‘The casket,’ he genially replied.
‘Oh?’ Her brow furrowed. Territories were jealously guarded at the museum. ‘What field are you in?’
‘Forgive me,’ he gave his head a little shake, ‘I thought Mr Bernardier had already spoken to you about this.’
‘No, he’s out at the excavation today.’ She unbuttoned her lab coat and pointed to a glass partitioned office. ‘We can talk in there.’
Seated before her, he explained, ‘I’m not attached to the museum, Miss Dale. I’m mainly an advisor to auction houses in my capacity as an authority on the works of Karl Fabergé. Your director called me in to help you verify the origin of your find.’
Miles had entrusted her with the investigation. Why did he have to interfere by sending her experts? Of course, she would have had to pull in her own independent specialists, which could be a time-consuming process, so perhaps he was trying to make her job easier. The museum staff comprised many brilliant, dedicated professionals, but she was not aware of anyone with expertise in this field. Better to accept the offer. He was awfully pretty.
‘Thank you, Mr Morrison. I’d be interested in your impressions of what you’ve heard so far, sight unseen.’
‘Well.’ He leaned forward a little and the scent he exuded changed. His aftershave was something spicy and musky, not at all what she expected. He looked the citrus type. ‘I can forgive the Russian revolution many things, Miss Dale, but not the destruction of Fabergé. He died in exile, you know, a broken man, his art reviled by men unable to tolerate luxury of any kind. But this find is fascinating. Its placement is correct. Fabergé knew England, and was partly educated here. Such a creation would date from the time he switched from producing jewellery and cigarette boxes to more fantastical items, say the early 1880s, before he began to produce the celebrated eggs.
‘A number of objects we know he personally produced have never been traced. There are catalogue numbers and full descriptions of the missing items, and one of them fits the casket’s specifications. Fabergé’s sons assisted him, and there was a workshop here in London, facts which would provide circumstantial evidence for the find. Of course, there were also many forgeries produced. I would have to see the piece to be more exact.’
‘I’ll have to verify your appointment with Mr Bernardier. Just a formality.’ She smiled and raised the telephone receiver.
He loved this part. Taking a chance. Out at the edge. He could not afford to let her find out about Bernardier, not at this stage of the game. He had no supernatural powers here, only natural ones in this earthbound body, but those would be enough. Enough to fog her senses and divert the call in her brain, to make her hear another voice.
Watching him, she mechanically punched out random digits and listened. Her mouth opened, but she did not speak. He concentrated harder. Searching her for details he found the usual human pain — aching loneliness and lack of fulfilment, but also — what was this? — Miles, not just a work colleague but a lover. Miles was sleeping with her. He probed deeper into her mind. She was not happy with the arrangement, not happy at all. He was married. Not much of a lover, either. She hadn’t lost very much, then. He released her. She swayed back a little, looked flustered, lowered the receiver, aware of a vague conversation in her head, unaware of the dead line. She smiled to cover her confusion.
‘That all seems to be in order, Mr Morrison. When would you like to examine the casket?’
‘How about right now?’ he suggested.
‘I’m sure you understand the need for strict security in this matter,’ she said, allowing a total stranger to follow her into the maze of basement corridors.
‘But of course,’ he agreed, sniffing the air and scenting the proximity of the treasure, barely able to contain his excitement, ‘we wouldn’t want just anyone walking in here.’
Amy led the way to a further green-walled passage separated from the main building by two sets of steel doors and an electronic swipe-code. ‘We have to bring items from this section up personally,’ she explained. ‘They can’t be trusted to assistants, and they’re not allowed to leave our sight until they’re returned.’
Beyond the doors, a series of white-walled rooms housed large square drawers with brass handles, like a morgue. Amy checked the reference number on her requisition sheet and searched the containers.
‘It’s over here,’ he said, lifting the index number from her mind and matching it to a nearby drawer.
Amy looked at him oddly. ‘How do you know?’ she asked, moving past him to check. It was the right drawer. She took a key from her pocket and slipped it into the lock. The moisture-pocked bag inside gave no clue to its contents. ‘You’re never sure what’s best with a find like this,’ she said, carefully removing the bag. ‘This plastic is supposed to “breathe” and sustain a natural moisture equilibrium. We could have placed it in a dry environment, but if the casket contains paper materials they could be ruined.’
He was barely listening to her. The presence of the casket had enveloped and overwhelmed his senses. It was less than three feet from him, but he could not take it from her here. There were other technicians in the secure area. He could hear their bodyweight shifting past him in the nearby rooms. Back in the corridor he had an insane thought, that he could snatch the thing from her and escape from the building with it beneath his arm. He would have to wait until he was beyond the secure area. Another problem; in this body, he could not run. Morrison had sustained a football injury that had left him with damaged tendons in his left leg. Besides, mere escape lacked dignity. He wanted them to see what they had found. Better to wait until he was alone with Amy in the lab, after the other assistants had gone for the night. It would be foolish to screw up now, for the sake of a few hours.
‘It’ll be some time before we reach the interior of the package,’ said Amy. ‘It might be rather boring for you, but you can stay and help me if you want.’
‘Just tell me what to do,’ smiled Spanky, removing his jacket.
By six o’clock they had succeeded in removing the outer straw wrappers and had sectioned them for dating. The oilskin, too, had been photographed at every stage, and the whole process documented. It was laborious, but necessary if mistakes were to be prevented. Amy’s chaotic blonde hair had fallen into her eyes so often that she had bunched it back with a rubber band. She was hunched so far over the brilliantly illuminated desktop that she had developed a crick in her neck. A hot wire of pain scratched across the top of her shoulderblades as she sat up.
‘Here, let me give you a massage. Tip your chair back.’ Spanky lowered broad hands to her neck and pressed his thumbs down in a smooth circular motion.
‘You read my mind. Thanks, that feels good.’ She sat further back and closed her eyes. Another assistant scuttled from the room. ‘At least we’ve only one layer to go, some kind of tissue.’
‘Cloth-papers from Rasputin’s apartment,’ he said absently. ‘He kept the casket out of the light and bound in calico.’
‘You must be a really big authority on this,’ she murmured, succumbing to the motion of his hands.
‘Oh, you have no idea how big.’
‘Pieces of hidden history. ’
‘Crossing-points of the past. Everything holds something different within. The truth becomes fabulous, and fables hold truth.’ His voice had dropped to a sea-murmur. Fingers slipping over her throat.
‘You soon start to see the attraction..’
‘Attraction?’ His hands smoothed and smoothed. The nape of her neck tingled, a warm glow spreading to the top of her breasts. She forced herself to concentrate.