“VerHauten.”

“On the nose, Rabbi,” Marge said. “VerHauten is listed as the majority shareholder of the recently defunct Southwest Mines with Milligan and Yalom listed as prominent minority shareholders. Would you like to hear some of my theories on what came to pass?”

“Shoot.”

“Milligan was intrigued with Arik’s stockholdings. She thought he just might literally be sitting on a diamond mine with all his shares in this Southwest. But there was a glitch.”

“The company was going bust,” Decker said.

“Exactly,” Marge said. “It takes a heap and a half of capital to mine diamonds. The company simply didn’t have the wherewithal to see it through. They made overtures to VerHauten for a buy-out, but Milligan knew they were in big trouble. She told VerHauten to sit on the offer and wait until the company went bust.”

“Which it did.”

“Which allowed both VerHauten and Milligan to buy it out at a fraction of its worth.”

“With VerHauten in the picture, Arik’s stock could be worth a bundle,” Decker said.

Marge said, “If VerHauten ever decides to move on it. Which is a big if. According to my spies, VerHauten isn’t developing Southwest Mines for two reasons. Arik Yalom owns too much of the company, and secondly, VerHauten isn’t doing any development right now. It seems to have enough diamonds out of its other pipes. Pete, Arik’s stock is worthless as long as VerHauten keeps the land fallow.”

“And so are Milligan’s shares of the company.”

Marge said, “Pete, what if Milligan had insider’s info that VerHauten would move if they could get hold of Yalom’s and Milligan’s shares at a reasonable price? Now Milligan could have afforded to sell cheap. She bought at rock bottom. Arik, on the other hand, didn’t buy at the low. He was holding out for more.”

“But the company went bust. A little is better than nothing.”

“Maybe not to Arik. Suppose VerHauten began to lose interest. Milligan grew anxious. She wanted her money and needed Arik out of the picture. She offed him and his wife, figuring it would be easier to deal with the heirs-the boys-than with the parents.”

And suddenly things began to click into place. It was time to lay his news on Marge. “Milligan’s in Israel, Detective. And so is Gold.” He filled her in on the details, conveniently leaving out Rina’s foray into policework.

Marge said, “So Gold’s looking for the boys and Milligan’s asking about Gold. You gotta wonder why she’s searching for him. I tell you, they were in on it together.”

“Maybe, but maybe not. I think she’s hunting him down. You want to hear my theory?”

“Shoot.”

“Remember when you spoke about the inequality of the partnership. Arik seemed to have so much more money than Gold.”

“Yes.”

“Gold claimed Yalom had used Dalia’s money when Yalom first started investing in his African schemes. But I say no. I think Yalom wanted Gold to believe that the business wasn’t doing so hot when in fact it was doing fine. I think Yalom was draining some business money to pay for personal investments.”

Marge stated, “Then Arik covered his ass by saying the money came from Dalia.”

“Some of that may have been true. But not all of it.”

“Only got one quibble with your theory, Pete. Gold’s a sharpie. If Arik was dipping into the till, Gold would have found out real quick.”

“Agreed. I think Gold did find out about it. And I think he allowed Arik to use business money for personal expenses.”

“Pete, why would he do that?”

“Because Gold was in love with Dalia-had been for years.”

“He was willing to be ripped off for love?”

“Why not? Sure as I stand here, I know they had something going on. As long as Gold thought that the money Arik pilfered was going for Dalia and the kids, for her house, for household expenses…that was okay with him. But eventually Gold found out that Arik was using the money for stock and land purchases in Africa. He hit the roof and demanded payment. And I think Arik capitulated, Marge. I think Arik paid him back.”

“How?”

“By selling him the bulk of his mining investments-things like land deeds and Southwest Mine stock.”

“Then Arik got popped,” Marge said. “Let’s just speculate and say that Milligan popped Arik to get to his land deeds and mining stocks.”

“Right.”

“At this point, we both know it’s pure conjecture.”

“Agreed, but let’s go with it anyway,” Decker said. “Because with Milligan being here, hot on Gold’s tail, it looks like she’s involved in some fashion.”

“True.”

Decker said, “Say Gold had known that Milligan had designs on Arik’s former mines. What Milligan hadn’t known was that the assets no longer belonged to Arik. They belonged to Gold.”

“So when Arik was popped, Gold knew his ownership of the assets put him in jeopardy. He asked some questions, then split. Eventually Milligan found out that Gold owned the stocks and followed him over to Israel.” Marge paused. “Took her long enough to figure it out.”

“I don’t believe she had even thought about Gold being in the picture until we brought it up. Then she must have done some checking. Bingo. She found out that Yalom was no longer the primary shareholder. Gold held the cards now.”

“So Milligan came to Israel specifically to get Gold?”

“Why else would she be asking about him and not the boys?”

“So why did the boys run scared?”

“Maybe they’re next in line to inherit the stocks.” Decker blew out air. “I know we’ve got lots of holes in our theory. But why else would Milligan be asking about Gold?”

“I still say they could be in on the murder together and he split on her with his assets. She’s hunting him down just like she did Yalom. Where is Milligan now?”

A very good question. Anxiety suddenly strangled Decker’s chest. The better question was, where the fuck was Rina?

“Pete?” Marge said. “Are you still there?”

“I don’t know who Milligan’s out to get,” Decker said flatly. “We’ve just been throwing out stuff, Marge. Maybe I’m completely off base.”

“Pete, you sound upset. What is it?”

He was silent. He just couldn’t confess his stupidity to his partner. He just couldn’t tell her that he let Rina tail someone potentially involved in a double murder. “I’m fine. Look, Marge, I’ve got some work to do here. And you need your rest-”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Pete?”

Decker whispered, “I’ve got to go now. Call you later.”

He hung up the phone, grabbed his coat, and headed for nowhere.

Someone tapped on the driver’s window. Rina jerked her head and looked up. A soldier, his young face earnest and full of concern. He was blond with bright blue eyes and strong cheekbones-a heartbreaker. She dried her eyes and gave him a weak smile.

“You…hokay, g’veret?”

Rina unlocked the door and got out of the car, a dry heat grabbed her body. The soldier was sweating, weighted down by his weapon. She spoke in Hebrew. “I’m…overwhelmed by the spirituality, by the ruach of Hasham.”

Upon hearing Rina speak his language fluently, the soldier launched into a tirade. What was she doing out here alone? Was she crazy? Hadn’t she read a newspaper for the last year? Didn’t she know she was inviting herself to her own funeral? Of course, she was American and that explained everything. What the hell was wrong with these crazy American fanatics? Didn’t they know what they were doing to Israel, how they put every soldier-every Jewish soldier-in danger with their rhetoric and their stubbornness? Who needed them anyway?

Then the soldier noticed her shot-out window.

Rina listened patiently as the man went ballistic.

Did she expect sympathy for her ordeal? Well, she wasn’t going to get anything from him. Nosirree. Not when she not only endangered herself but every single man and woman in the Israeli army. And now that she had arrived here in Hebron, how the hell did she plan to get back? Of course, God would take care. The stock answer to everything. God would take care. Except God wasn’t out here, shvitzing like a behaima-sweating like a beast-watching his rear end every second of his duty, fending off hate-driven terrorists, doing frightening, dangerous work just to guard a bunch of crazies who believed that mass suicide was a virtue.