“The day she presents me with documentary evidence that I own stolen books and that she has tracked down their legal owners, I’ll certainly hand them over.”

“But she doesn’t know what books are in your collection, does she?” said Nemo.

“That is her disadvantage,” said Alex with a smile.

“Do you still have the emails from Ingrid Weiss?” said Patton.

“Let me see,” said Alex. He opened a file drawer behind his desk and flipped through the folders, pulling one out and opening it. “Here we are. I have six emails from her, though they’re practically identical, except for the date. Her wording is a little old-fashioned—like she learned English at a Swiss finishing school. Here’s one. ‘Dear Mr. Lansdowne, I write to entreat you again to consider assisting my efforts to recover books stolen by the German Third Reich. The pleasure of a reply is requested and I shall await your response with anticipation. Yours Sincerely, Ingrid Weiss.’ ”

Patton happened to be watching Nemo’s face during this recitation and noticed his eyes widen and his cheeks go pale. “May I see that?” he asked in a weak voice.

“Certainly,” said Alex, passing him the page.

“What’s the matter?” said Patton after Nemo had had time to read the message over several times.

“Do you have secure Internet access?” said Nemo to Alex.

“As secure as they come,” said Alex, indicating the laptop on his desk.

“Do you mind if I check my email server?” said Nemo. A moment later he was tapping away on Alex’s computer as the others looked on.

“Does this little exercise have a point?” said Ruthie. “Because I’d rather like to take my car and go home.”

“In my experience,” said Patton, “brief though it is, he doesn’t like to explain what he’s doing until after he’s done it.”

“And as I told you before,” said Nemo, still typing, “you can’t take your car and go home. You are in this neck deep, and considerably deeper should you choose to leave us. Printer connected?”

“Yes,” said Alex.

In another moment, Nemo had printed out a single page which Alex passed to him. Nemo shut the laptop and turned to face Patton and Ruthie.

“This is the message I received on my secure server which led to my getting hired to handle Fleming.”

“You mean he’s killed other people?” said Ruthie, the panic edging back into her voice as she took a step toward Patton and away from Nemo.

“What do you mean, other people?” said Alex.

“Nemo’s murderous tendencies are not the point,” said Patton. “Is that something you’d like to read to us?”

“Read yours once more,” said Nemo, turning to Alex. “The email you received from Ingrid Weiss.”