Page 94 of The Chase
“The painting came through Germany,” I said. “Not Norway.”
“And any painting coming through Germany in the 1940s has shaky provenance,” agreed Adley. “We were thrown off by its history.”
“Maybe the Jaegers know?” Danny suggested. “Maybe that’s why they faked this?”
We moved onto our next agenda, Icon, and Adley pointed out it appeared the thief was becoming more brazen.
“A new clue has emerged,” he said. “I received a call from the director of Interpol an hour ago.”
We all leaned in, ready to hear.
“Interpol has kept this back until now,” he continued. “It does seem relevant. There was a raven’s feather left at the scene of the crime at the Jaeger home.”
“Is he antagonizing us?” asked Danny.
“He’s letting us know that no one will ever be hurt,” I realized.
“’Cause he didn’t hurt the raven at the Burells’?” asked Danny.
Adley seemed to give this some thought. “Icon’s motivations are greed,” he said. “If he is selling them on the black market to private estates, he’s going to be caught. Sooner than later.”
By then the damage would be irrevocable.
“The Met are holding a press conference later today,” said Abby. “They’ll be sharing with the public what they know so far about Icon.”
There were so many questions to answer. With Abby leading the way, Shane, Brandon, Danny and I spent the rest of the day collating what we had and brainstorming how best to proceed.
We agreed to discuss our new concerns with the Jaeger family and hoped to garner a confession of sorts.
Chances were Interpol would find Icon first, but the high price tag on his reward had seen Adley giving us permission to at least try to beat them to the chase.
Adrenaline spiked my veins that I’d been accepted into the team as one of them and I knew that Seiko watch was to thank. I prayed this wasn’t short-lived.
After the meeting ended we agreed to reconvene on Monday, and were permitted to continue our individual projects at home as the best way to maintain our progress. That gave us three more days to study the file.
I’d left the conference room exhilarated right up until I remembered I still needed to speak with Adley about my own personal scandal.
I was merely holding my inevitable fall from grace at bay. I’d savored this brief interlude of popularity.
With this familiar lump in my throat, I made my way to his office. Adley wasn’t there.
I stopped off at the reception desk to ask Elena where he was.
She finished up on a call. “Hey, Zara, heard there are exciting things coming out of the Icon meeting?”
“It’s coming together,” I said. “I’m looking for Mr. Adley?”
“He’s visiting his mom. She lives in an assisted-living home in Kensington. He always goes there right from work on a Thursday. Is it urgent?”
“No.” Though I wished I’d gotten this out of the way. “It can wait.”
“Everything okay?”
“Kind of.” I blew out a sigh of uneasiness. “Something came up yesterday, and I just wanted to keep Mr. Adley in the loop.”
“Try his mobile?”
“Don’t want to disturb him. Thank you, though.”
