Decker took another sip of tea. Since Sugar had turned down the heat, the room was more comfortable. “Since the Petroshkovich thefts became a cause célèbre and the Russian Orthodox Church became involved, I take it you ruled out random vandalism.”

“In the end, we all decided it was a professional job made to look like amateurs. Wasn’t the first time iconography has been stolen and it won’t be the last.”

Decker seemed perplexed. “What other cases of stolen iconography have you come across? I wouldn’t think it would be a very common occurrence.”

“Not here in the US of A. But there once was a Soviet Union that devalued religious art—opium of the masses and all that razzamatazz—so it happened more often than you’d think. Even great artworks, if they had religious contents, were denigrated. Lucky the Reds never got hold of Italy, otherwise we might not have the Sistine Chapel.”

Decker smiled. “They might have made an exception to Michelangelo.”

“You’d be surprised. Look what they did to St. Isaac’s.”

“Which St. Isaac’s?” McAdams asked. “I’m assuming there is more than one in a country as big as Russia.”

“St. Isaac’s in St. Petersburg.”

McAdams immediately started typing on his iPad. “Do you have a password so I can connect to the Internet?”

Sugar rolled his eyes. “I think it’s the word Admin. Never use the damn thing but when the grandchildren visit, I can’t get them here unless they can use their gadgets.”

“Uh, that worked.” McAdams smiled. “Thank you.”

“What happened at St. Isaac’s?” Decker asked.

“Ancient history,” Sugar said. “After years of trying to recover the Petroshkovich icons and all the research I did for the case, I became interested in Russian Orthodox religious art. The first thing I did after I retired was take the wife to Russia. It didn’t help me make headway with the Petroshkoviches but it did make me feel better that even a big city like St. Petersburg hadn’t fully recovered all its stolen art.”

McAdams read out loud from what he had pulled up. “St. Isaac’s was built in the mid-eighteen hundreds after a design by Montferrand . . . Frenchman who studied with Napoleon’s architect and designer, Charles Percier. The cathedral is in honor of St. Isaac’s of Dalmatia. Interior artwork originally done by Karl Bryullov. When the original oil paintings started to deteriorate because of cold and moisture, Montferrand had the artwork re-created as mosaics.”

“And truly spectacular mosaics they are,” Sugar said. “In quality as well as quantity. It’s meant to dazzle and it does.”

“You know, I think I might have been there . . . in this church.” McAdams looked up. “I’m sure I was.”

Decker said, “You were in St. Petersburg?”