Notes: At the end of this chapter is background information for those new to the Caffrey Conversation series.
Chapter 1: Globetrotting
Winston-Winslow. Monday, March 24, 2008.
Why does an Egyptologist want to speak with me? Neal pondered that puzzle as he waited for Martine Giron to arrive. Whatever the topic was, he was already hearing the intriguing knock of a new opportunity.
Martine was an art history professor at Columbia University. He'd attended a couple of her courses on his path to obtaining a master's. Since then, he'd had little contact with her aside from brief chats in the hallways.
If this was a university matter, she would have asked him to meet her at her office. Instead, she called Win-Win's main number to request an appointment. He was a little surprised she knew where he worked. When he was her student, she'd been involved in an undercover op, but back then he worked for the FBI. He had a good idea of who the likely source of her information was, and when he met her in the reception area, she confirmed it.
"Sherkov told me about your new position," Martine said. "I was relieved to hear you're still with Interpol Art Crimes."
His doctoral advisor had already assisted on a couple of cases and was familiar with Neal's work on the task force. But this made Neal even more curious to know why Martine had sought him out.
"Is this a museum or a university matter?" he asked as he led her to his office. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Martine was on the staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Egyptian department.
"Museum, and it's a subject that requires delicate handling. We'd prefer not to go public with the case if it can be resolved quickly. The Met is familiar with your unorthodox ways of conducting an investigation." The sharp lines on her face softened. "They worked out well in the past. We hope they will again."
Neal doubted Martine was familiar with the thwarted Vermeer theft, but she had helped negotiate permission for a sting to catch Keller that involved a Tutankhamun exhibition. He also remembered how biting her initial criticism was of the idea. If he'd been taking one of her seminars at the time, she might have failed him on the spot. Apparently, she'd loosened up since then.
"Obtaining the museum's authorization wasn't difficult," she continued. "Your work on the task force has made you a trusted advisor."
"So you don't plan to rake me over the coals if I suggest something out of the box?" he joked.
"No, I'll just sic a cursed mummy on you if you mess up."
As they exchanged grins, Neal relished the new standing he had with his professors. Now that he was so far along on his doctorate, he was approaching colleague status.
She scanned his office when they stepped inside. "This reminds me more of an art studio than an investigator's office." Her eyes rested on a montage of images currently on one of his easels.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat at the work table. His lab stools were a notch above the ones in his university studio. They had padded seats and backs.
She first went over to the easel to study the pictures. Most of them were copies of grainy photos. "You'll need to satisfy my curiosity first." She pointed to one image. "That Caravaggio was looted by the Nazis, wasn't it?"
"Yes, and it's still missing. All the paintings pictured on the easel are."
"I'd read the reports about the plundered masterpieces recovered by Interpol Art Crimes in 2005. Were you involved?"
"That's a safe assumption." Details of how the paintings were discovered were classified but as a known member of the task force, he was on secure ground, and a little extra burnishing of his reputation never hurt when the Met came calling.
Martine smiled. "I hope to read news of another discovery soon." She took a seat and placed her briefcase on the surface of the worktable. "In the meantime, I'd like to interest you in a problem of a different sort." She retrieved a folder and opened it to display a photo of an Egyptian ring.
Neal recognized it immediately. He'd included it in a paper on Egyptian jewelry for one of her courses. "That's the emerald from the Met's collection." The slightly faceted hexagonal gemstone was mounted on a gold band.
"I knew you'd remember it. We'd lent it to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for their exhibition on late dynastic jewelry. The exhibition ended in March. When our staff performed their standard evaluation upon its return, they discovered that the ring was a forgery."
"Was it the only item the Met had lent?"
"No, but there wasn't an issue with the other pieces," Martine said. "I'd read your Interpol bulletin to museums about historical gems being targeted. This appears to fit the pattern."
"I agree. I assume you alerted the Egyptian Museum?"
"Yes, and as you can imagine, they were horrified. Several other pieces had been loaned from museums in Great Britain, France, and Germany, but no one else has reported a theft."
#
Peter was heading for lunch when he noticed Martine Giron leave Neal's office. He hadn't seen her since the Tutankhamun sting but he remembered her well. Her angular features and dark hair reminded him of an Egyptian queen, and her demanding attitude matched the profile. Curiosity prevailed over his growling stomach, but why not satisfy both?
He switched directions and stuck his head inside Neal's doorway. "Have you had lunch yet?"
Neal smiled. "You saw Martine leave, didn't you?"
