* * *
Brittany wasn’t on duty that evening, but she wanted to hear what Olivia had uncovered, so instead of making the drive to the station house, they met at a local coffeehouse with brick walls, lots of dark wood, and wing chairs upholstered in worn green and gold velvet.
“Your bracelet was looted?” Brittany said, after they’d ordered their drinks and settled in a quiet corner.
Olivia nodded. “Yes. It was looted on January 28, 2011.”
Brittany regarded her quizzically. “How do you know the exact date?”
“Because it was the day looters broke into the Egyptian Museum of Cairo during the uprising against Mubarak’s regime, the so-called Arab Spring. Among other objects, they took a gilded wooden statue of Tutankhamen, a couple of wooden sarcophagi, and the bracelet of Queen Hetepheres.” Olivia paused. “The sarcophagi and statue were both located and returned.”
“But not the bracelet.”
“Not the bracelet.” She passed Brittany her phone. “This photo is from the museum’s archives.”
Brittany studied the photo. “It’s your bracelet. Either that, or an exact copy.”
“Considering what’s happened, I think we can assume it’s the real thing. I’ve been wearing Queen Hetepheres’s bracelet.”
“You said Mr. Swift gave you the bracelet over a year ago, right before he died. Why would Kathryn and her son wait so long to try to get it back?”
“They probably didn’t know until recently that I had it.” Olivia leaned into the chair’s worn cushions. “One of the stones fell out right after he gave it to me. I slipped the bracelet in a drawer and forgot about it until just before the tour when I was packing my costume jewelry. I superglued the stone back in and added the bracelet to the pile.” She frowned. “I dread telling the Egyptian Museum about the superglue.”
“I’m guessing they’ll forgive you.”
Olivia leaned forward. “A couple of days into the tour, a photograph of me wearing it showed up in the newspaper. That was the first time I was photographed with it. Right after was when the trouble started, so Kathryn must have seen that photo.” Olivia considered the carefully timed arrival of the limo driver at their Las Vegas hotel. Because of Kathryn’s position on the Muni’s board, she had easy access to every detail of the Marchand tour schedule.
“She finally knew where the bracelet was,” Brittany said, “and she was afraid people would recognize it.”
“Once that happened, it would be simple to trace it from me to Eugene Swift and from there to his company.”
“Establishing a direct link between a stolen Egyptian artifact and Swift Auction House would have ruined them.”
“Not necessarily. It isn’t easy to trace the provenance—the chain of custody—of ancient artifacts. If one that turns out to have been stolen or looted shows up in a catalog, the auction house acknowledges the mistake, tries to make it right, and all’s well.”
“Why couldn’t the Swifts do that?”
“Because my bracelet was stolen from a museum that issued a well-publicized list of every object that had been looted.”
“Meaning that Swift Auctions couldn’t plead ignorance.”
“Exactly. Every dealer in the country knew what was on that list, and if Kathryn couldn’t get the bracelet back, her entire illegal operation would be exposed.” Olivia ran her thumb over her wrist. “Eugene loved Aida. It felt right to wear his bracelet onstage opening night. I can only imagine how panicked she must have been when she saw it.”
“She must have been even more panicked when you walked into the gala wearing it.”
“I think she expected that. I ran into her about three weeks ago when I was in Manhattan, and she specifically asked me to come to the gala in costume. She didn’t know for sure I’d wear the bracelet, but it would be a logical accessory for me to choose, and she must have seen it as her fail-safe opportunity to get it back if her son couldn’t retrieve it before then. I’m guessing she didn’t have a lot of faith in Norman.”
“He did turn out to be a bit of a bumbler.”
“Fortunately for me.” And for Thad.
Brittany took more notes and promised to follow up with Olivia as soon as she knew more. After she left, Olivia ordered another herbal tea and called Piper.
“Amazing work,” Piper said, when she’d heard Olivia’s story. “I’d hire you for myself if you didn’t have that other silly career going on.”
Olivia smiled, and then hesitated. “Thad should know about this. Would you tell him?”
“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”