THIRTY-FOUR

Present Day

Sterling, Massachusetts

    “You and the Major really pulled it off,” I said to Madame Flora.

    “We did,” she said. “And Archibald never knew.” Her smile faded. “Until he used that damned ring.”

    “Ann will be pleased to hear there was no depositary theft,” Val said.

    “So where’d you hide it?” I asked.

    She crossed her arms. “I’m not telling.”

    “Why not?”

    “You’ll just return it to the depositary, and my sacrifice will have been in vain.”

    “Your sacrifice?” Val asked. “What about James? You practically ruined his life!”

    “Archibald gave James a good job,” Madame Flora said. “He was honored as a centuriat, and only last year he retired.”

    Val stood up and marched over to Madame Flora, hands on her hips. “He was brain damaged, Flora,” she said firmly. “Because of your insistence to meet with the Nazis. And if that wasn’t enough, you beat him up even more.”

    Madame Flora nodded. “I did whatever it took to stop that gold from reaching the depositary.”

    Val pointed her finger an inch from the old lady’s nose. “You alone decided your cause was greater. You gave yourself an excuse to do bad things.” She dropped her arm and stood staring at her.

    “How dare you stand here and judge my actions sixty-four years later?” Madame Flora cried. “No matter how wrong you think it looks today, I could not let the killer of my father win.”

    “He might as well have won,” I said. “Nobody benefits from stashed gold.”

    “That’s true,” she said. “I still must return the gold to the hands of those it was taken from.”

    “Why haven’t you done that already?” Val asked. “Wasn’t it important enough?”

    Madame Flora frowned. “I wanted to. But first I took care of Baba until she died. Then the iron curtain descended, and I couldn’t return to its hiding place,” she said. “Besides, the Nazis are always watching.”

    “You said that last night,” I said. “But then you told us you killed the Nazis at the barn.”

    She shook her head. “I only killed one of them. Somehow the Untersturmführer survived the barn fire, and he followed me and Major Callaghan all the way to…” Her voice trailed off.

    “Where?” I asked.

    She smiled. “Where we hid the gold. Where it is today.”

    I’d have to squeeze the location out of her, but we could do that in front of Archie.

    “What happened to Major Callaghan, anyway?” I asked, trying to make it sound casual.

    Madame Flora shrugged. “It’s not important.”

    “It is to me.”

    She looked at me. “Why?”

    Val came and sat next to me. She took my hand. “Oddly enough, Ned Callaghan and Scott share a soul line. Your grandfather’s Australian friend is Scott’s previous carrier.”

    Madame Flora nodded slowly. “That is most interesting.”

    Spooky seemed a more apt description.

    I squeezed Val’s hand and turned to Madame Flora. “Ned mentioned your grandfather in the notes he put in his collection.”

    “What did he say?” she asked.

    “Not much,” I said. “It was Ned’s version of the big mistake your grandmother told you about.”

    “Tell me,” she commanded.

    “All right.” I took a minute to recall the story Val and I had read in the depositary. “Ned said he caught Raddy trying to steal opals from his dig. They got into a fight, and somehow the mine caved in. It took a few days to dig out, and by the time they reached the surface, they were best friends.”

    We all sat silently for a few minutes.

    Then Madame Flora pointed at me and spoke slowly. “Scott, not only is it your duty, but it is also your moral obligation to help me retrieve that gold and get it to its deserving parties. You need to finish the job your soul line ancestor and I started.”

    I noticed Val was biting her lip. She didn’t seem thrilled with this idea.

    And neither was I. From what we had learned, Madame Flora didn’t leave many happy people in her wake. This wasn’t my kind of assignment. “With all due respect,” I said, “my answer is no. Tell us where the gold is, and Soul Identity can send out a retrieval team.”

    Val smiled at me. “Thank you,” she whispered.

    Madame Flora shrugged. “It’s your choice, Scott. I’m almost eighty, and this is probably my last chance to recover that gold.”

    “What would you do with it?” Val asked.

    The old lady’s answer was prompt. “I’d set up a foundation to improve the lives of victims across Eastern Europe.”

    “How much did you say the gold was worth?” Val asked me.

    “Around twenty-five million bucks.” I looked at Madame Flora. “Why not give it to the Romany people?”

    “Because they’d waste it, and it would all end up in some loan shark’s hands,” she said. “I’ve thought about this for a long time-just handing over the money isn’t restitution. They didn’t lose it, and they shouldn’t benefit from it.”

