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.”