“Yes, I was, and still am.”
“I suppose it could still be George Matthews. Or his company Norfolk Matthews Pharmaceuticals, but he wouldn’t normally use you to get what he wanted.” I said nothing, but Burton, as usual, rattled on, oblivious to my discomfort. “It’s a bit peripheral for him. He collects medical equipment, and I’m not sure a box with a recipe for the elixir of immortality would qualify, as tantalizing as it might be for the rest of us. And anyway, it’s too soon after Dory’s death for him to be arranging for a purchase in Beijing, I’d think. Am I right?”
“Burton!” I said in a warning tone. “I think we should change the subject.”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to say to you for some time, Lara. Please hear me out. I know you were very fond of Dory. I was, too. It wasn’t my fault she got edged out at the Cottingham. The museum approached me. I didn’t know what the situation was. They told me she was retiring. Why would I think otherwise? I found out later she was pushed out against her will, but I honestly did not know that at the time, and even if I had, it wasn’t up to me. They asked me for an expression of interest, and who wouldn’t be interested, given the budget that museum has? I was keen, I sent my CV, and got an interview, then another, then the job. By the time I got there, she was gone.”
“You’re quite right, Burton. It wasn’t your fault that the Cottingham decided Dory had to go. But Courtney Cottingham told me you’d approached them first, and that it was too much of an opportunity to pass up, given that you are the hot item in this field.” Courtney had shared this annoying little confidence with me at Dory’s retirement bash. A lot of people knew that edging Dory out would be unpopular with certain people, my being one of them. I didn’t figure Courtney actually cared what I thought, nor did I think Burton did either, but both seemed to feel they had to say something to me. It’s just that Burton was lying, or at the very least stretching the truth, and I wasn’t prepared to let him get away with it.
Burton got just a little defensive. “I didn’t apply for the job, Lara. I simply met Courtney Cottingham and her husband at a soiree in Washington, and I told her if the job were ever open, I hoped she would consider me a candidate. I know you really, really liked Dory, and clearly you’re determined to think the worst of me, but what I’m saying is true. Several months after Courtney and I had this conversation, she got in touch with me. She told me Dory was retiring. If my casual remark sparked Dory’s departure, I feel bad about it, but I don’t think it would have changed anything. Courtney thought Dory was past it, and maybe she was. Her arthritis had slowed her down, and she wasn’t open to new ideas for the galleries.”
“Burton…” I began, but stopped. There was no use in arguing this point with him. “Look, I know you’re doing great things for the Cottingham, just as you did for that private museum in Boston. I’m sure the Cottingham is lucky to have you no matter what the circumstances. It’s too late for Dory, so let’s just talk about something else.” It was the best I could do.
“Thank you,” he said. “Dory was certainly very nice when I went to visit her a couple of weeks before she died. It was just before you and I headed for New York for our first futile attempts to get the box. She served me tea and cookies, and we had a lovely chat. She even sent me home with a care package, a box of homemade cookies and some of her own blend of tea. She used it to treat her arthritis, but she said it was good for almost all that ails you. I went to personally invite her to a reception we were having for donors. If she blamed me, she gave me no such indication, but I suppose she might say something to you and not to me.”
“She never said a bad word about you to me, Burton.” That was indeed true. “I doubt she said a bad word about you to anyone. She was not the sort of person to do that. She was a classy lady.”
“She was,” he agreed. “Now as you’ve already requested, let’s talk about something else. I got a seat on the plane tomorrow, so this is my last evening here. I know this place that serves fabulous food. Let’s go eat.”
I’d had enough of Burton for one day, but there didn’t seem to be a polite way to get out of it. I could hardly say I had other things to do, when clearly I didn’t. Reluctantly, I went with him. He ordered, not even bothering to ask me if there was anything I wanted. However, he knew Chinese food as well as he knew Chinese art. Platter after platter of food arrived in front of us, all really delicious. Over the course of the meal, I discovered that Burton could be quite amusing when he tried. I may have even found myself warming to him just the tiniest bit. He had the good grace to make fun of his health fetish, which he had to, really, when I asked him what on Earth he was doing as he proceeded to wipe down the chopsticks. In some cases, cleaning the chopsticks might be a good idea, but these had come in sealed packages, the kind you actually have to tear open to use. I tried more or less unsuccessfully not to laugh. Heaven knows, I try to be careful when I’m traveling. If I find myself some place that I think doesn’t measure up from a sanitary standpoint, I won’t eat anything that doesn’t have steam rising from it. It’s my number one rule. I’d sized this restaurant up pretty quickly and decided it was okay. Burton, however, was taking no chances. When he put disinfectant drops on the spotless serving spoons, though, I got the giggles. Even he started to laugh.
When I’d managed to get my hilarity under control, I got around to a question I was determined to ask. “You speak Chinese, don’t you? Mandarin?” I asked when I’d eaten as much as I possibly could.
“Yes,” he said. “Also a little Cantonese.”
“So what did that guy in black, the one who has enough pull that he avoids spending time looking at videotapes and being questioned with the rest of us, say to the doorman?”
“The guy with the expensive shoes? He said something along the lines of ‘Grab the young man’ or something. Why?”
“Well, what would you say under those circumstances?”
“ ‘Stop, thief,” I guess. I’ll grant you it was a little ambiguous, but really, wouldn’t you think the doorman would grab the guy with the silver box under his arm if that is indeed what the guy said?“
“I don’t know. The two were about the same age—David and the thief, that is.”
“Where are you going with this, Lara?”
“Promise you won’t laugh? I think there is a possibility that the man in black was in on the theft.”
“Whoa!” Burton said. “Chinese army. Be careful.”
“You’re not planning to discuss this with them, are you?”
“Of course not, but why would you think such a thing? Surely it is not because he left so soon after it happened and he didn’t come back the next day like the rest of us. Perhaps his shift of duty was about to begin. I don’t know, maybe they went and took his statement from him at his home or work as a professional courtesy. I don’t think you can assume he is a criminal just because he dodged some of the most incredibly boring hours I’ve put in while here.”
“It’s not that at all. He was ostensibly looking at a painting. The trouble is, he was standing in the wrong place to do that. That was a detailed painting. The rest of us stood much closer to look at it. I watched the videotape very carefully: where you stood, where I stood, and indeed where everybody stood when they were looking at it, and then I went over to it myself afterward. He was standing way too far back.”
“So maybe the guy doesn’t know how to look at paintings properly. Why does his ineptitude in that regard matter?”
“I think he was standing in the perfect place to block the young employee’s view of the silver box.”