Brett Halliday - Last Seen Hitchhiking

He returned Shayne’s fragment to its place. “This would do it. The times are right for pre-Columbian prices to move, and there’s no telling how high they can go. But there has to be a bellwether, something to get the buyers talking, particularly the Japanese — a dazzling show or a dazzling single piece. I happen to like this mask, I’m enchanted by it, in fact, but that’s not the point. This is the time for me to be enchanted by something from this hemisphere. It would be particularly great for us because so many other people have bid for it. We’ve been outbid too often lately.”

“How public was the bidding?”

“Not public at all. Only the necessary people.” He gave a short laugh. “Of course the necessary people are all blabbermouths. If I get it, and I hope you’re about to tell me how it can be done, Eliot Tree will once again be the man-of-the-minute in museum circles. Superstud! How did he wrest it away from Terre Haute and Los Angeles? Not by offering more money, because everybody knows the Fine Arts is practically broke. No, he used the wits God gave him. Wits plus experience plus connections. The trustees would be insane to rid themselves of such a man.”

“After the Terre Haute bid, what made you think it might still be available?”

Tree looked at the end of his cigar. “Should I or shouldn’t I protect my informants? Usually I’m scrupulous about that, but this is a strange, strange episode — Holloway’s ex-wife, Maxine. It’s a subject she knows about. She practically wrote the bastard’s book.”

“I’ve heard that. Did she tell you she had the mask?”

“Was I interested. I said I was interested but as to price, I would have to be permitted to handle the merchandise first.”

“You didn’t send García and his friends this morning to see if they could talk her into giving them the mask for nothing?”

“Certainly not,” Tree said. “Some things you can do, some things you can’t. You can receive stolen goods, we all do, but you can’t suborn robbery.”

“And she didn’t call you again?”

“No, and I couldn’t seem too eager, so I didn’t call her. Then a male voice, giving no name, a slight Spanish accent. Was I still in the market? For what, said I. For valuable Toltec art objects, very pretty, guaranteed genuine. Yes, indeed. He instructed me to return to my room at eight, and I would be contacted.”

“García?”

“It could have been García, forcing his voice. But what happened? They made Holloway open the safe?”

“It’s still question-and-answer time,” Shayne said, “but I’m asking the questions. I want to know how it would be possible for you to exhibit this when it was legally imported by Holloway after buying it from a dealer in Bogota.”

“I can have my own provenance in a matter of twenty-four hours.”

Shayne made a disgusted sound. “You people.”

“His papers are bogus, of course. That dealer will sell his signature for the price of a case of whiskey. At the same time, it’s important from the scholarly point of view to know where the piece actually originated, and under what conditions. We know this. Holloway’s expedition received a good bit of attention. We all knew there’d been a major find. What’s the difference between a dealer in Bogota, who ostensibly sold it to Holloway, and a dealer in Bern, Switzerland, who ostensibly sold it to Tree? I’ve been playing with the idea of finding it in my own basement. Perhaps not, though, a bit too subtle. This Bern collector stung us with a forgery a few years ago and we were nice about it. He owes us a favor.”

“Why wouldn’t Holloway yell? ‘It’s my mask, they stole it from me.’”

“He’s in no position to get on the wrong side of the Fine Arts. We can hurt his reputation or we can help him. I’m ready to be friends. We sell five hundred copies of his book in our bookstore a year, and that will jump if pre-Columbian takes hold.”

“Did you bring cash?”

“A bit. I’ve found that the sight of a table piled high with money has a powerful effect on a certain type of person. It’s in the hotel safe,” he added. “Not that I don’t take that gun of yours with a grain of salt.”

“How much cash?”

“Before I answer, don’t you think you ought to tell me what procedure you have in mind?”

“No. In my game you buy explanations. I’ve already told a number of people that who gets the mask and how much is paid for it isn’t the most important thing. Your money situation has changed. You don’t have to pay García.”

“I may have to give him something to keep him quiet.”

“I’ll find out who he is and what he does and keep him quiet for you. I want to hear a figure, and I don’t have time to bargain. I’ll be standing at your elbow when you open the safe, so I’ll know how much you brought down from New York.”

“I didn’t expect to spend it all.”

Shayne, losing patience, came to his feet. Tree said hastily, “For the complete mask, one twenty-five.”

A moment later, when Shayne made no comment but merely looked at him, he raised that to one fifty.

“Would you go to two if I push you? This would be legitimate, so you could write a check like ordinary people.”

“Legitimate?” Tree said, puzzled.

“I know it’s going to make problems for your accountants, but try something different for once. Two hundred thousand, and the opposition’s ready to pay three times as much. Your trustees will give you a dinner.”

“And with no publicity?”

“It can’t be done without publicity. This is going to get national attention. If it works and the mask ends up in your museum, you’ll draw big crowds, and isn’t that what you’re after?”

“I suppose it is, really. Tell me what would go in the press release.”

“Like this. You made a sensational buy in Switzerland. You’re keeping the price confidential. A mask, in pieces, and you left it that way so it wouldn’t look too important when you brought it through customs. You needed somebody to put it together and give you an expert opinion on whether you got a bargain, and you hired the best man in the business, Holloway. This was too important to trust to the U.S. mails, so you hand-delivered it. And then some dirty dog held Holloway up with a pistol tonight and stole one of the pieces. You want it back. It isn’t worth anything to the thief. Your remaining fragments aren’t worth much by themselves.”

Tree was nodding. “And we’re offering a reward for the missing piece.”

“With no questions asked. Get in touch with Michael Shayne. He handles this kind of deal for insurance companies all the time.”

“Two hundred is a touch high.”

“It’s a round number. For some reason it sounds much bigger than a hundred and fifty. If we’re dealing with a killer, that could be important.”

“What?” Tree said, leaning forward. “What about a killer?”

“Two people have been kidnapped and possibly murdered. One of them’s a friend of mine. But I don’t really expect any direct contact with the kidnapper. He’s crazy, by definition, and two hundred thousand may not mean anything to him. The reward is for information leading to the recovery of the fragment and apprehension of the thief.”

“I finally begin to see where you are in all this, Shayne.”

Tree made a few movements while he thought about it, manipulating the cigar, running his fingers through his longish hair, adjusting the fall of his pants legs. “I have a feeling I’m going to go for it,” he said finally. “A reward that big would establish the value of the piece better than a price of six hundred thousand at auction. And you’re right, the publicity could be good to excellent. But I’m shooting high on this. I want to make sure all angles are covered.”