ood," Rick applauded.

Ben chuckled. "On the same day that Kerama invited you to come, I had a
call from the Interpol clearinghouse in Paris, a relay from the San
Francisco police. A wealthy collector of early Egyptian objects in San
Francisco had been bragging that he had just purchased a genuine
necklace that had belonged to one of the early Pharaohs. We requested
the Americans to investigate."

That explained the Californian who talked too much, Rick thought. He had
known the purchase was illegal, but, like many collectors, could not
resist letting a few friends in on his secret--and the secret had leaked
to the police.

"This collector had paid for the necklace with a certified check, which
was cashed by an American accomplice." Ben paused for effect. "The
amount was two hundred thousand dollars cash."

He got his effect. All four of his listeners gasped in amazement.

"Even Moustafa didn't know the exact amount," Rick thought.

"The money was in thousand-dollar bills. I have the serial numbers."

Rick spoke up. "But, Ben, numbered bills are like a flag! No one can
spend them without getting caught."

"That is true, Rick, when something illegal is involved. Had the
collector kept his mouth shut, no one would have known any illegality
was involved in the transaction."

"But you can't use American money in Cairo," Scotty objected. "It has to
be changed."

"Right, Scotty. The problem was this: the revolutionaries could not
convert their dollars to Egyptian pounds in America. It would have
attracted too much attention, because only a few banks and finance
houses can handle such amounts, and then only in co-operation with the
government. Their best bet was to get the dollars into the Arab
countries. We can watch international traffic, but local traffic among
the Arab nations is hard to control. They would have sent the dollars to
another country to be changed."

"An Arab country?" Rick asked.

"Probably. The borders between the Republic and its neighbors are
desert, impossible to patrol. The dollars could have been sent, then
gradually converted into Egyptian currency. Dollars sell readily in this
part of the world, and sometimes not too many questions are asked."

"I get the picture," Rick stated. "The Moustafas stole the necklace, and
smuggled it to America. Bartouki sold it to the collector, through an
American helper. Then he had the money sealed in the cat. He handed it
to me, because my sister gave