"I wouldn't mind coming along if they are, and if you'll permit it, of course. It was great to see everybody the other night, even if it ended badly. I'm referring to Anna, of course, not your um… you know."
Frank and I seemed to have run out of things to say, which I suppose is what often happens when former classmates get together after twenty years or so. I paid the bill. Forgiveness, coupled with very little additional information, had not come cheaply.
There was a voice mail message from Diana waiting for me. "The Divas, what's left of them, are getting together again for a planning session," she said. "Please come. Bloor Street Diner at five."
I left a message for Diana to tell her I'd be there, and that Frank had indicated he'd like to join the group any time we got together. I said I'd leave it up to her, but she could call him if she chose to. I didn't think she would.
On the way to the so-called planning session, I went to the Cottingham and had another look at the Venus. I hadn't noticed the other night, besotted, like everyone else, by the Venus herself, but the exhibit was an interesting one. Sections from both the diaries and Piper's presentation had been greatly enlarged and mounted on panels. Particularly interesting was the formal drawing of the grave site showing the skeleton, the beads, and the Venus. It was unquestionably the Venus on display in the case. The detail was exquisite. I knew that archaeological expeditions often had an illustrator as part of the team, given the nature of photography at that time. Even though there were cameras then, it would not have been easy to take photographs in the cave.
I liked the handwriting on the diaries. It was neat, precise like the drawings, and despite the fact that the passages chosen were about the project, there was someone very real and personable behind the science.
I left a note for Karoly, thanking him for the roses, and telling him I'd like to see him again, then I headed for the diner.
"Okay, now that we're all here, let's get started," Diana said. "What have we got so far, Lara?" She sounded rather officious.
"Not much," I said. "I'm sure Morgan has told you that the Venus was never in Lillian Larrington's possession, that she put up the money to purchase her, that's all. I talked to Karoly—"
"You didn't!" Grace exclaimed. "You talked to him about this? Does he know our plans?"
"Of course not," I said. "We had dinner together, that's all." Morgan raised her eyebrows. "I just asked him about the Venus. Why wouldn't I?"
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Grace said.
"Give her a little credit," Morgan said. "She's an antique dealer. Why wouldn't she ask him about it?"
"Can we get on with this?" Diana interjected. "What are we going to do next?"
"We," I said, emphasizing the word, "aren't entirely sure, yet." How did I manage to get myself into these situations? "I have to try to find the name of the dealer from whom Karoly purchased the Venus, talk to that person, and see if they'll tell me where they got it, which is very doubtful, even if I can find this person in the first place."
"That's not a problem," Diana said.
"What do you mean it's not a problem?" I said. "If Karoly won't tell me, how am I going to get it?"
"I can find out where he got it," she said.
"How would you know that?" Grace said.
Diana looked at us all as if we were clearly of subnormal intelligence. "I expect I wrote the check," she said. "I was the bookkeeper until very recently, if you recall."
"So who is it then?" I said. This conversation was starting to set my teeth on edge.
"I don't know offhand, but I'll get it for you."
"How would you do that?" Morgan said. "Given that you no longer work there. Are you planning to drive through the plate glass window and get it?"
"Are you implying that I'm the one who tried to break into the Cottingham?" Diana demanded.
"Ladies," Grace said irritably. "To the subject at hand, if you please? We are too old to be bickering like children."
"I kept copies of all the documents I handled in the last six months," Diana said. "I have them at home. If you can give me more information, I'll get you a name."
"It should be a check for about a million," I said.
"I don't recall any that big, and I'm sure I would. Not in the entire time I was there. I'll have a look through the stuff, though. Can you give me any more information that might help me narrow it down?"
"Europe. It was a dealer in Europe."
"Okay, I'll go through everything when I get home and call you with what I have," she said. "Assuming I find it, which I will, what then?"
"I'll get in touch with this person or company, and see what I can find out. I have to tell you though, that Karoly told me that the dealer wouldn't tell him who had owned it. If he wouldn't tell the man with the check, he probably won't tell me."
"Maybe you should take Morgan along with you, and have her vamp him," Cybil said.
"Oh, puh-leeze," Morgan said.
"Just kidding," Cybil said. "Sorry."
"Is it a good idea to purchase something as expensive as the Venus without knowing who owned it?" Grace asked.
"Normally no," I replied. "If I remember correctly, Karoly said he wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole if he didn't have the other documents that would appear to authenticate it."
"Could this not be part of an elaborate hoax?" Morgan asked. "The paper, the diaries, everything?"
"It could be, sure," I said. "But according to Karoly, the ink and paper on the diaries and the presentation check out."
"So they are authentic," Grace said. "Both the diaries and the Venus?"
"It's still possible to fake these things, even the Venus. But it wouldn't be easy. You'd have to find a piece of mammoth ivory twenty-five thousand or so years old, for starters, and most of us don't have that kind of thing lying around. You couldn't use modern metal tools to carve it, because the metal would show up, tiny fragments of it, and the Venus, if you will recall, dates to the Stone Age. As for the diaries and the presentation to the science club, you'd also have to find old paper, not too difficult given it's only a hundred years ago, and you'd have to know the composition of ink at that time, also not so difficult, given the relatively recent date on the documents."
"So it's still possible this is all a fraud, and Karoly is part of it."
"It's possible, yes. It's also possible it's a fraud and Karoly was duped along with everybody else."
"This is fraud, and he's part of it," Diana said. "I just know it." I thought for a minute she was going to break down and cry, but she got up and went to the washroom.
"Seriously," Cybil said. "What if, like you said, this dealer won't tell you where he got it. If he wouldn't tell Karoly, why would he tell you?"
"That too is a good question," I said. "We'd be at something of a stalemate."
"What would you do then?"
"I'd start at the other end," I said. "With the Venus, and then trace it forward, rather than back."
"From 1900, you mean?"
"Yes."
"That wouldn't be so difficult, would it? It's only a hundred years."
"That would be a hundred years that contain two world wars, a Nazi occupation, about forty-five years under Soviet domination, to say nothing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution when two hundred thousand people left the country. So, no problem," I said rather caustically.
"Would we have to go to Hungary?" Morgan said.
"Another drink, ladies?" the waiter said, before I could answer.
"Not for me," I said.
"Good idea," Grace said.
"Why don't you just let that one go, Grace," Morgan said. "If we want Lara's help, maybe you should just let that one go."
"I'll second that," Cybil said.
Grace looked nonplussed. "It's time we got going," Diana said, returning to the table. "The trail is not getting any warmer. I'll get you that name, and you can take it from there."