“Not at all. I handed him over to someone in the crowd, emphasizing the importance of detaining him until the police arrived. He had a firm grasp on him as I handed him over. But the bomber must have been limber and strong. He escaped.”

“Why didn’t you stay with the suspect and have other people go and help out at the yeshiva?”

Decker said, “It was a judgment call. I cared more about the boys than about apprehending the suspect.” He bit his mustache. “Did someone call my captain in Los Angeles?”

“Yes.”

“So you know I’m—”

“We’ve been told that you were sent over here to find Gil and Dov Yalom. They’re wanted for questioning in the deaths of their parents—Arik and Dalia Yalom. That’s all good and fine. But it doesn’t explain drek about your fatal attraction for bombs.”

“Nonfatal attraction. No one died.”

Kreisman glared at him.

Decker said, “You want to know how I think Milligan got a bomb through security?”

Kreisman studied Decker’s face. “Are you telling me firsthand knowledge or is this conjecture?”

“Conjecture.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Fair enough. Do you want my opinion?”

“I want your opinion,” Rina piped in.

Kreisman glared at her. “You’re trying my patience, Mrs. Decker.”

“You have no patience,” Rina shot back. “Why don’t you open your mind a little?”

“You want to visit our jails, g’veret?”

“I’ve been in worse places—”

“Rina…” Decker interrupted.

“All right, I won’t say another word.”

Kreisman exhaled, then broke into a smile. “Only in this country. What would happen to her if she spoke that way to your captain?”

Decker shrugged. “You want my take on the bomb?”

“Go on.”

“Milligan couldn’t bring an assembled bomb inside the Bursa,” Decker said. “Security is too tight.”

“Is this going to get better?”

“Can I just get the thought out?”

“Hurry up.”

“Milligan brought in the explosive bit by bit. Every time she visited the Bursa, she toted in another piece of the bomb. Yalom told me it was rare to see her on the floor itself. Mostly she went to offices or to the trader’s lounge where it was quieter to conduct business.”

Decker noticed Kreisman was suddenly listening.

“What do people do in the business lounge? They talk. They relax. They read the papers. They catch a little TV. And you know how lounge TVs work. They’re communal. So nobody would have looked twice if Milligan got up and adjusted the color or changed the channel.”

The room was quiet.

Decker said, “Every time she made an adjustment, she dropped off a part of the bomb in back of the TV set. Yesterday, when she was at the Bursa, I’m betting the TV broke down. So no one thought it was odd when some guy with credentials and a toolbox suddenly showed up to repair it.”