Dorothy Mcintosh - The Witch of Babylon

“He’d picked up on the idea that it had something to do with transforming base metals into gold. He knew the engraving was the Book of Nahum and realized how much money it would be worth.”

“So you used Ward and his people to keep the maximum pressure on me, harassing me, making me think I was running for my life. And they’d always known where I was because of the tracking device. You removed it to gain my trust, Laurel. By then I was confiding in you, so it wasn’t necessary anymore. All those crocodile tears you shed over Hal. What a shock it must have been when you found out he was peddling the thing.

“Eris confronted him. He lied again, only the second time he threw me into the mix. His game came at you out of left field.”

Laurel had been listening intently. “Latching onto you was our only option once we realized you genuinely did not know where the engraving was. Hal included some elements that only you would recognize, and we had no way of solving the game ourselves. Certainly not in a short time, anyway. It was easier to get you to do the work. Phillip thought you’d chase the engraving just so you could sell it, but I wasn’t so sure.”

I searched for any sign of guilt, a slight flush perhaps in her cheeks to suggest a hint of shame, but could find none.

“I must admit,” Phillip said, “it was rather fun watching you getting battered.”

“And yet here I am. I succeeded and you two failed. Were you actually going to go through the farce of an exchange at High Bridge Park?” I asked.

“Of course not,” Laurel said.

Phillip peeked over his glasses at Laurel like an impatient schoolteacher. “What’s the point of going on about this? We don’t owe him any explanations. We beat you at the game in the end, Madison. It’s your sour luck.”

“Humor me, Phillip. I’ve earned some answers, and unless you want a really nasty scene when you try to throw me out, I’ll get them.”

I turned back to Laurel. “You and Phillip set up a double sting, keeping Ward and his people occupied with stalking me. Unbeknownst to us you two also kept a check on Tomas. When he did an end run on me and picked up the engraving, you got lucky. How did you get it from him? Did you have a weapon?”

“Could you honestly picture me waving a gun around?” Laurel giggled. “Only a weapon of the monetary variety. Phillip had the connections, so we could get a much better price for the engraving. Tomas saw to reason quite rapidly. And we let him shoot a photo of it. That’s all he really needed. This was your own fault.”

“How’s that?”

Laurel tapped the rim of her glass. “You didn’t bother to tell us, John, about your plans to leave town. When you went to the Port Authority and Ward found out about it he freaked, thinking we’d pushed you too far and you were going to bolt. So we had to put the kidnapping into play. Tomas, on the other hand, actually believed you’d take the engraving to the FBI. If it weren’t for that, he might not have given in to Phillip and me.”

“While you kept Ward and Eris preoccupied with me, Tomas headed back to Iraq.”

“Hal wasn’t the only one who could stage a good trap.”

“I can see how Tomas gained, but what was in it for Ari?”

“Ari was never involved. Ward and his people were chasing a dream. Finding the treasure was also what Tomas most wanted. Both saw the engraving as primarily a means to an end.”

I threw back the rest of my drink and stood up. “After all the hardship I’ve gone through, the least you can do is show it to me.”

“Dear boy,” Phillip interjected, “we’re under no obligation to do anything.”

“Maybe you won’t have any choice.” He might be haughty but I hadn’t come empty handed. I had my finger on a trigger and it was still waiting to be squeezed.

Laurel patted his hand. Phillip actually blushed with pleasure. “There’s no point playing hardball, is there?” she said.

Phillip took a remote out of his desk and pressed a key. The TV screen slid silently to one side. Nahum’s engraving sat in a shelved recess beside a Michelangelo drawing and what looked like a Vermeer.

The engraving had the typical greenish hue of olivine basalt, its color deepening from exposure to oxygen over the ages. It hadn’t yet been cleaned. I could see reddish dust lodged in the impressions. That made sense. They wouldn’t clean it because the dust could be analyzed to confirm the tablet’s age and legitimacy.

I ran my hand over the eight-pointed stars Tomas had referred to. The piece had an air of majesty, as if Nahum’s passion had somehow given life and spirit to the rock. I felt a moment of sadness for the prophet whose grand plan had come to nothing. After thousands of years, the riches he’d intended for the Kingdom of Judah would remain in Assyrian hands. “When you sell it, I suppose Tomas gets a cut?”

“Of course. The proceeds from Samuel’s estate would never have been enough to finance all the restoration work on the temple and its objects.” Phillip pressed the remote again to move the TV screen back into place.

“Well, for my end of things, I’ll take the Vermeer.”

Phillip let out a cynical laugh and held up the bottle of Rabelais, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head. Neither he nor Laurel had touched their drinks.

“I’m a bit surprised at your willingness to forgo the treasure cache. The engraving’s worth twenty million, but the value of Midas’s hoard is incalculable.”

“Bird in hand, my friend, bird in hand,” Phillip said.

“I’m not your friend.”

I’d obviously succeeded in stirring Phillip up because he snapped back at me. “I thought we were having a civilized conversation. Let me finish. Ward deluded himself about how easy the hoard would be to move. Realistically, how could he get control of the temple treasures and transport them back here, even if he’d won his battle with Tomas?”

“He had a lot of muscle, private contractors.”

“Not enough under the circumstances. The museum looting turned out to be too great an embarrassment. After the FBI sent out alerts, getting caught even with a small item would land you in serious trouble. Not to mention local citizens. You don’t think they’d know what was going on? You could hire a whole battalion of thieves without a prayer of getting past them. And the temple is on the property of the Chaldean Church. They’d just look the other way while Ward loaded up the trucks? Catholics don’t part easily with their valuables. I predict the find will never be made public. Laurel and I are content with our paltry share.”

“The Chaldean Church is doing its best to protect antiquities in the middle of a war. They’re facing threats daily and still trying to restore Nahum’s tomb and the synagogue. You don’t have a decent bone in your body, Phillip.”

He smiled and let my insult float away. “You’ll be getting no cut, John, least of all that Vermeer. Good Lord, it’s worth as much as Nahum’s engraving.”

“The engraving’s stolen. You can’t peddle it safely.”

“There’s no evidence to suggest that. No museum records, no identifying marks.”

I supposed now was as good a time as any to turn the tables. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it up. “I made a call on this before I walked in here. The line has been open the entire time. On the other end, a friend has taped every single word.”

This didn’t produce the desired effect. Laurel let out a little grunt of amusement, and Phillip laughed outright. “That old trick. Did you really think I’d fall for it? I’m not brain dead. My office is for private conversations. I have clients for whom discretion is a necessity; you never know who may be trying to listen in. There are a lot of useful technologies these days, and I like to employ them. Wireless won’t work in here.”