week, if you would be so kind.”
Caine’s mind reeled. Apparently, he had been had. He had given far more than he had intended and had received far less than he had expected. The compensation Freich and Beekman were going to give him was irrelevant, and so was their vague interest in Fitzer, which now struck him as little more than a con; he still knew nothing that he needed to know. Beekman and Freich had awakened a curiosity in him that had lain dormant all these years; it would distract and nag at him, and yet he still had no way to resolve it.
Colette raised her palm to Caine, who transferred the jewel box to her outstretched hand. Touching her soft, warm hand distracted him momentarily. The physical exchange, to both their surprise, somehow turned into a prolonged, tender handshake. “Thank you again, Montaro. It was good of you to take the time away from your busy schedule to help us,” she said. “You can send the invoice to our attention at the Waldorf. They’ll forward it to us.”
Caine made no reply.
Turning, Colette moved toward the door where Freich waited.
“Good-bye, Montaro,” Freich said, with a wave of his hand.
Caine nodded. He kept his eyes on Beekman’s legs as she moved through the outer office.
When Freich closed Borceau’s office door behind him, Montaro buzzed Gina Lao, and over the intercom ordered her to find her boss as soon as possible. Within minutes, Borceau arrived out of breath. Without skipping a beat, Caine ushered him into the laboratory, where he showed him a few minuscule fragments of the coin he had purposely set aside, slivers containing the unknown elements.
“I want to know everything you can tell me about these,” said Caine. He made no mention to Borceau of the coin or the other elements, of what he was looking for, or of what he thought Borceau might find.
Caine then returned to Borceau’s office, where he immediately got on the intercom with Gina again. “Get me Dr. Michael Chasman’s office at M.I.T.,” he told her. A few moments later, Caine was put through to Dr. Chasman’s secretary, Madeline Pitcar.
“Hello, Madeline. How are you?” Caine said into the phone. As he spoke, he tried to envision the flirtatious, bleached-blond secretary of his former mentor; she had to be pushing sixty by now.
“Hello, I’m fine. How are you?” Madeline responded uncertainly.
“I’m O.K., but I’d feel a lot better if I was sure you hadn’t forgotten me. It’s Monty Caine—Montaro Caine.”
“Oh my, Monty, forgive me,” she said. “What a pleasant surprise, but Dr. Chasman is not here.”
“I’ve got to talk to him. It’s urgent,” Caine said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know where he is. He’s away.”
“It’s absolutely critical, Madeline.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Monty. He’s out of town; I just don’t know where. He said something about Europe.”
“I’ve got to track him down. Does anyone else know where he is? His wife?”
“She passed. Long time ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Does he have a travel agent?”
“No, his agency went out of business years ago. I usually set up his plans, but this time, he didn’t ask me, so I have no idea where he is other than what I told you. When I hear from him, I will tell him that you called and ask him to get in touch with you right away.”
“Madeline, listen,” Montaro said. “You don’t have to respond, just listen. Throw your mind back twenty-six years. I’m sure you’ll recall that winter when Professor Walmeyer and I made such nuisances of ourselves regarding a rare coin. Do you remember how we pestered Dr. Chasman to get the owner of that coin to let us have a second look at it? No matter how hard we tried, Dr. Chasman would not let us know who the owner was.
“Now, I know you know who that person is,” Montaro continued. “I’m sure you know, too, that I analyzed that object for Professor Walmeyer. Assuming the owner is still alive and has retained possession of the coin, I want you to call him and tell him this—I have just seen and done a workup on a second object that is almost identical to his, but not quite. It is certainly as authentic and, in my professional opinion, I would say their origin is probably the same. In other words, I found almost all the unusual characteristics of that first coin in the one I examined today. If he still owns the first coin, or even