Blowback

“With the help of two bottles of Chateau Margaux,” said Marie. “One night the doctor must have had a vision of Christ because he un-burdened himself of all his sins. He admitted to Bernard many things we already knew about him. He admitted the drinking, the gambling, and of course the women, but it was the thing he saved for last which was the most interesting.”

“Which was?”

“Dr. Donald Ellyson was a thief.”

“A thief?” echoed Harvath.

Marie smiled and said, “He had assembled quite a personal collection of antiquities over the years. The only ones that were of any value were the ones that were stolen.”

Harvath shook his head knowingly. It didn’t surprise him that in the frothy pool of international malfeasance, two floaters like Rayburn and Ellyson had managed to bump up against each other and had found a way to improve their shitty lot in life by throwing in together. “What did your husband think of all this?”

Marie Lavoine laughed. “Bernard found it quite amusing. The funny thing about Dr. Ellyson was that he had basically stolen from everyone else’s archeological discoveries his entire life, but the minute he made his very own find, he unequivocally forbade my husband and Maurice to steal from him.”

“Wait a second,” said Jillian. “His find? What did he find?”

“Dr. Ellyson was a better archeologist than he thought. With the help of the book in that attaché case, he found part of Hannibal ’s army.”

“Which part? Which part of the army did he find?”

“The part the Romans paid a fortune to make sure never made it to Rome.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

Neither Harvath nor Alcott could believe it. Ellyson’s find was absolutely amazing. “He found it here? In the Alps?” asked Jillian.

“Yes, somewhere near the Traversette.”

“Where exactly?”

“I don’t know. Bernard never told me. He only told me about the discovery itself.”

“How soon was this before they disappeared?” asked Harvath.

“Two weeks, maybe more. They had only just begun to excavate the site. It was located in a very deep ice chasm that was extremely difficult to get their equipment into.”

“I’m confused. You said Ellyson forbade Bernard and the other man working with him-”

“Maurice.”

“Right. Ellyson forbade your husband and Maurice from stealing objects from the site, but they did, didn’t they?” said Harvath. “That’s how the artifacts came into your possession.”

“No,” replied Lavoine. “They did not steal anything. Dr. Ellyson was extremely concerned with what he called the structural integrity of the site. An avalanche, a shift in the ice-it wouldn’t have taken much for everything to be lost.”

Jillian looked at the woman and asked, “So what did they do?”

“Dr. Ellyson catalogued everything. Very carefully, he recorded where each piece had been found, and then Bernard and Maurice helped carry them back here. The smaller artifacts were easy enough to transport; it was the bigger ones they were just starting to decide how to handle when they disappeared.”

“So Ellyson reported his find to Burnham, and that’s how he knew you had them.”

“The artifacts? No, Dr. Ellyson said the artifacts were none of Burnham’s business.”

“But Burnham was funding the expedition.”

“Ellyson didn’t care. He said Monsieur Burnham was only interested in one thing from the dig, and since that was all their agreement called for, that was all he was going to get. Anything above and beyond that, Dr. Ellyson said Monsieur Burnham had no right to.”

“And what was the one thing Burnham was interested in?” asked Jillian.

Lavoine had no idea. She just turned up her palms and shrugged her shoulders.

“How did the man claiming to be Burnham even figure out then that you had the artifacts?” asked Harvath.

“Because I told him. As I said, we haven’t had many customers since Bernard disappeared. The bank still must be paid, and I have very little money left. So, I offered Monsieur Burnham a chance to buy the artifacts from me.”

“But technically he had funded the expedition. Those would have rightfully belonged to him and his institute. What if he had gone to the police?”

“I didn’t care. I lost my husband. My life was ruined. Besides, I knew Monsieur Burnham wouldn’t want anything to do with the police. As I told you, Dr. Ellyson was very secretive and always kept the door to the room he used as an office locked. He had every copy of the key, and even I wasn’t allowed in there to clean. When he, Bernard, and Maurice failed to return, I had my neighbor help me take the door off the hinges. On the other side, there was absolutely nothing. No sign of the boxes of books and papers he had brought to the hotel with him. No computer. No attaché case, nothing. Someone had been in the hotel and had taken every single thing out of that room. Who else would have done that but Monsieur Burnham?”

“So a year passed and you decided to do what?”

“I decided to sell Monsieur Burnham the artifacts. We would fix a price and he could have them all.”

“But that’s not what happened.”