"Yes, and I also know you brown-bagged it today." The advantages of riding the express bus together to work continued to mount up. "Didn't you mention you'd brought some leftover quiche? El packed extra mini banana tarts," he added enticingly.
Neal's smile broadened. "And at least one of them has my name on it."
Win-Win's breakroom was such an attractive setting that many of the employees brought their lunches. Neal had painted whimsical garden murals as a backdrop for the numerous bulletin boards where staff members posted photos, drawings by their kids, cartoons—whatever struck their fancy.
Today he and Neal were eating on the late side. Sara was currently overseas, and Neal had told Peter during the morning commute that he planned to work late. In a couple of days, he would depart for Europe.
"Are you going to add Cairo to your travel plans?" Peter asked after Neal filled him in on Martine's case.
"Probably. Sterling-Bosch is the Met's insurer. They would have brought us in if Martine hadn't already secured permission to hire us."
"The thief we've nicknamed Diamond Lil could be responsible," Peter suggested.
"I had the same thought," Neal agreed. "Mozzie has been keeping an eye on the darknet for historical gems. He would have told me if there had been any chatter about the ring. Since it wasn't advertised, a private collector probably commissioned the theft."
"In other words, you don't have any leads."
"True, but I may have an ace in the hole."
"Raquel." Peter was well acquainted with Neal's friend Raquel Dubois. The Egyptologist-turned-jewelry boutique owner had connections in the shadowy underworld of antiquity looters and thieves. She was also suspected of being a fence for stolen artifacts.
Neal nodded. "That's why I'm a better choice to investigate this case than Sara. Raquel likes her but she wouldn't be as forthcoming with her." He winced. "She may not be with me either."
"You were already scheduled to go to Europe to research your doctorate. I'm sure Venice could easily fit into your plans."
"That it could. Plus, it's not far from Munich."
"What's in Munich?"
"Klaus. He called me this morning. He's located the Balkan mobster who has information about paintings looted by Nazi soldiers."
Peter chuckled. "Let me get this straight. Your trip now includes investigating the Egyptian ring, doctorate research, meeting Sara for a vacation, and being a Monuments Man."
Neal shrugged happily. "Good thing I excel at multi-tasking. I don't imagine you're envious."
"You got that right. The De Beers investigation is giving me plenty to work on." He and Jones had been spending the past two weeks combing through the financial records of the diamond consortium. It had hired them to investigate a case of possible employee theft. Peter had Sara and Diana to thank for the case. Their work last fall for the Diamond Association raised Win-Win's reputation among diamond merchants across the globe.
"Are you going to take along your carnelian cat for good luck?" Peter teased.
"I just might," Neal said thoughtfully. "She could prove useful." Neal had prepared the forgery of an ancient Egyptian ring when he was a member of Klaus's crew. Now she might be bait for an unscrupulous collector.
"Will Mozzie go along?"
Neal shook his head. "No, he's currently in Thailand with Sara and Diana."
"What fictitious gem are they tracking down?"
"The Great Mughal. It's a 787-carat diamond that reportedly was once part of the Peacock Throne."
"That sounds glamorous."
"It's hard to imagine anything more alluring," Neal agreed. "The jeweled throne was created for the rulers in the Mughal Empire in India. It was made in the early seventeenth century and disappeared from history a little over a century later. Several of the diamonds wound up in the British Crown Jewels, but the Great Mughal is still lost."
"Until the Red Diamonds find it. Mozzie must have been in scriptwriter heaven describing its backstory."
Neal grinned. "Especially since the Great Mughal was featured in a Sherlock Holmes story—The Sign of the Four. Mozzie's channeling his inner Sherlock Holmes for this effort. Doesn't it make you wish you could drop in on them?"
The next day at the Ayutthaya Ruins near Bangkok.
"I'd never pictured you as the Indiana Jones type," Diana told Sara as she scanned the intricate carving on a temple wall.
"Not all my adventures are in a concrete jungle," Sara said, crouching beside a carved wall. "Mozzie's satisfying my craving for ruin-clambering."
"Then you have more in common with Arkham Sara than I realized. Are you telling me this is what you and Neal did during your honeymoon in Thailand?"
"Let's not get carried away. However, I have to admit riding an elephant ranks right next to scuba diving."
They were spending the day at the extensive ruins of Thailand's former capital city, located about forty miles from Bangkok. Ayutthaya had been founded in the fourteenth century. The city was burned by an invading Burmese army in the eighteenth century and never rebuilt.
