Decker said, “Marge, go on. We’re long distance.”

“Milligan has been investing heavily in the defunct companies for over two years.”

“That’s predating Yalom’s angry letters to VerHauten.”

“Exactly. But not predating Yalom’s purchases in his African companies. Maybe Milligan and Yalom had done some investing together. Because the same companies kept cropping up.”

“Why would Milligan invest with Yalom?” Decker asked. “What does she need him for?”

“If she was working for VerHauten, she couldn’t very well invest in competing companies.”

“He was her front?”

“Maybe,” Marge said. “Except somewhere down the road, they obviously parted company. Maybe it was over Southwest Mines. Arik bought in when the company was still operable. VerHauten and Milligan bought in when it had gone under. Still, if VerHauten ever decides to mine it, Milligan and whoever owns Arik’s shares will make a nice chunk of change.”

“But VerHauten’s sitting on it at the moment.”

“Exactly,” Marge said. “I think she had hopes for Southwest Mines, but with Yalom owning so much and VerHauten sitting on it, she decided to move on. Orblatt did some checking around mining stocks and co-op funds. Much to his surprise, he discovered some recent movement upward in these investments. Plus, three of the prominent companies in the mining funds were also in Arik Yalom’s portfolio.”

“Did Yalom own large quantities of those stocks?”

“He owned some, but nothing like Southwest. And VerHauten isn’t even in the picture. Now even though shares have been changing hands, the price hasn’t risen. But the activity indicates something.”

“Interesting.”

“It gets better. These companies are also being heavily traded by the African exchanges with an influx of buy orders coming out of countries like Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt.”

“Arab countries.” Decker paused. “They’re also North African countries.”

“Exactly,” Marge said. “I don’t know which fact is more significant.”

“Maybe both,” Decker said. “With oil prices dropping, could be some Arab countries are trying to branch out into diamonds. And why not, Marge? They are African countries. The continent is their sphere of influence.”

“Good point,” Marge said.

“Is it the government or individuals who are investing money?”

“That I don’t know,” Marge said. “But it doesn’t take a lot of money to buy stock in these companies. They’re either bankrupt or moribund. So they’re cheap.”

“Why invest in them in the first place?”

“All I can say is, look at Southwest Mines. It has potential. VerHauten’s just sitting on it. Maybe Milligan has found other companies with the same potential as Southwest.”

“Any indication?”

“Nothing yet, but it takes a while to get that kind of information.”

Decker said, “You know, Marge, no matter how much potential the land has, Milligan would still need huge chunks of capital to develop it.”

Marge said, “You told me that Rina followed Milligan into the occupied territories, right?”

“Yep.”