“Wen Tang’s sons survived and started a finance and investment company. They’re founding members of the Chinese American Heritage Society. It’s a nonprofit, housed in an amazing Beaux-Arts building over in the Tenderloin District. It’s kind of a big deal.”

“So what I hear you saying is that it’s possible to track down the rightful owners of the vase.”

“With pretty high confidence, yeah,” said Tess.

“Did you follow that?” Natalie asked her grandfather.

“It belongs to the Tang family, is that correct?” he asked. “In that case, we’ll need to contact them.”

“The decision is yours, Grandy.” She looked at Tess, who nodded. Her phone vibrated with an incoming text, but she ignored it.

“It’s hard to anticipate how these things go,” Tess explained. “You could make a claim of possession. With a piece of this value—”

Grandy held up a hand, palm out. “I wouldn’t feel right keeping it, particularly since it belonged to an immigrant from China. We can only imagine the struggles of people emigrating to America in that period. The racism was objectively vicious. It would be wrong to claim something that was brought here at such a high human cost.” He paused, eyeing the beautiful piece. “We should contact the Tang family and see what happens next,” he concluded.

Natalie felt a surge of pride in her grandfather. Despite his confusion and moments of dementia, he was still the man she had always known. He possessed a shining humanity that demanded fairness and decency. Even though the found objects had taken up residence in his building for more than a hundred years, he never once considered them his.

Peach patted Grandy on the shoulder. “It’s really cool of you to try finding the owners.”

Watching him with her grandfather, Natalie got a warm feeling inside. A forbidden feeling. One she made herself shut down through force of will.

“I won’t forget that you are the person who found the vase,” Grandy said. “Without you, none of this would have come about.”

“You led me right to it, Andrew. Anyway,” Peach said with a nod at Tess, “I need to wrap it up early today. Plans tonight. It was great meeting you. Good luck with everything.”

When he was gone, Tess picked up a file folder and fanned it at Natalie. “Down, girl.”

Natalie flushed. “Knock it off.”

“I don’t blame you. He’s hot in that ponytail-pirate, I-can-fix-anything kind of way.”

“But not in that I-have-a-wife-and-a-kid kind of way.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize. I guess it’s the old adage,” Tess whispered. “The good ones are all taken. Judging by the way you looked at him, I’m guessing he’s a good one.”