“You think?”
“You did it again. I find that endearing.”
They walked up the stoop and rang the bell. The door opened and Maxine looked out at them. She wasn’t dressed like somebody who was home sick. She was wearing rugged workout clothes and a yellow and gray jacket with a drawstring at the waist.
“Goodness,” Maxine said. “This is a surprise. Is something wrong?”
Emerson pulled the gold bar out of his rucksack, and Maxine stared at it, dumbfounded.
“Did you leave this at Günter’s house last night?” Emerson asked.
“Of course not,” Maxine said. “Why would you think such a thing?”
“Because I’m brilliant,” Emerson said. “Can we come in?”
—
Maxine led them into her living room but didn’t invite them to sit.
“I hope you won’t think me rude,” she said, “but I only have a few minutes. I was on my way out.”
The room was nicely furnished with a chunky pale gray sofa and two matching club chairs. The end tables were mahogany and the rug was a deep pile Tibetan.
“About the gold bar,” Emerson said.
“I don’t know how you came to get that bar,” Maxine said, “but something bad might happen if you don’t put it back. Does Irene know you have it?”
“She wasn’t present when I discovered it,” Emerson said. “I would like to know how it got into the safe in the first place.”
“You guessed right. I put it there last night.”
“How did you manage it?” Riley asked.
“Günter has a sailboat tied up to the dock behind his house. I don’t believe he’s sailed it in years, but he loved the boat, and he would have his coffee there in the morning, and sometimes a cocktail in the evening. I knew he kept a spare key with a remote to turn the security system on and off in the cabin, so I went to the boat after dark, got the key, and waited until after midnight, when Irene would be too drunk to hear anything. When I saw the lights go out, I let myself into the house, went up to his office, opened the safe, and left the gold bar.”
“Why?” Emerson asked.
“Because that’s what I was told to do.”
Maxine pulled a plain wooden box off a bookshelf, took another gold bar out of it, and placed it on the coffee table next to the one from Günter’s safe. They were identical. Same “München” inscription, same half moon and crown. Same date and serial number.
“A few months ago, Günter heard he was getting a new responsibility—one he’s wanted for a long time,” Maxine said. “I know Werner told you he wasn’t, but Werner lies. He lies about everything.”
Riley thought there was a lot of anger in Maxine’s voice when she talked about Werner’s deceit. Most likely Maxine had some unpleasant personal experience with Werner and his lies. Or maybe she was just feeling protective of Günter.
“Günter was going to be put in charge of all the gold holdings at Blane-Grunwald,” Maxine said. “More specifically, the huge underground vault that’s built into the Manhattan bedrock below the New York offices. The B&G vault is the biggest privately owned gold repository for central banks, institutions, exchange-traded funds, you name it. It’s where all the largest investors store their gold.”
“Who was in charge of this prior to Günter?” Emerson asked.
“The senior Grunwald. After he died, the position was simply left open, but for whatever reason the board recently decided to name Günter as overseer. Anyway, Günter went to Manhattan to check it out. He met with Yvette Jaworski, an old friend of his at the New York office, and discussed things. When he came back, he was a changed man. Distant. Uncommunicative. I asked him what was wrong. He wouldn’t talk about it.
“Then Yvette disappeared. He became more secretive after that. He would go away for long weekends. Even I didn’t know where he went. Finally, he showed up here one night, after work. And he had these two gold bars. They’re identical in every way. Down to the serial numbers.
“He told me to keep the one you brought with you, but if anything happened to him, I was to get my hands on the one in his home safe and swap it out. He said if it was found among his effects it would be bad for his wife, for his reputation. So I was supposed to switch them.
Emerson looked at the two gold bars. “One of these is counterfeit.”
“I’ve thought the same thing,” Maxine said.