“Oliver Kelly?” Hale asked.
The woman laughed again and searched Kat’s eyes. “Yes, Katarina, the founder of the world’s greatest auction house was a coward, a plunderer…a thief.”
Outside, a cold rain was falling. Kat could hear the drops landing against the diner’s windows, and she thought of Warsaw and the look in Abiram Stein’s eyes as he’d talked about war and Nazis and paintings.
“Look at that picture, Katarina.” The woman slid the snapshot farther across the table.
“It’s a lovely—”
“Look closer.”
Kelly. Egypt. Cleopatra. The words filled the room like the aroma of coffee and sound of the rain. Kat looked down once more and saw a little girl in a long white dress, an ornate room, two tanned hands, and the largest gem that Katarina Bishop had ever seen.
“Is that—”
“Yes.”
“So this is—”
The grandson swallowed. “Yes.”
“And you want us to—”
“Your friend Mr. Romani assured us that you’re perfectly qualified. If it’s a matter of financing, I’m afraid our legal efforts have left us rather poorer than we once were, but we have some assets we could liquidate. This”—the woman gripped an antique locket that hung from a chain around her neck—“I know a dealer who would give me five hundred pounds for it.”
“It’s not money,” Kat said, shaking her head. “It’s just that…you want us to track down and steal the Cleopatra Emerald?”
“The Cleopatra Emerald?” Hale added for emphasis.
“Oh yeah.” For the first time, the grandson smiled. “The one that’s cursed.”
CHAPTER 5
It didn’t matter that it was raining when Kat and Hale left the diner—they waved Marcus and the long black car away. It felt good, somehow, to walk in the cold wind with their collars turned up, shivering against the dreary mist. Their thoughts, after all, were on Egypt and sand.
And curses.
“They were nice.” Hale kept his hands in his pockets but raised his face to the sky, water pebbling on his skin.
“Yes” was Kat’s reply.
“Nice is…refreshing.”
Kat laughed and turned automatically onto a narrow street. “Yeah.”
“And risky.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And they seem like the sort of people who could really use help.”
“From someone good,” Kat offered.
“From someone stupid.” Hale stopped so suddenly that Kat walked past him. She had to turn to see him say, “But we’re not stupid, are we, Kat?”
“No. Of course—”
“So under no circumstances are we going to take this job?”