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smiled back.
    My phone rang. It took me half a minute to get it out. That’s what happens when you wear baggy chinos with voluminous pockets.
    ‘Is that Mr Sean Ryan?’ said a woman’s voice with a Scottish accent.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘This is a courtesy call, Mr Ryan. Your phone has been used in a country you have never previously visited. This call is simply to verify that it hasn’t been stolen.’
    ‘You’re getting very security conscious.’
    ‘We look out for our customers,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?’
    I agreed, after she told me they might have to restrict my phone service if I didn’t. She asked me my date of birth, and all the other usual questions that are asked at moments like this. I turned away from the table, dropped my voice as I answered.
    When I was finished, Isabel and Simon were having a deep conversation about London.
    ‘Did you see Dr Hunter when she was here?’ I asked him, jumping in.
    ‘No, I didn’t.’ He shook his head.
    ‘Did you hear what happened to Max Kaiser?’
    ‘Yes, yes, I did. It was terrible.’ He looked me in the eye. ‘You must be careful, Mr Ryan. These are dark days.’
    ‘Why would anyone want to kill someone like that?’
    He put his thumb and finger together in front of him, pressed them together. ‘Some people enjoy being evil.’ He spread his hands out on the table, as if he was holding it down. ‘I pray they catch the terrorists who did it. Are you investigating his death?’
    Isabel spoke. ‘Kaiser may have met Susan Hunter. We’re looking for her. If we find out where Kaiser was working, we might be able to track her down too.’
    ‘He was working on a dig, I know that much. He used me for a reference to get onto it, but no one told me exactly where the dig is. Max was off in a world of his own,’ Simon replied.
    ‘That’s true,’ I said. ‘What general area is the dig in?’
    ‘In Jerusalem, somewhere.’ He shrugged. ‘Sorry, I know that’s not much good.’
    Talli joined the conversation. ‘I’m sure you’ll find Dr Hunter. Have you spoken to the police?’
    ‘Not yet, but we will,’ I said. I turned back to Simon. ‘What happened to your meeting at lunchtime?’
    He spoke slowly. ‘We had a bomb scare in my apartment. There are a lot of idiots around. The police wouldn’t let me take my car out. At the beginning they said I could. Then they changed their mind.’ He put a hand to his forehead and rubbed it.
    ‘Some people make me crazy. I’m a busy man.’ He lowered his head. ‘But I have to accept it. It’s all in the name of security.’ He put his palms together, bowing his head as if he was praying.
    Then he looked up at me. ‘What is your area of expertise?’
    ‘Digital analysis, pattern recognition. I helped found the Institute of Applied Research. We have multidisciplinary research teams. We’re academics who want advanced research to be used for practical purposes, and as soon as possible.’
    He looked interested. ‘Good, good. I believe I’ve heard of you. You would like what I’m working on. Perhaps we’re ahead of even the great Oxford University.’ He grinned. It was one of the grins I’d seen academics use before, when they thought they might have discovered something interesting or at least more interesting that what you were working on.
    ‘What’s the project?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s not published yet, so I can’t tell you.’ His smile was enigmatic. ‘But I will send you the article when it comes out.’
    ‘What area is it in?’ Isabel had her head to one side.
    ‘The use of lasers for manipulation of molecules, cells and tissue. It’s called biomedical optics. It’s a whole new science. We got our own journal only in 2011.’
    I joined the conversation. ‘Two of our researchers have published papers in that journal this year. We’re the only research institute in the world to have published that number in it so far.’ If it had been a spitting contest, I’d