“Took it from where?” she asked, running her fingers along one of the long strands.
“Originally? Catherine Palace, St. Petersburg. Same time they took the Amber Room.” He gave a slight shrug. “Doesn’t matter. No one’s ever seen it or the Amber Room since. So, whether it really exists or not is anyone’s guess. My opinion counts little.”
Sam eyed the couple just a few booths away. The woman picked up a small amber frame, turning it about in her hands. The man stood with his back to them. Their actions seemed normal, tourists doing the tourist thing, but something about them didn’t seem right. Keeping his eye on the couple, he asked Andrei, “What was it you were saying about others making inquiries into this?”
23
Sometime last year,” Andrei said as they continued on toward the museum, “I was approached by two men who asked if I knew anything about the Romanov Ransom having been taken to Königsberg castle along with the Amber Room. I told them the same as you.”
“Earlier, you said you didn’t trust them. Why is that?”
“These people wanted exclusive access to my notes. They offered to pay because they didn’t want what I’d found out in the public realm. Thousands more than I’d ever make publishing my book. I refused.”
“It’s your passion,” Remi said. “There is no price.”
“Exactly,” he said, sounding surprised. He glanced over at Sergei. “You were right. They do understand.”
“I told you,” Sergei said.
“What happened next?” Sam asked.
“When I turned them down, one of the men threatened that if I did publish the book, they’d come after me. The publisher I had lined up suddenly went out of business. Another small academic press I had submitted it to was sold, the new owners no longer interested.”
As they walked past, Sam watched the couple from the corner of his eye. Neither looked their direction.
“At the time,” Andrei continued, “I assumed it was just my bad luck. But when I decided to self-publish it, the shop belonging to the printers I hired burned to the ground. That’s when I realized that whoever they are, they were intent on keeping my work out of the public domain.”
“These people,” Sam said. “Anything you can tell us about them?”
“Beyond that they’re dangerous?” He shrugged. “I was never able to prove anything. The more I talked about it to the authorities, the more I looked like a crazed man spouting a conspiracy theory. Even I was beginning to disbelieve what was happening.”
/> Remi said. “Weren’t you worried for your safety?”
“At first, no. But after the printing press disaster, I realized that others around me might be hurt. That’s when my wife suggested that I put all of my work on the internet instead. She felt that once it was out where everyone could see it, they’d lose their leverage.” Andrei gave a deep sigh. “At the moment, it’s still an obscure academic paper that takes a bit of searching, but, as my wife pointed out, with social media these days, should anything happen to me, people would be bound to do a search of my name. If they did, that paper would shoot to the top of the search results. So much for keeping the information private.” He gave a cynical smile. “The very next time they contacted me, I let them know.”
“Did it work?” Remi asked.
“They’ve left me alone ever since. Of course, it also gave them access to everything I’d gathered, but what could I do? One day I may try again to get it properly published, but, for now, there it sits on the internet for anyone who cares to look for it. So, please. Help yourself. And if I were you, I’d take a good look at the bibliography—something I didn’t pass on to those charlatans. Some of my most amazing finds were from a diary kept by the groundskeeper of Königsberg castle.”
Remi took out her phone and opened a text to Selma as they talked. “Notes,” she said. “So I don’t forget.”
When they neared the front of the museum, Andrei stopped, saying, “Duty calls. Even for us volunteers.”
They thanked him for his time, and Sergei walked him back to the museum entrance.
Sam waited until they were out of earshot before asking Remi, “You happen to notice we were being followed?”
“The man and woman who nearly ran us over inside the museum?”
“The same.”
She put her hands on her hips, her expression one of mock seriousness. “An appalling lack of etiquette, that they’d follow us around without a proper introduction.”
“Agreed. Time we introduced ourselves.”
24
The woman, Remi noticed as she weaved her way through the tourists and shoppers admiring the various amber knickknacks, had questionable taste. She tried on a hideous necklace interspersed with plastic gold beads, then a pair of dangling earrings. As she held them to her ears, she checked herself in a handheld amber mirror, undoubtedly searching for Sam and Remi in the reflection.