“The vault inherited by a guy currently on a slab in the morgue. He earned his place there by, apparently, interrupting a thief. The thief did manage to get away with something for his trouble. Just a little something called the Royal Suite. Maybe you’ve heard of it.”
He straightened in his chair as if electrocuted. “You have the thief? You have the Royal Suite?”
“No, I have a dead man, and a lot of other stolen property nicely displayed and carefully cataloged in a vault on the Upper East Side. But I’m interrupting your Saturday.”
“Shut up. I need the details.”
“Which is it? I shut up, or give you the details?”
He sniffed, then he hissed. “You can stop winding me up now.”
“I’m sort of enjoying it. Nathan Barrister, son of Henry Barrister, who founded Zip Global, the shipping and delivery giant, was murdered last night.”
Since she’d—mostly—finished winding him up, she ran through those details, cop to cop.
“We will, of course, keep the property safely secured. We will, of course, have each item authenticated. And we will, of course, begin the process of having each item returned to its rightful owner. I assumed, correct me if I’m wrong, Interpol would have an interest in assisting in that, I expect, complicated process.”
He was up now, pacing. “I need a list, a description, and a photo of every item.”
“I have that for you.”
“I’ll contact my superiors immediately. We will, naturally, take over possession and security for the property.”
“No. That property is connected to a murder in my city. Just throttle back,” she ordered before he could speak. “I’m inviting you in, I’m giving you a big, shiny gift because we both know the light’s going to blast all over this. Billions of dollars of stolen art, artifacts, and jewelry, recovered after—in some cases—several decades. But my priority is Nathan Barrister, is finding the person responsible for caving his head in. Next in line, recovering the emeralds. And finally, seeing that everything goes back where it belongs.”
He didn’t look snooty now, but frustrated and anxious.
“You fail to understand that the Royal Suite is far too valuable and far too well-known to be treated like an ordinary theft. In the hours since it’s been taken it’s very likely found a place in yet another vault, and may very well be held there until it can be put up for auction exclusive to those who not only can afford its worth but care nothing for how it was acquired.”
She waited a long, slow beat. “Do I look like this is my first round in the ring, Abernathy? We’re taking steps to monitor for underground auctions on this level. Feel free to add Interpol’s experts in that area. They can coordinate with our EDD.”
“Be sure we will.”
“Look, I’m not just bringing you into this because it saves me the time and frustration of talking to a few dozen museum people, insurance people, collectors and juggling their particular priorities. I’m bringing you in because I know you’ll stick till it’s done, and done right.”
Now he looked, at least slightly, mollified. “I believe that’s a compliment.”
“It’s a fact, take it any way you want. I’ll send you the data on the contents of the vault.”
“And we will contact the rightful owners, insurance agents, and so forth.”
“Good. On the monitoring and fishing, you’ll want to coordinate with Captain Feeney of EDD.”
“Yes, I remember Captain Feeney. Is Roarke… consulting on this matter?”
“He is.” At Abernathy’s twisted smile, Eve’s face went to stone. “Careful where you walk, Inspector. You could get something very nasty on your shoe.”
“I’d comment that perhaps he has some contacts who may be able to ferret out some helpful information.”
“If he does, and they can, it’ll go in the pile. I’ll send you the data, along with my more current report. Now, I’ve got a murder investigation to run.”
“I have no doubt you’ll find the responsible party. You’ll stick until it’s done, and done right. Another fact. I’ll be in touch.”
Satisfied, Eve walked out to the bullpen. “Forget the list for now.”
“Best news of the day. I’m getting a lot of runarounds in a lot of languages. Why?”
“I pulled Inspector Abernathy into it. He’ll deal with the contacts.”