    “What kinds of victims would you help?” Val asked.

    “People who are discriminated against. I want to give them hope and help them become valuable members of society,” Madame Flora said. “Many cities in Eastern Europe are throwing the Roma out of their downtowns. They’re building them new ghettos on their outskirts, where crime and unemployment run rampant.”

    “So how could you give them hope?” Val asked.

    “They need community anchors,” she said. “I’d set up a grocery store and use it to fund some jobs. Then I’d make micro-loans at decent rates and put the loan sharks out of business. And I’d start a small craft school so the young people can learn to make a living. These three things would help each Roma community.”

    “Don’t charities already help them?” I asked. I thought about the quarter million dollars we had just committed to a Roma charity.

    She nodded. “But it’s never enough. There are millions of Roma spread across the continent, and the charities are fighting uphill battles in each neighborhood. I’ve given them every dime from every Soul Identity commission I’ve ever received, but it’s still not enough,” she said. “The gold is important to me emotionally, that’s true. But the gold will also help the Roma. And you two ought to help me retrieve it.”

    I shot a glance at Val, and I saw that Madame Flora’s story was working-Val stared at her, unblinking, nodding her head.

    Had the old lady hypnotized her?

    “Why make this our fight?” I asked Madame Flora.

    They both shot me dirty looks.

    “It’s everyone’s fight,” Val said.

    Oops-I had used the wrong words. But I needed to shut this down before we got ourselves sucked in over our heads. “How many people went with you to hide the gold?” I asked Madame Flora.

    “Two others-Major Callaghan and one helper.”

    “And how many of them survived the task?” I asked.

    She was silent for a moment. “Why does that matter?”

    “Yesterday you told us that the Nazis made it way too dangerous to look for the gold,” I said. “Then last night you told us how James was almost killed.”

    “But-”

    “I’m not done,” I said. “This morning we learned how you and Archie helped Goering commit suicide. And last year we saw you in action in Venice,” I said. “I want you to help me calculate our chances for survival.”

    “I won’t lie to you,” she said.

    Of course she would.

    “The chances are not that good.”

    That meant the odds were way against us.

    She sighed. “Only I made it back.”

    Oh boy.

    Val looked at me with a solemn expression. “Regardless of our chances, we need to help Flora.”

    Was she serious? “You’d risk our lives for some Nazi gold?” I asked.

    Her chin went up. “I’d risk my life to make a difference.”

    I pondered this turn of events. “Surely there are other opportunities to make a difference,” I finally said.

    “This one’s ours,” she said. “Somehow we’re being called to it.”

    Game over-if Val was in, there was no way I’d be out. And if I was honest with myself, I did want to soak up everything I could about Ned Callaghan. Not that I felt any physical connection to him, but his memories and his attempt at relevancy had become my responsibility since I opened our soul line collection.

    I looked at Madame Flora and waited until she wiped off the little smile that had started to lift the corners of her wrinkled face. “I have two conditions,” I said.

    She raised her eyebrows.

    “First, Soul Identity needs to back this treasure hunt.”

    “Why?” she asked.

    “You need their resources, and I want to get paid,” I said. “That means we need Archie. This afternoon, you’re going to explain how you tricked him out of the deposit, and you’re going to invite him to join us.”

    She grimaced. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

    And I was sure she could. “I’ve learned how resourceful you are,” I said. “You’ll find a way.”

    She sighed and looked at Val, but when Val didn’t respond, she turned back to me and nodded.

    “Good,” I said. “Second, you will tell me everything you know about Ned Callaghan. What he told you, and what happened to him on your little trip to hide the gold.” I figured I could augment Ned’s rather bleak memories in our soul line collection. It was the least I could do for our future carriers.

    “What if I tell you about him as we go?”

    She wanted to use her knowledge of Ned as leverage over me. So be it. “That’s fine,” I said.

    Val raised her hand. “I also have a condition.” She faced the old lady. “You must tell Mr. Morgan the whole story. How you used him, how you loved him, and how he was the father of your son.”

    Madame Flora crossed her arms.

    “He has every right to know the truth,” Val said.

    “Would you have me break his heart?”

    Val glared at her. “After you lectured Scott on his moral obligation to help finish what you and Ned Callaghan started, how can you even ask that question?”

    Madame Flora sighed. “You’re right,” she said. “But can I open that can of worms once we’re in Europe?”

    Val nodded. “As long as Mr. Morgan has the full story by the time we recover the gold and get back.”

    If we got back.