened into a smile, shut like a trap.<br />
‘You won’t say, eh?’ He shook his head, implacable. Phryne<br />
had a certain implacability herself. ‘There are other ways of finding<br />
out. Second question, <strong>and</strong> the ladies present should pardon<br />
my lack of modesty. Yossi, Kaplans <strong>and</strong> Cohen. Think about<br />
your fellows. Are you sure that they are all circumcised?’<br />
The young men blushed. They avoided each other’s eyes.<br />
There were some mutterings among the Kaplan brothers <strong>and</strong><br />
after comparing notes, David Kaplan said, ‘We are all five of<br />
us circumcised. That’s because we’re Jews,’ he added, with<br />
elephantine irony.<br />
‘Are you sure?’ asked Phryne.<br />
‘You had three questions,’ commented Benjamin Abrahams.<br />
‘What is the third?’<br />
‘That I have to ask in private. I am going into the other room,<br />
<strong>and</strong> each of the five should come in one at a time. Make sure<br />
that they do not communicate the question to each other when<br />
they come out, Jack. Yossi, we start with you,’ <strong>and</strong> she took him<br />
out of the drawing room <strong>and</strong> into the parlour. The door closed<br />
with a quiet slap.<br />
After a couple of minutes, a very puzzled Yossi emerged <strong>and</strong><br />
David Kaplan took his place. He was followed by an equally bewildered<br />
Solly, his brother Abe, <strong>and</strong> Isaac Cohen. He came out after<br />
two minutes, <strong>and</strong> Phryne Fisher had him in a polite armlock.<br />
‘You were infiltrated, Yossi,’ she told the young man. ‘You<br />
thought that he was an undercover Zionist, willing to give the<br />
money to the cause. But there are undercover men <strong>and</strong> undercover<br />
men, <strong>and</strong> this one meant you no good. You were intending to kill<br />
Yossi after you got the formula, weren’t you?’ she asked, relinquishing<br />
her hold to Jack Robinson, who swung Isaac round to face the<br />
company. ‘Who are you working for, I wonder? I’d say you were<br />
political rather than greedy, so you’re more likely to be Russian
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