CHAPTER EIGHT

"What were you doing with Zipporah?" asked Fin calmly.

"She was being punished," said Kohler.

"Practically drowning the kid seems pretty strict. What did she do that was so bad?"

"She wet her bed during her nap," said Kohler. He had almost no expression on his face or in his voice, which sickened Fin and Munch.

"So it's okay to dunk her in water until she chokes? When I wet the bed, my parents just changed the sheets," said Munch.

"We hear you've got a history of slapping your girls around," said Fin. "Why don't you tell us about that night Rivky came back from a party?"

"She stumbled into the house, completely drunk, dressed like a stripper. Yes, I yelled at her, but I never touched her. She threw her backpack at me and I pushed her away to keep her from getting to me, but that's all."

"We heard a slightly different story," said Fin. "We only have the minimum facts, mind you, but what we heard was that you pulled her hair, slapped her face, kicked both her legs, pinched both her arms so hard you bruised her, made her swallow a huge amount of soap, this sound familiar?"

Kohler stayed silent.

"We hear you like to create penalties that go along with the bad behavior. So I guess that would mean that if I stayed out too late, you wouldn't let me sleep."

"Or if I ate too much, you wouldn't let me eat," Munch chimed in.

"Yeah…or if I had premarital sex, you'd rape me and beat me and leave me in a classroom."

"That is a ridiculous claim," said Kohler.

"We're waiting on the DNA results from your daughter's rape kit. If they come from the same family, we'll know it was you."

"That can't prove it was me!" Kohler shouted.

"Oh, no? She can't rape herself, Kohler!" Munch raised his voice slightly.

Munch and Fin both stormed out of the room. They joined Cragen, who was watching the interrogation and looking grave.

"How's Zipporah?" asked Fin.

"Elliot took her to the hospital, and then she and Rivky are going to their sister's house," he replied. He turned to Munch. "How are you feeling about this?"

"What, you mean the whole Yids are evil thing? Nothing you don't hear from the average Joe every few days," he replied.

Cragen took a bite of a piece of licorice, which he chewed thoughtfully. Munch spoke up again.

"Look, I'm not so religious. I can separate it."

"Yeah, but if this were a woman, you know Olivia would be offended, if it were a Catholic, Elliot would have to be forcefully restrained…" Cragen trailed off.

"It's not as though I go around with earlocks and a yarmulke. I can remain detached."

"I hope so. Because even I'm having trouble doing that here," said Cragen, and he bit into his licorice as though he wished it were Kohler's head.