She and Diana arrived in Bangkok two days ago. Their cover story was that they were touching base with their Thai investigative partners. Their secret mission as supplied by Mozzie was to search for the Great Mughal. Mozzie had developed quite a backstory for Annabel, the nineteenth-century adventurer who'd hidden the gemstone in the ruins. Her tale included multiple kidnappings and a smoldering romance culminating in a happy ending even though she never retrieved the diamond.
At the moment, their crew mastermind was off scouting in a different area of the ruins for a suitable location. The intermittent rain showers had reduced the number of tourists to a trickle.
"I don't see any reason to prolong our stay in Thailand," Diana said. "Do you?"
"No, and the Singapore office is eager to meet with us." After stops in Singapore and Hong Kong, they'd return to New York the following week.
Diana moved to another section of the wall. "Is Neal behaving himself during your absence?"
"Seems to be. He's taking off for Munich this weekend. I'm glad we've scheduled a vacation together. I hadn't initially thought we'd be abroad so much this year."
Diana winced. "That's my bad for championing the Red Diamonds. If you want more time in New York, Mozzie and I could do the legwork without you."
"And who would referee your arguments?" Sara said with a laugh. "Actually, even if I were in New York, Neal probably wouldn't be. We knew he'd need to spend much of his time overseas on research this year."
Diana shook her head and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Sara asked.
"I remember once thinking you were pregnant when I heard you and Neal were shopping for baby clothes. That was right after you were married. I later learned the garments were for a baby shower. Now I know better than to make that mistake. How could you have the time for a kid?"
"Don't give up on us! I still want you to be a godmother. But for now, kids are just a daydream. We enjoy fantasizing about what our lives will be like, but we don't want to be long-distance parents. How about you and Christie? Do you ever think about it?"
"Yeah, we do. But not for a long while. I still enjoy traveling too much."
Sara's phone buzzed. "It's Mozzie," she said as she answered it.
"I found it!" he whispered with authentic archaeological fervor. "A stone carving at the base of the stupa. Annabel was clever. I can see her in front of me, smiling that we discovered her hiding spot. Meet me at the north edge of Bueng Phra Ram Park."
"He does know that Annabel isn't a historical person, right?" Diana muttered as they took off to meet him.
Sara shrugged. "Mozzie would likely say that in the infinity of parallel worlds, one exists where Annabel hid the diamond just like in his account."
Diana laughed. "I love it. And in that case, who knows? The diamond might be present in our world too. And we're just the ones to find it!"
Munich. Wednesday, March 26, 2008.
Neal stood at the window of their suite in a boutique hotel overlooking the Marienplatz, the historical heart of Munich. Here he was back in Germany with Klaus ... Not something he'd expected would ever happen.
Klaus approached him from behind and handed him a glass of Riesling. "Should I have picked another inn? This one may have too many ghosts."
Neal turned to face him. "Not all ghosts are scary. The hotel in Paris on the Ile Saint-Louis conjures up fond memories of us being there with Chantal. Hearing your ghost play Schubert at the piano bar is always a welcome bonus."
Neal and Klaus had often stayed at this hotel too. Not surprisingly, it also had a piano bar. Klaus's classical music selections were even more in favor here. Their Munich pied-à-terre was located on the Marienplatz near the opera house, one of Klaus's favorite haunts.
"And now we're bringing the Monuments Men back to life," Klaus said. "I'm hereby inviting their ghosts to join us anytime."
Despite Neal's disclaimer, he was glad Klaus diverted their conversation to the current job. Along with the good memories were several bad ones he'd just as soon not revisit. In Rolf's brainwashing program, Klaus reminisced about how much Neal enjoyed exploring gargoyles in Munich. In reality, Klaus had been the one who was into gargoyles, largely because of Rolf's influence.
Neal took a seat in a chair facing the view and prompted, "You mentioned the Balkan mobster has a new identity. How did he bury his past?"
Klaus pulled up a chair beside him. "He's running an import/export business under an alias. I chanced upon him when Marcel and I were tracking down a recently stolen painting from a museum in Reims. We suspect he uses the business to operate a money-laundering scheme."
"Is Marcel concerned that we plan to break into the mobster's home?"
Klaus smiled. "Not as long as we're not apprehended, and I assured him we wouldn't be." His expression grew serious. "The police can't raid the premises without just cause, and it's up to us to provide it."
"We're advance scouts, in other words." That was the role they'd also played in Prague.
Klaus nodded. "You could call us that ... or spies. In the future, if we're able to track down any of the looted paintings, we'll probably follow the same pattern."
"Determine if the paintings are there, and then let the officials confiscate them. It's a smart strategy. It will keep us out of the news and guarantee that any raids will produce results."
