Decker said, “What were you thinking about?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Yalom was helping some of his countrymen to get out of Russia…something like that.”

Decker didn’t answer.

“Farfetched, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Decker said. “You see a passport like this, you wonder what’s going on.”

“I’m thinking the guy’s an agent. Maybe that’s why the family disappeared.” Marge took his passport and leafed through it. “Lots of Third World countries.”

“I noticed.”

“Okay, so South Africa has diamond mines. His travels there make sense. But what’s in Namibia or Angola?”

“Don’t know.”

Marge handed the passport back to Decker. He flipped through the booklet again. Several entries for each African state he had visited. “I don’t even know why he’d even bother going to South Africa. From what Yalom’s partner told me, VerHauten brings the uncut stones to market in Antwerp, Belgium. The cut stones are bought in Israel.” Decker recapped his conversation with Gold.

Marge said, “So Yalom—even being a diamond dealer—really has no need to go anywhere except Antwerp and Israel.”

“If I understood Gold correctly, that’s true.”

“And if Russia is only dealing with this VerHauten, what could Yalom possibly hope to gain by going to Russia?”

“Only thing that comes to me is maybe Yalom’s talking to people sub rosa,” Decker said. “Maybe he’s making inroads that Gold doesn’t know about.”

“He’s double-dealing his partner?”

“It’s been known to happen.”

“His partner finds out, gets mad, and whacks him?”

“It’s been known to happen.”

“I still like the idea of him being an agent,” Marge announced. “What else could explain all that traveling?”

Decker laughed softly.

“Go ahead,” Marge said, testily. “Scoff.”

Decker smiled again. “No, it’s not that.” He glanced around the house. “I’m just thinking that Mossad must pay pretty damn well.”

“Didn’t you say the wife paid for the house?”

Decker nodded. “I’ll ask Gold about his partner’s wanderlust.”

“Maybe they’re in some kind of covert operation together, Pete,” Marge said. “Maybe that’s why they used to meet at Yalom’s house instead of the office downtown.”

Decker remembered Gold not wanting to talk in front of the secretary. And when he asked about the meetings at the house, about Mrs. Yalom.

Dalia is not a problem.

Yalom and Gold—agents.

Six years in the Israeli army. Makes you comfortable with guns.

Decker didn’t know what comprised mandatory conscription for the Israeli army. He made a mental note to ask Rina. Then he laughed to himself, surprised by his runaway imagination.

“What’s so funny?” Marge asked.

Decker said, “Nothing really. Just thinking about the blanks in the case, how the mind fills in the blanks with foolishness. We should stick to what we know.”

“Which isn’t much.”