“Okay.” Decker nodded. “Maybe you have a point. So let’s go back to motive, Tyler. What’s worth killing over? And think Russian.”

“The twenty-seven cartons that supposedly contain the original Amber Room.”

“Could be.”

“Uh, I wasn’t serious.” When Decker didn’t answer, Tyler made a face. “I think the Amber Room might be a little bit hard to fence.”

“Maybe not for Jason Merritt with his extensive client list who, by the way, mentioned that the Amber Room was worth killing over.”

“After we pushed him to say something. It didn’t flow trippingly off his tongue.”

After a pause, Decker said, “No, I don’t think it’s the Amber Room, maybe not the entire Amber Room. Maybe it’s a couple of cartons that suddenly showed up. I was looking it up last night. Every so often some German claims to have original pieces.”

“How would they know if the pieces were original or not? Amber is a fossil. It’s impossible to date.”

“I did not know that,” Decker said. “Yeah, it does sound a little cloak and dagger. But we do know that Merritt has contacts in that region. He and his family have been involved there for decades. I keep thinking that we’re looking for something priceless and unique to Russia that was looted by Merritt’s grandfather.”

“So you like Jason Merritt as a bad guy?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t like him as the bad guy. He was too transparent with his family history.”

“Maybe he wanted us to hear the rumors from him rather than someone else like Chase Goddard, who wasn’t as gossipy about Jason Merritt as I would have expected.”

“And Jason Merritt didn’t tell us much about Chase Goddard, either.”

Decker said, “But both implied that the other was crooked.”

“Maybe they’re in it together.”

“I am completely open-minded at this point.”

“We should probably just wait for the codebook before we draw any conclusions.”

“I’m not one to wait around. If we assume that Latham was an opportunist and was peddling stuff on the side, he needed a quick source of valuable things. Tomorrow I want you back at the libraries in the colleges and continue looking through antiquarian atlases, print books, and missing rare books.”

“And while I’m sitting at a carrel ruining my eyes, what will you be doing?”

“Rereading the files on the Petroshkovich thefts from Allan Sugar and going down the list of art galleries,” Decker said. “I know I’m missing something.” He thought a moment. “We should drop the codebook off at the station. But the security there isn’t very good. I have a gun safe at home.”

“I have a safe also. It’s a combination lock. My father’s birthday.”

“Probably be better if you kept it,” Decker said. “If anyone comes poking around, he’ll come to me before you.”