Sobel continued to swear and mutter to himself as Decker and McAdams balanced the ladder against the wall, going as close as they could to the window containing winter. Stewart shook his head then scaled the risers. When he was eye level with the panel, Decker stepped up two risers and passed him the battery pack. Stewart studied the work for a long time. “This is real.”

“Thank God for small favors,” Sobel mumbled.

Carefully, Max climbed down and went over to the spring panel. “Legit.” Stewart climbed down again and dusted off his pants. “Two and two, Ken.”

“Goddamnit! What the hell is someone going to do with two panels in a set of four?”

Decker said, “I take it that the panels are valuable on their own.”

“Of course,” Max said. “But as a set, the value goes up exponentially.”

Decker said, “You should take the real panels out of the crypt and put them in a more secure place.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Stewart said.

“How involved is it to remove them?”

“Not too hard normally. The chains just hook into the loops in the frame but it looks like the links were tightened around the loop, which isn’t the original design. It would help to have two people up there. One to detach the panel from the frame and another one to hold the tools.”

Sobel was still swearing. McAdams turned to Pellman. “Do you have another ladder?”

“Let me check.” He came back with a shorter ladder. “This is all I had.”

“That’ll work.” Decker turned to Stewart. “Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

IT TOOK LESS than an hour to remove all four panels, another hour to remove the chains and the ceiling pieces. At straight-up twelve, the two original panels and chains were bubble wrapped and then blanket wrapped and sat in the backseat of the Mercedes. The two forgeries would be entered as evidence of a crime. Sobel jangled his keys as he turned to Decker. “Now what?”

“I’m going to need the names of everyone who has a key to the crypt or even knows that the panels exist.”

“That’s a long list,” Sobel said. “A long, long list.”

Stewart leaned over to McAdams’s ear and whispered something. When McAdams smiled, Sobel said, “Can you tell me what could be even remotely funny?”

“Just two Harvard guys shooting the shit, Ken.”

“Well, shoot the shit some other time, okay.” Sobel was irritated. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Start with your relatives,” Decker said. “Any of them have money problems?”

“That would be my sister-in-law,” Stewart said.

“Cut it out, Max,” Sobel told him. “She doesn’t have money problems.”