“Yeah, it’s called solving the case.” Davidson waved her off. “Okay, so you’re not the problem now. He is.” He stared at Decker. “So what exactly do you think you can accomplish over there, Decker? Think you can just waltz into Israeli police headquarters and start coordinating an investigation in a foreign country? By your own admission, you don’t know a rat’s crap about Israel. Do you even speak the language over there? What the hell is the language over there? It ain’t English, I bet.”

“It’s Hebrew,” Decker said.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Davidson said. “They speak Hebrew. Do you speak Hebrew, Decker?”

The room fell quiet.

“Terrific, Sergeant. You’re going to solve a major homicide case in a foreign country using sign language. Get out of here and do something useful.”

Decker felt a giant headache coming on. His old bullet wound started to throb. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. He hated fudging, but what option did he have. “I’ve already got that worked out.”

Davidson glared at him. “What worked out?”

Decker sat back in his chair as if he had triumphed. “The contacts, Lieutenant. I’m already set up with all the major police departments in all the major cities. I’ve even got myself a top-notch interpreter—an American who moved to Israel when she was…eighteen. So I’m all set. All I need is your go-ahead.”

Tug’s glare grew icier. Decker sneaked a glance at Marge. She was trying to stifle a smile.

“You set this up already?” Davidson asked.

“Just being thorough, Loo. And thoughtful. Didn’t want to burden our department with details I could handle.”

Davidson squinted. “Who’s your contact, Decker?”

“Yaacov Cohen,” Decker said, glibly. Meanwhile, he thanked God for Jack Cohen, his ex-father-in-law. Without him, he wouldn’t have been able to think up a Jewish name on the spot.

Davidson said, “I thought you said your interpreter was a woman.”

“You asked for my contact. I thought you wanted the name of the guy at Police Headquarters. My interpreter’s name is Rina.”

Marge bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“Rina?” Davidson said to himself. He threw Decker a sarcastic smile. “Same name as your wife?”

“Yeah, same name as my wife. It’s a common name over there.”

“What a coincidence.”

“Life’s full of them.”

Davidson rubbed his forehead.

Decker said, “Just give me a week. Two at the outside.”

“How much vacation time do you have accrued?”

Decker spoke slowly and emphatically. “This shouldn’t come out of my vacation time because I’m not taking a vacation.”

Tug smiled genuinely. Decker knew the game was finally over, the shithead. Putting them through the wringer and for what? But that was the way it was going to be with this one.