Merritt made a tent with his fingers and brought them to his chin. “I still don’t understand why you’re so interested in the Petroshkovich icons when you’re investigating stolen Tiffany.” The man’s expression grew cold. “Is this interview really subterfuge?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“If this is about my grandfather, I have nothing to say to you.”

Decker was expressionless. “Your grandfather?”

Merritt considered the baffled look on his face. He blushed. “Never mind.”

“No, no, no. You can’t throw something out like that and say never mind.”

The art dealer sighed. “It’s not relevant.”

“Sir, I don’t have a lot to go on. Everything is important.”

Merritt said, “If you speak to enough people, you might hear things about my grandfather stealing Russian art. That kind of drivel is not only completely false, it’s pernicious.”

“Okay.” A pause. “Could you fill us in a little?”

“Why bother? It’s all a pack of lies.”

“I could either hear the truth from you or the lies from your enemies.”

Merritt considered his words. “Some reprehensible people have had the nerve to say that my grandfather looted from Russian churches.”

Decker took out a notepad. “Who’s your grandfather?”

“August Merritt. His father—my great-grandfather—was Wilson Merritt. He was one of the few businessmen who dealt with Russia postrevolution. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It involved many layers of bureaucracy from both countries.”

McAdams said, “What business was he in?”

“He owned textile mills down south. He imported cloth to third world countries. That included the Soviet Union when it was heavily ostracized. After the revolution and WWI, the Russian people ended up in a bad state—as was most of eastern Europe. Food was scarce, fuel was scarce, supplies were scarce. Bolts of woolen cloth may not seem like a lot, but it saved many people from freezing to death. My great-grandfather and my grandfather were rewarded for their humanitarian acts with visiting privileges at a time when the Soviet Union was off limits to most Western countries.”

“So how did these rumors get started?” Decker asked.

“Jealousy.” The art dealer made a point of sighing. “Wilson Merritt had always been interested in Byzantine art. As a matter of fact, he started the Merritt Gallery just to display his massive collection and later on, my grandfather went into the retail aspect. Wilson’s detractors claim that he had acquired the pieces by using his favored status in the Soviet Union. And that part is true. It’s the theft part that’s a lie. The art world can be very vicious.”

“Finance is pretty vicious as well,” McAdams said. “When you mix the two, there is a high probability of corruption.”

“Well said.”

“How do you think the rumors got started?” Decker asked.