“So maybe Milligan’s on a mission to convince the Arabs to invest with her.”

“Except the territories are inhabited by poor Arabs. And while I don’t know my per capita incomes by heart, the countries you’ve mentioned are also the poorer Arab countries compared to the oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.”

“Libya has oil.”

“Libya has been in the doldrums economically since the United States bombed it.”

“Well, all I can tell you is someone from those countries is trading in diamond mines.”

Decker heard a knock on the door.

“Peter, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Rina. Go back to bed.”

“What are you doing in there?”

“Hold on, Marge.” Decker reached over and unlocked the bathroom door. “I couldn’t sleep. I’m talking to Marge.”

Rina was squinting from the light. “Go back to bed and use the phone there. You can’t possibly be comfortable.”

“I’m really fine.”

“Pete, are you there?” Marge said over the line.

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

Marge said, “Rina knows more about that part of the world than we do. Ask her who the rich people are in Egypt or Libya.”

Decker said, “I’ll put her on the other phone. You can ask her the question yourself.”

Rina said, “Marge wants to talk to me?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m up anyway,” Rina said. “I’ll get the extension by the bed.” She crawled back under the covers and picked up the receiver. “I’m here, Marge.”

“Sorry about this.”

“It’s not a problem. What would you like to know?”

“Who are the rich people in Egypt?”

Rina kept her voice low so she wouldn’t blast out her husband’s ear. “The usual. Businesspeople, international financiers, ex-royalty, of course. And politicians probably.”

“But the country of Egypt itself,” Decker said. “It’s poor, isn’t it?”

“Very poor.”

Marge said, “So money is probably coming from individuals rather than the government.”

Rina said, “What’s going on?”

Decker quickly brought her up to date. “We’re trying to figure out if these land investments are government sanctioned or just the doings of some private individuals.”

Rina asked, “What does any of this have to do with the murder of Arik and Dalia Yalom?”

“Yalom owned stock in companies heavily traded in Arab countries,” Marge said.

“Someone killed him for his stock?” Rina asked.

Decker said, “We don’t know. All I can tell you is that Yalom had investments in companies being heavily traded in African exchanges—Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia—”

“PLO,” Rina said.

“What?” Decker asked.

“PLO,” Rina repeated. “The PLO’s corporate office is in Tunisia. Has been for years.”

Marge said, “So maybe I’m right, Pete. Maybe Milligan did go to the territories to raise capital. Maybe not from the inhabitants, but from their government, which is essentially the PLO. Aren’t they and Arafat representing the Palestinians in the peace talks?”