"Plus provide us a mostly legal way to keep our skills sharp. I hope you still remember how to crack a safe."
"I don't think you'll be disappointed." Travis's new toys had raised the odds of success to a near certainty.
#
Four days later, Neal called Sara with the eminently satisfying news that the new Monuments Men just scored their first success. The main challenge had been picking a time when the house, a modern structure in the Munich suburbs, was unoccupied.
"In addition to the list of soldiers, we found a Gustav Klimt hanging in plain view on the mobster's wall!" Neal reported jubilantly. "Portrait of Trude Steiner is no longer missing. German authorities raided the house this afternoon and seized the painting."
"You recovered your first missing masterpiece!" The excitement in Sara's voice matched his. "I'm not familiar with the painting."
"Unlike his more famous works, the portrait is in soft pastels." Neal paused, knowing the subject would be a trigger but he hoped Sara would take it the way he did. "The subject is a young girl, thirteen years old. The ethereal quality of the painting has led some art historians to describe Trude as resembling a ghost. The term is even more appropriate given the painting's history."
"Oh." Sara sucked in a quick breath. She'd been thirteen when her sister Emily ran away.
"Should I have waited to tell you?"
"No, you did absolutely the right thing. You could even say that Trude is sending us a message that Emily is happy with our plans."
"That's the way I feel too."
"Do you know what happened to Trude?"
"Her fate was happier than Emily's. Klimt painted her in 1900 when she lived in Vienna with her mother and her sisters. They fled in 1938 just before the Nazis invaded the city, but the painting was seized. The last mention of it until now was at a German auction in 1941. Marcel discovered that the family's descendants live in Israel. Once the painting is documented, it will be returned to them."
"I'm so proud of you and Klaus," Sara said.
"The credit belongs to Klaus. I simply helped facilitate Trude's rescue. Klaus was equally moved by the work. He told me she'll be his inspiration to uncover other ghosts and return them to their owners."
"Then the list you found looks promising?"
"It appears authentic. It's a single sheet of paper with a scrawled list of German names. Klaus is determined to track down the soldiers and then uncover what happened to the paintings no matter how long it takes."
"But for now you're off to Venice." Sara didn't sigh but Neal added it.
"The good news is that if I find the emerald, I'll return home so we can leave together for vacation."
"I'd love that but this was supposed to be your time to research your dissertation."
"I'll schedule another trip this summer. If I'm successful in recovering the ring, it will need to be returned to the Met immediately. No guarantees, of course. When I contacted Raquel, there wasn't much I could tell her over the phone. In any case, she always responds better in face-to-face meetings."
"I can't blame her for that. I do as well, particularly with you."
"Nothing will keep me from our vacation," Neal promised, hoping that his optimism was warranted and that Raquel's demand wasn't too time-consuming. It was a given that Raquel never dispensed information for free.
Notes: Diana's hope of finding the actual Great Mughal will have to remain the stuff of daydreams and future treasure hunting. The gem is still missing. Pins of the Klimt painting and the Met's emerald ring are on the Red Diamonds Pinterest board.
References to earlier stories: The attempted Vermeer theft was in The Woman in Blue. The Tutankhamun sting was in The Mirror, and Neal's carnelian cat was in The Musicians.
Background on the Caffrey Conversation AU for new readers: The series was created by Penna Nomen and begins with her story Caffrey Conversation. Our blog has a list and short summaries for all the stories. The primary initial difference from canon is that Neal was never sent to prison and the characters are several years younger. Peter recruited Neal in 2003 when he was 24. In the fall of 2004, he entered Columbia University's graduate program in art as a part-time student. In October 2006, he left the FBI and began working at Henry's company, Winston-Winslow. He and Sara were married the following month. At the beginning of January 2007, Peter moved into his new role at Winston-Winslow. In February 2007, Diana Berrigan and Clinton Jones left the FBI to work at Winston-Winslow.
Main non-canon characters:
Henry Winslow: Neal's half-brother. His husband is Eric Vasquez.
Travis Miller: tech and electronics expert.
Neal's friends from Columbia University: Richard Carlisle, Aidan Phillips, and Keiko Nakahara. Richard's husband is Travis. Aidan and Keiko are now married.
Janet Dodson: Mozzie's girlfriend and soulmate.
Klaus Mansfeld: master art thief.
John Hobhouse: leader of the Interpol art crimes task force, headquartered in London.
Marcel Jauffret: the French representative of the art crimes task force.
Blog: Penna Nomen & Silbrith Conversation
Visuals: The Red Diamonds board on the Caffrey Conversation Pinterest site