"If he asks, you can tell him I called you and you told me to get lost. I'm not going to tell him different. The man practically threw me out of his office."

"Well, Mr. Lapid, I can see how one might tire of your presence."

He said this in a tone so dry and free of inflection that I burst out laughing. After a second, Levine joined in the laughter. I didn't hear a crack, but just like that the barrier between us had crumbled.

"Call me Adam, all right?" I said.

"And I'm Itamar. I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. At least now I know why Strauss has been looking for me."

"He called you?"

"At the firm. Twice. Once yesterday and once today. Urgent business, he said. I've been putting off getting back to him for as long as I can."

"He'll tell you not to talk to me."

He sighed loudly. "Which is all the reason I need to do just that. Go ahead; ask me what you want."

I drank some more soda and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

I said, "Did Mr. Strauss hire Esther because of her looks?"

"I'm sure that was one of his considerations. Perhaps the primary one. But as I said, she was very good at her job. She had to be. Leah was so lousy at it."

"And Strauss kept Leah on because…"

"Because she was his mistress. Because it was easier to give her money that way without his wife finding out. He paid her much more than any secretary ought to get."

Which was probably why Leah Goldin had said Strauss was a wonderful man, I thought.

"Are they still involved?" I said.

Levine said he didn't know.

"Are you certain Strauss had his sights set on Esther?"

"No doubt about it. I saw how he looked at her."

"Did he act on it?"

"If he didn't, he was about to."

"What makes you say that?"

Levine sighed again and said in a disgusted tone, "Because of the necklace."

"What necklace?"

"Two weeks before I left for Cairo—three weeks or so before Esther was killed—I saw her in the office with a string of pearls around her neck. I knew right away she couldn't have bought them herself, not on her salary, but I thought maybe the pearls were some heirloom or a present from a suitor. I asked her about it and she said Strauss had given it to her. A gift, he said, for all—"

"The good work she's been doing," I completed his sentence, my insides twisting into a cold knot. So that was where the pearl necklace in the picture of Esther and Willie had come from.

"How did you know that?" Levine asked.

I told him about Dana, the pretty secretary, and the silver bracelet she had received from Strauss.