Decker said, “I see your position, Loo. That’s why Marge and I are doing this on our own. Maybe we’ll get lucky, maybe we won’t. Anyway, it’ll be our problem, not yours.”

Davidson evaluated Decker’s words. “Just don’t wear yourselves out.” He paused. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Decker said.

Davidson turned to Marge. “Luck to you, too.”

Then he was out the door.

Marge was quiet. Then she said, “God, he’s a wily bastard. Notice how he manipulated the whole thing. Like he was doing us a big favor by letting us work on this case on our own time.”

Decker said, “Did I tell you I checked him out?”

“And?”

“People say he’s a hardworking cop. Lots of folks had good things to say about him.”

“So what the hell happened?”

“What do you think? He got promoted. They cut off his balls and turned him into a pencil pusher. Now he’s got to look at what’s expedient rather than what’s right. I think deep down inside he wants us to win. So let’s find something and prove the motherfucker wrong.”

Marge sat down dejectedly. “Find what? We’ve been over our notes a dozen times. Nothing’s clicking.”

Decker sat next to her. “We’ve got to start somewhere so let’s start with the obvious. The boys’ passports are gone, and the parents’ passports are still here. How about we check out some airline schedules. International flights. Why else would the boys need their passports?”

Marge knew that could take days without the proper papers and warrants. But Pete was right. They had to start somewhere. “What’s Israel’s official airline?”

“El Al,” Decker said. “But lots of others fly to Israel as well.”

Marge looked at her watch. “It’s too late to call the corporate offices. We could go down to the airport and try their computers.”

“All right, let’s do that. But before we do, let’s get a time schedule for the boys.”

Marge nodded. “If we heard from Dov around five from the shopping center, when do you figure the boys arrived at the airport?”

Decker was quiet for a moment. “Margie, how did the boys get to the airport? Gil’s car was in the garage.”

“You haven’t heard of cabs or a bus?”

“But why not take the car? Gil was old enough to drive. Why didn’t they just grab a car and hightail it off to the airport?”

“You’re getting at something.”

Decker raised a finger in the air. “The car was a marker. Gil and Dov didn’t want to use it, because they didn’t want to be followed. They didn’t want anyone to know who they were and where they were going.”

Marge was silent.