“Is the PLO helping at all? Because Milligan’s stunt must be an embarrassment to them now.”

“Not helping, not hindering, so far as we can tell. Yeah, Milligan’s an embarrassment to Arafat. Every time someone in any of the Arab organizations fucks up, it lessens his chance of becoming king of Palestine.”

Kreisman waved his hand in the air.

“Yeah, we’re still hunting, but your part in all of this is over. You got the Yalom boys. Take them home and let us do our job.”

“Sounds good. I’ll need my papers back.”

Kreisman stood. “I’ll get them for you. Maybe we’ll meet again down the line.”

“Maybe,” Decker said. “But I hope not.”

Kreisman smiled. “You’re blunt.”

“I speak my mind.”

“I can see that. You’d make a good Israeli.”

PART 3. AMERICA

39

Marge said to Decker, “You look great! Are you sure you didn’t go there on vacation?”

Decker put his feet up on his desk. Man, he’d missed her. True, he had had Rina, and she’d been great. But he had worked with her only out of necessity. He valued their marriage vows as bonds of intimacy. Rina was his life partner, not his business associate.

But now he was back in the groove and, happily, so was Rina. She was thrilled to get home to the baby and the boys. Decker had wondered when she had hugged the kids if her mind hadn’t been on Honey Klein’s loneliness.

“You know, Dunn,” Decker went on, “I bet I’m the only religious Jew who went to Israel and missed the Wailing Wall. That’s how dedicated to work I was. Only sightseeing I did was accompanying Rina to her late husband’s grave. You can imagine how much fun that was for me.”

“Then why’d you do it?”

“I did it for Jake and Sam. I sure as hell wouldn’t want my kids to forget about me. I can’t let my boys forget about their father.”

“You’re a good guy, Pete.”

“Tell that to Davidson. You believe that son of a bitch giving me a hard time about my expense account? Asking me about all those phone calls to New York? I brought in Honey Klein. What’s the asshole going on about?”

“He’s an asshole, Pete. But you did make a few personal calls.”

“I talked to my half brother, Marge, but that was strictly business. I had to explain to him why Rina wasn’t coming out.”

Marge smiled. “Not that I care but you talked to him for two hours.”

“I’m meticulous.” Decker swung his feet to the floor and sat up. “If he doesn’t like it, fuck him!”

Marge said, “I got a call from the DA’s office. The office is prepared to go ahead and indict Milligan on two counts of first degree murder based on the evidence-the statement of the Yalom boys, the papers in Yalom’s box, and lastly, evidence pulled by the Israeli police. Do you know what that’s referring to?”

“Yes, I do. They got some statements from some Hebron residents. They also did some hunting and searching. They found receipts made out to Milligan for tools, parts, and chemicals that could have been used in the making of plastiques.”

“She kept receipts?”

“She was a businesswoman. They were deductible.”

Marge broke into laughter.

“Along the way, they found one real damning piece of paper. A written statement attributed to a guy named Mohammed Husseini, a former bigwig in the PLO. The note expressed sorrow over the terrible tragedy in the Bursa and condemned all acts of violence. It went on to suggest that the Arabs and Jews work together to build a bigger and more comprehensive diamond exchange in the new state of Palestine. One that would be internationally recognized as the top in the field of diamonds.”

Marge laughed incredulously. “I can’t believe such…oh God, I know I’m going to pronounce this wrong…chutzpah?”

“Very good,” Decker said. “Incidentally, the statement was not only written in English-Husseini speaks only Arabic-but was in Milligan’s handwriting.”

Marge stopped talking for a moment. “Wonder who actually pulled the trigger on the parents?”

“We asked the boys about that,” Decker said. “They seem certain it was Milligan’s doing. Gil told us that his father and Milligan often had secret meetings.”

“Then what lured Dalia to the mountains?”

“Gil thought that maybe his mother went willingly to get the gunmen away from their house. Because she knew her sons would soon be coming home from school.”

“She was protecting her offspring.”

“It’s a basic thing,” Decker said. “We may never know the truth unless we get Milligan. And frankly, I don’t think that’s likely. According to Israeli intelligence, she and her friend Donald Haas have the means to bury themselves for a long time. He’s got lots of friends in Arab countries. And she made lots of contingency plans. She owns places in Libya, Iraq, and Syria.”

“The countries that invested heavily in the diamond stocks.”

“Right. For all we know, she still may be calling some shots from wherever she is. And if the Palestinians ever get their own state, she’ll be a queen. Israel won’t be able to touch her. And she’ll be a hero among the terrorists, the woman who almost destroyed Israel’s biggest industry. You want to know the irony of the whole thing?”

“What?”

“She got the idea from Arik Yalom. Not the blowing up the Bursa part. But the idea of setting up competition in the industry, using Palestinian money as capital. Yalom probably felt his knowledge of diamonds was going to be indispensable to her. So he was probably walking around feeling pretty damn secure.”

“Or maybe not. Didn’t Gil say he wavered between euphoria and paranoia?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Could be he knew Milligan wasn’t trustworthy no matter how much he felt she needed him.”

“Or maybe he found out about Haas. Found out that Milligan was just using him.” Marge paused. “You know, she didn’t have to use him once he gave her the idea. Why bother killing him?”

Decker shrugged. “Maybe Arik found out about Milligan’s plan to blow up the Bursa. He might have been in love with her, he might have been greedy, but doing something like that…I don’t see even a schmuck like Arik going along with destroying his homeland.”

“So why didn’t he just say something to security?”

“Maybe he tried to reason with Milligan first. That would have been a big mistake.” Decker took a deep breath and let it out. “Milligan is a formidable enemy.”

“Think we’ll ever get our hands on her?” Marge asked.

“Truthfully?” Decker shook his head. “Not a chance.”

A grin on her face and a baby in her arms, Rina greeted Decker at the doorway. “Can you believe it! Hannah’s walking! She’s only ten months old!”

Decker grabbed the baby from Rina. “Ten months old and walking! Does that mean we’re going to have to put all the breakables up another notch?”

“Looks that way.” Rina kissed Hannah’s cheek. “She waited for us to come home before she took her first steps. I know it was a conscious decision.”

“Absolutely.” Decker handed the baby back to Rina. “Where are the boys?”

“Preparing the horse for the ride.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Decker frowned. “I did promise to take them, didn’t I?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to make a couple of calls first.”

“They’ll wait. Who’re you calling?”

“New York,” Decker said. “The detective in charge of Honey Klein’s case had left by the time I called. They gave me his home phone number. His wife told me to call around now.”

Hannah squirmed in Rina’s arms. Gently, she lowered the baby to her feet. “What’s happening with that?”

“They’re investigating the murder, but they’re a ways off from any indictment.”

“Is Honey a suspect?”

“Their prime suspect. But they don’t have any evidence to back up their suspicions. The cops have gone out to the village at least a half dozen times and come back empty. They’re hitting walls.”