Page 19 of Hell to Pay
She said, “His name, Oma. I don’t remember his name.”
“Anton August Georg von Sachsen,” I said, “although, of course, he was no longer the King in any governmental sense. The missing item, however, belonged to my mother, Alberta Victoria Alexandrina von Sachsen, who was born Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The missing item is an heirloom of her house.”
“And this item is where, you believe?” The woman’s voice was, if anything, flatter than ever. She was clearly leaning toward “dementia patient.”
“In theResidenzschlossin Dresden,” I said. “Where I lived with my parents until the bombing. Even if it was found originally, it may still have been taken in the recent jewel theft. It was an emerald and diamond tiara, you see, and rather fine. The thieves took only the most valuable and portable items, the ones with the highest concentration of precious stones, and the tiara would have been among them. Or a Russian soldier may have found it long ago and looted it. Entirely possible as well. There isn’t as much possibility it will have been looted by a German civilian prior to the Russians’ arrival, as the police were shooting looters and everyone knew it, but that could have happened, given the temptation, and after the Russians came, who knows?”
“And you have proof,” the woman said, “of your identity. As a member of the royal family.”
“Of course,” I said. “Well, not of my full name, because of the circumstances, except for?—”
“Without proof of your identity,” the woman said, “it will be very difficult to establish provenance. My understanding was that all occupants of theResidenzschlossdied in the bombing.” She didn’t say, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop pretending to be Anastasia, heir to the throne of the Romanovs. We’ve all seen how that film ends,” but she definitely thought it. “I can, however,” she added, “send you a list of experts you may wish to consult if you decide to pursue this matter.”
“Of course she wants to pursue this matter!” That was Alix again. “The tiara is hers! It’s not a charm bracelet. It’s a diamond and emerald tiara, and a frigging heirloom!”
“If it belonged to the House of Saxony,” the woman said frostily, “presumably it would be in the museum there, theGrünes Gewölbe,located in theResidenzschloss.And it would belong there.”
“Thank you,” I said, knowing my tone had turned equally frosty. “I know the name and location of my family’s museum. The tiara is not currently on display there.”
“That wouldn’t be a case,” the woman said, “of the Gestapo or the USSR seizing a family’s personal property from a private home, so you may face difficulties.”
“But—” Alix began.
“Thank you,” I said. “Please do send us that list of experts, and if you can explain the process one goes through to have property returned, that will be most helpful.”
“I can send the paperwork you need,” the woman said. Of course she could. This was Germany, after all. There was always paperwork, and it would always bein Ordnung.One could say much about the Germans, but one could never deny that they—we—were organized. I’d often wished for a bit more of that quality in my adopted country after I’d become a realtor.
By the time Alix pushed the button to hang up, she and Ben were quivering with indignation, Ashleigh was quivering with interest, and Sebastian was looking thoughtful. Alix said, “I can’t decide if she thought you were a lunatic or a thief. What theheck?”
“I believe,” I said, “that Alzheimer’s is probably being discussed in her office at this moment. Never mind. If you’ll print out that list of experts she sent us—there must be a way to print in a hotel like this—we can talk to them. Print out theother paperwork as well. It will be good to be able to refer to the process.”
“How can you be so calm?” Alix demanded.
“We talked about Step One,” I said. “We’ve taken Step One. Now we go on to Step Two.”
“Wait,” Ben said. “I don’t get it.”
“None of us gets it,” Alix said. “We’ll know more once we find out what kind of documentation they want.”
“No,” Ben said. “I mean, this isn’t Step One at all, is it?”
“What?” Alix said. “Of course it’s Step One. We talked about it. Step One.”
“We did talk about it,” Ashleigh said. “Step One: talk to Berlin. Step Two: talk to an expert about proving provenance.”
I asked, “What are you thinking, Ben?” He was surely no less perceptive than I’d been at his age. Based on what I’d read last night, he was probably more so. He’d already faced great difficulties, after all, whereas I’d still been oblivious to them.
“Well, what matters most is whether the tiara is here, right?” Ben asked. “If it’s not here, there’s kinda no point. You could fill out forms and talk to some expert, I guess, but if it’s not here, that means it got stolen by somebody, either back in nineteen-forty-whatever or during that burglary, and that’s a whole different deal. I mean, how would you even find it?”
“Gee,” Ashleigh said, “you’re quite the optimist.”
“No,” Ben said, flushing but going stubbornly on. “See, if itishere, and if we can find that out, we can sort of … focus. We figure out what you have to give them to prove it’s yours, they either say yes or no, and you’re done. You’re not searching all over then, you alreadyknow.So shouldn’t we start there? With finding out?”
10
ANOTHER STONE WALL
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as all that.
